STEVE ALBINI

I really like how he pointed out internet making international distribution so easy to do now, it'll be interesting to watch music culture be less and less America-centric in the future.

he's definitely in that realm of indie iconoclasts who focus their bile on peers but get a little vague when it comes to the world outside. quick to point out how someone is failing to be as cool as music dude as him, strong feelings about the ethical treatment of room sound. less confident when it comes to evils he doesn't see first-hand.

i mean when the dude from cracker is going on about how the majors found a new way to steal his "low" money, steve's going to be a little more interested in saying "told you so, shoulda stuck with pitch-a-tent" than "yes, start-ups are evil"

that sounds about right

outic otm. it's just a new industry sorting itself out, capital catching up to a pretty radical technological break that has made a temporary space for culture that will lose/is losing the battle again.

it's definitely his own fault he's getting sum-ups like this

Stereogum ‏@stereogum 59m59 minutes ago
Steve Albini still loves online streaming, hates Miley Cyrus http://bit.ly/1uFPe2c

hope somebody makes an image for a spotify debate article with Taylor Swift and Bob Seger on the anti-side and dave grohl and steve on the pro

I'd actually love to see a breakdown of what a band makes now vs. 15-25-35 years ago (be most interesting by some sort of median success metric so the platinum artists of their era vs. whatever exactly approximates that these days on down to the bar bands). Obviously return on recorded media is going to be lower, but cost/distribution of same also less and I do wonder if touring is more lucrative now.

Has touring ever been lucrative since recordings became the mainstay of the industry?

let's ask Mick Jagger

"ethical treatment of room sound"?

Anecdotal but it's far from lucrative for the serious rock musicians I know. If the purpose of touring in the 'old model' was to promote recordings, i.e. it was not profitable in itself, have ticket prices (or audiences) really increased enough to make this a sustainable income source in and of itself?

2xpost

I wasn't (and am not) talking about the handful of stars on Jagger's level.

xp Probably not but I don't think under the "old model" touring money plus recordings = to a sustainable income for most people either.

Tbh, I haven't really noticed a radical jump in ticket/gig prices, relative to inflation. Would be curious to see stats.

Definitely much more expensive in San Francisco.

"ethical treatment of room sound"?

sorry, acoustics

yeah I know just joeks... seriously from my anecdotal evidence it seems p lucrative on the high end and then as you move down the ladder it gets less and less lucrative. To the point where a four-person band in a van is going to be constantly struggling to break even from city to city. But it seems like this has been the case for a long time.

xp

long Alibini disqusitions like this are pretty rare anyway and this one's fun imo

i was with him until the hall of fetishes

he seems really hung up abt sex

Songs About Fucking Over Managers And Labels That Used To Make A Comfortable Living

What if your fetish is to be fucked by a corporation? Do you get a pass?

Tbh, I haven't really noticed a radical jump in ticket/gig prices, relative to inflation. Would be curious to see stats.

A new CD, when The Problem With Music was published, cost $27-31, and an international band’s show cost $30. Now a new CD costs $13-22, and as he says in the speech, an international band’s show costs $60-120.

Well, I was comparing gig prices to inflation, not to CD prices, which have obviously dropped. But yeah, the Bank of Canada's inflation calculator says that a basket of goods that cost $30 in 1993 would cost $46.79 today so if ticket prices are 2-4x what they were, that would be considerable.

Sorry, it would cost $44.04.

I'd actually love to see a breakdown of what a band makes now vs. 15-25-35 years ago (be most interesting by some sort of median success metric so the platinum artists of their era vs. whatever exactly approximates that these days on down to the bar bands). Obviously return on recorded media is going to be lower, but cost/distribution of same also less and I do wonder if touring is more lucrative now.
― One bad call from barely losing to (Alex in SF), Monday, November 17, 2014 2:52 PM (4 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

The answer is: fuck no because of gas prices

Concert prices (in the US, I'm assuming?) are 43% higher than they were three years ago, according to this: http://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=87981&page=1

OK.

I do wish he'd made clearer that he must think Spotify is a sick joke. It's going to be too easy for people to ignore the bit about "hybrid approaches" and pretend he's signing off on every type of "brave new world" we're being offered

File under new methods of fart collecting.

The answer is: fuck no because of gas prices
--i did it all for the 'nuki (upper mississippi sh@kedown)

I'm sure that hurts but I'd still like to see it all broken down.

A new CD, when The Problem With Music was published, cost $27-31

does anybody know anybody who actually paid 27-31 dollars for a new CD in '92? I had a CD player and bought CDs. They cost about 15 bucks.

i think this is a canada thing

remember thinking it must suck to live in canada when i bought comics as a kid

MSRP on CDs back then was like $18-19, which would get marked down to $12-13 at a big box retailer. What really has dropped was list for doubles, which usually MSRP'd then for $30-40.

Albini was not speaking in North America.

if he was referring to the market in Australia, then i can confirm that new CDs in '92 sold in the ballpark of 30 AUD.

which felt like a substantial rip-off even at the time.

music becoming much much cheaper to record, cheaper to distribute, cheaper to hear is a net win for everybody,

if you consider a market that allows Burger Records to exist / flourish a "net win," sure

ahahaha

what's wrong with burger records

burgers aren't records!

xp sorry I couldn't help it, imo they suffer a bit in the quality control department but I like some of the releases

and yes I consider it a net win overall for people to have cheap access to the means of production, sometimes bad bands get good later

i think they've tightened up their QC quite a bit recently, but tbf that's referring to their own actual releases not when they're acting as the tape manufacturing arm of other labels xp

ah that makes sense, they are pretty big around these parts

Tbh, I haven't really noticed a radical jump in ticket/gig prices, relative to inflation. Would be curious to see stats.

I saw JAMC for £6 in 1987, which is £15.36 in today's money. I'm seeing them again on Friday in the same venue for £31.50 plus booking fee. So prices have doubled for that one band in that one venue.

It's difficult to compare like for like as these anniversary nostalgia tours sell quickly at inflated prices thanks to sad old fucks like me but that's a huge increase.

yes definitely, likewise Reading festival ticket was £78 in 1999, which is £119 in today's money. Last year's festival ticket price was £213.

The first time I saw Fugazi in 89 it was £3.50, the last time I saw them in 2002 it was £7.50 (source: Fugazi live show archive) so ignoring the fact the prices are artificially low even their tickets cost more than doubled in a little over 10 years.

Screw Fugazi, those selfish, money-grubbing jerks!

The Eagles in the mid'70s cost around $6 a ticket. Now, it's more like $1 million. But they're selling fewer records.

Also, t-shirt prices have skyrocket. You can't download a t-shirt.

yet