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Did illegal internet downloading lead to the death of hip-hop?

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Kill:

--- Quote from: Rastaman Vibration on November 21, 2004, 04:32:01 AM ---
--- Quote from: 7even the Harbinger on November 21, 2004, 04:08:24 AM ---if it wasnt for illegal leeching, many people wouldnt even know what Ras Kass, Talib Kweli etc sound like. This way, way more people listen to their Albums. So there can be more people who like em so much that they even buy their respective Albums...
however that's just one side of the medal.

--- End quote ---

Its a good point you make, and what people must also realise is that artists usually make a lot more money going on tour than they actually do from album sales. So if people have heard their albums through downloading them off the internet and like them, they are likely to go see them live when they come round their area, which in the end leads to profit for the artist anyway.

Oh, and co-sign on banning this dude, every single thread he goes on about the death of hiphop.

--- End quote ---

this kid is a joke, word. don't have to ban him yet i think, but if he keeps goin like that maybe, or i'ma just lock some of his rather stupid topics. and co-sign on the points of knowing and hearing much more music and many new artists through the internet and going on their tours. both of that is true ande often overlooked, especially by CEO's who only make money off CDs sold

NobodyButMe:
i don't get wtf the deal is with people getting their panties in a bunch over downloading music. true, some people take advantage of it, but the record industry has been ripping off the consumer AND the artist since day one. FUCK the record companies. we found the power to change the structure of the record companies and we changed it. you think if the downloading generation didn't happen we'd still be able to buy new talib kweli cds for $8.99? HELL NO. cd prices were getting out of control before the downloading generation and it has allowed some sort of control on the greed these record companies generate.

as for your question, the death of hip hop lies in the hands of the artists, not the fans. sure, record execs can heavily influence an album, but it's the artists responsibility to handle their own music on their own vibe.

Jome:
Record companies are to blame.
For years, consumers had to put up with overpriced bullshit albums just to hear those 2-3 tracks you liked.
Now that the power is in the hands of the consumers, record companies & RIAA SUES their own customers to try make downloading music illegal/impossible.
Their scratching their heads to come up with ways to stop the LEGIT customers as well, using copy controls to stop customers from listening to their purchased CD's in the car, computer, or copy to their mp3-player.. the bootleggers laughs in their face for every copy control system they come up with.

It's too late to do anything about downloading, so record companies have to be clever with it.
Just look at Interscope, with their "special editions", bonus DVD's, bonus tracks, contests to meet Eminem, contest to win a G-Unit piece worth thousands of $$$, spreading rumours about "new added tracks because of downloading", pushing the release forward, etc.
Most of their albums go multi-plat, and I think that much of this is because of their strategy when it comes to bootleggers, it's not only their PRomo budget.

Dominator:
if anything is contributing to the "death" of hip hop, i'd say it's the direction most artists (or at least "commercial" artists) are taking these days..

watch any music video program and note down any songs that have substance.. (by substance, i mean any track about something other than "show me how you shake your ass, girl" or "i'mma kill a motherfucker in a second.." or "look at my cash, cars, crib" etc.) .. it's all bullshit..

listen to Ice Cube - The Predator or any Ice-T / Public Enemy album, then start up a playlist of anything that's come out in the past 3 years or so.. it can't compare..

but i can't see that changing in a hurry..

as far as the whole downloading issue goes.. cds are now AUD $20 instead of $30 .. so i'm happy..

Trauma-san:
The argument of illegal downloading an entire fucking RETAIL album weeks before it's available is "Promotion" is wrong as fuck.  MP3's helped kill them, yeah, I think so, but generally modern rap sucks dick compared to the stuff from the early 90's.  If you go back even farther, even marginally talented rappers like Flava Flav and Biz Markee are probably twice as entertaining as even the best artists out today.  Also, rap hasn't done hardly ANYTHING new since it's inception, which is rare in musical genre's, look how rock evolved (and eventually died, in my opinion).  There's nothing new and exciting about rap, and more and more and more songs are following the same exact formulas for a hit anymore.  The last major 'revolution' in rap music was ushered in by Dr. Dre 10 years or so ago, when he started doing more than just lifting beats off R&B songs, and fully producing music... that trend continued until today when most artists use original beats instead of samples, but creatively speaking, not much else has changed or evolved or become more creative.

As for the mp3's, people buy albums they've heard, after they fall in love with them.  People used to just guess what albums to buy, now they download them all, and buy the ones they love.  So, if the quality of the music was high enough, more people would buy the albums.  Essentially the only sales they have lost (which is a fucking CONSIDERABLE number, I'd guess sales are halfed, basically) are the sales they would have 'tricked' or conned out of people... but even with that, you've still got great albums like Eminem's being bootlegged to death on the net and at Flea Markets.  Your "Promotion" idea doesn't hold water, because a good album like Em's doesn't turn every download into a sale, people would just rather bootleg it.  Your next argument is going to be "Em has enough money" but that's bullshit in a capitalist society.  Em does NOT have enough money, he deserves every dime he can earn, and these people are stealing from him.  I'm not gonna cry about it, but wrong is wrong is wrong is wrong, nomatter what the circumstances.

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