The procurement of music

Spotify has almost completely obliterated piracy for me. I know it's still a bit iffy in terms of how much the artist receives, but I generally only listen to big name artists on spotify anyway. And I'll always buy a vinyl version if I listen to something often.

I mostly buy digital. Exceptions are releases from rephlex and affiliated and a couple of artists (ae, boc, the usual suspects).

So most music i buy are tracks instead of albums. Only lossless, btw. Not spending any money on some lossy format. The only exception to that rule is when giving the gf a track/album trough the itunes store. ;D

  On 11/18/2013 at 8:10 AM, modey said:

Spotify has almost completely obliterated piracy for me. I know it's still a bit iffy in terms of how much the artist receives, but I generally only listen to big name artists on spotify anyway. And I'll always buy a vinyl version if I listen to something often.

Yeah it pays very little but it's better than nothing, formats/concepts have to start somewhere. Above all else, it's legal. I've been using Spotify for months now.

i've always been resistant to Spotify because when i first tried it years ago i thought its selection was kind of shitty and restricted mostly to major-label artists, but judging from what people in this thread are saying, it sounds like it's pretty good now. so do you guys all pay the monthly premium cost? looks like it's pretty much essential to get the most out of it (high quality streams, no ads, mobile use, etc.). i ought to give it a(nother) go.

these days i try and buy vinyl when possible, but i don't have the funds at the minute to indulge myself too much... i still buy CDs on occasion, usually used, because they're generally super cheap these days. the only digital i buy tends to be digital-only. i don't mind paying for 320 mp3s (nothing less), still haven't really got into FLAC for different reasons (i still use iTunes, i live in a rural area with a ~1mb line, etc.). seems like it would be a lot of work to upgrade all my rips and other downloads to FLAC, so i try and be content with 320 (which, by and large, i am).

  On 11/18/2013 at 6:34 PM, Ron Manager said:

i've always been resistant to Spotify because when i first tried it years ago i thought its selection was kind of shitty and restricted mostly to major-label artists, but judging from what people in this thread are saying, it sounds like it's pretty good now. so do you guys all pay the monthly premium cost? looks like it's pretty much essential to get the most out of it (high quality streams, no ads, mobile use, etc.). i ought to give it a(nother) go.

 

these days i try and buy vinyl when possible, but i don't have the funds at the minute to indulge myself too much... i still buy CDs on occasion, usually used, because they're generally super cheap these days. the only digital i buy tends to be digital-only. i don't mind paying for 320 mp3s (nothing less), still haven't really got into FLAC for different reasons (i still use iTunes, i live in a rural area with a ~1mb line, etc.). seems like it would be a lot of work to upgrade all my rips and other downloads to FLAC, so i try and be content with 320 (which, by and large, i am).

I was in the same boat as you thinking Spotify would have no good artists to listen to, but there's actually an immense amount of music on there. Stuff you'd never think would be. I feel shitty for how little the artists get paid though. Really hope that changes. Also the quality is 320 when you pay the monthly fee.

Yeah I find it easier to find many tape label releases on Spotify than a few major "artists." It's like an easier way of exploring music that's on bandcamp. (I could care less if Radiohead and the Beatles are unavailable. If you really need to you can upload music for playlists.)

I get the impression that there's an opt-out option. For example, Four Tet's discography isn't on there, only DJ and comp appearances. Much of Warp is hit-or-miss. Boards of Canada was absent until a month or two ago. I have no idea what puts someone's digital music on Spotify immediately: their label or CD baby licensing perhaps (my friend says CD Baby sorts out iTunes and Amazon options for artists, perhaps Spotify does too). It's a hell of a better option than the illegal nature of youtube and grooveshark and soundcloud uploads. No money yet but it's logged.

I've also heard horror stories of indie labels publishing music and not compensating artists that have nothing to do with streaming options like Spotify and Bandcamp. I won't name him but an artist I spoke to IRL who is on Mush_Records says he won't recommend them to anyone based on his experience and that, without elaborating, he hasn't been paid shit. I noticed he's since released on local labels coupled with bandcamp and that he's had much better luck with those. It seems the "mid-size" indie labels are on the way out. It's either ones with really good distro and PR or ones with small niche audiences for physical formats and bandcamp/big cartel as the digital source that seem to be doing ok.

Yeah it's funny how patchy Warp's discography is on Spotify. For some reason Squarepusher only has three tracks from each album available (at least in Australia).

But yes, I pay the premium rate of $12.99/month or whatever it is. It satisfies my ridiculous desire to constantly listen to music I haven't heard before, which would send me broke if I bought music the traditional way.

i buy stuff when i've got money

when i'm poor i just surf YouTube

only digital with a few vinyl exceptions.

I'd say my most satisfying music procurement events occur with used vinyl and used CD shopping. My most disappointing events are almost always when I'm feeling in need of 'new' music or when i feel like i'm not caught up and i'll go to soulseek and just fire up a bunch of the stuff on Boomkat or Bleep that looks/sounds alright or is hyped up a lot. I'm often just left in a state of astonishment to how bland and samey a lot of it is.

Yeah, I do love going record shopping in secondhand stores. I always seem to find something amazing.. like the time I found ISS:SA, Gantz Graf and Get Down by Pita on vinyl for $5 each.

  On 11/18/2013 at 8:39 PM, LimpyLoo said:

i buy stuff when i've got money

 

when i'm poor i just surf YouTube

Pretty much this

Full Album uploads + Youtube Feather

*drinks*

  On 11/18/2013 at 11:58 PM, usagi said:

*drinks*

you're not sticking to the rules of the game. unless you're using a broad definition of contrarian. Is it going against mainstream opinion (on this forum) to state that procuring music through the featured page on Boomkat and Bleep often leads to disappointment? I dont think it is

If i had said that used CD and vinyl record shopping is for hipster faggots then I'd say you can take a drink

I pretty much only buy digital, unless I want to listen to it in my car. CDs/vinyls/DVDs shit like that, I now view as clutter.

I am a bad human being

ETA to make matters worse, I will often choose the MP3 version to save £1

  On 11/15/2013 at 11:36 AM, M360 said:

Research using youtube, amazon samples, allmusic, etc.

If FLAC files are available, I buy those rather than physical media. It all gets ripped to the computer anyhow, and I don't need more CDs taking up space. A happy side effect is that the artist tends to make a larger profit that way.

  On 11/19/2013 at 12:13 AM, John Ehrlichman said:

 

  On 11/18/2013 at 11:58 PM, usagi said:

*drinks*

 

you're not sticking to the rules of the game. unless you're using a broad definition of contrarian. Is it going against mainstream opinion (on this forum) to state that procuring music through the featured page on Boomkat and Bleep often leads to disappointment? I dont think it is

 

If i had said that used CD and vinyl record shopping is for hipster faggots then I'd say you can take a drink

oh, ok.

*takes a penalty drink*

Soulseek download for general impressions, if I still find myself listening after a month or so I'll buy the vinyl.

If not, I'll delete the files.

In the case of rare or OOP stuff my conscience doesn't apply and I take whatever I can get, illegal or no.

Still like to buy new/used CDs now and again but it's starting to feel a bit weird; like a couple of months ago when I noticed for the first time that all I'd done with recent purchase was to rip it to my digital collection, and that I hadn't actually LISTENED to the CD per se. I've accepted the inevitability that it's only a matter of time before I go completely digital/library/files as 99% of my listening nowadays is on home/work computer or my sansa clip (car stereo, headphones, etc.), though old habits are hard to break.

Like yshf I also like to browse slsk records for new sounds and OOP/batshit-insane-prices used releases, and sometimes I'll occasionally grab a leak if it's something I know I'll definitely buy. More recently, I had the quintessential Keanu "Whoa" moment when a cd I bought by mail arrived and I realized that the leaked rip I had was already flac, so why bother ripping AT ALL?

I do say though for completely arbitrary reasons that my copy of Burger/Ink's Las Vegas sounds absolutely fabuloughs on the ca. 1998 Sony boombox (replete with cassette deck) we have in our Kitchen.

  On 11/18/2013 at 10:40 PM, John Ehrlichman said:

I'd say my most satisfying music procurement events occur with used vinyl and used CD shopping. My most disappointing events are almost always when I'm feeling in need of 'new' music or when i feel like i'm not caught up and i'll go to soulseek and just fire up a bunch of the stuff on Boomkat or Bleep that looks/sounds alright or is hyped up a lot. I'm often just left in a state of astonishment to how bland and samey a lot of it is.

Despite our often differing stances on what we'd both deem as "trendy" music, I agree with you here. I get far more satisfaction from random finds IRL or personal recommendations...which would include WATMM recommendations for that matter. Bleep and Boomkat are becoming pretty "secondary" to me as sources.

One of my favorite albums this year was a locally released cassette I picked up on a complete whim.

i failed to mention that often I will get musical recommendations from people on this forum as well. I get most of my new release news here. For the past decade probably I've been digesting an equal amount of old and new music, sometimes more leaning towards old stuf, which I mostly find out about on watmm as well. I think my obsession with old electronic music is probably the main reason i still go vinyl record shopping. Something about doing that I find much more satisfying than downloading/hoarding an entire year's worth of some obscure vinyl rip Moog blog.
There is a level of being a personal curator when ingesting music that is lost with a lot of the new internet presentations. I think my old fashioned mind is probably the main reason I dislike just being handed music by other curators who had no part in making it, unless it's a label or a collective of some sort. Of course someone running an archival niche blog offends my sensibilities far less than a paid curator working for a music store or advertising driven magazine

To me this has carried over into things that were once more personal, take for example going into Ameoba and getting recommendations based on store employees. Notice how almost all of them mimic various top 40 lists, whether it be Pitchfork or Rolling Stone. There is a magazine /record store about 2 miles away from my house where the dude who owns it sells used vinyl. He takes the time to write up a little 2 sentence description on all the records from his own personal collection. Pretty much every time I visit I'll buy one of these used records blind based on his recommendation. I've never been disappointed.

  On 11/18/2013 at 6:38 PM, Gravity said:

I was in the same boat as you thinking Spotify would have no good artists to listen to, but there's actually an immense amount of music on there. Stuff you'd never think would be. I feel shitty for how little the artists get paid though. Really hope that changes. Also the quality is 320 when you pay the monthly fee.

  On 11/18/2013 at 7:43 PM, joshuatx said:

Yeah I find it easier to find many tape label releases on Spotify than a few major "artists." It's like an easier way of exploring music that's on bandcamp. (I could care less if Radiohead and the Beatles are unavailable. If you really need to you can upload music for playlists.)

 

I get the impression that there's an opt-out option. For example, Four Tet's discography isn't on there, only DJ and comp appearances. Much of Warp is hit-or-miss. Boards of Canada was absent until a month or two ago. I have no idea what puts someone's digital music on Spotify immediately: their label or CD baby licensing perhaps (my friend says CD Baby sorts out iTunes and Amazon options for artists, perhaps Spotify does too). It's a hell of a better option than the illegal nature of youtube and grooveshark and soundcloud uploads. No money yet but it's logged.

 

I've also heard horror stories of indie labels publishing music and not compensating artists that have nothing to do with streaming options like Spotify and Bandcamp. I won't name him but an artist I spoke to IRL who is on Mush_Records says he won't recommend them to anyone based on his experience and that, without elaborating, he hasn't been paid shit. I noticed he's since released on local labels coupled with bandcamp and that he's had much better luck with those. It seems the "mid-size" indie labels are on the way out. It's either ones with really good distro and PR or ones with small niche audiences for physical formats and bandcamp/big cartel as the digital source that seem to be doing ok.

cool, cheers guys. downloaded Spotify last night and signed up for the month's trial so i'll have a poke around and see if i use it over the next month. i like the last.fm integration, and the access to local files is convenient (sometimes it's not clear whether something i'm searching for is just on my HDD or available online though). it's interesting seeing what obscurities pop up and which 'bigger' (mid-size) labels have scanty selection.

also, will Spotify stop recommending me bullshit when it 'gets to know' my tastes? or do you always get bombarded with top 40 chart rubbish?

  On 11/19/2013 at 2:07 PM, Ron Manager said:

also, will Spotify stop recommending me bullshit when it 'gets to know' my tastes? or do you always get bombarded with top 40 chart rubbish?

Next it will start recommending music you already listen to!

  On 11/19/2013 at 2:07 PM, Ron Manager said:

also, will Spotify stop recommending me bullshit when it 'gets to know' my tastes? or do you always get bombarded with top 40 chart rubbish?

Spotify recommendations are a joke, I literally look at "Browse" for the lolz only. I'm looking now - there's a Daughtry ad on top.

It's almost sad how much I want to scoff at it. The "Discover" feature is basically a mediocre last.fm "lite" feature. It's somewhat effective but very spammy (they really want me to listen to Panda Bear for example) and well, confused:

The Streets Feel Me