*Clears throat*

Get in line with e-stone, jagged, and the rest.....

awesome formula

My music interest developed late, so I've never really had to be internet-less in my quest for new music. Because of that, the CMJ, and now Obner message boards (ie: you people), along with a magazine here or there, have been my main sources for new music. Once I find something I'm interested in, though, my standards are pretty low. Sometimes one song is enough to get me to buy a disc.

hahaha, good point.

i'm on it!

Has to have a picture of the band on the cover.

J/K...

1. There are around 10-20 artists at any given time where I will almost always buy their new releases. There is no need for me to listen to their material ahead of time. This occasionally results in purchases I regret.

2. For everything else, I try to listen to the first 3 tracks from an album and if those are good, I will download at least 3 to 6 more tracks to sample. If I like what I hear up to this point, I usually go ahead and buy the album.

3. If I don't like/don't need an album but really enjoy a single from it, I usually order that CD-Single from a store like CD Universe, Amazon or CDQuest.

4. Without the Internet, I would be completely lost when it comes to finding new music that fits my taste.

I hear those comments! I guess before the Internet, CMJ and word of mouth were my only ways. And now I don't know what I'd do without Soulseek! I forgot that I bought one of their shirts to show my appreciation.

I think I'm going to have to just get over the guilt I might feel about doing this (and no, I'm NOT Catholic!) I just can't see me passing up the huge amount of possibly-great new music coming out over the next few months. Rip and burn . . . it still feels a little greasy to me, but sometimes grease makes great pizza.

Another few rules I have started following:

1. Avoid the major-labels, as nearly everything that's come out of them this year that might have interested me has almost uniformly been crap.

2. I refuse to buy any copy-protected discs. It's not that they can prevent me from doing as I please with the music, because I know how to get around it. I just cannot and will not support this abuse of technology. Luckily, copy-protection seems to be limited to major labels.

3. No DualDiscs. These things SUCK. I prefer my CDs to be CDs and my DVDs to be DVDs, thank you. Get back to me when you can guarantee this crap will work in EVERY player, and that I can still rip mp3s from the audio portion.

for non-favorite-artisits-guaranteed-buying of cd's:

1) obner/pitchfork recommendations

2) website or soulseek d/l's.

3) trial listening period.

4) buy what i like. delete what i don't.

5) saved a TON of cash in the last 1.5 years i've been on soulseek.

i only buy cd's now if it's something i really like, and even then there's still a lot i don't buy. i'd say of the 20 or so albums that i listed in my best of 2005 post the other day, i have about 6-8 of them.

I'd say 90% or more of what I buy these days fits that category. I don't really feel the need for samples. Dl'ing stuff for free is a big trap to me. You end up listening to a lot of crap based on mild curiousity. Being willing to cough up the dough is a good check on my natural tendencies to want to hear everything.

I don't think it's generational, because I'm only 17. I think it's just part of who has OCD behavior involving owning real copies of things

But really, owning the artwork and case is usually worth it, in my opinion. I'll eventually have to slow down my buying, but right now I have the money and it's something I'm passionate about and that I really enjoy, so I don't really think it's a problem.

One thing I'll NEVER understand, though, is paying for MP3s. Why the hell would you pay for something that you can potentially lose (harddrive crash, etc.), and that you can only put on a burned CD? That just doesn't make any sense to me. If I'm going to be getting a burned copy of something, I better be getting it for free.

wait, you're younger then me?

Yeah, I think so. You're college age, right? I'm about to be a senior in high school this coming year.

oh im 19 I assumed you were like mid 20s

Stephen Adams, the main guy in the Broken Family Band, found one of my mixes on the CMJ board through Google (which of course had a BFB track on it) and contacted me via e-mail. He seemed to appreciate it because he put me on the record label promo list.

They have moved to a different label now so I don't get free records anymore but I thought it was a nice gesture.

I appreciate the sentiment but we actively encourage people to share our music with the hopes that if people like it, they'll buy something to support the band and enable us to record more. That is the philosophy of my band and Glorious Noise Records. If you can find someone to hook you up, then by all means...

You proved my point about the importance of filesharing small bands records, Derek. Thanks.

I would like to actually pay real money for your record though.

It's a record well-worth the money too. I'm loving it.

I also encourage people to share, because I've come to agree with Derek's philosophy. I used to be really against it, but most people are pretty cool about actually supporting indie labels.

It's a matter of taking apart the major labels' business model. I think Wilco has proven people will pay for music they can just as easily get for free if you treat your fans with respect and understand this Brave New World in which we live.

For small bands on small labels it's especially futile to fight filesharing, and why would you? It's all about getting the word out at that point. If you believe in your music, you should be confident that there are others out there who will appreciate it and want you to make more.

By the way, we start recording a new album next month, so go buy some CDs! http://www.riviera-sound.com/music.php

Or download some free stuff: http://www.riviera-sound.com/music_downloads.php

these rules go for me too, including the totally unplayable sacd.

as for not downloading an indie artist in order to not take $ away from them -- i have a good music budget, but it's still limited. if my choice was to take a gamble on an artist i was interested in hearing (based on reviews, 1-or-2 songs, and/or obner hearsay) by plunking down $10+ or not hearing them at all, i'd probably choose not hearing them at all most times. Just not enough $ to buy everything i want to hear, even limited to the indie scene. However, if i download an album, say the new andrew bird, and like it enough, then i eventually buy it (like i did with bird's "eggs"). And this also clues me in to new artist in order to check out their concerts and other albums...

Pretty much the same, although, I am surely not as promotional as Dalen, which sucks cause it obviously works (on me). I'll try to be moreso in the future.

Yes, I still buy an album if I like only some of it.