Best Ever Albums

Re: Anyone use Spotify?

Anonymous — Tue, 14 Jan 2014 04:46:05 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 01/14/2014 09:46

It's hard to believe that people are not just consumming albums, when most people around here change their chart like I change my knickers! 😁

I guess I just like things that are 'real' in a tangible sense. I like the smell and feel of vinyl and the memories it provokes which I just don't get from a digital library (be it legal or illegal)! To me the digital seems somehow dispsable and as transient as the air I breathe. I have the same feelings towards books v. ebooks as well... I am also now at an age where physical reminders have become increasingly more important to me... Old, senile crazy cat ladies need some semblance of normality to cling on to! 😁

Plus my record collection is worth a mint (based on a recent insurance evaluation)... Should see me right in my frail old dotage... I bet your digital library (illegal or otherwise) won't do that! 😜

Re: Anyone use Spotify?

Anonymous — Tue, 14 Jan 2014 04:44:45 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 01/14/2014 09:44

It's hard to believe that people are not just consumming albums, when most people around here change their chart like I change my knickers! 😁

I guess I just like things that are 'real' in a tangible sense. I like the smell and feel of vinyl and the memories it provokes which I just don't get from a digital library (be it legal or illegal)! To me the digital seems somehow dispsable and as transient as the air I breathe. I have the same feelings towards books v. ebooks as well... I am also now at an age where physical reminders have become increasingly more important to me... Old, senile crazy cat ladies need some semblance of normality to cling on to! 😁

Plus my record collection is worth a mint (based on a recent insurance evaluation)... Should see me right in my frail old dotage... I bet your digital library (illegal or otherwise) won't do that! 😜

Re: Anyone use Spotify?

Anonymous — Tue, 14 Jan 2014 03:21:07 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 01/14/2014 08:21

lethalnezzle wrote:

Tbh I was just giving the other side since nobody else was. There are certain albums that I fell in love with in a big way prior to my mp3 days that shaped my listening (would I have spent days on end listening to It Takes a Nation of Millions... or Wowee Zowee on repeat if I hadn't just spent my pocket money on them?), but I definitely feel there has been a change for the better.

Fair enough, your musings are always welcome, I just don't want to give the impression that I'm avidly anti-piracy. I got my first cease-and-desist from the Lennon/Ono lawyers when I was 15, so I'm very sympathetic to illegal downloading. 😉

Re: Anyone use Spotify?

Anonymous — Tue, 14 Jan 2014 03:11:18 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 01/14/2014 08:11

sp4cetiger wrote:

Oh yeah, I thought that was a given. Mecca and I are almost as much kids of the digital age as you are (Napster was a thing when I was a teen), I just thought it was interesting to see one way it could be bad to have so much music available. I definitely prefer the current environment as well.

Re: Anyone use Spotify?

benpaco — Tue, 14 Jan 2014 02:57:39 GMT

Author: benpaco

Posted: 01/14/2014 07:57

I feel like the point of this thread was "Got any good playlists?" or "What do you think of the radio?" or something. This has gotten so much cooler 😄

Re: Anyone use Spotify?

Anonymous — Tue, 14 Jan 2014 02:54:30 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 01/14/2014 07:54

lethalnezzle wrote:

... I guess both sides have their advantages, but I'd take today's landscape - with its millions of albums and all of them freely available - over that of 20 years ago every day of the week.

Re: Anyone use Spotify?

Anonymous — Tue, 14 Jan 2014 02:35:30 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 01/14/2014 07:35

OK, well I guess it's up to me to defend the under-25s here, since you three are having a jolly old circle jerk about only listening to one album every day for a year whilst eating dry toast and sleeping on a bed of made of newspaper because it's all you had back in the day or something 😉 . I admit that I sometimes don't give albums a fair chance. I'll hear them twice (or once if they particularly offend me) and never bother again, consign them to history because hey, they were free and there's tons more on my listening list. There are albums I listen to and can't remember a thing about when questioned about them later, but that phenomenon isn't unique to my generation. I can guarantee that not one person on this site can remember every single album they've ever heard. Nobody here is Rain Man. But the albums I love? I can honestly say I must have heard at least half of my Top 30 of 2013 over twenty times, which is the equivalent of listening to a record twice a day for over a week. The rest of my Top 100 for the year are all albums I've given plenty of love and attention to. My favourite records from 2012 have stayed with me throughout this year, and plays of some of those albums must be well over fifty I would think, not to mention favourites from throughout my life that I'm constantly turning to. (These are all educated guesses btw, I'm not one of these people that keeps track of how many times I listen to every record, nor do I think the amount of plays of a record is the definitive way of measuring how good it is.) Sure, I might not have lived in these records for weeks at a time, playing them and them alone endlessly for days on end (although there are still a few records this year I did that with, m b v and musiccargo's Harmonie springing to mind), but I wouldn't want to. I don't understand how that is possibly superior to having the world at your fingertips. What if you got it wrong? There are some albums that, try as I might, I just can't enjoy. What if I wasted my pocket money on one of those records through accident or misfortune, a misleading review or an unrepresentative lead single? Why should we endlessly persevere with a record we don't enjoy? If it's all you own and you wasted your only money on it, I guess you feel obligated. Sometimes it might work out and eventually come good, otherwise you cut your losses and swap it with a mate for something else that's a total gamble. How is that a superior way of listening to being able to just download or stream a new album if, after a couple of listens, the last one you tried was shit? I know everybody gets romantic about their own youth, but I really struggle to see how almost limitless availability can possibly be a bad thing. I don't see the love we reserve for albums as being a finite source - instead of assuming we all briefly enjoy thirty new albums but struggle to truly love any, why not just accept that we can actually fall in love with thirty albums as opposed to just sticking to two or three? I guess both sides have their advantages, but I'd take today's landscape - with its millions of albums and all of them freely available - over that of 20 years ago every day of the week.

Re: Anyone use Spotify?

Anonymous — Mon, 13 Jan 2014 16:16:26 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 01/13/2014 21:16

Mancsoulsister wrote:

I think I agree with this to a large extent...

Everything seems to be focussed on the consumption of music rather than its enjoyment these days. If you look round BEA, there are any number of threads dedicated to the 'how many albums did you listen to today' consumption mentality. All of these threads eventually descend into a huge dick measuring contest where the person who has listened to the most somehow 'wins'!

When your only option was to buy music, you devoured and savoured the one album you could afford because you didn't know when you would have scraped together enough cash to get the next one.. You listened to the album over and over and over again and developed the kind of connection that stays with you for years. I just can't see how it is possible to form that kind of bond if you are consuming 10 new albums a day - albums you listen to once or twice before consigning to the scrap heap and moving onto the next shiny new thing as quickly as possible.

I don't know if the consumerism is what fuels piracy or if it's the other way around. But i think it is an interesting (albeit slightly sad for me) phenomenon of the digital age!

That's a really good point. 🤔

When music consumption emphasizes quantity over quality, people might be prone to favor obvious novelty over subtlety. There are clear benefits to having access to so much music, of course, but I suppose it all depends on what you do with it.

Re: Anyone use Spotify?

meccalecca — Mon, 13 Jan 2014 16:09:09 GMT

Author: meccalecca

Posted: 01/13/2014 21:09

Mancsoulsister wrote:

Everything seems to be focussed on the consumption of music rather than its enjoyment these days.

Couldn't agree with you more. Everything you said was really on the nose.

It used to be so easy to live with a record and just listen to it for weeks at a time. I think the current state ties into the whole state of social media as well. The conversation is non-stop, and so there's a mentality that if you're not keeping up with the consumption you'll fall out of the conversations. That's why publicity is built around creating conversations rather than about the music.

Re: Anyone use Spotify?

Anonymous — Mon, 13 Jan 2014 15:50:46 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 01/13/2014 20:50

meccalecca wrote:

I thiknk a lot of it's due to the oversaturation of the market though. there are just way more bands than the world needs

I think I agree with this to a large extent...

Everything seems to be focussed on the consumption of music rather than its enjoyment these days. If you look round BEA, there are any number of threads dedicated to the 'how many albums did you listen to today' consumption mentality. All of these threads eventually descend into a huge dick measuring contest where the person who has listened to the most somehow 'wins'!

When your only option was to buy music, you devoured and savoured the one album you could afford because you didn't know when you would have scraped together enough cash to get the next one.. You listened to the album over and over and over again and developed the kind of connection that stays with you for years. I just can't see how it is possible to form that kind of bond if you are consumming 10 new albums a day - albums you listen to once or twice before consigning to the scrap heap and moving onto the next shiny new thing as quickly as possible.
I'm not saying everyone does this, and that noone connects with music anymore as that is clearly not true. But this drive to consume more and more certainly seems to be a trend that I have noticed over the ast 10 years!

I don't know if there is any connection between this kind of consumerism and piracy. But i think it is an interesting (albeit slightly sad for me) phenomenon of the digital age!

Re: Anyone use Spotify?

meccalecca — Mon, 13 Jan 2014 14:48:53 GMT

Author: meccalecca

Posted: 01/13/2014 19:48

Listmeister wrote:

Sure, everything has become easier. I know plenty of folks who record pretty amazing music at home, but as the music becomes more complicated it becomes very difficult to record at home and produce a product an artist can be happy with. Production, mixing and mastering are all major difference makers.

Many artists I love home record. East River Pipe, Daniel Johnston, Mount Eerie/Microphones are excellent examples but that's a specific aesthetic. It's kinda like how you can make a great movie on a very small budget, but money opens a world of possibilities.

Re: Anyone use Spotify?

Listmeister — Mon, 13 Jan 2014 14:18:34 GMT

Author: Listmeister

Posted: 01/13/2014 19:18

meccalecca wrote:

It'll just suck when only the independently wealthy indie musicians can release new music.

Independent wealth is no longer necessary. The cost of creating and releasing music to the world is getting lower and lower all the time. With a computer, a microphone, instruments, and some decent editing software (some of which is open source), you can make an album, and release it to the world. CD's are cheap and easy to burn.

It's not that the non-wealthy musician can't release new music. What happens as the cost of making music gets lower is that the market gets saturated, and that will make it harder for the indie to get noticed, and to make money.

Re: Anyone use Spotify?

meccalecca — Mon, 13 Jan 2014 12:18:59 GMT

Author: meccalecca

Posted: 01/13/2014 17:18

Puncture Repair wrote:

I don't think they should ever expect money. Successful artists will always find enough revenue from live performances, appearances, selling rights to radios etc. Has there every been a successful musician that's publicly announced that they're really struggling to have a good quality of living because of their loss of sales due to piracy? Promotion for anti-piracy comes from bloated companies and the government who have a vested interest in protecting themselves.

But isn't that mentality just propaganda created by the pro-piracy groups. If only majors and the government are against piracy, then why do so many indie labels send watermarked copies of their albums to press? Leaks are good and bad at the same time. People downloading the albums want to only see the good side of it.

I'm guilty of it too.

It'll just suck when only the independently wealthy indie musicians can release new music.

Most indie musicians work other jobs to make ends meet, but that's hard to do when touring also. Touring can be great money, but most of the time artists break even at best.

I thiknk a lot of it's due to the oversaturation of the market though. there are just way more bands than the world needs

Re: Anyone use Spotify?

Anonymous — Mon, 13 Jan 2014 11:36:06 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 01/13/2014 16:36

meccalecca wrote:

Right. But if someone makes art that becomes incredibly popular, should they not expect to receive enough compensation to break even?

Re: Anyone use Spotify?

meccalecca — Mon, 13 Jan 2014 10:33:05 GMT

Author: meccalecca

Posted: 01/13/2014 15:33

Puncture Repair wrote:

Fair, maybe - but I think if anyone goes into creating art with the expectation of being paid, they have a twisted idea of what art is meant to accomplish.

Right. But if someone makes art that becomes incredibly popular, should they not expect to receive enough compensation to break even?

Re: Anyone use Spotify?

Anonymous — Mon, 13 Jan 2014 10:28:29 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 01/13/2014 15:28

meccalecca wrote:

But I think it's fair for artists to want to be paid for the art that people do consume, so that they may re-invent what little they do make into making more art.

Fair, maybe - but I think if anyone goes into creating art with the expectation of being paid, they have a twisted idea of what art is meant to accomplish.

Re: Anyone use Spotify?

meccalecca — Mon, 13 Jan 2014 10:17:25 GMT

Author: meccalecca

Posted: 01/13/2014 15:17

lethalnezzle wrote:

Devil's advocate is fun.

Groceries was a bad analogy since food is a necessity to life and music is not (but kind of is). That being said, small farming is pretty much dead here in the states. A lot of the food industry is mega corporate so your defense of the farmers could be kind of silly too.

Every career decision is a choice. Some are far wiser than others. I'm generally in agreement that the the pursuit of any artform as a career is unrealistic a bit self-indulgent. But I think it's fair for artists to want to be paid for the art that people do consume, so that they may re-invent what little they do make into making more art.

Re: Anyone use Spotify?

Anonymous — Mon, 13 Jan 2014 09:25:21 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 01/13/2014 14:25

Devil's advocate is fun.

meccalecca wrote:

3. To say that since you buy X amount of records a year, you're entitled to illegally download the rest is a bullshit argument. If I go into a grocery store and buy $100 of groceries, I still can't take a box of twinkies without it being theft.

6. Bringing up segregation in this debate was a bad idea.

Whilst I completely agree that bringing up segregation in this debate was a terrible idea, I also see no point in comparing the theft of music to the theft of groceries. At the lower end of the production line are farmers whose lives depend on people paying for their food. As Jackwc pointed out earlier, nobody has a divine right to make a living from their art. One is manual labour, done in order to meet the needs of the population; the other is a luxury career choice. I'm a liberal guy who seems something inherently romantic in the idea of "suffering for one's art", but people know what they are getting into when they decide to dedicate all of their potential working hours to making music. It simply isn't necessary to help people survive, and as a Socialist I find it difficult to reconcile allowing people to do so and have them still complain that they are being hard done by when people "steal" their art. I understand the issue is not black and white, and the food industry is capable of being at least as reprehensible in its actions and values as the music industry, but I don't see any use in comparing the theft of food or drink to the theft of music. Online piracy is an issue all of its own.

meccalecca wrote:

7. There's a generation gap clearly visible here between those of us who grew up buying records and those who grew up post napster. God I miss the days of real mixtapes.

For the first four years of my serious listening life, I paid for 90% of the music I heard. Now I illegally acquire 100% of the music I hear, albeit making the effort to go out and purchase as much of the music I enjoy as I can afford. I also still make mixtapes (or, rather, mix CDs) regularly for friends and family. Occasionally I'll upload them to the internet and offer them up for download here. You yourself said that the issues being discussed here aren't black and white. Well neither are they old and young (or pre-Napster and post-Napster). [/quote]

Re: Anyone use Spotify?

Anonymous — Mon, 13 Jan 2014 09:19:09 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 01/13/2014 14:19

meccalecca wrote:

6. Bringing up segregation in this debate was a bad idea.

It was perfectly reasonable. Guy says I'm against anything illegal, so I ask him would he be against anti-segregationist movement if he lived in that era. It was not a part of the main discussion. Just a point.

Re: Anyone use Spotify?

Cymro2011 — Mon, 13 Jan 2014 08:45:52 GMT

Author: Cymro2011

Posted: 01/13/2014 13:45

GeevyDallas wrote:

shouts out to mediafire, uploaded, gett, rapidgator, rapidshare, rusfolder, zippyshare, turbobit, freakshare and ifolder

if i forgot anyone i'm very sorry

zippyshare >>>> mediafire, uploaded, gett, rapidgator, rapidshare, rusfolder, turbobit, freakshare, ifolder