Billy Corgan: iTunes Kills Music
- Thread starter Mr. Laser Beam
- Start date
Just stupid.
Kills music? this old shit again?
iTunes regularly has music for sale that I can't find elsewhere, I've bought more music than I would have otherwise and I know several other people in the same position.
What's killing music sales at least are the stores that have a very half assed attitude and poor selection and do nothing to encourage sales.
iTunes regularly has music for sale that I can't find elsewhere, I've bought more music than I would have otherwise and I know several other people in the same position.
What's killing music sales at least are the stores that have a very half assed attitude and poor selection and do nothing to encourage sales.
I use iTunes some but really these two sources are better: Pandora, which has a great system for discovering a massive range of music in obscure genres (I use it to find Phillip Glass style minimalism and anything like Steve Reich or Robert Rich, which I call "space music"); and YouTube, which is a great place to hear and see a massive range of full-length classical performances for free (which is a great way to improve my own playing). There's simply no way a brick and mortar store could offer either.
If iTunes is killing off rock music, I couldn't care less. I have no interest in that genre. I didn't even know who the fuck Billy Corgan was, till I read the story.
If iTunes is killing off rock music, I couldn't care less. I have no interest in that genre. I didn't even know who the fuck Billy Corgan was, till I read the story.
I buy all my music AND movies from iTunes now. Far as I'm concerned, it's iTunes that's the future.
For a second I thought you meant "Steve Roach" who does what actually is called "space music" or at times "ambient".
[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoI9sNKbOpk&feature=related[/yt]
At any rate, did a you tube search on Reich thinking maybe you'd gotten Roach's name mixed up, and found some of Reich's tracks. Really cool stuff, looking forward to more!
He sounds not particularly intelligent, and possibly mentally ill.
Facebook is the opiate of the masses, sure; this is news?
I may have missed a sentence or two, but I didn't get the sense that his complaints have much to do with concerns about depression of sales or incomes.
The Tom Morello quote makes Morello sound something like Woodie Guthrie as reimagined by Frank Miller.
I may have missed a sentence or two, but I didn't get the sense that his complaints have much to do with concerns about depression of sales or incomes.
The Tom Morello quote makes Morello sound something like Woodie Guthrie as reimagined by Frank Miller.
I don't see a problem with iTunes. In fact, iTunes probably has done a lot of good for the industry, including giving some bands exposure that people wouldn't have otherwise been aware of. I don't use it much for purchasing music as I use Emusic instead though.
I'm of two minds on this.Digital music, and digital media in general makes it easy to store, keep, copy, listen, and organize the music and media that you have. It's definitely many steps up from having physical media in may ways.
Here's the thing; I also think I see Corgan's side. first off, I'm not a fan of Smashing Pumpkins, but this guy is smart, and well-spoken, eloquent and able to express himself very well. Indeed, from what i read of the interview, I imagine much was cut out, because he usually has a lot to say on issues.
Think about his point. You get music on iTunes, which means, for the most part, people are not buying albums anymore. They sample each song for a minute, and only buy the ones that grab them I'm not saying this about everyone, but certainly the iTunes culture is very much enabling this kind of sampling of music. No one makes albums anymore (for the most part) because people are getting a tiny clip, paying a dollar if they like it, and overlooking a lot of music that didn't grab them right away. I think sometimes a one-minute sample is hardly enough to get a good picture. Listen to the song "BU2B' as featured on Rush's new album (not the single version) where they added a thirty second acoustic into to a very heavy song. If you listen to the sample, you'd have no idea that it was a hard rocking song.
Sad thing is where media is going. I predict that in a few years time, the idea of selling any media in a store will be archaic. Book, movies, music, video games.. why open up store fronts when all people need to to do is download them. It will go from these stores giving out license-to-download numbers (where the buyer has no physical media in hand when they leave the store but they'll download it later) to just having no stores at all. Sure, some people will always want physical media such as books and albums, but, like evolution of the species, the favorable (i.e. more popular traits) will win out of the minority traits over the long term, and a generation raised with digital media won't be going to teh store to buy this media. I mean.. look what happened to arcades. Once video games became better at home the arcade vanished.. despite the fact that the point of the arcade was more than video games, it was about social interaction. Who cares about that? People would rather download some EA game and battle other kids they don't even know and can't see.
I think it will take longer for digital media storefronts to become more and more obsolete than the arcades took, but I do believe ti will happen... so bands and artists won't be focusing as much on the craft as they might on just getting as much awesomeness packed into the one minute sample as they can. They want people to download the stuff, but the idea of trying something new and daring exciting is becoming lost.
Here's the thing; I also think I see Corgan's side. first off, I'm not a fan of Smashing Pumpkins, but this guy is smart, and well-spoken, eloquent and able to express himself very well. Indeed, from what i read of the interview, I imagine much was cut out, because he usually has a lot to say on issues.
Think about his point. You get music on iTunes, which means, for the most part, people are not buying albums anymore. They sample each song for a minute, and only buy the ones that grab them I'm not saying this about everyone, but certainly the iTunes culture is very much enabling this kind of sampling of music. No one makes albums anymore (for the most part) because people are getting a tiny clip, paying a dollar if they like it, and overlooking a lot of music that didn't grab them right away. I think sometimes a one-minute sample is hardly enough to get a good picture. Listen to the song "BU2B' as featured on Rush's new album (not the single version) where they added a thirty second acoustic into to a very heavy song. If you listen to the sample, you'd have no idea that it was a hard rocking song.
Sad thing is where media is going. I predict that in a few years time, the idea of selling any media in a store will be archaic. Book, movies, music, video games.. why open up store fronts when all people need to to do is download them. It will go from these stores giving out license-to-download numbers (where the buyer has no physical media in hand when they leave the store but they'll download it later) to just having no stores at all. Sure, some people will always want physical media such as books and albums, but, like evolution of the species, the favorable (i.e. more popular traits) will win out of the minority traits over the long term, and a generation raised with digital media won't be going to teh store to buy this media. I mean.. look what happened to arcades. Once video games became better at home the arcade vanished.. despite the fact that the point of the arcade was more than video games, it was about social interaction. Who cares about that? People would rather download some EA game and battle other kids they don't even know and can't see.
I think it will take longer for digital media storefronts to become more and more obsolete than the arcades took, but I do believe ti will happen... so bands and artists won't be focusing as much on the craft as they might on just getting as much awesomeness packed into the one minute sample as they can. They want people to download the stuff, but the idea of trying something new and daring exciting is becoming lost.
Albums suck nowadays anyway. How many people actually listen to a CD from beginning to end anymore?
That is the only way I listen to music.
Albums don't suck any more today than they did in the 90s, 80s, 70s, or whenever. It's just a matter of finding the right albums to listen to.
Rarely, playlists make selections of music for any length of time much easier and ensure you get the ones you enjoy.
I agree with this. I enjoy listening to full albums, and I do think that is one big downside to the trend towards buying songs digitally as singles. In the past, I would fall in love with a song and buy the CD just to listen to it, and then as I heard the other songs over and over again I would gain a true appreciation for them and sometimes even come to love them more than the song I originally bought the album for. I don't see myself doing this much in the future, because I will just buy the song I like and although I may sample the others, I probably won't buy them after only one listen. I don't really know what the "solution" to this is, or even if there needs to be one, but it is a downside.
Also, this thread reminds me of my best friend in elementary and middle school, who was absolutely obsessed with Billy Corgan and had pictures of him all over her room. When the Smashing Pumpkins broke up you would have thought the world was ending from her reaction.
I have been buying a lot of my music on faith. If I like one or two songs on an album, I will usually buy the whole album with the hope that I will like all of the other songs too. I am rarely disappointed.
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