Well, whatever you say Lukaz. You do seem to possess intimate knowledge of the rock business. I blame computers. They have been responsible for kids spending less, not buying albums (as you say) and "artists" being able to remix or "create" music in their bedrooms. Technology has meant that you no longer need drums, a guitar, amps and bass to produce a record. You can do it all in Pro Tools or GarageBand.
What?? It looked like Armageddon. Of course, if you were expecting the Fire of London I expect you would have been disappointed!
I've been to see them twice....well less Keith Moon the first time and then less John Entwistle the second time.....oh and I seen Roger Daltrey at the Albert Hall for the teenage cancer trust too......now that is British prog rock at its best.
But you have just proven my point in a way I would not think off. Yes people can create "music" at home with PC and that makes it cheaper then rock band that needs actual people and equipment. However it can still be sold at the same price down the line. Big concerts can still be organised and merchandise sold. It has nothing to do with piracy. Do you know services called spotify or zune pass? Only now services like this show up in mass. However digital music has been available to download for years. Only now music industry is reacting as they finally realised digital download is what people want and it will NOT go away. To clarify, spotify or zune pass offer unlimited music as streaming for monthly subscription fee. You can create your own playlists and upload them to your device to use for max 1 month until you have to refresh it. You can only skip few tracks per hour (standard 3 tracks). No risk to you with piracy and costs from £5 GBP a month. Movies are heading the same way.
Spotify. I know. The death knell for the music industry was when you started to be able to just buy tracks instead of albums. The money was always in albums. Albums take some effort and listening to to appreciate. Often the best tracks haven't been released as singles. But now, you just buy a couple of tracks and that's it. Exit real appreciation of a concerted effort, exit the money in album sales. £5 a month? Back in the 70s (when £5 was actually worth something) people would often buy an album for about this amount per month.
I know it is cheap and I know buying single tracks instead of albums is bad (most good rock albums have songs building up on one another). However this is the world we are in and if music industry reacted faster and properly situation would probably be better for them. I must say an album for £9.99 is not that expensive but on the other hand when you think what you are buying it is, especially that most music is crap and on average album 2 tracks are ok so why pay for rest? I would like to think that if one likes entire album you would go to buy a disc but I guess not the case for most.
I wish I was old enough to have seen them with Keith Moon. A legendary off beat genius, that no one since has managed to come close to surpassing!
I'm still furious with myself for missing the Ilse of Wight festival 1970, had the opportunity to go, lacked the foresight to realize what a significant event it would be. Ist trip followed shortly after though, Purple Haze if I recall, probably the most significant event of my life!
