Reggae Blogs

[davek]

Hi DWick

You raise some good points. No, you can't assume that every downloaded release would be a purchase. And you are right, if you can't feed your family, you can't afford a CD (although I am not sure in this instance how you could afford a PC and an internet connection).

You can debate the pros and cons in a theoretical sense until the cows come home, but the gruesome relaity is that internet downloads are increasing, and the amount of new and vintage reggae music being released is vastly decreasing. The music, meanwhile, is more popular than ever.

It's very simple: if money can't be generated, then record companies will disappear, as will the incentive to create new music, and release old music.

One of the owners of a major re-issue label told me that they went out of business because they couldn't combat the proliferation of their releases being torrented / downloaded from free sites. How would it feel to see your entire catalogue, built under a fair-trade model where artists were directly getting royalties, all of a sudden appear on bittorrent sites to be downloaded in one fell swoop?

If you don't nourish and support what you love, how could you reasonably expect it to continue living? I apprecaite that every one has differing opinions, and simply offer this as food for thought.

[ras_gaks]

If you can afford it, buy it. If you can't afford it, download it.
Respect,
DWick

what if you can buy it but it's very rare yet it's available for download a click away? call me a parasite or a vampire i'll download it twice or thrice if the link is still active! Peace!

[Dubmart]

I wouldn't claim that every illegal download is a lost sale, after all we now have a generation that believe they are entitled to anything they want without working for it, or paying for it, however every lost sale can make the difference between a release being viable or not.

As for other labels, I know people involved in other labels, including some of those I mentioned and can assure you that without their releases being given away for free some, or all of them would still be going. The people involved in those labels love the music, they presented it in the best possible way and made sure that the people who created it were properly paid, yet when their sales declined in direct proportion to the amount of their music available illegally for free they were forced to give up.

As was so eloquently put by davek, if you can't afford food, how can you afford internet access, free Reggae music isn't a universal right, likewise if it's OK to steal music then what's next clothes, cars, food, someone's house, when I grew up I had to save to buy records, if I couldn't afford them I went without, today's generation are just spoiled and let's not pretend that all the guilty parties are in Latin America or Asia, plenty of people in the west are doing it and they aren't living in poverty.

In a few years time when there are no more physical Reggae releases, you will all be weeping and gnashing your teeth, asking why, but in your hearts you will know, nothing in life is truly free and no more records will be the price we all pay for your greed.

[tron]

i do believe legal mp3 sales way out pass cd,vinyl sales.thats the way it is ,no costs for manufacturing future garbage fill.They can Produce the track once and they can make a million copys for a one time price. .The obvious effect of illegal mp3 should make the music industry wake up and make it cost pennys for a download . To me it makes sense produce 1 track make a million copies ,sell it for 20 cents a track,it potentially makes the music industry even bigger and more profitable.

vinyl really is dead, rip.

[Dubmart]

Unfortunately most of the profits from MP3 sales go to Apple, Amazon etc., retailers are the ones making the money, not record labels/artists.

I do hope vinyl isn't dead, we have a vinyl/download only LP coming out next year, oh wait a minute, vinyl sales are the one sector growing in the music business, what a relief.

[Dubmart]

I would agree with tron that legal downloads aren't very good value for money, but as I said that's more down to retailers, (Apple), than labels. Persoanlly I'd much rather buy the CD and or vinyl.

[tron]

i am a vinyl guy as well dubmart, i do like the sound,looking at the vinyl. However if were talking mass consumption to make the music industry survive digital is the answer.and charging .99 cents for mp3 track ,i will never do that ,lower it greatly and i could see it being huge across the world.yes vinyl sales have resurged but pale in comparison to cd or mp3. they are more for the nostalgic and audiophiles wich 97 % of music buyers are not.I honestly can't tell the difference between a good mp3 and a cd.
I also think the numbers are skewered they dont count legal mp3 sales or 2nd hand cd,vinyl sales ,mainly because as you said they see less or no profit from it. its really an interesting point in time as to who will embrace digital and who wont. nothing is stopping all the companies from opening their own digital stores and keeping the sales to themselves.I would love to be able to browse through a large Heartbeat digital store and spend 10.$ on 50 tracks. and give the money directly to them.I would probably do it over and over again and again.

[visitor]

downloading music for free is just the sign of the times.Still, an ipad of free downloaded rare tunes vs a crate of actual 12" rare tunes....the ipad would get dusted imo, especially in sound quality. The age of the thumbdrive selector is here. To each his own. I personally prefer to have physical proof of the tunes/albums i own and be able to read the liner notes, tell if its a pre release, etc. Hey, maybe i'm just not up with the times and maybe my priorities include spending money on music. I just tend to notice that alot of these thumbdrive selectors have no real knowledge on the artists, studios,labels, etc. Many great reissue labels have gone down, yet new ones like digikiller are flourishing to some extent despite free download fanaticism. All i can do is hope that better will come for the hard working musician, record store owner, reggae label, etc

[DWick]

All good points here, and as i said, I see both sides. to beat the point about being able to afford reggae to death..I have seen in Africa, for example, where one guy in town has internet/computer and people go to him to download so the price of the blank disc is the only cost (+ a small tip)- even the electicity is stolen. They use internet cafes mostly (pay per hour). I know this probably isn't the case for most downloaders, but it is out there.
It may not be a universal right to be able to hear/own reggae, but it certainly isn't only for those who can afford it. it isn't on the radio like it used to be, so the internet has become a great tool to keep it alive as well.
I have always supported the re-issue labels (for several years I bought just about everything blood and fire, Auralux, etc put out), but I have also gotten a few of their releases via download. I don't know if downloading is killing these labels as much as it is altering the way they have to do business. As pointed out above, they may have to do more pay-per-download. It would be great if you could get only the tracks you wanted from a release directly from the label (espescially trojan!). I haven't paid for any downloads cuz Apple, etc has nothing I want/don't have. There have been many releases I didn't buy cuz it was 80% rehashed material. As tron said, if i could root through the vaults of heartbeat, trojan, etc...wow.

[Javier]

"if money can't be generated, then record companies will disappear, as will the incentive to create new music, and release old music".

musicians do not need incentive to create music. music alone shall live and never die.

haven't you learned a thing or two from reggae?