Artists make very little money (relatively) off of record sales, they make their money from touring. That said, if I really like an album, I usually buy the vinyl because that way the record company will be encouraged to produce another album for said worthy artist and I can burn the better quality vinyl onto my computer and listen to it both places!

My favorite album so far this year is the new Apples in Stereo album, it may not be deep or clever, but it is a lot of fun. I thought the Shins new album was alright, but not great...

quote:

Originally posted by m.leland:
A lot of them never had to copy a tape. Man that sucked.

I remember when I was a kid, there was this place in town where you could rent albums. Sort of like a video store, but with vinyl records. So we would always go rent stuff, take it home and tape it. Somewhere in my mom's basement there's a crapload of pirated albums from the mid-80s.

Tapes sucked though. Worst format ever.

My favorite album of 2007 thus far is the new Of Montreal. It's amazing.

I read your name wrong all the time.

quote:

Originally posted by DrAwesome:
Artists make very little money (relatively) off of record sales, they make their money from touring.

While that is true, I still find it disturbing that so many people use that as an excuse to not pay anything at all for albums. Even though artists don't make the bulk of their income from album sales, record companies do use album sales, not Soulseek and Limewire downloads, as a gauge to determine whether or not to invest more money in a band's future recordings.

I hate to get into this argument again though.

quote:

Originally posted by ericg75:

quote:

Originally posted by DrAwesome:
Artists make very little money (relatively) off of record sales, they make their money from touring.

While that is true, I still find it disturbing that so many people use that as an excuse to not pay anything at all for albums. Even though artists don't make the bulk of their income from album sales, record companies do use album sales, not Soulseek and Limewire downloads, as a gauge to determine whether or not to invest more money in a band's future recordings.

I hate to get into this argument again though.

I think this argument is probably a close second to the "Pitchfork rules; no, it doesn't" argument as most common in the Music section of the Forums.

quote:

Originally posted by ericg75:
Even though artists don't make the bulk of their income from album sales, record companies do use album sales, not Soulseek and Limewire downloads, as a gauge to determine whether or not to invest more money in a band's future recordings.

Actually, their are companies who are paid by record companies to check limewire and various other services and to make a report about trends and artists.

quote:

Originally posted by ericg75:
I remember when I was a kid, there was this place in town where you could rent albums.

Yeah, we called it a "library."

quote:

Originally posted by PRG:

quote:

Originally posted by ericg75:
There is something nice about having an actual CD though. If I know something has great packaging, like Orphans, I'll still buy the physical copy.

This is something I have been stuggling with lately. I love having the CD with all the packaging and liner notes, but at the same time, it just costs so damn much. Amazon and buying used discs has helped with this, but I always end up buying some online and downloading them.

That's exactly how I've been feeling lately, but I'm probably still going to buy them. Amazon's great, and I occasionally order from Insound. I decided that I would download any EPs I want though, because generally there isn't much packaging, and it's a lot cheaper. I just wish buying CDs wasn't so expensive sometimes...

Oh...and Best of 2007...
I've heard 3 2007 albums so far, and they are:
Do Make Say Think You, You're A History In Rust
Of Montreal Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?
LCD Soundsystem Sound of Silver

And they go in order from top to bottom, from liked best to liked least. Sound of Silver's still OK, but there are some songs on there I just find really annoying. The other two are great all around.

quote:

Originally posted by PRG:

quote:

Originally posted by ericg75:
I remember when I was a kid, there was this place in town where you could rent albums.

Yeah, we called it a "library."

LOL. No, it was an actual business and they had more popular stuff. The library is better now, but when I was a kid, their music selection was pretty limited.

I dunno, the library where I live still has a terrible selection of music. Maybe their classics sections aren't bad but I've never seen an album I'd listen to in a public library.

quote:

Originally posted by Chamberk:
I dunno, the library where I live still has a terrible selection of music. Maybe their classics sections aren't bad but I've never seen an album I'd listen to in a public library.

I'm not sure about the library where I currently live, but the library where I lived about 5 years ago was pretty top notch. I remember checking out Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, Dead Kennedys, The Buzzcocks, Guided By Voices, Frank Black...all kinds of stuff. They had a pretty impressive selection. Nice selection of DVDs too. And it was free!

quote:

Originally posted by Chamberk:
I dunno, the library where I live still has a terrible selection of music. Maybe their classics sections aren't bad but I've never seen an album I'd listen to in a public library.

I've copped a lot of great albums from local libraries but you've got to belong to a few different ones to get a comprehensive selection.

quote:

Originally posted by ericg75:

I remember when I was a kid, there was this place in town where you could rent albums. Sort of like a video store, but with vinyl records. So we would always go rent stuff, take it home and tape it. Somewhere in my mom's basement there's a crapload of pirated albums from the mid-80s.

Interesting. When I lived in Brisbane (late 1990s) there was a store that rented CDs, the only one of its kind I've ever seen. Perfect way to acquire a shitload of music cheaply.

Not that most of you don't probably know this, but you can find most albums used on Amazon or ebay for dirt cheap, sometimes $1 or less + shipping. If you're lucky and savvy you can grab 6 of them from the same seller for the price of one new CD. Just a thought toward the "buying CDs is too expensive" idea.

Oh, on subject, the new Shins album is pretty pleasant and will probably be near the bottom of my top 20 (but that ain't a bad thing)

When I started downloading a lot of music a couple years ago, I decided that my policy was to buy the CDs that I really liked directly from the artist, either at a show or online. My second priority was to buy it directly from the label, if it's an independent.

I've also started downloading advances of as many of my most highly anticipated albums as possible, to be able to take advantage of week-of-release sales at the record store (quite often $9.99).

A new trend seems to be offering extras with the purchase of the actual CD. For instance, last year I bought the Pernice Brothers album directly from Ashmont and they include a bonus CD of demos and outtakes signed by Joe. Newbury Comics, the local chain around here has managed to survive, while Virgin Megastore and Tower Records have fallen, partly due to such creative marketing. Last year's Decemberists album included a nice lithograph and The Hold Steady came with a comic book.

I've only listened to two 2007 releases so far:

The Shins - really starting to enjoying it after the third listen.

Of Montreal - only listened once, but every song seems to have something interesting going on, so I think I'm really going to like it.

The Of Montreal record is easily the best thing I've heard from 2007 thus far.

amon tobin - the foley room, is the best i've heard of 07 so far. great album

I don't have any of the big 2007 releases (I'm not a big pre-release downloader) but the new Sloan record (a 2006 release in Canada, but out this week in the US) is chockablock full of good classic rock/power pop riffage. It's a little long (30 songs, 77 minutes) but it's pretty solid.