"How do you expect independent recording artists to afford the up-front fees for having a disc pressed and getting a UPC number?"
I am an independent recording artist.Paying these fees is not an impossibility. We're not all starving. Promise. If you want it badly enough, what money comes goes to production. A lot of limited pressings are made like this, which also makes their resale value soar quite a bit if the name of the artist(s) gets highly sought after. Also, there are many ways to get your art produced that does not involve having a disc pressed (merzbow self-released a lot(> 100) of casettes before he was big! They're pretty cheap these days.) And quite a large amount of the music I see in stores with a diverse selection does not have UPCs on them at all. Even if on a larger label like Fat Wreck-Chords, Propaghandi got their last albumn realeased sans UPC. (Major stores that req'd a bar code for inventory just did what they usually do in that case, make their own that fits their own database schema.)
"Do you carry a huge CD wallet around with you wherever you go so that you don't need to put MP3s on an iPod?"
Actually I like the sounds of living, so usually I don't carry music with me. Also, I like the process of choosing what I'm going to take with me. It feels a bit like designing a clean piece of code going through and selecting each one by hand. It also allows me to have a moment of introsepction. Seeing where my mind is and what it is drawn to is always illucidating.
"Two things: First of all, some goods are better purchased in a brick-and-mortar store, where the buyer has the opportunity to look at the products from all angles and touch them before buying them."
Very true. Physical reality is great. I like walking and touching things before I buy them and seeing the color of the vinyl or CD print and getting a first impression of liner notes. I wasn't trying to make the case that brick and mortar should be abandoned. Just saying that where I am (a swim from NYC) the city and all it's great record stores are quite a trip if I already know what I want. I love Kim's and Other Music and all the places that let you go in and listen to things. (kim's vinyl rules for this! but bring yr own headphones and have a 1/4" plug on them.)
"Second, many people have Internet access only by going to a public library, which in many cases is farther away than a store and/or closed on Sundays and Mondays."
Yea, been there myself. Used to use a lot of mail order back then and then of course there were 2 stores in the area that always had new stuff I wanted, but again mail order for the things I already knew I wanted..
I don't go into a lot of record stores to buy the CDs I want. 1) I have specifc taste.. it seems that few stores have a lot of the lesser known things I love. I must go to a specific store.
2) specific stores are far far away.
3) internet is right here.
4) even when it wasn't, I used mail order for above reasons.
addendum 2a) and many retail workers at these stores all seem to suffer from Condescending-Indie-itis. screw you, scenester. Nice $40 used shirt...
Also: I may be a hacker, but I have not a single mp3. I buy *everything*. I want the artwork. I want to touch it. I want to hold it as I listen. I want to see my CD cases piled high on my player and a box of records next to it.. ls -l just doesn't compete with that!
It is prejudicial to just decide knowing nothing that this man is anything but onto something that may or may not be true.
I myself have seen lights in the sky.. very very high, in triplicate actually, dancing in strange ways. I've also seen things with my eyes waking and sleeping and at states somewhere in between that make me very certain of one thing: We can not be certain of where we are.
A strange phenomenon happens to us. Those of us who use computers all day. We go away to a different place in our mind.
I feel it is extremely important that NONE OF US *KNOW* whether what he was looking for was found, was to be found or anything.
However, my intuition tells me that a dude who took this long to be caught, was not breaking in "deleting 1300 user accounts" and shutting down the sytems he got into, like the journalists say. My spidey (s/spidey/bullshit) sense tingles when reading those words.
Let's try to keep an open mind.
DMT: alien abduction.
But if it is in the brain naturally.. then what's the difference between using seratonin for learning and DMT for alien experience.
All different code sections use different functions and our brain functions on electro-chemical code.
We are in this. We do not understand.
So.. until we do, let's not close our minds to someone else. There is no decisive proof for or against... but for myself.. I seriously question where I am a lot of the time.
I suggest we all do that however makes sense for us with sincerity and introspective honesty.
There is more out there than we know.
There is just as much out there as there is in here.
love to you all,
-[psyphiber]-
Slashdot Mirror
"How do you expect independent recording artists to afford the up-front fees for having a disc pressed and getting a UPC number?"
I am an independent recording artist.Paying these fees is not an impossibility. We're not all starving. Promise. If you want it badly enough, what money comes goes to production. A lot of limited pressings are made like this, which also makes their resale value soar quite a bit if the name of the artist(s) gets highly sought after.
Also, there are many ways to get your art produced that does not involve having a disc pressed (merzbow self-released a lot(> 100) of casettes before he was big! They're pretty cheap these days.)
And quite a large amount of the music I see in stores with a diverse selection does not have UPCs on them at all. Even if on a larger label like Fat Wreck-Chords, Propaghandi got their last albumn realeased sans UPC. (Major stores that req'd a bar code for inventory just did what they usually do in that case, make their own that fits their own database schema.)
"Do you carry a huge CD wallet around with you wherever you go so that you don't need to put MP3s on an iPod?"
Actually I like the sounds of living, so usually I don't carry music with me. Also, I like the process of choosing what I'm going to take with me. It feels a bit like designing a clean piece of code going through and selecting each one by hand. It also allows me to have a moment of introsepction. Seeing where my mind is and what it is drawn to is always illucidating.
"Two things: First of all, some goods are better purchased in a brick-and-mortar store, where the buyer has the opportunity to look at the products from all angles and touch them before buying them."
Very true. Physical reality is great. I like walking and touching things before I buy them and seeing the color of the vinyl or CD print and getting a first impression of liner notes.
I wasn't trying to make the case that brick and mortar should be abandoned. Just saying that where I am (a swim from NYC) the city and all it's great record stores are quite a trip if I already know what I want. I love Kim's and Other Music and all the places that let you go in and listen to things. (kim's vinyl rules for this! but bring yr own headphones and have a 1/4" plug on them.)
"Second, many people have Internet access only by going to a public library, which in many cases is farther away than a store and/or closed on Sundays and Mondays."
Yea, been there myself. Used to use a lot of mail order back then and then of course there were 2 stores in the area that always had new stuff I wanted, but again mail order for the things I already knew I wanted..
love and light,
-=[psyphiber]=-
I don't go into a lot of record stores to buy the CDs I want.
1) I have specifc taste.. it seems that few stores have a lot of the lesser known things I love. I must go to a specific store.
2) specific stores are far far away.
3) internet is right here.
4) even when it wasn't, I used mail order for above reasons.
addendum
2a) and many retail workers at these stores all seem to suffer from Condescending-Indie-itis.
screw you, scenester. Nice $40 used shirt...
Also:
I may be a hacker, but I have not a single mp3.
I buy *everything*.
I want the artwork. I want to touch it. I want to hold it as I listen. I want to see my CD cases piled high on my player and a box of records next to it..
ls -l just doesn't compete with that!
It is prejudicial to just decide knowing nothing that this man is anything but onto something that may or may not be true. I myself have seen lights in the sky.. very very high, in triplicate actually, dancing in strange ways. I've also seen things with my eyes waking and sleeping and at states somewhere in between that make me very certain of one thing: We can not be certain of where we are. A strange phenomenon happens to us. Those of us who use computers all day. We go away to a different place in our mind. I feel it is extremely important that NONE OF US *KNOW* whether what he was looking for was found, was to be found or anything. However, my intuition tells me that a dude who took this long to be caught, was not breaking in "deleting 1300 user accounts" and shutting down the sytems he got into, like the journalists say. My spidey (s/spidey/bullshit) sense tingles when reading those words. Let's try to keep an open mind. DMT: alien abduction. But if it is in the brain naturally.. then what's the difference between using seratonin for learning and DMT for alien experience. All different code sections use different functions and our brain functions on electro-chemical code. We are in this. We do not understand. So.. until we do, let's not close our minds to someone else. There is no decisive proof for or against. .. but for myself.. I seriously question where I am a lot of the time.
I suggest we all do that however makes sense for us with sincerity and introspective honesty.
There is more out there than we know.
There is just as much out there as there is in here.
love to you all,
-[psyphiber]-