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Has P2P Influenced Your Music Tastes?
Whatistehmatrix asks: "About 5 years ago, when I first found out about KaZaA, it was somewhat 'underground' and had less than 1 million people. I soon discovered there was an unbelievable amount of music open to me. Instead of getting the music I always heard on the radio, I always sought out the music that was previously unavailable to me [Japanese pop & rock, overseas techno, etc]. Well, fast forward to today, and I actively buy CDs from groups I fell in love with from the songs I found on P2P. I was wondering, if any of the Slashdot community used to/still uses P2P programs to try out music that isn't heard on the radio, to expand your tastes in music from different countries & cultures?"
I find music streams to be much more useful for discovering new music (here's one from a couple of weeks ago that I immediately went out and bought). As a push medium, it's much better for bringing things to your attention that you didn't know about. P2P mostly assumes that you already know what you're looking for, which allows you to hear music you've read about without making you buy it but doesn't encourage discovery by itself.
What I'm listening to now on Pandora...
I've never used Kazaa or similar P2P programs as they where ripe with security problems. I'm old fashioned enough to quite simply go to a music store and listen for my self, and buy it if I like it.
Way back in 2003, I searched for *.ogg with giftd and downloaded 3500 of em in one night. It took about a year before I had listened to them all and now I have an incredibly different perspective on music.
I'll Sig you!
Acctualy, a lot of music I hear in clubs, that I couldn't find in stores here in the US. Or what you can hear on your radio station sometimes past midnight on the weekends, when they're broadcasting @ a club (at least it seams to be the trend on here in the area on the pop stations). I was able to find on P2P networks, and I also found a lot of new artists producing electronic music, that I never heared of. And polish music (let the jokes come), Kazik, etc..., (for those in the know), stuff I wasn't able to listern to since I moved here.
I still pull a song or two here and now from P2P to check out a band a friend may have mentioned. It opened me up to alot of things I may/may not have bought before without hearing it.
Typically if I hear about a new band I do this:
1. find that band's website and see if they offer any downloads...
2. if none.. then I'll swing over to google for a quick search...
3. if none I'll jump on a P2P network and grab a file or two... listen and decide.
Then it's either off to purchase the CD or off to iTunes (typically both..as iTunes is typically lacking in my tastes). Besides I love having the original CD/Case.
"why don't you just slip into something more comfortable...like a coma!"
I've found networks such as Fasttrack and Gnutella lack a sense of community. There isn't much chatting going on. I've personally been influenced to listen to/buy new artists through the soulseek network. Through its use of chatrooms and using "user lists" as a method of browsing, soulseek has opened my eyes to many new artists (most being on non-evil labels).
I've discovered I like music much more when I don't have to pay for it.
"As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly." A. Carlson
P2P cannot change my taste of music, because I remember music by MUSIC (what a suprise) and not by the people playing/singing, name of band, etc.
It might start affecting it when someone developes a search sistem where i humm a certain melody and it comes up with similiar tunes.
Also (though I'll get flack for it I'm sure), the original Russian version of the Tatu disk (remember, the two Russian "lesbians" who sung "All the things she said"). Anyway, the Russian version of their album is 10x better then the English (and I don't speak a lick of Russian - pun kinda intended >=).
Course the RIAA hasn't seen any revenues from this "exploitation" (ever try to find Punjabi Hip Hop or Russian releases in Tower Records?!)
"1984" was ment to be a warning, not a guidebook. You hear that Kim Jong-il!? BushCo?!
P2P is a great way to listen to music that wouldn't otherwise be available. I've been able to track down songs from every corner of the planet, as well as tracking down those hard-to-find classics. Say what you want about the legality, but how am I supposed to buy an album if I don't know the name of an artist/song/album?
But more importantly, if I heard a song I liked and didn't know what it was, I could find out on the 'net and download it. But whenever I did that I would try to get other things by the artist to find out if I liked them. I bought more than a few of my CDs after finding music this way.
While the iTunes price isn't bad, it still discourages expirmatentation the way Napster and Kazaa used to let you. I think the idea of 5 or 10 cent music (as in that article that I think was posted here a day or two ago) would fix that problem for me. I think that would be about ideal without actually being free. Plus it would force the services to try to compete on a level other than price (the difference between 9 and 10 cents isn't a very good reason to switch services, so to get new people they'd have to have a better catalog, less DRM, better quality, whatever).
Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
I've found that, with the exception of some J-POP, my music taste hasn't changed dramatically only diversified a bit.
... though a US P.O. Box is tempting now...). Internet radio offers much more diversity in content.
I like maily rock, metal, blues, jazz and other misc types. I've found that using the Internet and P2P, I've been able to hear albums which are either really hard to find or that I would never have heard before. Simply using Amazon and looking at what other people have bought, I've found really helpful. When I used Kazaa, I browsed other's shared files, and often went and bought a few albums afterwards.
I've also found that using internet radio, has been really helpful. Canadian radio stations suck because of CRTC regulations (and I can't get Satellite radio
I'm a white, upper middle class suburban 37 year old male and never would have listened to rap or dance mixes had it not been for P2P. Likewise Mel Torme, who has some incredible vocal talent that I was previously unaware of.
Since the cost of the music was near zero for the friend of mine that grabbed it online, I could see if I liked it. Testing it out and seeing if I like something is a valuable thing - used to be (I hear) that record stores would let you do that. They don't do that now, I believe (though I've not been into a record store in 10 years).
So, I did make aesthetic decisions about groups based on P2P experiences, some positive and some negative.
I should mention that I'm a lot more likely to vomit down a record exec's shirt than ever purchase a CD again. But, I only really listen to the radio anyway (and at that, NPR), so they haven't lost any money on me.
One thing I'm wondering about is something my friend mentioned - that he download the stuff directly from napster and that was over 6 years ago. The statute of limitations on theft in Illinois is less than that. So, he legitimately now owns all the songs he got then. I'm not sure if he's right, but it was a funny perspective.
Unitarian Church: Freethinkers Congregate!
I never really listened to a whole lot of music before music piracy. I had one or two CDs, a couple tapes, and that was it.
;)
:)
A friend at school started passing a collection of mp3s on a CD around at school. I copied em' to my HDD, and gave em' a listen.
Without that CD, I might have not been introduced to Industrial, and might not have become a solo recording artist myself. I now have purchased hundreds of CDs, and occasionally purchase music from iTunes and Napster (not iTunes so much, though - I've only purchased about 10-15 songs online).
After getting that CD, I got a taste of NIN and KMFDM - And I was thirsty for more. I asked friends online if they would recommend me other artists. Once I got a recommendation, I usually hit Morpheus or whatever P2p client I was using at the time to check em' out if I couldn't find samples legally.
Now, thanks to p2p networks, I am a music fanatic. I listen to classical, industrial, 80s/early 90s metal, blues, jazz, funk, electronic rock, and more. I also am a huge fan of indie artists.
I'm all about doing things legit, so I don't keep the music I download. In fact, I don't download anymore - I can't. All P2P traffic is blocked by my college. We can't even use BitTorrent.
Oh well, it just helps me to stay legal while boycotting the RIAA. I buy used CDs nowadays, anyway. It's cheaper, and since I just rip them to my HDD, I don't need a CD that's going to last forever.
Now, if I could just get my fans to distribute my music on p2p networks
A small note: A year ago IIRC, I was using Limewire to do genre searches. Rather effective way to find quick artists in a genre, assuming people rip their music and edit the id3 tags properly
"Better to be vulgar than non-existent" -Bev Henson
If it wasn't for P2P, I never would have discovered Massive Attack. Now I own all of their albums on purchased CD's. What shit-for-brains in the RIAA thinks that P2P is bad for business?
music plasma saved my life! it shows a graphical map of artists and how they connect to other artists (in way of "genre"). Its some entirely arbitrary linkage and the breadth isnt that great, but its supposedly all based on user inputs.
i find audioscrobbler to be too over-run by the songs everyone has on their playlist. it doesnt really help you discern genre's, which is what is so great about musicplasma. its much more directly peer to peer, but somewhat less useful. you pretty much have to find well done groups, but even well done groups rarely play the music in the group.
Mood + genre awareness has a long ways to go.
-Myren
I recently found out a great way to pre-sort the good bands from the crappy ones. If the song you just downloaded is a 30 second loop or 3:15 of silence, then it typically means the band sucks and is in it just for the money (no talent or art). Thank you RIAA for helping us choose.
I had never really purchased that much music before. But here's the funny part: between 1999-2002 when I was really into Napster/Kazaa and other P2P networks I actually bought more music than ever before. Why? Because the stuff I really like to listen to I have to have in a CD. A downloaded MP3 just doesn't cut it for me in most cases. So I went out and bought the whole CD for those one or two songs I wanted. In some cases I found even better stuff, and in others the rest of the CD was crap, as is mostly the case. But them's the dregs.
I'm not going to try and make the point that music sharing promotes CD sales, because I don't think it's true regardless of my personal experience, but there's definitely something to say about a worldwide, diverse network of people who share their music. Back in the day you woudl find the most incredible stuff on Napster. Today (on the other networks) it's difficult to find anything beyond the top 40 crap, which is ironic considering that's precisely what the *AA people are trying to get off the networks.
...but iRate has certainly changed my taste in music, and without any paranoia about opening services to the 'net.
Got time? Spend some of it coding or testing
Without a doubt.
Countless times I've read of a band that sounds interesting and I get it off eMule or BitTorren. If it's interesting, I'll buy it or download it from a pay-service. (I just bought a bunch of Boris [.ja sludge/doom/rock from emusic.com in fact])
That all said, I'm sure the majority don't buy what they really enjoy but P2P has without a doubt expanded my musical horizons and helped my buying decisions.
Trolling is a art,
I don't listen to commercial radio, either. No explanation for that should be needed, beyond the fact that the music is soullessly pre-programmed and the non-music parts (commercials, jock patter, etc.) are apparently aimed at people with half my IQ. {shrug}
I get introduced to new music these days by listening to community radio. Real people, playing music they like, without regard for genre. I used to think I had eclectic taste in music, but it turns out everything I was listening to was just another kind of rock. Now I listen to and enjoy everything from jazz to folk to world beat to blues to a whole geology of rock and even a little country. And all over that new-fangled wireless broadcasting network invented by Marconi.
If you live in a city, there's probably a small, probably-struggling community broadcaster in your area. If you care about music and open access, try tossing some cash their way. And instead of illegally "sharing" music you like to a broadband-only audience via P2P, why not take a few hours a week to legally share it over the airwaves where anyone in your community with a radio can hear it?
http://alternatives.rzero.com/
This is slightly off-topic, but for broadening your musical knowledge I recommend you start listening to your local college radio station. Assuming you are in the US, and not too far from an urban area, you've probably got at least a couple stations with hugely varied programming available to you on your dial. A couple of my favorites: WRUW of Cleveland, and WFMU, a non-college indie station in New Jersey. Share eand enjoy.
- A friend can hear a song somewhere in the US, can tell me about it on the phone, and I can download it, even if the record store or radio stations here never heard of it.
- Looking for something, you always find something else you weren't looking for
- I LOVE the various versions of the same song, that you'd never hear or. Plus remixes.
- If you get a shard of lyric of a new2U song, you can find the title from google and d/l it to hear the whole thing, including determining who the artist is.
Downside of P2P:-
"All this machinery making modern music can still be open-hearted" (Name that album
Before P2P, I would only purchase "sure thing" albums that I heard on the radio and thus already loved and wanted to hear over and over. The thing about P2P is when it's all free you are able to aquire an entire album that you aren't sure about yet (since there is no monetary risk involved), and listen to it therefore letting it grow on you. You get the opportunity to take a chance on several bands that you might not otherwise purchase the CD. One example is the band "The Mars Volta". Nobody, and I mean nobody, heard this band the first time and though "I love this!". I downloaded some tracks and it took me a few listens before I realized it's pure genius. Only then when I loved the album did I purchase the CD (and on the day their second album was released I was first in line, without having to hear any of it). The same is true with many hardcore or metal bands that get no radio airplay. My musical tastes have grown greatly because I have a chance to hear all kinds of artists that I otherwise would not take a chance on.
Theres a major flaw in the radio system. Whenever they play a string of songs in a certain order for that day, if their ratings go up just a little bit, they will play the same exact songs in that order the next day. This is how they attempt to get higher ratings, while also failing to introduce newer bands.
Posts not to be taken literally. Almost everything is sarcasm.