Posts by Simon Grigg
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That's how I bought my rare discs. sent away for them.
And now you have emusic, itunes, Beatport, Juno and 1000 other retail sites. I would have killed to have been able to click and buy those Small Wonder 7''s you mentioned earlier.
Then again I'd not have those boxes of dusty singles tucked away 25 years later would I?
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you say that last bit (creative marketing) like its easy :)
of course not but I'd rather have a website than a review in the NME (global circulation circa 1982 of about 40,000).
We had a review in Trouser Press, one of the most influential US mags of the time (or was it Bomp...I can't recall...but just as influential) of The Screaming Meemees album that raved. The same mag named it one of the best albums of 1982.
It sold us about 6 copies by mail order.
I wonder what a good review on Pitchforkmedia sells?
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I think the market theoretically was much wider. There wasn't much else to be into except sport and music,
except now you can sell it to the world. 6 billion sets of ears over 3 million works for me anytime.
And all it takes is a website and a bit of creative marketing.
That coupled with the vastly increased return percentage on any sales in 2008 over our only outlets in the eighties, the local record shop, plus a viable rights agency system and a raft of other income streams that simply didn't exist then, reduced recording costs, and an independent label is a lot easier now than then.
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Crazy Frog?
sure there have always been the likes of The Archies or Crazy Frog, but a credible artist that exists only in the studio is hard to find and is unlikely to have a fanbase.
And Rob is right, making a record in 2008 is way easier. However making a good record is just as hard.
But, hell, I wish I'd had access to the web or something similar when we were trying get people to buy The Blams or the like.
The potential market was some much narrower twenty five years back.
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small wonder records catalogue and an NME would sort you, but my comment was more you could find the interesting stuff cos it was written about. now you have to sift through promoter written puff pieces all telling you their acts are the next best thing and really most of it isn't,
A couple of minutes a day at Pitchfork, Resident Advisor, Fact Magazine and a spin through my fave MP3 blogs keeps me happy.
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sometimes the end product is the end product and not just a means to earn money off diversions.
I agree Rob but few of those who have historically recorded and released such 'end product' have ever expected to make a living off such. I'm having trouble thinking of many studio only acts that have ever been financially lucrative (The Beatles aside of course but that was after the were already The Beatles) or even self supporting.
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so I own legit copies. I have no need to crack it and its really easier to own the copies and get the back up than to buck the system and get a degree in computer code in order to crack it.
Dunno, most software is pretty easy to crack. A friend's son was telling me that kids at his school regard each new release as a challenge, crack and then distribute.
And here in Asia of course cracked versions of pretty much any program or game are freely available pretty much on the day of release.
of course not for an informed individual such as yourself, but you got to admit compared to past times it seems like there is less inspiring stuff around purely because the stuff you getting rammed down your throats is covering more and more bases than in the past and the noise from that lot drowns out the fringes, if you like to listen to the fringes. You can still find interesting stuff but it takes a degree of skill to filter through the noise. Compare that with the early eighties and it wasn't quite as difficult to dig up diamonds.
nah we had to work a hell of a lot harder to access the stuff back then. Firstly you simply couldn't buy the new stuff in NZ unless you were lucky and ended up in one of the few import shops allowed to bring things in (I had a friendly bod who flew for Air NZ who bought things for me in London and LA). Secondly the outlets to let you know what was around were very very limited. We used to get an album and pass around tapes of the bloody things until some record company deigned to release it six months later.
Myself, I think the so called crisis in the record industry has been a huge boon for the music on the edge. There is so much stuff coming out and the decline of the majors has meant that the constraints have been removed and we're witnessing an inventive flowering not seen since the eighties when hip-hop, post-punk and house / techno all changed the landscape.
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Not sure if i agree Rob. My problem is finding the time to listen to all the music I want to hear.
I found a record shop closing down in KL this week..90% off everything. Even at that discount it can get pricey when there is swags stuff just sitting there that needs to be acquired.
When one couples that with all the new stuff that I find plugged all over the web, there simply isn't the time sometimes.
The vast array to net-zines devoted to music, MP3 blogs (which are a great way to taste before purchase) and new release emails provide so much information and temptation.
And yeah, Ed..I love my vinyl too. It's just so right. So substantial.
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<Indonesia>indicate, ha ha; lanes..ha ha; give way..ha ha </Indonesia>
you don't know how lucky you are........I dream of NZ's impolite drivers...
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Sat next to an American on a plane yesterday..some guy in Coal Futures, who told me that America would never be ready for a woman or a 'damned' black man. He was from Idaho.
When asked about McCain he said 'better the devil you know'.