Posted on 8/24/2002, 3:19:12 PM by RicocheT
2001 may not be the year the music died, but the pop biz did develop a nagging headache, and it's not going away. The recorded-music industry's first slump in more than two decades continues this year; the number of discs sold is slipping and so is the appeal of last year's stars. Britney Spears' latest album has moved 4 million copies—a big number, but less than half what its predecessor did.
The Recording Industry Association of America, which represents the five major labels that dominate CD retailing, would like to blame much of the slide on Internet music-file swapping. Yet there are many other causes,...
(Excerpt) Read more at slate.msn.com ...
In the end, the industry will only be hurt by its own refusal to face the future, but in the meantime one can hope the increasing trend of consumer awareness about the music industry's actions will continue. Before laws making file sharing a felony or that a new PC must have hardware/spyware blocking all content not vetted for copyrights, maybe a broad discussion of digital rights should be done.
Support independent musicians... especially conservative ones ;0)
In a past life ;0)
Wife mad me go to a Grath Brooks concert a couple of years ago. When it comes to Country, I like the REAL stuff and a few of GB's songs had "the Sound" but not "the Soul". Anyway we went And I left feeling like I'd been to a circus instead of a county show.
Runing around, indoor fireworks, lasers...all the bells and whistles. GB ended the show singing "Vincent" of all things, by himself, on a stool with just a guitar nad no backup. While not a favortie song for me and certainly not country, it was the only part of the show I could say I enjoyed - somewhat.
Anyway I search the net for little known regional musicians and hae found so much that is light years better than what I hear from promoters and the Major labels, I doubt I'll spend anywhere near what I did years ago.
What it all boils down to is that RIAA and the established music iindustry can't handle the competition coming from the little guys via the internet. I hopethey go down the drain and take all the fake, overproduced garabage and "artists" with 'em!
BTW - Shamless Plug Alert - Searching the net I found a relative of mine who has a band in Texas... Mean Gene Kelton and the Die Hards.
Ths style is Texas Rock and Blues - not a format I'm particularly fond of - but I have to say some of his songs are just good if not better than the stuff The Industry crams into our ears.
Go to MP3.com or do a websearch for Mean Gene Kelton and the Die Hards. My favorite songs are party songs like "Big Legged Mama", "Too White to Play the Blues", "Texas City Dyke", "Blow Up Lover", and beating "Louie, Louie" as the all time best party song "My Baby Don't Wear No Panties - Ask Me How I Know".
Yes a lot are adult songs but they're meant to be fun and not nearly as ummmm...controversial as what you hear from Major "artists".
prisoner6
Yeah. Like the price is too high. Hellooo...?
My income is far above the 50th percentile. I can afford the price they ask. But the price they ask is far above perceived value, so I don't buy.
(I don't download either; I don't even know where to go... not that I'd want to with a connection that might reach 26.8kbps on a good dry day...)
570 KVI gets 90% of my listening time too. But Sunday afternoons I tune in KBCS for my weekly fix of Celtic music. (My library at work, OTOH, is full of classical, celtic and, well, eclectic CDs. The only rock CD is Runrig -- in Gaelic. 'S math sin, nach eil? *\:-)
Yeah, WAY too complicated.
BTW The LAst CD's I bought were, t he Soundtrack to "O Brother WHere Art Though", "Down From The Mountain", and a Spongebob Squarepants DVD.
Hey, My tastes vary.
prisoner6
Case in point is the 1979 album Breakfast In America by Supertramp. Now that was considered a "lightweight pop" album back then, not to be taken seriously. Yet after hearing it through several times this summer, I am surprised at how good the material is throughout the entire record. Any one of those tracks could have been released as a single. There are some 300 albums I own from the 1970s that are damn good.
Back in the 1970s, the music press was constantly bemoaning the lack of good material being released. Maybe that had a point when comparing it to the 1960s. But compared to the 1990s and now the 2000s, the 1970s was a great decade for good music. It's a gold mine if some of you younger Freepers want to go exploring.
Some people might claim it's "new Age" stuff but what the heck I like to listento it and it strikes a resonant chord in me.
One Internet/college station I found that I REALLY ENJOY is KANU, especially the "Retro Cocktail Hour". It's on with a new show every Saturday evening and they have archives on the net as well. Mostly instrumental "Bachelor Pad" music from the 50's and 60s but some new - yes NEW(!) stuff as well.
Here's the url:
BTW a friend of mine runs an internet radio program/site called "te New World Buzz". Pandering a little too much to diversity for my tastes byt I have to admit he does a pretty good job with interviews as well as "New World" music.
here's the url:
prisoner6
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