Hmmm, remember how it was in the 80s.
It was hard to get good songs. I remember that there were only two radio programs per week that really had a great (New Wave) programming. There was one record store within 100km that had good albums and 12"s. I had to hitchhike there!
If you went through the pain of recording , the girl knew how much effort you put in it.
I bought an especially good tape deck at the time to make sure the audio quality was the best (a Marantz SD9020) … not that anybody else would notice.
I put a very large antenna up on the roof, so I could get Dutch radio channels (we were stationed in Germany at the time). They played stuff, the Germans didn’t know (yet).
My mix tapes were unlike anybody elses … and surely responsible for some very nice experiences I had when I was young
By the way, I’m just in the last stage of fixing the last tape deck i’ll ever have - the Pioneer CT-777. What a f#cking complicated and miniscule technology!
It’s being prepared to be sold … sad/happy to let it go!
Expanding this I grew up in the Napster and burned CDs era where there wasn’t much more effort to get the songs on a CD to give your crush. The quality of the songs was the important part by them, and I don’t see why Spotify would change that.
But I own a Onkyo Integra deck and sooner or later I really want to make it run again. (I also own the Onkyo Integra power amp, and some nice 70’s JBL’s).
Also sometimes I want to start collecting cassettes, just for fun, almost as a joke related to the vinyl fashion. But I never started this.
Streaming revenue is probably distributed over more artists since the barriers to entry are lower. I’m not sure if that’s a good or bad thing, more access to sharing your music but it’s harder to make a living doing it.
The barriers are lower to distribute music, but higher to make money because if you don’t get enough streams, Spotify won’t pay you a penny. And if you get a million streams, you will only make $3k.
So there is loss of CD sales, loss of royalties from radio play, and lack of income from streaming. Which is pretty much what Lars was talking about.
It’s a new business model, I get that, and young artists take advantage of that. It’s a lot harder to make money as a band these days that’s for sure.
But there are good sides too. Easier to get seen as an artist. Take Babymetal. 10 years ago they didn’t have a recording contract, but had a viral video, played Sonisphere where they outsold all the other bands in merch (including Maiden), and parlayed that performance into a career. All from a viral video. Poppy is another example. Those two artists would not have careers in Larsworld. So its not all bad.
But they make their money from concerts and merch, not from music streams. Where Lars was wrong is the world is changing and you have to change with it.
I’m not sure that’s entirely true. It’s a lot harder for a few bands to make a whole lot of money, but a lot more bands are making some. The problem is, it’s not enough. So something needs to correct.
Given that the industry is now as large (dollar wise) as it has ever been, the money is going somewhere.
lol
I’ve been meaning to re-create a few playlists from memory, for nostalgia’s sake.
