'The Return Of The Spectacular Spinning Songbook', Nov. '11

Pretty self-explanatory
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chickendinna
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Re: 'The Return Of The Spectacular Spinning Songbook', Nov.

Post by chickendinna »

It would appear from this article that Elvis is going to issue recordings from the Spectacular Spinning Songbook tour. My response would be, what took him so long? Bands like The Allman Brothers, the Who and too many others to mention have gone this route for years. I'd probably go bankrupt trying to buy them all. He doesn't need Universal or whoever to do this, he could do it from his own site and he wouldn't have to charge $202. Has anyone on this site purchased the Rolling Sones "Brussels Affair" from either their site directly or Google? I'm hoping Elvis does the same thing,or for my bank accounts sake,maybe not.



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Elvis Costello on price of new box set: 'Either a misprint or a satire'
November 29, 2011 | 3:02 pm 361

What, you may be wondering, is Elvis Costello's advice to fans contemplating a purchase of his monstrous new limited-edition box set, "The Return of the Spectacular Spinning Songbook," coming out Tuesday via record label Hip-O/Universal? On his website, he calls it a "beautifully designed compendium [that] contains all manner of whimsical scribblings, photographs and cartoons, together with some rock and roll music and vaudevillian ballads," so you might think he'd be promoting it as a holiday gift.

In a recent post entitled "Let's Make Things Sparkling Clear," the Imposter's team answers the question in no uncertain terms: "We at http://www.elviscostello.com find ourselves unable to recommend 'The Return Of The Spectacular Spinning Songbook' as the price appears to be either a misprint or a satire."

The multiformat package (DVD, CD, 10-inch vinyl, book, autograph, whatnot) documents his two-night stand this spring at the Wiltern in Los Angeles, where he delivered a raucous variety-show/concert in which fans were invited to the stage to pick a song by spinning a big game show-type wheel. The set has a list price of $339.98 (though Amazon's currently offering it for $202.66) and is limited to 1,500 copies worldwide.

But that's apparently too much, and Costello's team decided to speak out against Universal, the world's largest record label, by going public:

All our attempts to have this number revised have been fruitless so we are taking the following unusual step.

If you want to buy something special for your loved one at this time of seasonal giving, we suggest, “Ambassador Of Jazz” -- a cute little imitation suitcase containing ten re-mastered albums by one of the most beautiful and loving revolutionaries who ever lived -- Louis Armstrong.

The box should be available for under one hundred and fifty American dollars and includes a number of other tricks and treats.

Frankly the music is vastly superior.

The post adds that in 2012 the Spinning Wheel tour recordings will be issued separately -- but saves its deepest cut not for Universal but for file sharers who don't pay anything for music, which he describes as "pirates who [imagine] they are evangelists or that other people’s rights absolve their own thievery, in which case this is between you and your dim conscience."

Costello and the Imposters continue to tour with the spinning wheel, and will land in the Southeast this spring for a series of shows. For the price of the box, you might be able to grab a roundtrip ticket.

4/23 –- Melbourne, Fla., King Center
4/24 –- Clearwater, Fla, Ruth Eckerd Hall
4/25 –- Hollywood, Fla., Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
4/27 –- Jacksonville, Fla., Florida Theatre
4/29 –- Durham, N.C., Durham Performing Arts Center
scamp
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Re: 'The Return Of The Spectacular Spinning Songbook', Nov.

Post by scamp »

I just checked the official site and tour shirts are now available for anyone who desires.
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Re: 'The Return Of The Spectacular Spinning Songbook', Nov.

Post by Natasha »

johnfoyle wrote:Indulge me as I repost a comment I posted here on Sep 28, 2011 -


It's going to be embarrassing watching this thing being reduced to clear...if good for those of us who will wait to buy!

Persuading people to pay some of the outrageous ticket prices that featured for some of the U.S. gigs is one thing. I just don't see it transferring to the artifact end of things. In essence these are recordings of a live show which, technically excellent as they may be, will be lacking the dynamic and excitement that actually attending them involves. The recordings that already circulate have a bonus in that they accurately record the ambiance and imperfections that the audience has experienced, a grittier , more involving experience.

This could be extension of the mindset behind the 'live' albums that Elvis huffed and puffed about , saying it was out of his hands, that he was merely tolerating the big , bad record industry in their wishing to develop product etc. Some clown proposed this package to Elvis, he saw how bonkers it is , he said a price , it was agreed , he'll gladly take the cash and after it stiffs he'll make some damning comments, merrily biting the hand that feeds right up to the elbow.


The only amendment would be that Elvis seems to have baulked at the price and made the damning comment a bit early.
Do you think he would do that on purpose or something? I'm asking because I'm really in doubt about this. Part of me refuses to believe that he would do such a thing but the arguments and the facts are very convincible. Specially after all the press that this subject is getting.

Also, I’ve been following the replication of this all over the internet and I'm surprised with the amount of people who really think he's encouraging his fans to download the content of the box set. For me it was always clear: he only said that this would be inevitable. People can't read or what?
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Re: 'The Return Of The Spectacular Spinning Songbook', Nov.

Post by bronxapostle »

The post adds that in 2012 the Spinning Wheel tour recordings will be issued separately -- but saves its deepest cut not for Universal but for file sharers who don't pay anything for music, which he describes as "pirates who [imagine] they are evangelists or that other people’s rights absolve their own thievery, in which case this is between you and your dim conscience."



WOW!! someone's MAD at us!!! well, release every show from here on out and we will NOT do it anymore. sincerely bronxevangelist, i mean apostle. :lol: :lol:
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the_platypus
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Re: 'The Return Of The Spectacular Spinning Songbook', Nov.

Post by the_platypus »

Natasha wrote:
johnfoyle wrote:Indulge me as I repost a comment I posted here on Sep 28, 2011 -


It's going to be embarrassing watching this thing being reduced to clear...if good for those of us who will wait to buy!

Persuading people to pay some of the outrageous ticket prices that featured for some of the U.S. gigs is one thing. I just don't see it transferring to the artifact end of things. In essence these are recordings of a live show which, technically excellent as they may be, will be lacking the dynamic and excitement that actually attending them involves. The recordings that already circulate have a bonus in that they accurately record the ambiance and imperfections that the audience has experienced, a grittier , more involving experience.

This could be extension of the mindset behind the 'live' albums that Elvis huffed and puffed about , saying it was out of his hands, that he was merely tolerating the big , bad record industry in their wishing to develop product etc. Some clown proposed this package to Elvis, he saw how bonkers it is , he said a price , it was agreed , he'll gladly take the cash and after it stiffs he'll make some damning comments, merrily biting the hand that feeds right up to the elbow.


The only amendment would be that Elvis seems to have baulked at the price and made the damning comment a bit early.
Do you think he would do that on purpose or something? I'm asking because I'm really in doubt about this. Part of me refuses to believe that he would do such a thing but the arguments and the facts are very convincible. Specially after all the press that this subject is getting.

Also, I’ve been following the replication of this all over the internet and I'm surprised with the amount of people who really think he's encouraging his fans to download the content of the box set. For me it was always clear: he only said that this would be inevitable. People can't read or what?
Welcome to the Elvis Costello Fan Forum, where all his actions are interpreted as either hopelessly naive or deceptive and malicious.
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migdd
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Re: 'The Return Of The Spectacular Spinning Songbook', Nov.

Post by migdd »

The box set is back up to $262.48 on Amazon. Stay tuned for more play-by-play drama. :lol:
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watercamp
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Re: 'The Return Of The Spectacular Spinning Songbook', Nov.

Post by watercamp »

if this is intended as publicity for a product coming in 2012 then...there's a clear disconnect here, most people don't remember what they had for lunch!

How many music fans do you know who only have downloaded files?
True music fans want everything they can get their hands on.
As for the others, they wouldn't buy anything anyway, at least this way they won't die brainless.
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the_platypus
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Re: 'The Return Of The Spectacular Spinning Songbook', Nov.

Post by the_platypus »

watercamp wrote:How many music fans do you know who only have downloaded files?
Are you serious? A vast majority.
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Jeremy Dylan
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Re: 'The Return Of The Spectacular Spinning Songbook', Nov.

Post by Jeremy Dylan »

watercamp wrote:How many music fans do you know who only have downloaded files?
A disturbing number actually. I actually spoke to a music fan not too longer ago, who has aspirations to be a professional musician, who was irritated at being unable to find a copy of a record online illegally. When I suggested that they might find it easier to simply go to the local JB Hi-Fi and buy a CD copy for $18, they looked at me like I had two heads. Music has become so devalued to the post-Napter generation.

If I hear one more person complain about CDs being 'so overpriced', I will fucking scream.

If I go to Subway, I pay $6 for a sandwich that I'll finish in five minutes. A few hours later, I'll be hungry and need to eat something else. If I spend $15 (average price) for an album on CD, it will provide me with untold hours of unimaginable joy, comfort, pleasure and emotional release for the rest of my life - which as of typing is probably a good sixty years or so. To me, that's ludicrously underpriced!
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migdd
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Re: 'The Return Of The Spectacular Spinning Songbook', Nov.

Post by migdd »

Well said, JD.
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Re: 'The Return Of The Spectacular Spinning Songbook', Nov.

Post by cwr »

I will say that, while I don't disagree, I was arguing during the rise of Napster that what the music industry needed to do was lower CD prices or they would lose a generation. There was a sweet spot that was closer to 10 dollars than 20, and they were inching up rather than down. By the time the industry "got" it, it was too late-- they had literally allowed a generation to grow up without associating music with buying CDs.

During that time, their strategy was to try and shut down Napster and sue downloaders, instead of proactively trying to make the idea of buying a CD more desirable. They focused entirely on the negative, and it backfired, disastrously.

Even Costello, who has generally treated his fans well in terms of providing value for money, has yet to take advantage of the upside of the Internet in terms of how he can harness it positively as a way of selling music to his fans. He has talked about piracy a lot, which is a great thing for an artist to be passionate about in principle, but I would bet that he has been affected by it almost not at all-- the kind of fans he attracts will buy his records in multiple formats and line up for the next reissue.
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Re: 'The Return Of The Spectacular Spinning Songbook', Nov.

Post by johnfoyle »

"Making money ain't nothing exciting to me. You might be able to buy a little better booze than the wino on the corner. But you get sick just like the next cat and when you die you're just as graveyard dead as he is." - Louis Armstrong


http://www1.cuny.edu/mu/forum/2011/12/0 ... -costello/

Louis Armstrong House Museum Thanks Elvis Costello
December 1, 2011 | Queens College

(extract)

QUEENS, NY, November 30, 2011 – Louis Armstrong House Museum (LAHM) is sitting on a coveted gift this holiday season—and people all over the world are learning about it, thanks to Elvis Costello. The museum is the only place in the United States where music lovers can pick up Satchmo: Ambassador of Jazz, the monumental, career-spanning Louis Armstrong boxed set recommended by Costello.

On November 29, the British singer-songwriter used his website to dissuade fans from buying his own new boxed set, The Return of the Spectacular Spinning Songbook, noting that its suggested retail price of $329.99 “appears to be either a misprint or a satire.” Instead, his message urged them to make a different purchase. “If you should really want to buy something special for your loved one at this time of seasonal giving,” he wrote, “we can whole-heartedly recommend, Ambassador Of Jazz – a cute little imitation suitcase, covered in travel stickers and embossed with the name ‘Satchmo’ but more importantly containing TEN re-mastered albums by one of the most beautiful and loving revolutionaries who ever lived – Louis Armstrong. The box should be available for under one hundred and fifty American dollars and includes a number of other tricks and treats. Frankly, the music is vastly superior.”

The Gift of Music

Satchmo: Ambassador of Jazz was released by Universal through its United Kingdom imprint in August 2011 in honor of Louis Armstrong’s 110th birthday celebration. The set has received limited distribution in the United States and is currently out of stock on Amazon.com, where individual owners have sold the box for nearly $400. The Louis Armstrong House Museum recently purchased every remaining copy from its North American distributor and has become the only place where you can walk in and buy this acclaimed collection for $149.99.
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Natasha
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Re: 'The Return Of The Spectacular Spinning Songbook', Nov.

Post by Natasha »

watercamp wrote:if this is intended as publicity for a product coming in 2012 then...there's a clear disconnect here, most people don't remember what they had for lunch!

How many music fans do you know who only have downloaded files?
True music fans want everything they can get their hands on.
As for the others, they wouldn't buy anything anyway, at least this way they won't die brainless.
I agree with you, watercamp. I think true music fans want to have the album in their hands and will collect everything about their favorite musicians. And if they don't, they are not real music fans and they wouldn't buy the album anyway.

Though, I also agree with the notion that there's an entire generation who grew up getting music for free and this is entirely the industry's fault. By the time CD appeared it was not only expensive but also a bad product. Why should I pay for a piece of plastic with a fragile media within? Even though I buy CDs nowadays I don't think it's a good investment at all. The only exception is for collectible ones, series, box sets and stuff like that. Download lowered the price of CDs but the material is not attractive enough yet (even less for the generation that grew up getting what really matters, the music, for free).

The post-Napster generation don't experience music as we do and the industry must learn how to work with that. On the other hand I don't think things are that bad (for industry) and I do believe there's hope. Maybe it's because I'm in the middle of these two generations of music fans. I grew up listening to vinyl. I bought my first CD when I was 14 and soon I was downloading everything. When I reached 100G of music in my hard drive I started to take the oposite path and this was not so long ago.

One day, earlier this year, I downloaded a random album called This Year's Model by some random guy called Elvis Costello ("what an odd name", I thought). I had never heard about him till then but the moment I started to listen to it I was caught up. I downloaded his entire discography and the more I listened the more amazed I was. Soon I was buying his complete discography on CD and vinyl (By The Way, Christmas is coming and my collection is not complete yet. Just sayin' :roll: ). The guy relived the music collector in me and, ironically, maybe I would never get to know his music if it wasn't for the internet!

Since then I became an avid music collector and I'm digging not only his music but also sounds I was not used to, such as Soul, Blues and Jazz. His music influences me a lot and it's my "guide" in some way. By the time I discovered Elvis I was deadly bored with the music I was listening to. That's why I always say that he saved my life.

You may say I'm an exception but I've been observing EC's fanbase (I'm a researcher, remember) and I see many people at the age of 13-17 discovering his music through the internet (not through their parents' shelf or something) and, believe it or not, they are buying his records on CD and even vinyl. Also, the nature of Costello's work attracts people who like to go deeper in things, people who give music its proper value and it can even teach people this value. - That's why I don't see the point of him complaining about download.

The artists also have to do their part. They need to do things with consistence (like EC does) and people will feel the need to invest their money and their time in it. Although people nowadays are not used to pay for music, my research on fandom showed me that the fans are the ones who will pay any amount of money to support their favorite artists. They also help to "spread the word", by making mixtapes to their friends, for example (I'm making one right now in an attempt to introduce a friend to Elvis' music).

In short, this is an oportunity for artists to get closer to their fanbase and struggle a little more to please them. They need to accept that industry has changed and learn to take advantage of it.

ps. Sorry for the rant . :)
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Re: 'The Return Of The Spectacular Spinning Songbook', Nov.

Post by verbal gymnastics »

Interesting points Natasha.

At a Billy Bragg gig a few years ago he was saying that the internet had been of benefit in that it had opened up a base for new fans. He was saying that listening to music that people had downloaded had led to them checking out more of his music. Whether or not they had bought it is a different matter...

I know from my own experience that people have burned CDs for me. If I like the album I have bought the official version and then subsequent CDs.

This whole exercise with Elvis' berating of Universal is not doing him any harm is it? It's giving him good publicity.

On a different note, I read the 2012 issuing of separate CDs to merely mean that there would be a single and double cd issue of the show rather than issuing CDs of different shows.
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Re: 'The Return Of The Spectacular Spinning Songbook', Nov.

Post by Otis Westinghouse »

Love the Louis Armstrong House Museum celebration of Elvis's wonderful plug. Great stuff!

This morning I purchased my first ever download album! What a waste of money! I occasionally download individual songs, chiefly because the covers band I play in are doing them, but Amazon gave me a £2 voucher off any album download. I perused a bunch of £2.07 things, was vaguely tempted, but as I'm going to see it performed at the Barbican soon, what I really wanted was Nielsen's 3rd symphony. It would have been £6 for a famed Naxos recording of it plus the 4th, so I thought why not to paying £4, but I could have ordered the CD as 'used like new' for £6, and I could probably have got it for £4 or £5 if I shopped around, or even in a music store. The problem is to listen to it 'properly' I'll need to play it on iPod through hi-fi, and I know I will just be annoyed at how inferior the 228 bit rate will sound compared to 1411 off a CD. And no sleeve notes to read! I use my iPod loads and love it, but it beats me how you could be a 'true music fan' with the means to buy a reasonable bit of kit to play it through and settle for anything less than CDs, which are in themselves a compromise next to vinyl.
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Re: 'The Return Of The Spectacular Spinning Songbook', Nov.

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cwr wrote:I will say that, while I don't disagree, I was arguing during the rise of Napster that what the music industry needed to do was lower CD prices or they would lose a generation. There was a sweet spot that was closer to 10 dollars than 20, and they were inching up rather than down. By the time the industry "got" it, it was too late-- they had literally allowed a generation to grow up without associating music with buying CDs.

During that time, their strategy was to try and shut down Napster and sue downloaders, instead of proactively trying to make the idea of buying a CD more desirable. They focused entirely on the negative, and it backfired, disastrously.
I don't think the issue was the price of CDs as much as the convenience of downloading greatly outweighed tracking down a CD. Had the iTunes store arrived concurrently or close on the heels of Napster, with the support of the labels, the impact of the piracy would perhaps have been lesser. After all, it's a much easier and more pleasant experience to buy an album from iTunes than it is to pirate one. But give teenagers the opportunity to get something intangible for free, and they can work themselves into whatever moral contortions are required to justify it to themselves.

CDs were always going to become obsolete at some stage, the same way VHS tapes did and now DVDs are. I don't see this as a sad thing in and of itself. The concern is that they're being replaced by a medium of vastly inferior sound quality - but this will change as internet speeds increase and with them, the size of hard drives and iPods.
cwr wrote:I would bet that he has been affected by it almost not at all-- the kind of fans he attracts will buy his records in multiple formats and line up for the next reissue.
Every recording artist has been negatively affected by piracy. If something is available to be had for free, there are plenty of people who will take it rather than pay. Of course, all of us here will go out and buy CD or vinyl copies of his latest record, but you can't have a proper career catering only to the kind of fans that hang out on a internet message board with your name on it. Not to mention the indirect effects he would've felt from the crippling of recording and marketing budgets piracy has led to in the music industry.
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Re: 'The Return Of The Spectacular Spinning Songbook', Nov.

Post by Otis Westinghouse »

In terms of the convenience of the process, not much difference between a few clicks in downloading or buying a CD. Only difference is waiting for delivery, and amazon handle that with consistent speed. I'm happy to come from a generation that prizes an artefact over data. Happy to report that my 18 year old son is the same too. He uses spotify all the time, but would always buy a CD rather than paying for a download. I guess the argument will be less persuasive when uncompressed downloads become the norm, as you say.
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Re: 'The Return Of The Spectacular Spinning Songbook', Nov.

Post by cwr »

Price of CDs was definitely a factor. At the point where burning CD-Rs became a thing, people started to realize that CDs were overpriced compared to how much it was to buy a new LP in the early 1980s, even adjusting for inflation, it wasn't like LPs cost people the 1984 equivalent of 20 bucks. And that's what CDs were edging towards in the late 1990s.

Shitty Beatles CD editions were close to 20 dollars with no extras and shitty mastering. Convenience of downloading was a factor, but also they bungled the way they were selling CDs. If they had dropped the price of a CD to 10 dollars on average, they would have doubled their sales, at least, and instilled in a generation the practice of buying music. They went the other way, and it came back to bite them, hard.
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Re: 'The Return Of The Spectacular Spinning Songbook', Nov.

Post by John »

I've just been sent an email sending me to this website.

http://store.universal-music.co.uk/rest ... 562-195532

£250! Not for me.
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Re: 'The Return Of The Spectacular Spinning Songbook', Nov.

Post by migdd »

I received the same e-mail. "Only a few copies left." :roll:
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Re: 'The Return Of The Spectacular Spinning Songbook', Nov.

Post by mood swung »

For a limited time, receive a $2 credit toward Amazon MP3 when you purchase Elvis Costello's The Return of the Spectacular Spinning Songbook [Super Deluxe Edition] on CD. Shop 17 million songs and play your music on your Kindle Fire, Android device, PC, Mac, or iPad with Amazon Cloud Drive and Amazon Cloud Player
Thought that might push some of you over the edge, if you were wavering. :lol:

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Re: 'The Return Of The Spectacular Spinning Songbook', Nov.

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migdd wrote:I received the same e-mail. "Only a few copies left." :roll:
only a few copies to begin with?

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Post by verbal gymnastics »

So has anyone defied Elvis yet and placed an order?
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Re: 'The Return Of The Spectacular Spinning Songbook', Nov.

Post by Natasha »

Otis Westinghouse wrote:The problem is to listen to it 'properly' I'll need to play it on iPod through hi-fi, and I know I will just be annoyed at how inferior the 228 bit rate will sound compared to 1411 off a CD. And no sleeve notes to read! I use my iPod loads and love it, but it beats me how you could be a 'true music fan' with the means to buy a reasonable bit of kit to play it through and settle for anything less than CDs, which are in themselves a compromise next to vinyl.
That's exactly why I started buying vinyl. I think I had this epiphany while listening to High Fidelity on my iPod: I realized I might be missing something important, you know? Although I think the iPod and the apple earphones are really really good for its purpose.

Also I prefer to buy vinyl because it's way cheaper and the sound is way better comparing to CD. I only buy on CD what I can't find on vinyl. I don't pay for download, though because most of the times it's not worth it - it's not so much cheaper than buying a CD.

Another thing I observe about this is the rise of concert industry, at least here in Brazil. We've been recieving a huge amount of artists, some of them never played here and some of them come back on every tour. Sometimes it gets difficult to decide which concert I will attend (sometimes the choice is easy, like Britney Spears and Eric Clapton playing in the same day two weeks ago, :p). I had to make a concert fund.

We've had two Paul McCartney's concerts within 6 months. It would take me forever just to mention all the bands that played here this year. Not to mention Rock In Rio two months ago with a bunch of bands such as Coldplay, Metallica, Motorhead, Elton John, Stevie Wonder, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, System of a Down, and Shakira (just to mention the headlines). It was a 7 days festival with 100 thousand people a day.

All the events I mentioned above had tickets sold out. We also had SWU a couple of weeks ago and we'll have Lollapalooza next year. How do you explain that if people don't buy records and record stores are more and more rare here? That's because music is experience. We can't reduce things to buying and selling records.

In short: Someone please tell Elvis to stop bitching and come to Brazil. Thanks.
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Natasha
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Re: 'The Return Of The Spectacular Spinning Songbook', Nov.

Post by Natasha »

Jeremy Dylan wrote:Every recording artist has been negatively affected by piracy. If something is available to be had for free, there are plenty of people who will take it rather than pay. Of course, all of us here will go out and buy CD or vinyl copies of his latest record, but you can't have a proper career catering only to the kind of fans that hang out on a internet message board with your name on it. Not to mention the indirect effects he would've felt from the crippling of recording and marketing budgets piracy has led to in the music industry.
Of course everybody was affected but I don't agree with the "negatively" part. It's not that simple. My point is that you lose in one side and gain in another. Industry has changed, for good and bad. The only thing artists can do is find a way to cope with it.

I know that the discussion about download and piracy is way more complicated than I'm pointing out here. I have this unpopular opinion that everything must be shared and the way we think about authorship and authoral rights is a little mistaken. But that's another story and would take me some time to approach it properly.

What I can say right now is that things are changing gradually. Services like Spotify are more and more popular. My bet is that people will stop downloading soon (at least the ilegal one). Speaking for myself, I don't have patience to download things anymore. It's easier to go to Spotify or play my radio on last fm or something.
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