A common train of thought I see spelled out on many a message board is that while the unwashed masses (commercial music purchaser) is more than happy to make the move towards all digital purchasing the “niche” music fan is clinging to his shiny discs and jewel cases with a white knuckled fanaticism.
Is this true?
I am of the opinion that the answer is yes. and no.
See, I should be a fucking politician.
What I mean is that it’s obvious that the “niche” buyer is slower to make the move but it seems to me that the move is currently being made. En mass while the hardcore collector seems to be moving back towards the resurgent vinyl format. Which is funny. There was a time that the cd seemed destined to kill vinyl and now, some 25 years later, vinyl and digital have joined forces and outflanked the disc.
That said, I think time has proven that fans of smaller music genres are more than happy to actually purchase music and that’s where we hope to come in. As the Americana music buying public begins this digital transition we hope to align ourselves with the bands/labels to become the first place you think of when you wanna buy that new (insert band here) disc. Perhaps, somewhere down the line we’ll even add the option to purchase vinyl to the store.
What do you think?
2 Comments
I am not against buying files online at all. I spent close to $100 at Beatport in the last week alone. I even have an eMusic subscription. However, I can definitely say that when given the choice I will buy a tangible product much more often than not. I like the experience of thumbing though vinyl and CDs in a store or getting a package in the mail. I like the smell of ink on printed sleeves. I love seeing printed artwork and reading liner notes. To me, that’s all part of the listening experience. I can’t see the act of downloading music ever giving me that experience in its entirety.
But, more and more I am finding that the music I buy is being released exclusively as downloadable media. So, often I will purchase files instead buying a disc. This is also more convenient when I am wanting something new to listen to immediately and I can’t find it in a local shop. I also really like the “people who bought this also bought that” feature available on many—if not all—of the music sites.
Price and quality are things I’d like to see reexamined by most services, though. Many sites are offering better quality files these days, but often at a premium. (Beatport charges and additional $1 per song downloaded in .wav format!) When I buy a CD, I know I am at least the third party buying it. It’s sold by a label to a distributor who then sells it to a retailer before it ever gets into my hands. That’s a lot of people with a lot of bills to pay before any profit even enters into the equation. A lot of those expenses are reduced greatly by offering direct downloads. Yet, an album in a lesser quality format online generally doesn’t cost much less than if I were to buy it from a retail shop. I know I am paying for convenience, but I’d like to get a little more bang for my buck sometimes. Hi-res electronic booklets with art and liner notes would be a good place to start.
That said, I also think that I am most likely in the minority here. I think most people prefer the ease and immediacy of purchasing files online and care a lot less about packaging and artwork—or even quality for that matter. That’s totally cool with me. I am certainly not going to try to change anyone else’s opinion.
While I agree with the above poster about liner notes and artwork being included in a CD purchase, the main factor for me is value and storage.
With digital, I have to pay extra for storage media, whether it be extra disk space, backups, or blank discs to play the songs in my car. With a CD, I pay about the same price and get all of that included. I don’t have to pay extra for high quality, and I can rip the CD and have it in a digital format too.
Nowadays a lot of vinyl releases I am seeing are including a digital download for free, so that provides some competition to the digital store as well. However, sometimes I wonder about a lot of vinyl purchases being part of a fashionable thing; some people I know that have started buying vinyl can’t tell the difference between the sound quality of it and CDs, much less the quality of different digital formats and bitrates. They just think it’s cool to have a turntable and a bunch of records. I am not sure how long this trend will last, so its hard to say which format will be winner in the next few years.
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