I Want To Start A Discussion On The Issue Of Low Record Sales This Year...

[Trauma-san]

Blaming downloading is bullshit in my opinion. Downloading only helps if the music is good, and if the music sucks people either delete or never listen to the albums anyway.

... but yet Overseer starts it off by saying Bustas album is great (so he obviously listens to it frequently) but he hasn't bought it.... why? ... because he downloaded it.  So, blaming downloading is bullshit.  riiiiight. 

He told you why he hasn't bought it ffs.

You don't understand.  Please, don't reply to my posts unless you at least have the intelligence to understand them, o.k.?  He didn't buy the album, but yet has the album.  If he wouldn't have been able to download, he would have BOUGHT the album.  Busta would have more money right now.  O's waiting out for a special edition, I don't blame him, I'd do the same thing... but it does affect record sales.  O may have bought the original, *AND* bought the special edition if he had no way of downloading the album for free.  This isn't hard to figure out, I don't know why everybody wants to be so crystal clean, everyone does it, it's a problem the industry faces and it's not going to get any better. 

[Shallow]

Blaming downloading is bullshit in my opinion. Downloading only helps if the music is good, and if the music sucks people either delete or never listen to the albums anyway.

... but yet Overseer starts it off by saying Bustas album is great (so he obviously listens to it frequently) but he hasn't bought it.... why? ... because he downloaded it.  So, blaming downloading is bullshit.  riiiiight. 

He told you why he hasn't bought it ffs.

You don't understand.  Please, don't reply to my posts unless you at least have the intelligence to understand them, o.k.?  He didn't buy the album, but yet has the album.  If he wouldn't have been able to download, he would have BOUGHT the album.  Busta would have more money right now.  O's waiting out for a special edition, I don't blame him, I'd do the same thing... but it does affect record sales.  O may have bought the original, *AND* bought the special edition if he had no way of downloading the album for free.  This isn't hard to figure out, I don't know why everybody wants to be so crystal clean, everyone does it, it's a problem the industry faces and it's not going to get any better. 

Then why are DVDs selling more and more each year? It's the same click of a button. How about video games. I can download both just as easy as I can albums. No one is saying these don't lose customers to downloads, what I argue is whether it's from people that download and become enticed to buy because they really like it, or not, the overall sales are not as hurt from downloading hte the industry thinks. It's just rich, overprivileged, white male know-it-alls trying to cover their ass and find an excuse for releasing and promoting shitty records. What's the last top to bottom great album you downloaded and didn't buy?

Let's not even get into the whole fans becoming fans from downloading and then going to see these bands in concert, giving the artist a lot more money than a CD sale ever could. Once rap is done as the top pop form and the next great live genre comes in (it may be a few eras away) and artists realize that with great tours they don't need record sales you will see artists not even bothering with record labels. As the internet gets bigger I predict there will be artists that get famous through giving songs away for free, building a solid fan base and then toouring to sell out shows across the world and end up among the top money makers in music. The Rolling Stones made shit off their last album in sales but squashed everyone else in money because of tours. They easily could have given the album away on the internet. Yet there fans are mostly old snd don't use the net all that much so they don't have reason toembrace this philosphy but it will happen down the line and the record execs will finally get fucked the way they have been doing the fucking for the last 50 years. However once this happens the same rich, overprivileged, white male know-it-alls will cry foul and convince their rich, overprivileged, white male know-it-all friends in congress to better regulate the internet and then we're all fucked, again. I hope I'm wrong about that last part.

[Diabolical]

Blaming downloading is bullshit in my opinion. Downloading only helps if the music is good, and if the music sucks people either delete or never listen to the albums anyway.

... but yet Overseer starts it off by saying Bustas album is great (so he obviously listens to it frequently) but he hasn't bought it.... why? ... because he downloaded it.  So, blaming downloading is bullshit.  riiiiight. 

He told you why he hasn't bought it ffs.

You don't understand.  Please, don't reply to my posts unless you at least have the intelligence to understand them, o.k.?  He didn't buy the album, but yet has the album.  If he wouldn't have been able to download, he would have BOUGHT the album.  Busta would have more money right now.  O's waiting out for a special edition, I don't blame him, I'd do the same thing... but it does affect record sales.  O may have bought the original, *AND* bought the special edition if he had no way of downloading the album for free.  This isn't hard to figure out, I don't know why everybody wants to be so crystal clean, everyone does it, it's a problem the industry faces and it's not going to get any better. 

Why should he buy two copies? And who's to say that he couldn't have just got a tape dub from a friend.

Basically, I don't even care if you reply to this because you are probably the most childish poster on this forum, you've always got to be attacking someone for something, I hope it make you feel better abouit yourself because theres obviously something wrong.

[_That_Cracka_J]

Blaming downloading is bullshit in my opinion. Downloading only helps if the music is good, and if the music sucks people either delete or never listen to the albums anyway.

... but yet Overseer starts it off by saying Bustas album is great (so he obviously listens to it frequently) but he hasn't bought it.... why? ... because he downloaded it.  So, blaming downloading is bullshit.  riiiiight. 

He told you why he hasn't bought it ffs.

You don't understand.  Please, don't reply to my posts unless you at least have the intelligence to understand them, o.k.?  He didn't buy the album, but yet has the album.  If he wouldn't have been able to download, he would have BOUGHT the album.  Busta would have more money right now.  O's waiting out for a special edition, I don't blame him, I'd do the same thing... but it does affect record sales.  O may have bought the original, *AND* bought the special edition if he had no way of downloading the album for free.  This isn't hard to figure out, I don't know why everybody wants to be so crystal clean, everyone does it, it's a problem the industry faces and it's not going to get any better. 

Give it up man.....me, you and just a couple other people are apparently the morons who actually believe downloading affects sales .  I can't describe it any more clearly, you can't describe it any more plainly or clearly.

I honestly can't see how someone believes that downloading an album can be anything but a negative effect on sales.

[Shallow]

Blaming downloading is bullshit in my opinion. Downloading only helps if the music is good, and if the music sucks people either delete or never listen to the albums anyway.

... but yet Overseer starts it off by saying Bustas album is great (so he obviously listens to it frequently) but he hasn't bought it.... why? ... because he downloaded it.  So, blaming downloading is bullshit.  riiiiight. 

He told you why he hasn't bought it ffs.

You don't understand.  Please, don't reply to my posts unless you at least have the intelligence to understand them, o.k.?  He didn't buy the album, but yet has the album.  If he wouldn't have been able to download, he would have BOUGHT the album.  Busta would have more money right now.  O's waiting out for a special edition, I don't blame him, I'd do the same thing... but it does affect record sales.  O may have bought the original, *AND* bought the special edition if he had no way of downloading the album for free.  This isn't hard to figure out, I don't know why everybody wants to be so crystal clean, everyone does it, it's a problem the industry faces and it's not going to get any better. 

Give it up man.....me, you and just a couple other people are apparently the morons who actually believe downloading affects sales .  I can't describe it any more clearly, you can't describe it any more plainly or clearly.

I honestly can't see how someone believes that downloading an album can be anything but a negative effect on sales.

It's a negative on a lot of the mainstream releases. I am not arguing that. I am arguing how much of an effect it has.

I am also arguing that it can be a positive for lesser known acts. There is no denying in any way shape or form that Naperster was a huge reason Radiohead's Kid A hit number 1 on the charts. Everyone in the industry knew and they chose to stop talking about it.

[TraceOneInfinite Flat Earther 96']

Shallow, you got heart (or your just plain stubborn) for even trying to argue the other point of view, because all the evidence is against you.  But I give you props for being a giant in the world of netbanging iconoclasts.

[J Bananas]

iconoclasts, i didnt know that word even made it to kansas yet, i give you props for being so well spoken despite your background

[Trauma-san]

Blaming downloading is bullshit in my opinion. Downloading only helps if the music is good, and if the music sucks people either delete or never listen to the albums anyway.

... but yet Overseer starts it off by saying Bustas album is great (so he obviously listens to it frequently) but he hasn't bought it.... why? ... because he downloaded it.  So, blaming downloading is bullshit.  riiiiight. 

He told you why he hasn't bought it ffs.

You don't understand.  Please, don't reply to my posts unless you at least have the intelligence to understand them, o.k.?  He didn't buy the album, but yet has the album.  If he wouldn't have been able to download, he would have BOUGHT the album.  Busta would have more money right now.  O's waiting out for a special edition, I don't blame him, I'd do the same thing... but it does affect record sales.  O may have bought the original, *AND* bought the special edition if he had no way of downloading the album for free.  This isn't hard to figure out, I don't know why everybody wants to be so crystal clean, everyone does it, it's a problem the industry faces and it's not going to get any better. 

Why should he buy two copies? And who's to say that he couldn't have just got a tape dub from a friend.

Basically, I don't even care if you reply to this because you are probably the most childish poster on this forum, you've always got to be attacking someone for something, I hope it make you feel better abouit yourself because theres obviously something wrong.

You're not intelligent enough to even follow a simple line of thought.  Where did I say that O should buy two copies?  Where did I say that?  Read again, and quote where I said that, bitch.  I said I don't blame him for downloading it... but yet you ignore that because your childish mind can't seperate a: what you WANT to do, with b: what is the RIGHT thing to do.

Now, what you want to do is just download the album without buying it, then maybe buy the special edition; that's what I want to do too, and that's what I have no problem with O doing.... however; the "right" thing to do would be to not download the album... but we all choose to do things that are wrong.

You can't follow a train of thought that far, though, because you're a little boy who just does what he wants to do and has no judgement of what's right or wrong, only what you want to do. 

[Shallow]

Shallow, you got heart (or your just plain stubborn) for even trying to argue the other point of view, because all the evidence is against you.  But I give you props for being a giant in the world of netbanging iconoclasts.

Well that may be a strong word to describe me. I'm a big fan of traditions, just not when they are attatched to evil. In this case I think it's just the industry big wigs looking for a cop out for their overpricing and poor promoting. I appreciate the props though.

I am not stubborn, well I am but not in this case. I trule believe that the effect downloading has had on sales is minimal when compared to the effect high prices and simple poor quality with lack of proper promotion has had. The music biz is a bunch of lemmings. They see what works and then they just follow it and when it doesn't work again they find an excuse. When 'NSynch broke the record a couple years back with over 2 million copies sold in the first week it was a completely brilliant move business-wise. They found the target audience, gave them the type of songs they wanted, filled the album with amazing songs as far as that audience was concerned, then pre-hyped the album with a let's break the record campaign that lead many of these fans to buy multiple copies in that first week, some buying up to 5 copies each. This was at the height of the dowloading era, and the album went diamond. Just last year Usher went just about diamond. It has been proven that you can sell records in this day and age yet so many albums flop. Why? Because no one wants them to begin with. You mention how Busta Rhymes couldn't sell big, and it was blamed on downloading. Busta Rhymes could never sell big. He's gone only as high as 1X platinum, and he'll atleast do that with this album. Both the MMLP and The Eminem Show were the highest selling albums of their respective years, they were also the most illegally downloaded albums those years. A study in Britain last year explained how the average illegal downloader ends up spending more money on music than the average music fan who doesn't download. ( http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4718249.stm ). This whole idea isn't something I came up with on my own.

Like I said before, as long is the internet doesn't get mauled by the governments there will be a time when artists get popular giving thier songs away for free on their websites, or a website will emerge in the mainstream where artists all put thie songs on it for free, and they will use that exposure to build a fan base and then tour and make the real cash, thus eliminating the record company.

[Juronimo]

Damn Shallow has some good points.

I wonder if there have been any comprehensive studies on how downloading affects music sales.

[Shallow]

Damn Shallow has some good points.

I wonder if there have been any comprehensive studies on how downloading affects music sales.

I mentioned the one Harvard did above.

http://news.com.com/2100-1027_3-5181562.html


It may not be perfect but these kinds of studies never are.

[TraceOneInfinite Flat Earther 96']

iconoclasts, i didnt know that word even made it to kansas yet, i give you props for being so well spoken despite your background

I don't live in Kansas, and never have lived in Kansas.

[TraceOneInfinite Flat Earther 96']

delete

[Patrick Bateman]

lots of funny posts here, and im not being sarcastic btw.

The main reason I would buy an album is SOUND QUALITY. Thats it.

I have a mid-range sound system at home aswell as a portable system. Listening to 192kbps mp3s doesnt really cut it with my earphones or headphones. What I end up doing is purchasing the CD, ripping into FLAC(home) and ogg vorbis(portable) format and storing the CD away.


I have only bought St. Elsewhere and Fishscale this year.
I will buy Obie's, Bucks, Dr. Dres, and anything Wu affiliated when it comes out.