Digital music (was: Interesting Tim O'Reilly article)

From: Fred N. van Kempen <Fred.van.Kempen_at_microwalt.nl>
Date: Sun Dec 15 06:33:01 2002

Hi,

Regarding the being able to work around expensive studios to produce
music: yes. I know a (computer-audio-) guy who spent EUR 50K on a
bunch of digital "studio" audio equipment (mixing, levellers, edit
workbench, etc) and computers for work and storage (I did that part
for them), and he then teamed up with an "analog" audio guy who set
up the "analog" part of their setup (mikes, recording room, whatnot.)

They now make a good living doing recordings and mastering sessions
for artists in Holland and Belgium- both starting ones __and__ some
known ones. They recently asked me to again help them with setting
up a digital music distribution and delivery system, as their
"customers" (artists) asked them to also act as their "record
company" using New Media. When they have done the legal legwork,
I'll be building an online record store for them, with an almost
direct link to the studio.

So... yes. It can be done, and it can work well. The traditional
companies in that field are scared shitless, because THEY HAVE NO CLUE
as to what's hitting them.

Youth today _really_ doesn't care [anymore] about 101% [sic] pure audio
quality, they are _fine_ with 192Kbps MP3/Pro files which then can then
stuff onto a CD. I am, too, often. The proposed "album" price in the
"shop" above was EUR 8 to EUR 10 (about same for US$), and their short
investigation has shown that customers were OK with that, including the
fact that they had to download the stuff.

[Optionally, the "shop" will have a CD-R/DVD-R burning service, by the
 way, for, I believe, EUR 2.5 plus shipping]

The latest rumor is, that a wellknown Dutch concert managing agency has
contacted them whether or not they would be able and willing to handle
_all_ their live recordings of gigs, including.. yes, the "shop".

Traditionally, "live albums" are sucked dry by studios and recording
companies- the artists get very little out of them. This "New Shop"
(hey, that sounds familiar.. hmm...) doesn't have to, so artists AND
fans benefit.

Again, dunno where this is going, as it's not there yet. I am a consultant,
so, advise on the technical issues. But, while busy doing that, I did
notice that the "other" guys were scared shitless _all_ the time, and
didn't know what to say _most_ of the time I was there...

The same most probably goes for the video/movie industry... dunno about
that world, but there, the "distribution channel" is even more powerful....

Cheers,
        Fred
Received on Sun Dec 15 2002 - 06:33:01 GMT