CheepAss Musical Media Thrad

I'm going to obtain a bunch of things and put my music on those things and stick them in random locations for people to find, BUT i haven't figured out what things to put my things on yet

 

CD-R

pros: cheap as heck, super popular, radio stations take them

cons: fragile, fewer computers have drives now (including mine so no go)

 

FLOPPY

pros: cool as heck, doubles as album cover

cons: only hold like one song or lofi noise, drives were hunted to extinction

 

USB STICK

pros: popular, durable, every computer has ports

cons: haven't found them cheap, kinda bumpy, radio might not take it

 

SD CARD

pros: can be bought for under $1 a piece in bulk

cons: radio thing, might not fit in all drives?

 

So at the moment I'm thinking std cards - what's the best place to buy them? I'm looking at aliexpress because they've always seem trustworthy with their sales of uranium and endangered animal parts.

 

Also any other discussion about the creation and free distribution of music / zines / art / etc on the cheap

woah, SD cards for under $1? that's amazing. I'd never thought of releasing music on SD card. Could package it in a Nintendo DS style case or something.

 

 

As for other ways to distribute, I did one last year with my Titan album where I bought a big bag of spaceman figurines for a couple of bucks (same size/style as your standard army men figurines) and put them in little ziplock bags with a card containing the artwork and a download code. Sold like fucking hotcakes at $7 each! People didn't seem to have a problem with the fact that the actual music wasn't in the package—I guess it could be expanded by perhaps 3D printing some custom USB stick enclosures but that would be costly.

 

 

edit: CD-Rs are dead, imo. The sooner we eliminate all forms of optical media from the face of the earth, the better. Sure, they were convenient once upon a time but it's over now. Shame I bought a big stack of mini-DVD-Rs in preparation for a 5.1 album I never finished, haha

Edited May 8, 2014 by modey

I would say that flash media would probably be more alluring than cd's.

Being someone who looks for media that is left in coffee shops occasionally when grabbing some Jo, CD's work best for me, then thumb drives.

 

Also, who the fuck doesn't have a CD-R drive these days? I can see the floppy, but if you are so technologically advanced you no longer need to use CD's or DVD's you have gone too far.

They're just so slow and fragile. I hate that you can eventually almost destroy them through the mere act of putting them in a drive, even if you're super careful.

Go with CD-Rs, but burn them as data discs with your music in 64 kbps wma and 1500 hours of free dial-up internet

SD cards grow old too, I've had several die on me. figured my phone was dying but it was just the sd cards.. they get real slow.

 

sd cards are nicer though, but not the minis.. have SD card sized stamp artworks on them and call them L-SD cards

Cassettes?

  On 5/8/2014 at 3:23 AM, Bob Dobalina said:

Go with CD-Rs, but burn them as data discs with your music in 64 kbps wma and 1500 hours of free dial-up internet

lol

My point is that I would be much more inclined to investigate a flash drive left behind than a cd. I have cd's in my house that I don't even know what are on them.

geocaching!

I vote for floppy discs. They're retro and retro is so cool and exciting these days. It's also pretty cool because few people will actually be able to play them.

So if you make up some fake bio, where you pretend to be a former Soviet scientist, you have the ultimate IDM release.

  On 5/8/2014 at 1:17 AM, modey said:

woah, SD cards for under $1? that's amazing.

caveat is that i haven't actually bought them yet, and the source has very very mixed reviews in terms of actually delivering. Thinking about laying down $25 just to find out

  Quote

a card containing the artwork and a download code

This option really appeals to me for being hella cheap and not contributing to plastic junk. I've thought about distributing strictly paper zines that are just like, insane rants & links to my website. But there's something appealing about the idea of stumbling across some music that isn't online, that no one else has heard, contained on a piece of physical media

  On 5/8/2014 at 2:50 AM, Audioblysk said:

who the fuck doesn't have a CD-R drive these days?

Netbooks

  On 5/8/2014 at 5:03 AM, paranerd said:

Cassettes?

Cassettes are cool and still surprisingly easy to obtain (like even disregarding the analog revival, most electronic stores just never stopped selling them), but putting an album on one would mean holding my tape recorder on for 30+ minutes a pop. Might be cool for single songs, though. I know some punk bands out west do something like that - every album on cassette and each a unique recording.

  On 5/8/2014 at 7:33 AM, AdieuErsatzEnnui said:

I would be much more inclined to investigate a flash drive left behind than a cd

yeah same. i'd pick up a usb stick, because you can re-use those. A CD I would just assume is garbage unless it has a note on it like PLZ LISTEN TO MEEEE STRANGER

  On 5/8/2014 at 9:03 AM, yek said:

geocaching!

Ooh this would be fun if it caught on, like all sorts of people putting cards way out in the woods with little messages or jingles recorded to them

yeah where are the 1$ sd cards? i searched for bulk sd and found some silly expensive ones on amazon which didn't make sense...

 

i think sd card with a custom label would be a pretty neat format in general. they look cool, they aren't easily damaged if you leave them laying around or near magnets, but they will probably die at some point. haha. you'd want a giant "sleeve" to hold it in so it doesn't get lost, but that's not a bad thing either.

 

i found sd cards that turn into usb sticks which just seems cool to me...hmmm, they'd be affordable if you were selling the album.... http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Super-Speed-Ultra-Memory-Built/dp/B003RYJS90/ref=pd_sim_e_5?ie=UTF8&refRID=09AHKB9QJHNETAMPCKKK

  On 5/10/2014 at 2:50 AM, Jonah said:

yeah where are the 1$ sd cards? i searched for bulk sd and found some silly expensive ones on amazon which didn't make sense...

i don't wanna advertise them until i receive my batch, in case the quality turns out to be gahbadge

Honestly I'd never pick up a usb or an sd card, and if I would I'd take it to lost & found, so unless they're very clearly labelled (which detracts from the mystery) I'd go for something else.

Edited May 10, 2014 by poblequadrat

^good point. i think attached notes are the way to go, but like you said there's a trick to hooking someone's interest and "am starving musician plz be lissnen to my viral markatin" feels distinctly untechno

Let us know how this whole thing goes, I've always wanted to do something similar myself but I've never gotten around to it. If it goes well for you I might consider doing the same sort of thing.