Discus. Why don't people buy albums anymore?

[Don Seer]

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!

[HD]

theyre not in stores here and buyin online is too expensive cuz of s&h

[Don Seer]

yeah availibility is an issue.. i normally bulk buy 5 or so at a time to make it worth my while

[The Watcher]

for me, its artists releasing albums with 18 tracks or whatever, and only 3 or 4 are actually decent

you can only get burned so many times

[Lord Funk]

I never stopped buying albums and I never download a whole album to listen to.

What I do do is listen to snippets on CDuniverse, CDconnection etc. If I like the sound of the majority of tracks I pick it up. That way I still get the excitement of the first listen to the proper album, without the risk that I've just bought a hot mess.

[Native_Joe99]

well, what i consider before buying a cd, is the quality of the artist, whether its someone i know, and i know they can put out good music, i would be willin to take a chance on buying there album jus by hearing one single or jus having faith. If its an artist thats new i will wait to see album reviews and get a second opinion before i buy.

but seeing how it is so easy and cheap to rip it off the internet i have to admit, it has been along time since i actually bought a cd from the store ( Bun B - Trill) and i have been meaning to buy more from the store seeing how most of the time the real cd has better quality and more features than downloading,

well thats my 2 cents  

[QCDutch]

I never stopped buying albums and I never download a whole album to listen to.

What I do do is listen to snippets on CDuniverse, CDconnection etc. If I like the sound of the majority of tracks I pick it up. That way I still get the excitement of the first listen to the proper album, without the risk that I've just bought a hot mess.

well, what i consider before buying a cd, is the quality of the artist, whether its someone i know, and i know they can put out good music, i would be willin to take a chance on buying there album jus by hearing one single or jus having faith. If its an artist thats new i will wait to see album reviews and get a second opinion before i buy.

my thoughts exactly

[mauzip]

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.

[Lord Funk]

I've bought too many albums in my life.

Not possible Music's such a major part of my life I couldn't imagine thinking I had too much.

[Mygla]

Say what you want, but some people don't buy albums because they don't give a fuck about the artists, and it's free to download. I know people that haven't bought an album in years, and everytime I buy a cd, they ask me why the fuck i'd wanna spend money on a cd when you can download it for free.

I buy 5-10 cd's every month, but i'm sure 80% of them are 2+ years old... i'd rather spend $9 on a good cd from 2000 then $15 on a crappy cd from 2006.

[mauzip]

I've bought too many albums in my life.

Not possible Music's such a major part of my life I couldn't imagine thinking I had too much.

I used to think like that for a long time, but now I don't really care anymore about Lil Kim or The Nutty Professor II soundtrack, lol

[QCDutch]

i'd rather spend $9 on a good cd from 2000 then $15 on a crappy cd from 2006.

yeah most cds I buy are a couple of years old as well
Also if I'm tired of a cd or I don't like it I just sell it

[Meho]

Well one thing is I dont ahve enough money. Id rather spent the money I have on clothes and stuff like that than a cd with 5,6 good songs on it.

The only cds I buy these days are when Im collecting stuff from artist I like the most -->> Busta, Xzibit, Snoop, Meth, Redman, Dre, some Wu Tang

[Wessia4LiaNia Chieee Chieee]

Yeah around here I they are not so many, and that available. What I mean is I went to the biggest mall in my town, and all I could found is The Game, 50 Cent, Eminem, Dre-2001, Eazy E-Eternal E, Public Enemy(for the last 2 I was amazed actually) but the problem is they are like 40$/album and that is a problem when my salary is 100$. The thing is they are too expensive for me, that's why I download(NOT bootlegg). I buy the romanians hip hop albums cause they are acceptable. Anyway if I'm looking for the artists that I listen to in my stores...there's no chance

BUT as I keep saying to my cats around here, If you like the music, go out and buy the original. THAT IF you want to hear your fav artist again on your speakers. I say it like this, they respect us by making a new record, we gotta respect them by buying their efforts. You can't go to the shop and not pay for the ice cream(actually I use to slip one everytime I can) but you see my where I'm going right?    Give me 800$/month salary and 200$ I'd give on albums and DVD's.
For you, cause I think that 80% of this forum can afford buying original shit, go out there and support your fav artist. If we'd bootlegg Cube's album, E40's album, The Doc, in a big proportion, you think we would have what to talk about?

[Digital Pimpin']

You rarely see a tightly produced album from front to back these days, because everybody has to get Scott Storch, Just Blaze, The Neptunes and Kanye all over their shit so you don't get albums with strong themes running through them, just a bunch of production guest spots. That's why people only tend to like 2 or 3 songs on new albums and don't buy them.