JonoBlade

#MeToo. While my bands offer a PDF booklet with every album download practically no other band or label does, which I find unfathomable. It goes to show that digital downloads are still looked down upon while dying formats and desperate merch is flogged. A lossless digital download with a pdf is by far the most convenient way for a band to sell music. I don't have to go down to the post office every other day! I would switch from bandcamp if a metal centric platform* started up that offered a better split for the band, i.e. taking a 5% or 10% instead of 15% cut, but my hat is off to bandcamp for being such an awesome platform that has artists at its heart and soul. *I find it baffling that no competing artist-centric platforms seem to exist. I have no idea about how easy it is to keep a platform running because I am not an IT guy but the world needs a dedicated metal community with better social media aspects than bandcamp to engage with fans and offer digital download and merch options with profits direct to the band. Then I would never have to use facebook again.

I use You Tube for that. I consider You Tube an intentionally flawed platform for listening to new stuff and loading up on nostalgia.

Correct. You do not need more stuff. The artbook is for those that just can't let go yet. Probably the even better solution is some kind of bandcamp-like digital platform where the liner notes/lyrics come in an interactive format to accompany a download. I still have a hard time letting go of accumulated baggage, but am quite conscious of trying not to add to the pile. I triple sense check every purchase. If you are buying something as a replacement, make sure you get rid of the original. Is that referring to the subscribers or the artists? Of course, subscribers are getting a great service. They are getting access to a vast collection of music, on demand, for next to nothing while actively participating in the devaluation of an artform. A subscription is a flat fee which is where the core problem lies. It's impossible to fairly compensate everyone from a flat fee. The model was broken before it even started, except for the services themselves that are just banking on the fact that an artist might feel it is missing out by not having content on there. They fell for the deception that "you will reach an enormous audience". Yes, an enormous audience of dickholes that expect to get everything for free. "More people will come to your gigs!" What if you don't want to tour or it is not possible to do so (hello Mr pandemic).

I can't profess to have read every post here but the main trend I noticed was the requirement for a lyric book which gives a tactile experience and greater engagement with the music. I agree, but this has nothing to do with the format of the music itself. The optimum release format (for a collector that must have something to hold) is a printed hardback artbook that has all the liner notes/lyrics to accompany a full dynamic range 24 bit download. Vinyl is a dumb format for new releases. The world does not need another spaff-spattered LP. The audio signal is filtered/degraded to account for the deficiencies in the medium (which is even more deficient in a coloured/picture disc). There are so many potential weakpoints in the playback chain for an LP it is simply no longer a viable option. For posers only. I say that as a clown poser that has a couple of hundred LPs in a cabinet and listen to them all the time. But that cabinet is reserved for the classics. Anything new I buy and download from Bandcamp. While it is nice to have lossless for an archive copy I am quite happy with a 320kbps MP3 for portable use because it is indistinguishable from a CD unless you have super human hearing. There seems to be a persistent myth that MP3 sounds "compressed". That is horseshit. If you can hear compression it is in the waveform - which will be the same whether it is MP3, CD, or 24 bit. I was triggered on this topic when reading this Derrick Green interview the other day (https://www.blabbermouth.net/news/sepulturas-derrick-green-would-love-to-see-artists-get-what-they-deserve-from-streaming-music-services-its-completely-unfair/) In my view all artists, if they are in control of their catalog, should withdraw all content from subscription streaming services at once.

I finally made it. Still trying to work out how to navigate this site. It makes sense broadly but there are a lot of threads. Cannot quite fathom why the What Are You Listening To? thread is buried in Forum Games(?) Anyhow. Glad to be here.

Mans. I have not gotten around to posting much yet. Been missing the Metal-Fi guys and look forward to getting back into it on this here forum. Been hella busy. Partly with the debut Thūn album which was released this week. Cheers! Jon (AKA "monsterworks" from Metal-Fi) https://thundoom.bandcamp.com/ https://www.facebook.com/ThunDoom

SYL FTW