General Music Discussion II

[Aghrabia]

Have you ever had an album you rated rather highly, but then somehow the next album by the artist is even way better than that and you're like "Well, maybe my old rating isn't really adequate for this anymore...", and with how much of an improvement the next thing was, suddenly the older album doesn't seem quite as good?

I think I've had this a few times. Can't think of specifics, I just remember highly liking some albums, then the next album comes out and it is even way better and suddenly the old album doesn't seem quite as amazing (But still good) as it did before this new, even better album came out.

I've had this, but not particularly with chronological albums (in fact, the opposite). When I started to get into Aphex Twin, the first album I bought was Syro- I liked it, it was a great album, I thought. Then I bought SAW 85-92 and then my opinion of Syro went down.

[Minoa]

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-40447810

EBU, the organisers of Eurovision, has fined UA:PBC €200,000 in connection with banning Russia’s Julia Samoilova over the Crimea dispute. Russia's Channel One recieved a formal warning for not attending official Eurovision meetings in Kiev, and for not broadcasting the live shows as a result of the dispute.

However, neither are being kicked out next year in hope that both sides will take part in what is supposed to a non-political competition, something that was undermined in the days when tele-voting effectively decided the winner (sic).

[Ameriganastan]

...Why the eff did I just listen to a whole Owl City album? I must be going soft.

[Philjia]

Saw Mouses live. Mint.

[Lapik]

when you figure out a band made so many songs you like but you never knew them. Thats me with Cake

[Corrian]

Really digging this Nine Inch Nails song in this form

[Corrian]

Listening to the new Lorde album then the first one, the new one definitely seems better. More musically interesting and also Lorde seems to have more singing range in general than before. And I like the first album as far as radio pop goes.

[Minoa]

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-40519137

Reasons given for stream-ripping included:

1. Music was already owned by the user in another format (31%)
2. Wanting to listen to music offline (26%)
3. Wanting to listen to music on the move (25%)
4. Cannot afford to pay for music (21%)
5. The feeling that official music content is overpriced (20%)

Clarification: this posts discourages piracy.

There is virtually no reason to pirate music, largely because of the low prices for legally available media on Amazon: let’s take Now 97 as an example, which will cost only £12,99 for an Audio CD when it comes out on 21 July 2017: 45 songs for 28.87 pence each, how low do you want it to go?

With that, you can rip them to a format suitable for any device you like, for personal use of course, and there are many free programs to do that. If you do not have a CD drive, then get one, since they cost less than £20 on Amazon.

While Amazon MP3s are slightly cheaper, at £10.69 (based on the current price from Now 96), that’s not worth it since the file format is lossy and may cause issues if you want to convert to another format. CDs remain in my opinion king at this time.

[Corrian]

My dad converts MP3's to CD's all the time with seemingly no problem.

[Minoa]

My dad converts MP3's to CD's all the time with seemingly no problem.

Ever since buying my first CD in years, I have been obsessed with the quality of 44,1 kHz. Any further is a bit too far due to the limitations of human hearing. I personally prefer the CD to FLAC/M4A conversion flow.

[Rikatan]

-pirating-

I last stole a song in primary school. I've never bought a song. I listen to music all the time.
I do realize this isn't possible for some people, but I always have access to an internet connection. Almost all music is on YouTube, Soundcloud, Bandcamp, Spotify, you name it (although I have to pretend I'm British to use Spotify). I simply don't have any use for piracy, nor for purchasing music, since all music is available online anyway.

Also, I haven't seen a CD for years.

[Cadonica]

My dad converts MP3's to CD's all the time with seemingly no problem.

Ever since buying my first CD in years, I have been obsessed with the quality of 44,1 kHz. Any further is a bit too far due to the limitations of human hearing. I personally prefer the CD to FLAC/M4A conversion flow.

I convert mp3s to wma all the time. Wma takes almost half the space compared to mp3. Some say "enjoy shitty/lossy quality" to which I always reply: "I hear no difference whatsoever". Maybe I'm tone deaf, maybe I'm used to it, maybe I don't have expensive enough equipment, I don't know or care. It sounds good that's all that matters.

Mp3, wma, flac, cd, vinyl, all sound pretty much same to me. Except vinyl, but that's mostly because it's physical format and wear affects the sound. New vinyl sounds pretty much the same compared to the others I mentioned.

[Corrian]

-pirating-

I last stole a song in primary school. I've never bought a song. I listen to music all the time.
I do realize this isn't possible for some people, but I always have access to an internet connection. Almost all music is on YouTube, Soundcloud, Bandcamp, Spotify, you name it (although I have to pretend I'm British to use Spotify). I simply don't have any use for piracy, nor for purchasing music, since all music is available online anyway.

Also, I haven't seen a CD for years.

Technically speaking, YouTube isn't exactly legally watching a band/artist, unless they put it up there themselves. Bandcamp also suggests you buy an artists music if you listen to it enough times, so...Spotify is legal but it also pays people jack shit. Soundcloud I don't really know well enough.

So it is still good to support the stuff you love the most.

I'm not complaining about you, by the way. I'm still a lazy shit and don't have a job, so I haven't bought stuff, either. But I will at least buy some eventually.

We could be like Norway (?) and automatically fund the arts or something

[Rikatan]

I last stole a song in primary school. I've never bought a song. I listen to music all the time.
I do realize this isn't possible for some people, but I always have access to an internet connection. Almost all music is on YouTube, Soundcloud, Bandcamp, Spotify, you name it (although I have to pretend I'm British to use Spotify). I simply don't have any use for piracy, nor for purchasing music, since all music is available online anyway.

Also, I haven't seen a CD for years.

Technically speaking, YouTube isn't exactly legally watching a band/artist, unless they put it up there themselves. Bandcamp also suggests you buy an artists music if you listen to it enough times, so...Spotify is legal but it also pays people jack shit. Soundcloud I don't really know well enough.

So it is still good to support the stuff you love the most.

I'm not complaining about you, by the way. I'm still a lazy shit and don't have a job, so I haven't bought stuff, either. But I will at least buy some eventually.

We could be like Norway (?) and automatically fund the arts or something

YouTube is legal since an upload can be taken down upon request anytime, and it pays per view much like Spotify does (but way more money per view). There's always a user uploading the content, and that person is usually an authorized person. Illegal uploads don't last long if the artist cares. YouTube's system is very good at finding illegal uploads. And many artists appreciate people uploading their tracks, officially or not. If you don't want your stuff on YouTube, it's your loss (and it's a pretty big loss) so as an artist you should really think twice if you want money and fame.
Especially in 2017, when the internet is the main place to find music, as soon as you censor yourself and your music from people, most of them will just forget you and enjoy the thousands of other choices.

I would support artists if I had a budget for it. But no artist has anything against their followers unless they're a very prominent (usually pop/top40) artist that doesn't understand what a community is. Let's not forget that the people that don't buy but are fans are a vast majority of most communities. Artists that make their music for money/success and not for art aren't as common as pop culture and media make it seem.

And I'm not offended, of course. Morally, you're right: the best option would be to shower anyone I appreciate with money. Unfortunately, I don't have the money.

[Corrian]

Does the YouTube money go to the artists or the uploader of said artists stuff?

[Rikatan]

Does the YouTube money go to the artists or the uploader of said artists stuff?

The uploader by default, but the artist claims the video and gets the money instead. It's actually controversial, since YouTube gives the artists the benefit of the doubt, to the point where people make money by falsely claiming others' videos. In any case, an artist makes a whole lot of money from YouTube. Usually it's something like one dollar per 500 views.

[Philjia]

New Protomartyr song unveiled ahead of their new album, Relatives in Descent, being released on the 29th of September.

I like it. Protomartyr is a band whose sound has evolved with each album they've released, while retaining the same core elements that give them their unique appeal. I'm very excited to hear the rest of the album based on this.

[Corrian]

Steven Wilson song from about 10 days ago

It...it is so pop.

[Ameriganastan]

If you told me yesterday that "Uptown Girl" would be great fight scene music, I'd have called you insane. But here I am, one Preacher fight scene later proven wrong.

[Minoa]

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-40566816

Here is the evidence of YouTube’s clear status as a go-to place for music: we have a second music video nearing 3 billion, having taken over Psy's status as the most-watched video on YouTube.

[Ameriganastan]

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-40566816

Here is the evidence of YouTube’s clear status as a go-to place for music: we have a second music video nearing 3 billion, having taken over Psy's status as the most-watched video on YouTube.

Always been my go-to for music. Gotta deal with the occasional copyright strike nuking of your playlist, but you live with it.

[Rikatan]

Always been my go-to for music. Gotta deal with the occasional copyright strike nuking of your playlist, but you live with it.

YouTube's playlist system is horrible. I'm not masochistic enough to use it, especially when there's tons of external sites that fix all the issues with the system. When plug.dj went down 1-2 years ago, I had to move a few thousand songs back to YouTube for a few months. By the time plug.dj returned, I lost at least 50 songs to copyright strikes, which plug would've just replaced with another available video. Also, on YouTube, you can't edit bad titles, and organizing a playlist takes an entire day instead of the usual 10 minutes. >_>

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-40566816

Here is the evidence of YouTube’s clear status as a go-to place for music: we have a second music video nearing 3 billion, having taken over Psy's status as the most-watched video on YouTube.

At this rate, though, "See You Again" will not be the first to reach 3 billion. "Despacito" by Luis Fonsi will surpass it by the time it gets to 2.94 billion, in approximately 23 days.
I severely dislike all three songs though, unfortunately for me.

[Corrian]

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-40566816

Here is the evidence of YouTube’s clear status as a go-to place for music: we have a second music video nearing 3 billion, having taken over Psy's status as the most-watched video on YouTube.

OH god, THAT song got that big? Freaking kill me.

Reminder that just because it has 3 billion views, doesn't make peoples tastes in this world remotely tolerable...

At this rate, though, "See You Again" will not be the first to reach 3 billion. "Despacito" by Luis Fonsi will surpass it by the time it gets to 2.94 billion, in approximately 23 days.
I severely dislike all three songs though, unfortunately for me.

I was kinda surprised that Despacito was going to hit 3 billion when I saw it. I barely know of the songs existence and here it is hitting 3 billion? At least it is neat to see world wide music getting so big on YouTube with little care, even if Despacito sounds like every Spanish song ever to me.

Edit: Holy shit, that song came out THIS YEAR and is almost hitting 3 billion? What the hell.

[Rikatan]

At this rate, though, "See You Again" will not be the first to reach 3 billion. "Despacito" by Luis Fonsi will surpass it by the time it gets to 2.94 billion, in approximately 23 days.
I severely dislike all three songs though, unfortunately for me.

I was kinda surprised that Despacito was going to hit 3 billion when I saw it. I barely know of the songs existence and here it is hitting 3 billion? At least it is neat to see world wide music getting so big on YouTube with little care, even if Despacito sounds like every Spanish song ever to me.

Edit: Holy shit, that song came out THIS YEAR and is almost hitting 3 billion? What the hell.

The fastest video to reach 2 billion was ''Sorry'' by Bieber. 394 days. Despacito did that in 154. That's amazing and all but it's actually kinda sad... It's a second Gangnam style. It's going to sit up there at 4-5 billion views for several years until something catches up. At the current rate, it's going to reach 5 billion by November.

The most viewed song I actually like has 200 million views.

[Rikatan]

I'm going to assume the ''20 million views per day'' thing will, uh, stop happening before Despacito reaches more views than the population of the planet in March 2018...