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Hayden
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- #41
- Posted: 04/21/2019 14:06
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| PurpleHazel wrote: |
I don't quite understand what you're saying (or perhaps you misunderstood what I was getting at). I once read that 90% of all books ever published are out of print. This phenomenon applies to vinyl before the CD era (and some labels continued to release albums only on vinyl till the late 80s) and OOP CDs as well, though it may be considerably less than 90%. The area I'm most knowledgeable in is jazz (and classic funk), and I know there are probably thousands of jazz records that came out before the late 80s that have never been reissued on CD or any other format. Assume this is true of all older genres to an extent. Obviously there is a lot of music on 78s of all genres that has been lost. Also think of all the music that's been released in non-English-speaking countries between the dawn of recorded music and the 80s: Africa, Asia, South America, the Caribbean, and imagine how much of that music has never been rereleased or has been lost.
My overall point is as time goes on, more obscure music that was never rereleased is either going to get scarcer or disappear altogether. So at the same time that streaming services have made more music easily accessible to the average consumer, there is music on older formats that is gradually vanishing or becoming so prohibitively expensive that only serious collectors can afford them. |
I understand that all, but my point still stands. Are 90% of books gone? Probably. Because books have been around a long time (~600y for press) and there's been a lot of 1-copy-books out there (and fire). Vinyl/CD's have been around ~100, ~35 years respectively (tapes ~40-45). Technology's put music in a far better preservation era than books.
What I'm saying is that while there's been a lot of music that hasn't been reissued (from vinyl, 45's, tape, etc...), the concept of a 'lost' or 'extinct' song/album is going to become scarcer, as we have more opportunities (easy ones too) to preserve them. Plenty of rare African and south-east Asian tapes from the 80's and 90's are recorded and released to the public every week by people on the ground (I can give you some links  )
I took a small session on how to preserve rare vinyl/45's (albeit my test subject was a warped Simon & Garfunkel record  ), and the process is certainly easier than ever to record/fix up limited releases to preserve, remix and reissue. Even 25 years ago, it would've been an extremely lengthy and expensive process (mind you, technology in the late 80's early 90's was in a weird transition stage).
Without any solid facts, I'd be confident in saying there have been more reissues in the past 15 years than the entire history of recorded music before that combined. And releases released now becoming 'lost' is really unlikely (unless the artist really tries to make it so). Even unreleased material is coming out more than ever (think Prince, Gaye's You're the Man, Smile Sessions, Neil Young's Hitchhiker). I'm seeing more 'lost' albums being released than ever, whether it be from Jamaica, Sudan, Germany, Canada, Indonesia, Nigeria, USA, etc...
I'd love to be in the music preservation business, I think it's important (and fun), but luckily there's lots of people out there doing their best in the field to make sure we can all stumble upon near-lost albums/singles from the 50's-80's, and more than ever.
Just saying that I think we're in a pretty good place right now when it comes to preservation. Digital-loss is another thing, but not nearly as peril as a broken 1-copy acetate.
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PurpleHazel
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- #42
- Posted: 04/21/2019 23:29
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| Hayden wrote: | my point still stands. Vinyl/CD's have been around ~100, ~35 years respectively (tapes ~40-45). Technology's put music in a far better preservation era than books.
What I'm saying is that while there's been a lot of music that hasn't been reissued (from vinyl, 45's, tape, etc...), the concept of a 'lost' or 'extinct' song/album is going to become scarcer, as we have more opportunities (easy ones too) to preserve them. |
The capability to preserve more may be there, but there has to a be a profit motive or the will to preserve them, and if there isn't, the capability doesn't matter. When it comes to pre-1980s vinyl and shellac, I think the rate they're vanishing or becoming prohibitively expensive may be almost as high as it ever was. Labels may not care about middle-eastern music of the 50s, and I know they don't care about many jazz CDs from the 90s. There has to be some kind of at least niche market for the music, and not all genres from all countries from all time periods have that market. What about albums that are generally considered bad? Many of those will never get reissued -- and as us members know, there's always a small minority who will like something everyone else dislikes.
| Quote: | | Plenty of rare African and south-east Asian tapes from the 80's and 90's are recorded and released to the public every week by people on the ground |
But that doesn't necessarily mean that even more music from countries around the world isn't disappearing at a faster rate.
| Quote: | | Without any solid facts, I'd be confident in saying there have been more reissues in the past 15 years than the entire history of recorded music before that combined. And releases released now becoming 'lost' is really unlikely (unless the artist really tries to make it so). |
I respectfully disagree. I probably don't have more solid facts than you -- my biggest strength is I worked in a large record store in the late 80s-early 90s -- but I think the biggest boom in reissues coincided with the CD boom -- let's say 1985-2010 (CD sales obviously plummeted throughout the 00's, but that's still from a pre-Napster peak). The mid-90s, when Rhino Records entered into a distribution deal with Atlantic, might've been the biggest years for U.S./UK album reissues. Rhino vomited forth a massive number of Atlantic albums that were OOP. Before then, only two of Aretha Franklin's Atlantic albums were in print (a third one was available under another name and with some different tracks I think) and hardly any of Otis Redding's and other Stax/Atlantic soul artists were. Not to mention all the other genres.
It seems to me that major reissues (biggest artists, major box sets) have declined since 2014. And of course, some of the most monumental reissues occurred in the pre-CD era, like Elvis' Sun Sessions and Robert Johnson's King of the Delta Blues Singers. Blue Note Records put out 45 albums of unreleased jazz sessions from their prime years in 1979-81.
| Quote: | | Even unreleased material is coming out more than ever (think Prince, Gaye's You're the Man, Smile Sessions, Neil Young's Hitchhiker). |
The Prince reissues are obviously tied to his death. Otherwise I still think they've been in slight decline in the last 5 years.
| Quote: | | Just saying that I think we're in a pretty good place right now when it comes to preservation. Digital-loss is another thing, but not nearly as peril as a broken 1-copy acetate. |
Fo sho.
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CA Dreamin
Gender: Male
Location: LA
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- #43
- Posted: 04/22/2019 00:17
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| PurpleHazel wrote: | | I once read that 90% of all books ever published are out of print. |
And by now, the book or magazine you read that in is also out of print.
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PurpleHazel
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- #44
- Posted: 04/22/2019 04:22
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I read it online. 
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RoundTheBend
I miss the comfort in being sad
Location: Ground Control
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- #45
- Posted: 04/23/2019 02:27
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| PurpleHazel wrote: | | I read it online. |
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StreakyNuno
Gender: Male
Age: 49
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- #46
- Posted: 04/25/2019 10:31
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What a boost by Rozi plain ...fantastic album
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Skinny
birdman_handrub.gif
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- #47
- Posted: 04/25/2019 11:11
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| StreakyNuno wrote: | | What a boost by Rozi plain ...fantastic album |
Couldn't agree more; it's fantastic.
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StreakyNuno
Gender: Male
Age: 49
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- #48
- Posted: 05/03/2019 20:10
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And more...vampire weekend...father of the bride
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cestuneblague
Edgy to the Choir
Location: MA/FL
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- #49
- Posted: 05/03/2019 20:27
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If we're just listing 2019 albums at this point, there is the '2019 Albums' thread up there by the stickies for just that.
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StreakyNuno
Gender: Male
Age: 49
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- #50
- Posted: 05/19/2019 01:46
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And listen... Rammstein...Rammstein
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