Albums Are Dead - Ola Englund's Thoughts

[InternetAlias]

One Carrington Event and digital media is done. One such CME missed Earth in 2012. We don't have the materials at hand to repair the grids for years after. In 2012 where I live we had an ice storm in late October when all the trees still had their leaves so the branches and trees came down is great numbers. We had a blackout for a week where I live, and if you didn't have CASH you didn't get any firewood or batteries. Just a week that time, but any year now we can get a weather event that puts the lights out for a long time as well as the furnace or air conditioner (just as necessary this year) People think the internet is eternal. It isn't. Solar storm of 1859 - Wikipedia Of course people can't live with the expectation of doom, but we aren't even paying attention. As usual.

What makes you think analog media will fare better if a solar storm shuts down power grids/electronic devices? Only vinyl will fare better, tape, CDs and hard drives (being magnetic media) will all be equally affected, or unaffected. Also, I think music and videos are the last thing to care about in case of a worldwide civilization breakdown event so even taking this into an account is kind of mind boggling.

"our civilization might be ending as it can no longer support the number of people who currently live, but hey, at least I can listen to some music while I'm trying to gather basic necessities for life since we're on our own now!"

 

[mapleglo]

I already have the zombie apocalypse issues covered. I just need to cover my music related issues.

 

[48thStreetCustom]

Spotify and streaming gets mention quite a bit here, but I haven't seen much chatter about the Patreon business model, which has been pretty legit for some artists.

A lot of established artists like Megadeth, Queensrÿche and Slash are using PledgeMusic.

PledgeMusic

And oh look... They also sell vinyl pressings

 

[BassBrass]

What makes you think analog media will fare better if a solar storm shuts down power grids/electronic devices? Only vinyl will fare better, tape, CDs and hard drives (being magnetic media) will all be equally affected, or unaffected. Also, I think music and videos are the last thing to care about in case of a worldwide doom event so even taking this into an account is kind of mind boggling.

I was commenting just on the total faith in the internet is see. I realize that all electronic devices will be useless in such an event. That's why I keep playing my trumpets, trumpet will be KING once again! Harry James was more of a stud then your pathetic rock stars...

Before the vinyl and CD market crashes occurred, the band instrument crash of the 60s devastated places like Elkheart Ill. Conn was like Ford and today it's just a licensed brand nameplate.

 

[InternetAlias]

I was commenting just on the total faith in the internet is see. I realize that all electronic devices will be useless in such an event. That's why I keep playing my trumpets, trumpet will be KING once again! Harry James was more of a stud then your pathetic rock stars...

Oh yeah, I guess that's true. Speaking of which, I should get into double bass before it's too late! Too bad my shoulder injury makes it almost impossible to hold a bow for longer than five minutes...

 

[40Hz]

With that kind of positivity, surely there's no problem too daunting in your life.

I manage to muddle through just like most everyone else does most times. Because what choice do we really have?

It’s one thing to pray for miracles. and another thing to depend on them for your success and happiness. And New Age “positivity,” Napolean Hill’s slick little bit of snake oil, is vastly overrated.

Positivity only takes you so far before it morphs into “magical thinking” if you’re not careful. Which is a rabbit hole you don’t want to go down if you want to effect real change.

Sometimes you need to get angry and say: “Enough! I’m not playing your game or making excuses for it anymore.” before any rational hope for something better is justifiable.

To borrow from Terry Pratchett’s nanny Susan’s advice to the children who were afraid of the monster under their bed:

Susan: What did I tell you to do when something tries to scare you?

Children: Don’t get frightened. Get angry.

 

[BassBrass]

To borrow from Terry Pratchett’s nanny Susan’s advice to the children who were afraid of the monster under their bed:

Susan: What did I tell you to do when something tries to scare you?

Children: Don’t get frightened. Get angry.

Well that Susan was the foster daughter of DEATH, wasn't she?
other quotes from the Very Same book:

"The truth may be out there, but the lies are inside your head."

"The philosopher Didactylos has summed up an alternative hypothesis as "Things just happen. What the hell"."

"And then Jack chopped down what was the world's last beanstalk, adding murder and ecological terrorism to the theft, enticement, and trespass charges already mentioned, and all the giant's children didn't have a daddy anymore. But he got away with it and lived happily ever after, without so much as a guilty twinge about what he had done...which proves that you can be excused for just about anything if you are a hero, because no one asks inconvenient questions.”

“Some things are fairly obvious when it's a seven-foot skeleton with a scythe telling you them”

“There is always time for another last minute”

 

[InternetAlias]

I manage to muddle through just like most everyone else does most times. Because what choice do we really have?

It’s one thing to pray for miracles. and another thing to depend on them for your success and happiness. And New Age “positivity,” Napolean Hill’s slick little bit of snake oil, is vastly overrated.

Positivity only takes you so far before it morphs into “magical thinking” if you’re not careful. Which is a rabbit hole you don’t want to go down if you want to effect real change.

Sometimes you need to get angry and say: “Enough! I’m not playing your game or making excuses for it anymore.” before any rational hope for something better is justifiable.

To borrow from Terry Pratchett’s nanny Susan’s advice to the children who were afraid of the monster under their bed:

Susan: What did I tell you to do when something tries to scare you?

Children: Don’t get frightened. Get angry.

Yeah, it's about our attitude towards reality, and how we truly accept it, isn't it?

I don't think it's just this mythical "positivity" that your writing reflects, for the years I've been reading posts on talkbass, you've been among the top 5 people that I consider actually being wise and realistic but also not narrow minded.

I'm constantly trying my best to understand older people's perspectives (which is obviously harder due to the big generation gap since I'm only 25), and I can exchange ideas just fine a lot of the time without any flame going on, but when they use sweeping statements that make no sense in the context, I always have to doubt their perspective as having very little relation to the observable reality, and most of the time, I get called a kid and having no perspective because I don't consider things that were true 50 years ago to still be true today and because I don't take someone's word for granted (just because they are older, basically).

As I wrote previously in this thread, it's actually disheartening to see older people (who truly believe they're wise just because they're experienced, which doesn't go hand in hand as often as we'd all like) get stuck in their ways and discard many things that came after they've stopped looking for new music and new music styles, but you seem to have always been open to new ideas and tried to grasp them and accept/reject with skepticism and realism, which I'd like to see more often in those parts, particularly among the older generations, but of course, younger people as well.

Me having issues with people 2-3 generations older than me doesn't come from talkbass, however - but actual wiseasses (not to be confused with our very own Wisebass ) from real life who all seem to know everything but fail at every A/B test I've ever given them.

 

[Son of Wobble]

Spotify and streaming gets mention quite a bit here, but I haven't seen much chatter about the Patreon business model, which has been pretty legit for some artists.

This video is very illuminating, and presents not only a very succinct analysis of the broken system, but compelling and alluring visions of a near future when now-emerging platforms will again help artists monetize the efforts of their labor. Sweet lies, perhaps, but beats the litany of old-guy grumbling about better times of old.

This has largely been a great thread, too, save for the inevitable 'I still love my physical media" posts, which are all well and good, but are written largely by super-fan musicians who don't seem to grasp that they are outliers, and that their personal preference is beside the point when talking about the greater market. Not every TB thread is a preference poll.

 

[Son of Wobble]

Yeah, it's about our attitude towards reality, and how we truly accept it, isn't it?

I don't think it's just this mythical "positivity" that your writing reflects, for the years I've been reading posts on talkbass, you've been among the top 5 people that I consider actually being wise and realistic but also not narrow minded.

I'm constantly trying my best to understand older people's perspectives (which is obviously harder due to the big generation gap since I'm only 25), and I can exchange ideas just fine a lot of the time without any flame going on, but when they use sweeping statements that make no sense in the context, I always have to doubt their perspective as having very little relation to the observable reality, and most of the time, I get called a kid and having no perspective because I don't consider things that were true 50 years ago to still be true today and because I don't take someone's word for granted (just because they are older, basically).

As I wrote previously in this thread, it's actually disheartening to see older people (who truly believe they're wise just because they're experienced, which doesn't go hand in hand as often as we'd all like) get stuck in their ways and discard many things that came after they've stopped looking for new music and new music styles, but you seem to have always been open to new ideas and tried to grasp them and accept/reject with skepticism and realism, which I'd like to see more often in those parts, particularly among the older generations, but of course, younger people as well.

Me having issues with people 2-3 generations older than me doesn't come from talkbass, however - but actual wiseasses (not to be confused with our very own Wisebass ) from real life who all seem to know everything but fail at every A/B test I've ever given them.

Lenny Bruce said there was nothing sadder than an Old Hipster. But then Lenny died before the advent of the Old Classic Rock Guy.

 

[Bassbeater]

One Carrington Event and digital media is done. One such CME missed Earth in 2012. We don't have the materials at hand to repair the grids for years after. In 2012 where I live we had an ice storm in late October when all the trees still had their leaves so the branches and trees came down is great numbers. We had a blackout for a week where I live, and if you didn't have CASH you didn't get any firewood or batteries. Just a week that time, but any year now we can get a weather event that puts the lights out for a long time as well as the furnace or air conditioner (just as necessary this year) People think the internet is eternal. It isn't. Solar storm of 1859 - Wikipedia Of course people can't live with the expectation of doom, but we aren't even paying attention. As usual.

Brilliant insight. So I suppose we can all count on you to be releasing a full length album and making a post-apocalyptic living then?

 

[monsterthompson]

This video is very illuminating, and presents not only a very succinct analysis of the broken system, but compelling and alluring visions of a near future when now-emerging platforms will again help artists monetize the efforts of their labor. Sweet lies, perhaps, but beats the litany of old-guy grumbling about better times of old.

This has largely been a great thread, too, save for the inevitable 'I still love my physical media" posts, which are all well and good, but are written largely by super-fan musicians who don't seem to grasp that they are outliers, and that their personal preference is beside the point when talking about the greater market. Not every TB thread is a preference poll.

The thread has remained relatively civil for 11 pages of TB

I don't think I could ever dig it up, but years ago Steve Vai was interviewed in a guitar magazine about why he kept making his own indi albums, when he could have chosen to work with more giant commercial artists. He responded that he had two choices: 1) get a very small slice of a giant commercial pie, or 2) keep all of his own smaller pie. In his estimation, it was more valuable to keep the record companies out of his economics, even at the cost of limiting his distribution and promotion. He mentioned how he had seen jazz artists doing this for years and making a living. He saw them selling thousands of units and still keeping creative rights and control, instead of having to sell millions of units and be under the thumb of a big company.

 

[BassBrass]

Brilliant insight. So I suppose we can all count on you to be releasing a full length album and making a post-apocalyptic living then?

No as I stated above I play trumpet and I'll promise that I will use it for the good of the tribe, this side of town at least.

 

[InternetAlias]

No as I stated above I play trumpet and I'll promise that I will use it for the good of the tribe, this side of town at least.

Make sure to add some steampunk mods to it tho. Poverty and breakdown of civilization should not be standing in way of being ridiculously cool .

 

[Son of Wobble]

No as I stated above I play trumpet and I'll promise that I will use it for the good of the tribe, this side of town at least.

Trumpet will also be a salable skill -- you'll be needed to lead the remaining mutated humanoids into battle as they square off mano a mano for the last clean water and the like.

Whereas 8x10 cabs will be good only for burying the dead...

 

[InternetAlias]

I like how this thread went from "albums are dead" to "the human civilization is dead", I believe people who read the whole thread will get a big chuckle out of it

 

[40Hz]

I like how this thread went from "albums are dead" to "the human civilization is dead", I believe people who read the whole thread will get a big chuckle out of it

Never doubt it.

Hipsters invariably get a chuckle out of almost everything being said. It’s a badge of honor in their circles to be perpetually “above it all.”

​

 

[Son of Wobble]

The thread has remained relatively civil for 11 pages of TB

I don't think I could ever dig it up, but years ago Steve Vai was interviewed in a guitar magazine about why he kept making his own indi albums, when he could have chosen to work with more giant commercial artists. He responded that he had two choices: 1) get a very small slice of a giant commercial pie, or 2) keep all of his own smaller pie. In his estimation, it was more valuable to keep the record companies out of his economics, even at the cost of limiting his distribution and promotion. He mentioned how he had seen jazz artists doing this for years and making a living. He saw them selling thousands of units and still keeping creative rights and control, instead of having to sell millions of units and be under the thumb of a big company.

Back on the Spotify case, my conclusion is that this Martin Lorentzon is some kinda genius, in that he bundled our relatively worthless tunes up into junk bonds, and is now cashing out as he goes, before the whole unsustainable model bottoms out. Yee-haw!

Spotify's co-founder reportedly sold $40 million worth of his stock

 

[Bassbeater]

Back on the Spotify case, my conclusion is that this Martin Lorentzon is some kinda genius, in that he bundled our relatively worthless tunes up into junk bonds, and is now cashing out as he goes, before the whole unsustainable model bottoms out. Yee-haw!

View attachment 3127328 Spotify's co-founder reportedly sold $40 million worth of his stock

Precisely... He's reselling bread crumbs at full loaf prices.

 

[-Asdfgh-]

Cuture is defined and built upon institutions and things which have persistence. A perpetually transient state is the antithesis of culture. Because “culture of transience” (an oxymoron if there ever was one ) is the same thing as the absence of culture. Or to use the old slang expression: rootless.

Most people realize the unattached “all my options open” urban ninja “army of one” schtick is a lot less romantic once you turn 30 than it seemed when you were 25.

To borrow from an old Faces song:

Once I was a young man…
And all I had to do was smile. ​

Some culture, or as the word is used, is pretty transient, in particular youth culture. High culture is more persistent, though.