Discus. Why don't people buy albums anymore?

[Rud]

3) I actually like having a booklet and seeing who produced what and what was sampled.

Haha im terrible for that, i read liner notes all the way through - its a sad habit, but i love it

[Rudki]

I used to love buying every new album, but after around 2002 the replay value on many sucked......enjoyed reading linear notes too but then the same old producers were doing shit....im with what grundy said but i will occasionly buy new albums such as Cubes...MAYBE just maybe DPG's but I do wish they had the alchemist joint on the LP, make it more worth my while.

[UWA 187]

Too many people relying on excuses IMO. I'm not condemning downloading or anything like that but to stop buying stuff all together is taking it a bit far. The "fuck the industry" mindset is all well and good but it's not just hurting the rich execs and shit, it also hurts the artists as well. I think anyone who says there's only a couple of albums, if any, from the last few years worth buying is either too picky or listening to the wrong stuff. Me myself, I usually check a few tracks out beforehand and if I like em I'll buy the album, if not I won't.

I think everyone's just gotta remember that not everyone cakes big time off this like a 50 or a Jay-Z or the label bosses.

[UWA 187]

Another thing too is people complain about songs like Candy Shop and shit that cater mostly to young girls but if too many people start d/ling everything and buying nothing how is this gonna change? Like if for instance a Reasonable Doubt, Doggystyle, Illmatic, etc was released nowadays and blew away the overly poppy type hip hop sales wise, don't you think the industry might try and jump on that and skills would matter again? I know it's wishful thinking but if enough people supported properly it could happen.

[big mat]

from reading this thread..it sounds like buying album is similar to play lotto...never know exactly what you get..
may come out wack.

if people wanna burn cd..let them.....maybe because they cheapskate...
however, it can be a sign that the artists are wack.
and they to step up.

where i buy my cds i can listen to them before. The seller open it for me and i listen to it tru headphones

[Juronimo]

1. Cost
Like someone earlier mentioned, cd's are expensive. When I was in junior high/high school, I could get a tape from the record store walking distance from my house for $6.79 and a single for $1.99. Nowadays you could pay $20 for a CD.

2. Availability
Record stores are a thing of the past. All of the local record stores in my area have vanished. The wherehouse record store in Santa Ana that had all the hard to find underground shit disappeared. The Music Market store I frequented in high school vanished 10 years ago. The other wherehouse closeby down the street closed down. The virgin megastore in triangle square closed down. There are no Tower records closeby. Nowadays I have to go to Target or Best Buy to by cd's or order them off the internet. It's not the same.

3. Downloading/burning cd's
Let's be real. Many of us have downloaded great albums without bothering to purchase them. I just recently purchased a copy of "Streetz is a mutha" after listening to a burned copy since '99. I still don't own a legit copy of Stillmatic even though it's my favorite album that's come out in the last 5 years, nor do I own a copy of "The Fix" by Scarface, another album I love. From '02 thru '04, I bought maybe 5 cd's total. I didn't start buying cd's again until late '04. This year I've bought probably a couple dozen cd's already. Yeah back in the days we dubbed tapes but let's be honest, the duplicating and burning of cd's is happening at a much larger scale than tape dubbing back in the days. I know heads who haven't bought an album in years.

4. Inferior product
The record industry is putting out inferior product. No one wants to spend $18.99 plus tax for a cd with 3 good songs on it. In the early 90's, I rarely regretted buying a tape. Also, losing $8 on a tape vs $18 on a cd is a completely different thing. Regardless, many people are just turned off by the state of music nowadays, which is keeping people out of the record stores.

5. Artists not putting out albums
Case in point, Crooked I, Sly Boogy. Who wants to spend $12 for a wack half-assed mixtape? Put out a quality albums instead of peddling bullshit mixtapes.

[Diabolical]

3) I actually like having a booklet and seeing who produced what and what was sampled.

Haha im terrible for that, i read liner notes all the way through - its a sad habit, but i love it

Me too.

I actually only buy old albums from band/artists I like. The last cds I bought were the first two Bob Dylan albums. It's exactly like Mauzip said though, I don't want to clog up my collection with stuff by artists I don't really care for or anything similar. I want my cd collection to be of the best. In this year I've only bought one recent rap album and it was Common - Be.

[swangin and bangin]

because of limewire.

[Native_Joe99]

because of limewire.

lol, and because of Kazaa, Morpheus, and the artist formally known as Napster.

[Diabolical]

mIRC is where its at.

[GangstaBoogy]

because albums over all suck now days. usually an album has about 4-5 good songs about 12-13 filles. which is why i stick to making mix cds.

[Mr. RuthlessG]

I don't buy albums anymore because the majority of them suck and they cost to much money. 

[WestCoasta]

I've bought too many albums in my life. If I don't think I'll listen to it a lot in the future (i.e. too many garbage on the album) or if it doesn't fit in my collection, I will not buy it.

[XaNdEr]

OK.. so the industry claims album sales are down, blaming it on bootlegging etc. Now i'm not gonna claim it doesn't happen etc.. but what improvements can be made to combat this? and what reasons stop you buying albums? add your own/comment on other peoples additions..

I'll kick it off with 2..

1) Selling wack albums through a strong lead single.  So many times back in the day I bought albums off of a strong single which turned out to be wack. People don't want to be ripped off.. if the single is tight, they expect the album to be comparable. I wanna know the albums solid before I buy it. The internet is clueing people up on poor product.

2) Putting out different versions of albums. Example. I forgot a DVD edition of J5s Power In Numbers was coming out so I copped the normal version. Now i'm pissed off. Another variant of this is when a 'special edition' comes out a month or two after the drop to boost sales.. either with videos, bonus tracks or some other shit. Thats shitting on the early adopters in my book! how come people who buy it two months later get a better deal than the guy who bought it the day it came out? and the third similar example.. bonus tracks on foriegn version. for example.. 213.. europe got an extra track.. aint that some shit?


3) The over milking of formulas.. If a debut sells well an artist is expected to repeat ad infinitum..  I'm sick of weak sophmore efforts stifled by people being forced to follow the formula of their last album "a song like this, a song like that".. people want something new!

damn ur right, thats what im thinkin too

1. too many times recently have i heard (a downloaded) album which is just wack, or is wack after a few listens....they need to put more effort in making tight cd's, nuff said.

2. different versions just are stupid, ppl will wait for the special edition and once that comes out everyone has downloaded it already and dont buy it anymore...

3. they try to make clones of the most succesfull album, theres not much room anymore for creativity these days, everything gotta be sure to sell loads of shit, eventually that shit is gonna work against you...and thats what we see right now

plus:

i live in netherlands and theres not many stores who actually sell hiphop cd's, its just the normal mainstream 50's, Em's and the Kanye's not the more underground-like artists...

if i want the more "rare" albums i gotta buy them online in english or american stores and cuz i dont got no creditcard i cant buy that shit....simple as dat

[Raphael]

i just like the feeling when you buy a cd..... and i like the booklet ...