i think this is a canada thing
remember thinking it must suck to live in canada when i bought comics as a kid
― da croupier, Tuesday, 18 November 2014 01:26 (nine years ago) link
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.
― Don A Henley And Get Over It (C. Grisso/McCain), Tuesday, 18 November 2014 01:46 (nine years ago) link
Albini was not speaking in North America.
― the incredible string gland (sic), Tuesday, 18 November 2014 01:49 (nine years ago) link
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.
― charlie h, Tuesday, 18 November 2014 02:01 (nine years ago) link
which felt like a substantial rip-off even at the time.
― charlie h, Tuesday, 18 November 2014 02:02 (nine years ago) link
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
― Jimmywine Dyspeptic, Tuesday, 18 November 2014 02:41 (nine years ago) link
ahahaha
― sleeve, Tuesday, 18 November 2014 02:48 (nine years ago) link
what's wrong with burger records
― don't ask me why i posted this (electricsound), Tuesday, 18 November 2014 02:49 (nine years ago) link
burgers aren't records!
― mattresslessness, Tuesday, 18 November 2014 02:54 (nine years ago) link
xp sorry I couldn't help it, imo they suffer a bit in the quality control department but I like some of the releases
― sleeve, Tuesday, 18 November 2014 03:02 (nine years ago) link
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
― sleeve, Tuesday, 18 November 2014 03:04 (nine years ago) link
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
― don't ask me why i posted this (electricsound), Tuesday, 18 November 2014 03:05 (nine years ago) link
ah that makes sense, they are pretty big around these parts
― sleeve, Tuesday, 18 November 2014 03:07 (nine years ago) link
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.
― doesn’t matter what the content is, as long as it’s content (onimo), Tuesday, 18 November 2014 11:16 (nine years ago) link
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.
― jamiesummerz, Tuesday, 18 November 2014 12:35 (nine years ago) link
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.
― the bowels are not what they seem (aldo), Tuesday, 18 November 2014 12:47 (nine years ago) link
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.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 18 November 2014 12:52 (nine years ago) link
Also, t-shirt prices have skyrocket. You can't download a t-shirt.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 18 November 2014 12:53 (nine years ago) link
yet
― bizarro gazzara, Tuesday, 18 November 2014 12:59 (nine years ago) link
I conceded the point about ticket prices already, referring to actual statistics.
― EveningStar (Sund4r), Tuesday, 18 November 2014 13:03 (nine years ago) link
Fuck statistics, we have anecdotal evidence!
― doesn’t matter what the content is, as long as it’s content (onimo), Tuesday, 18 November 2014 13:46 (nine years ago) link
in the DIY punk or 'eternally unsuccessful' sphere of things entry fees to gigs have been stuck around the £5 mark in the UK since time immemorial. attempts to whack it up to a price that reflects the costs involved tends to get raised eyebrows and/or no-one turning up because they think it's too expensive
― proper maoist (DJ Mencap), Tuesday, 18 November 2014 14:08 (nine years ago) link
I'd compare more "price to see a new relatively unknown band" in 1977 vs. "new relatively unknown band" in 2014 instead of comparing ticket prices to see the same band.
― forbodingly titled It's True! It's True! (Eazy), Tuesday, 18 November 2014 14:50 (nine years ago) link
Well, new relatively unknown bands are in no position to make any money until they are less new and better known, so comparison is moot.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 18 November 2014 14:52 (nine years ago) link
so is the comparison of a band 3 years into their career and 25 years in.
― EZ Snappin, Tuesday, 18 November 2014 15:00 (nine years ago) link
But i think albinis point is that Shellac now is playing the same sized venues as Shellac then, but getting more money. Right?
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 18 November 2014 15:08 (nine years ago) link
Here you can compare ticket prices for bands at the small level.
http://www.bottomofthehill.com/calendar_archives.html
In 1997 you could see bands at a small club for $5 (Dandy Warhols, Blonde Redhead) -$10 (Yo La Tengo, Pavement).Now those ticket prices have almost doubled...$10-20.Inflation: $10 in 1997 is about $15 today.
― asthmatic american, Tuesday, 18 November 2014 15:10 (nine years ago) link
i think it's important to remember he's also fine with this not working for "everybody" - he's not saying that the income loss reported doesn't EXIST, but that he's comfortable with an evolution that still potentially lets cool people make cool music, and lets "the music industry" collapse under its own weight
― da croupier, Tuesday, 18 November 2014 15:16 (nine years ago) link
he even cops to being in the dark about subcultures other than his own - guessing anecdotally the indie rockers he likes are doing their thing better or worse, the ones complaining he thinks are the weak ones in the herd anyway
― da croupier, Tuesday, 18 November 2014 15:21 (nine years ago) link
and to be clear, i'm not arguing the dude isn't to some degree a libertarian "i got mine" jerk, even if i appreciate the context and detail he's provided
― da croupier, Tuesday, 18 November 2014 15:23 (nine years ago) link
More like Albini is in I told you so mode. Like, serves you right for where you ended up, if you had listened to me you'd be lecturing in Melbourne too. Though it is some sort of tautology to basically note the ones losing the most money are the ones with the most money.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 18 November 2014 15:25 (nine years ago) link
what abt the painting & sculpture industry
― am0n, Wednesday, 19 November 2014 19:30 (nine years ago) link
scare quotes or nixon impression
http://oi58.tinypic.com/t86pf9.jpg
― am0n, Wednesday, 19 November 2014 19:35 (nine years ago) link
http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/music/kot/ct-second-city-never-sleeps-heather-whinna-steve-albini-20141211-18-column.html
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 11 December 2014 19:53 (nine years ago) link
Letters to Santa might bring to mind a school exercise, "like writing a letter to Santa asking for a new GI Joe or Barbie doll," says Albini, who spends most of the year engineering punk-rock records at his North Side studio or recording and playing with his band Shellac. "The reality is that these letters are usually from heads of household with nowhere to turn. What would it take for a grown-up to write a letter to Santa to ask for help? It's not casual want. These are people who have no support on earth taking a random shot. Those were the letters that broke my heart the most."
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 11 December 2014 19:54 (nine years ago) link
America is so sad
― you say tomato/i say imago (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 11 December 2014 21:59 (nine years ago) link
this mostly made me lol but i'm sure someone will find a way to empathize with this well-told tale of SA's overzealous hero worshiphttp://thetalkhouse.com/music/talks/marissa-paternoster-screaming-females-talks/
― La Lechera, Monday, 10 August 2015 00:18 (eight years ago) link
steve is a funny old cove:
http://thequietus.com/articles/18882-powell-vs-steve-albini
― Ray Chard (NickB), Tuesday, 29 September 2015 11:31 (eight years ago) link
"I've always detested mechanized dance music, its stupid simplicity, the clubs where it was played, the people who went to those clubs, the drugs they took, the shit they liked to talk about, the clothes they wore, the battles they fought amongst each other... basically all of it, 100 percent hated every scrap."Oh dear. Albini continued: "The electronic music I liked was radical and different, shit like the White Noise, Xenakis, Suicide, Kraftwerk, and the earliest stuff form Cabaret Voltaire, SPK and DAF. When that scene and those people got co-opted by dance/club music I felt like we'd lost a war. I detest club culture as deeply as I detest anything on earth. So I am against what you're into, and an enemy of where you come from".
Oh dear. Albini continued: "The electronic music I liked was radical and different, shit like the White Noise, Xenakis, Suicide, Kraftwerk, and the earliest stuff form Cabaret Voltaire, SPK and DAF. When that scene and those people got co-opted by dance/club music I felt like we'd lost a war. I detest club culture as deeply as I detest anything on earth. So I am against what you're into, and an enemy of where you come from".
seems so weird having such an entrenched position on this in 2015. unless he's just kidding around of course
― Ray Chard (NickB), Tuesday, 29 September 2015 11:36 (eight years ago) link
"The electronic music I liked was radical and different, shit like the White Noise, Xenakis, Suicide, Kraftwerk, and the earliest stuff form Cabaret Voltaire, SPK and DAF"
^ ironically i can now only hear this in my head in the LFO Frequencies intro voice
― Ray Chard (NickB), Tuesday, 29 September 2015 12:06 (eight years ago) link
I totally agree with him. In 1992, when I was 20 and didn't know shit and thought my opinion on others peoples' lives mattered to them and the world at large.
― jimmy falloff (GOTT PUNCH II HAWKWINDZ), Tuesday, 29 September 2015 12:08 (eight years ago) link
(Cool that he DGAF about the sample, though.)
― jimmy falloff (GOTT PUNCH II HAWKWINDZ), Tuesday, 29 September 2015 12:09 (eight years ago) link
That's a very odd way of responding to a sample request. Funny though!
― One bad call from barely losing to (Alex in SF), Tuesday, 29 September 2015 12:09 (eight years ago) link
can't figure out what war he is fighting here and why
― Ray Chard (NickB), Tuesday, 29 September 2015 12:13 (eight years ago) link
i think there is something sorta charming about having this position in 2015
― ♛ LIL UNIT ♛ (thomp), Tuesday, 29 September 2015 12:26 (eight years ago) link
"Would you like butter or margarine on your toast, Mr Albini?"
*5-minute rant about the suffering of factory cows and the evils of the petroleum industry. Then:*"IDGAF, whatever."
― hardcore dilettante, Tuesday, 29 September 2015 12:41 (eight years ago) link
He's just answering an email requesting permission to sample his voice, and trying to do so with dignity instead of just "No" or "Don't care."
― I know some Civil War re-enactors you might want to talk to (Eazy), Tuesday, 29 September 2015 12:42 (eight years ago) link
Thinking it's weird and acting all baffled because someone articulated the view that club culture is stupid and detestable is baffling and weird. A firmly entrenched view that clubs and dance music are unassailable is much more bizarre.
Albini surmised that someone was just trying to scrape up a bit of interest in their record. Rote response from him. Bingo! Get the Quietus to scratch a tiny piece of content out of this pretend-beef, without which the story would be "someone just made another house record".
― everything, Tuesday, 29 September 2015 12:42 (eight years ago) link
He's just answering an email requesting permission to sample his voice, and trying to do so with dignity instead of just "No" or "Don't care." --I know some Civil War re-enactors you might want to talk to (Eazy)
Shorter ways of saying "sure" though surely. There is something a bit "I have to make sure you know how I feel about the thing."
― One bad call from barely losing to (Alex in SF), Tuesday, 29 September 2015 12:46 (eight years ago) link
Powell probably wrote a horribly condescending or patronizing email. Albini could print it up for the cover of his next record. Maybe a blog would write about that. But probably not because that would be stupid.
― everything, Tuesday, 29 September 2015 12:50 (eight years ago) link