Calling all fellow sound freaks,
I'm thinking out aloud here and wondering about this, but I can't seem to settle on an answer using only the one brain that I've been given. So I'm throwing this one out to all those of you who download free music from various websites but may also like to buy CDs. Or indeed anyone else who puts their own free mp3's up on Soundclick, MySpace or similar sites.
Suppose a fairly unknown band has a number of tracks as free mp3 downloads, but then after a while they decide to follow a long-time dream and put these out as a professionally pressed CD album. By this I mean that they will have been stamped from a glass master (rather than a laser burn) and have protective laquering applied, plus a litho printed 4-page cover etc. (ie: exactly as you'd buy in any shop).
It would take quite a bit of money and effort to produce this, and then ways would have to be found of selling them all. In the UK no company will produce less than 500 using this process and it would maybe take ages for an unknown band to sell that many unless looked at in terms of quite a few years and lots of relentless marketing.
So, the question I'm asking is this:
If everyone who's interested has already downloaded the tracks as free mp3's, would they bother to buy the 'real' pressed CD that's been lovingly produced when it's released???
Does anyone have any insight on this conundrum
Thanks for reading,
Garden of Surreal Dreams
I'm thinking out aloud here and wondering about this, but I can't seem to settle on an answer using only the one brain that I've been given. So I'm throwing this one out to all those of you who download free music from various websites but may also like to buy CDs. Or indeed anyone else who puts their own free mp3's up on Soundclick, MySpace or similar sites.
Suppose a fairly unknown band has a number of tracks as free mp3 downloads, but then after a while they decide to follow a long-time dream and put these out as a professionally pressed CD album. By this I mean that they will have been stamped from a glass master (rather than a laser burn) and have protective laquering applied, plus a litho printed 4-page cover etc. (ie: exactly as you'd buy in any shop).
It would take quite a bit of money and effort to produce this, and then ways would have to be found of selling them all. In the UK no company will produce less than 500 using this process and it would maybe take ages for an unknown band to sell that many unless looked at in terms of quite a few years and lots of relentless marketing.
So, the question I'm asking is this:
If everyone who's interested has already downloaded the tracks as free mp3's, would they bother to buy the 'real' pressed CD that's been lovingly produced when it's released???
Does anyone have any insight on this conundrum
Thanks for reading,
Garden of Surreal Dreams