Buying AND streaming >>

It starts with conditioning the masses to care about albums culturally as much as they do hits

musicians =/= regular people?

#demcrackazwon

I think people really think majority of musicians aren't also regular people that work 9-5 & have dayjobs too lol.

Back in the time of CDs or even iTunes days this would've cost me over $100

no to me it wouldn't.

oh well first reply

I think that’s because it has to be that way now. I don’t think Eminem dropped Marshall Mathers LP because he needed a tour and Slim Shady dolls to sell.

It’s easier and cheaper now more than any point in history to put music out there. So no music is not undervalued.

Culture is undervalued though

None of these discussions are ever focused on seeking out ways to help regular working class musicians

Except independent artists was mentioned literally a page ago bro.

you literally got artists on this site that are teachers lol

You being disingenuous as a MFer, as per usual mane

Y’all treat celebrities like front line workers

The cost of releasing an album is not the same as the cost of making an album. I will agree that releasing album is easy and cheap now which is a good thing. Music is cheaper to make now as well but that doesn’t mean music IS cheap to make. It can be cheap and we’ve gotten great music from a shoestring budget, I wouldn’t say that is the standard though. There are many many many independent acts spending their biweekly paychecks to produce an album.

I used to pirate like a motherfucker back in the iTunes days

let him what now

And what makes it worse, I'd the fact that modern day artist didn't even fight that hard against it, if at all. The dumbing down of rap and the push for artist like Cardi B was very purposeful, cause they needed people that were dumb as hell to sign these dumb as hell deals.

Streaming literally took music(especially Hip Hop)from art to 100% pro wrestling, everything today is by design.

I’m not tryna put my cape on for artists with millions of dollars. What I am doing is recognizing that due to streaming, musicians from the top level of Beyoncé status to the bedroom artists have all seen a strong dip in the value of their music and that to me is something worth discussing.

music is cheap to make until you have to add live instruments to an album and pay out of pocket for they fees.

music is cheap to make until you have to pay band members and pray to god you don't have a horn section cause you gon' have to pay out of pocket for they time.

Music is cheap to make until you have to pay for rehearsal spaces and all that out of pocket (unless you have bffs with home rehearsal spaces that give you the homie discount or free.99)

And this is from the perspective of an artist with no "backing" of any sorts and finessing with 3-4 different freelance jobs @iamiguel (since you claim I'm being disingenuous as a MFer lol, which is wild to assume considering on average rate most musicians don't even make a LIVABLE wage. We would be classified as on or below poverty line)

A byproduct of the streaming era and artists slapping together low effort verses, borrowing/stealing low energy flows, and throwing them over lazily produced beats and samples.

Add in the fact that these albums are anywhere between an 1-1.45hrs long with 18-25 tracks where people take maybe 4-6 songs and throw them in a playlist hardly ever returning to listen to a full project and...well yeah lol you're left with people treating music as if it is vapid and worthless. Here today, gone in a couple weeks. But hey, at least they got those streaming numbers and chart spots for a couple weeks!

we. not. even. talking. bout. the. top. perce..

nvrmind. @op every musician is Drake. there is no problem at all.

We don't need to have any unions lol.

The effort artists put into albums is way lower compared to how it used to be back in that era, so I rarely feel like they deserve a purchase

I remember buying TI What You Know for 99 cents and it was so crazy just to listen to the new song on your iPod

Just having one new song was a big deal

The monthly "we are spoiled" thread

I read @op and gotta say even your earnest desire to support your favorite artist will f*** you over; theyre pricing this new vinyl at $40 a pop! seeing a twenty buck new release is incredibly rare these days, $25 if youre lucky. and their packaging doesn't even include large posters or good vinyl sleeves, at best its a gatefold but other than that

and we know it's possible to price your s*** at $20 and still sell out. Fugazi vinyl goes for $18 to this day. its just f***ing labels looking to f*** you

Now we podding.

I dont even think it's "dumb as hell." as moreso as it is another reason capitalism kills the music industry.

They prey on those that have no options or no ideas of other opportunities to sign these type of deals as Vince Staples once said, "how you gonna say no to a label advance when so and so just got shot?"