The Devaluation of Music: It's Worse Than You Think

[trurl]

Yes, you can sell on Bandcamp for a set price, or a "name your own price" or both- I sell for a minimum of $5 for a download of the whole album but buyers are free to pay more if they wish and many do!

[boilk]

I should look into bandcamp. I have heard about it - I take it you can sell there? I could always just give it away, but I've always thought that giving music away means that you dont think its worth anything. I dont feel that way about my music.

Yes, you abdolutely can sell it there. Interestingly, a facebook friend of mine, Colin Robinson (there was a recent thread on here, about his stuff) did a little research and discovered that he actually made MORE money, when offering his music on bandcamp for free, as opposed to attaching a figure to it (5-10 dollars, or whatever). He reasoned that people are more apt to give money of their own will, for something they feel has value, than being told how much the experience is worth.

neil

[trurl]

Yes, you abdolutely can sell it there. Interestingly, a facebook friend of mine, Colin Robinson (there was a recent thread on here, about his stuff) did a little research and discovered that he actually made MORE money, when offering his music on bandcamp for free, as opposed to attaching a figure to it (5-10 dollars, or whatever). He reasoned that people are more apt to give money of their own will, for something they feel has value, than being told how much the experience is worth.

neil

It's true. And I think I may have done better at two bucks vs. five. Tthat's probably actually because the Ten Toes thing has kind of run its course though unless I get fired up and make a physical cd.

[JKL2000]

I've complained for a long time that too many people in the Prog community bend over backwards to praise music that deserves little or none for fear of hurting an artist's earning potential (or hurting the genre). It reminds me of the legendary Bob Wolf who sold his table of Prog CDs at the Record Show in the Holiday Inn on 57th St. in Manhattan. Every CD was a gem. Every CD a classic. The same goes with the descriptions I see on some of the online Prog dealers. I know you're trying to sell shit, but let's get real. If something is crap, it's crap.

I forget what it is, but there's something new on the Laser's Edge site that's shite, and Ken calls it what it is.

[Yodelgoat]

I do think that some people have such a narrow idea of what is prog, that they may do damage to the genre by badmouthing something, not because it really is bad, but because it doesnt meet the purity standard. I wish we could just like good music and not get bogged down in the details. The fact is, I can really like stuff that doesnt meet the purity standard. So I am sure I have been steered away from a good album by "Genre biased" reviews. Not everything has to fit into the box perfectly for me to surrender some of the green in my wallet. It needs to be good, thats it.

[winkersnufs]

Good Day Folks....

I believe it was on this past summers Progday travels with my Canadian friends that I made the following, simple, comment:

At almost 55 years old.... I've come to the conclusion that I 'just like music' ! The 'Progressive' genre (as broad as it can be) just happens to be my favorite!

Carry On
Chris Buckley

[Baribrotzer]

I do think that some people have such a narrow idea of what is prog, that they may do damage to the genre by badmouthing something, not because it really is bad, but because it doesnt meet the purity standard. I wish we could just like good music and not get bogged down in the details. The fact is, I can really like stuff that doesnt meet the purity standard. So I am sure I have been steered away from a good album by "Genre biased" reviews. Not everything has to fit into the box perfectly for me to surrender some of the green in my wallet. It needs to be good, thats it.

Which is about the stupidest attitude I could think of, because prog is one of the most crossbred genres out there. There's no such thing as "pure prog". In many ways it isn't a definable genre at all, just a catchall for musical crossbreeds - although the term often (not always) seems to imply a certain amount of musical complexity and some sort of ancestry from both rock and classical music.

[Rick Robson]

Which is about the stupidest attitude I could think of, because prog is one of the most crossbred genres out there. There's no such thing as "pure prog". In many ways it isn't a definable genre at all, just a catchall for musical crossbreeds - although the term often (not always) seems to imply a certain amount of musical complexity and some sort of ancestry from both rock and classical music.

Perhaps that would have been a first impression some years ago when thanks to the Internet service I began to dig deeper into progressive Rock (besides even more deeply into other music), but now I realize that the elements supposedly borrowed from Classical music are far from being enough to take this genre as one influence on Prog (and Progressive) Rock. On the other hand, I've thus far noticed many more progressive bands and artists who are indeed influenced by the Jazz music, but I admit it's perhaps due to the fact of being Rock based music. And I see this kind of music being even better developed these later years, one example is Forgas Band Phenomena - recently acquired L'Axe Du Fou released in 2009, firstly I was immediately impressed by their outstanding violin melodies and playing, and now I'm loving their whole album more and more at every spinning! Curiously, I never managed to be moved by the 70's Jazz Rock bands that I heard, though I admit it has been a while since the last time I listened to them.

Exceptions always exist in music, and I see that this ever mentioned use of Classical music elements has always been much more visible in RIO and Avant-Garde, where is strong the use of the atonal musical elements of the 20th Century Art Music. And I reckon that these last two decades there have been even more RIO/Avant bands developing this kind of music, even though I've only been more familiar just with Present (though only Triskaidekaphobie) and Aranis, the latter also features some chamber music elements, two bands btw that I'm liking pretty much, their fresh music are growing on me each time I listen to them, now looking forward to the last Present release, Barbaro (Ma Non Troppo).