Can We Discuss The Poor Distribution Of Indie Hip Hop?

[Generation Next]

I'm more than aware of ordering good hip hop music online, heck I do it all the time. But it would be nice to walk into a local retail outlet and purchase the CD on release day. My frustration is not just with the typical Best Buy/Target chains but with the dying Mom & Pop stores who pretty much says it's the distributors who are not doing their jobs.

One manager actually told me some of these distributors have fallen off with one sheets. I know the economy is bad but when distributors fail the consumer who actually buys the music it makes me wonder what the hell is really going on? There has to be more to it.

Here's what I find funny, How come small Mom & Pop operations like Rasputin's in Northern California and Silver Platter in Seattle are expanding with new stores as big corporate chains are closing their stores and in some case shutting down and conloidating their brands? Will indie hip hop survive this rough adjustment period?

[strikt9]

nah, the internet fucked all that shit up. don't try to blame that shit on people like me who download music. when i was growing up the internet was not out but now that free music is being handed out, shit i can quit my night job. the spider that spun this web is who put an end to in-store independent hip hop music. when i do buy music tho, i really do enjoy having cd's sent to my house. less mileage on my car and a better chance of stayling alive due to the ever constant increase of insane people on the road.

[diggingdeep]

nah, the internet fucked all that shit up. don't try to blame that shit on people like me who download music. when i was growing up the internet was not out but now that free music is being handed out, shit i can quit my night job. the spider that spun this web is who put an end to in-store independent hip hop music. when i do buy music tho, i really do enjoy having cd's sent to my house. less mileage on my car and a better chance of stayling alive due to the ever constant increase of insane people on the road.


good call on that. i agree it is a lot easier just having it ordered and delivered (thanks access). plus nowadays with gas being what it is.... i would spend more just in gas going to amoeba from oc than what the actual cd is selling for.... shit to amoeba would be like buying 3 cd's just in gas.... and to any other music store that is local and carries indie....i am still looking at
the cost of a cd alone in gas. so its either download or have it mailed - for me.
i used to hype up amoeba cause their return policy lets you return anything and get 75% of the value back...so if somethings wack you dont talk such a huge loss on it.... but that was during the day of gas being under 2 dollars a gallon. Things have changed a lot over the years too.... now you can find almost anything on itunes.... just say'n.

[strikt9]

there was a time when i was all about buying cd's from music stores; and that was the time when my parents payed the rent.

[diggingdeep]

i remember those days...lol.

tower record was the shit (even tho you couldnt find a lot of underground there - only a few)


now i say this not cuz their (super) high prices, but you could buy a cd and get two reciepts for it....(maybe i put them out of business with this one)...anyway you could buy a used album for 4.99-8.99 somewhere (indie record store) and buy the same album at tower for 18.99 - then you return the unopen one with the original reciept - get all your money back. now the 4.99 used album you could return with the extra (gift) reciept and get full store credit. i did this all the time.... mostly to get rid of old cd's i would never listen too.....instead of selling them used and only get a few bucks back. i hated tower but loved their return policies..... plus you could peep something you only read about....and if it sucked - no worries with the return even though it was open.


but nowadays, you could peep anything just over the internet - plus tower got rid of their return policies after cd burners became the norm.... then they went out of business cause they never fixed the super-high prices while you couldnt even make a return.

[TheLopper]

since there has become a crunch on music sales, because of economy, free illegal downloads, myspace, and digital music sites ie hiphopsite.com, iTunes. Record labels and distributors do not want to take any risk on anything new. They want to have the least amount of overhead as possible. So outlets that were once there for new music dried up. Everyone is relying on the old faithful. Look at all these up and coming mixtape artists, Siagon, Papose, etc were are their albums? the music biz is shook right now. the people who understand it the most are mom and pop stores and buyers of new and independent music because they feel the effects the hardest.

[cycledelikwon]

yeah
without access to Access, i'm kind of screwed
my ability to grab the hip hop that i want has dwindled to much less
only what i can get at the local music stores, and their selection sucks hard
i just gave up on going to shows too, so there goes that option to pick up junx
looks like i'm fading

[diggingdeep]

i just gave up on going to shows too, so there goes that option to pick up junx
looks like i'm fading


why give up on the shows?

i dig getting junk from the shows...usually for 10 bones for a full length. plus (mostly back in the day tho) i would usually hit up the artist for a deal like 2 for 15.... the legends used to be all about that as the would walk through the crowd with a box in havd selling their stuff.

but access and instant downlaods have made it easy to get the album when you want or the day it drops pretty easy...so its hard finding stuff i dont have while at shows.... except when the artist got that limited tour album... i am all about those... especially if its unreleased material.

[Ipatch]

Rasputins is far from a mom and pop... they're way corporate now.

This thread pretty much answers your question dude... too many people are spoiled and/or lazy (gas prices are real though). If you're a big downloader, hey do your thing... but don't act like you're not part of the problem either. It blows me away how supposed "heads" have no desire to go to the record store. I can understand people who don't have a decent spot to frequent. But for those who do and choose not to- you're wack.

When Wisdom closed down in SF I talked to a few heads about it, and some people said they heard alot of chumps say it was too out of the way. What a fucking joke. I used to drive 100 miles to Amoeba on a whim and just buy records and bounce. To cry about a spot on Mission in SF being in the cuts is pathetic. If Amoeba ever goes under I'm hunting down all you frontin no-heart bitches one by one.

[mrridley]

nah, the internet fucked all that shit up. don't try to blame that shit on people like me who download music. when i was growing up the internet was not out but now that free music is being handed out, shit i can quit my night job. the spider that spun this web is who put an end to in-store independent hip hop music. when i do buy music tho, i really do enjoy having cd's sent to my house. less mileage on my car and a better chance of stayling alive due to the ever constant increase of insane people on the road.

I blame you strikt 9. Your the sole reason why music sales have dwindled over the past 10 years. :slap:

[luke_warm]

i never wouldve heard magnum force, mothership connection, uhb, heavy mental, southernplayalisticadallacmuzik, diamond life, wonderful, isaacs moods, around the world, or dusty fingers
if i never downloaded them myself. i was never exposed to it.
growing up i heard the beatles, neil young, fleetwood mac, and david bowie around the house.
i intend to buy music as long as i live but i'm barely making rent now.
if i can download music and catch up on genres, why shouldn't i?
i dont know, but i eased up downloading music anyway.

__
It will take seven years to pay for all of the music I downloaded.

[diggingdeep]

Rasputins is far from a mom and pop... they're way corporate now.

It blows me away how supposed "heads" have no desire to go to the record store. I can understand people who don't have a decent spot to frequent. But for those who do and choose not to- you're wack.

I used to drive 100 miles to Amoeba on a whim and just buy records and bounce. If Amoeba ever goes under I'm hunting down all you frontin no-heart bitches one by one.


hahaha.... even thou not 100 miles away and not in SF.... i used to go to amoeba in la like that from oc....still would but like i said gas is killing me. when i refer to downloading...its not always refering to the free downloads, take itunes for example....the artist still gets paid for what i buy.... i just dont have to waste the gas.... so in my opinion its still a store...just online. same goes for access.

but i would be bummed if amoeba ever shut down, i still make the stop whenever i am within 30mintues of that store.... mostly when i am up in hollywood to see a show, i'll swing by.

[diggingdeep]

i never wouldve heard:
heltah skeltah magnum force, parliament mothership connection, living legends uhb albums, killah priest priesthood, outkast southernplayalisticadallacmuzik, sade diamon life, rick james wonderful, isaac hayes isaacs moods, prince around the world, dusty fingers,
if i never downloaded them myself. i was never exposed to it.

growing up i heard the beatles, the doors, simon and garfunkle, 10,000 maniacs, elvis costello, talking heads, fleetwood mac, brian eno, david byrn, eddie brikel, kate bush, pink floyd, neil young, crosby stills and nash, david bowie and a bunch of other folks around the house.

i intend to buy hip hop music as long as i live but i'm barely making rent now. so if i can download music and catch up on this solid genre, why shouldn't i? i dont know, but i eased up downloading new music anyway. that's the question i'm conflicted with. at least i'm not conflicted with how i'm going to make music and keep a roof over my families head.



you dont need to justify yourself.... downloading has shown me a lot of new artist as well. shit, there's a lot of albums out there that are either out of print or only found over the net.... :o


...i feel you with the rent etc as well. that def comes first man.

[diggingdeep]

[QUOTE=luke_warm;344690]It will take seven years to pay for all of the music I downloaded.

ditto. :)

[strikt9]

i was thinking about starting up an independent music store in my garage. shit would open when i came home from my real job and close right before it was time for me to say my prayers and eat my last pack of Dunkaroo's for the day. i would have kool aide on tap and strippers spinning in circles on top of turntables.

[diggingdeep]

i was thinking about starting up an independent music store in my garage. shit would open when i came home from my real job and close right before it was time for me to say my prayers and eat my last pack of Dunkaroo's for the day. i would have kool aide on tap and strippers spinning in circles on top of turntables.


can i get directions.... shit sounds crack'n... dope-r than my local shop.

[strikt9]

can i get directions.... shit sounds crack'n... dope-r than my local shop.

bahahahahahaha!

[cdirty]

plenty of dope spots here yo!

[luke_warm]

\
Here's what I find funny, How come small Mom & Pop operations like Rasputin's in Northern California and Silver Platter in Seattle are expanding with new stores as big corporate chains are closing their stores and in some case shutting down and conloidating their brands? Will indie hip hop survive this rough adjustment period?

doesnt this mean that independent music is prevailing?

[Dawhud]

Gen? You on the Stones Throw board too? Thought I saw this there as well.

As for Seattle, I will say it's been easier for me to find what I was looking for. Here in Indy, I have to dig a bit more and you can tell what stores use what for distributors because one may have one record and the other may not have it. (I'm talking indie spots that usually carry all the independent music)

[JoeKooL25]

i feel where alot of you are coming from.
i run a CD Store here in Dallas,TX and see it all day.
but the whole download issue is alot bigger.
i mean with high gas prices, unemployment, populated cities, some people find it easier to download.
im not a big fan of iTunes,etc. but it's just more accessible for people who are lazy and dont want to go out and dig at stores.
most headz here are true music connoisseurs, and we enjoy getting the Cd with artwork, and finding it.
what makes diggin fun, is trying to find it.
since my stores buys new & used, i see it all. i mean i got all the popular indie new releases in stock, but nothing like when someone comes in and has some gems out of a collection to sell.
you also have to remember indie hip hop really didnt start getting proper US distribution going until 2000. really the only labels with the proper dist. is-Dej Jux, Legendary Music, UP Above, PLR, Rhymesayers, Cornerstone,Anticon
if im not mistaken LL-creative differences was the first CD from them that was offered from a distributor(meaning it was shipped nationally from the dist.) & one of the grouch albums(crusader?).

[diggingdeep]

i feel where alot of you are coming from.
i run a CD Store here in Dallas,TX and see it all day.
but the whole download issue is alot bigger.
i mean with high gas prices, unemployment, populated cities, some people find it easier to download.
im not a big fan of iTunes,etc. but it's just more accessible for people who are lazy and dont want to go out and dig at stores.
most headz here are true music connoisseurs, and we enjoy getting the Cd with artwork, and finding it.
what makes diggin fun, is trying to find it.
since my stores buys new & used, i see it all. i mean i got all the popular indie new releases in stock, but nothing like when someone comes in and has some gems out of a collection to sell.
you also have to remember indie hip hop really didnt start getting proper US distribution going until 2000. really the only labels with the proper dist. is-Dej Jux, Legendary Music, UP Above, PLR, Rhymesayers, Cornerstone,Anticon
if im not mistaken LL-creative differences was the first CD from them that was offered from a distributor(meaning it was shipped nationally from the dist.) & one of the grouch albums(crusader?).


you called it very well joe.... and i believe you're correct with the legendary distro info... i remember it being like that with those releases/ time era. before those it was either shows, amoeba, or access for the most part.

must be nice seeing those gems come in while you're working and you got first pickings of it too. if someone brings some gems in and doesnt say anything do you just give a low-ball buying price???

i only ask this cause i feel it always happens to me. numerous times i have taken out-of-print/ hard to find stuff in for re-sell to see what kind of trade i can get.... i get an offer of a few bucks or so.... shit i even believe i took in walkman invaders (original on compact disc) and only was offered 4 bucks. on that note...

NO BS -just last week i took in an UNOPEN MJ album "the black sands ov eternia"(i caught it at a show a while back - but already had it) as well as an open (no scratches) disc of Moka Only "...is Ron Contour" (i just bought this at access in the last couple of months) and they tried to offer me 6 dollars in credit for both....hell no i said and while i was checking out with another purchase they tried to still make the buy...but i had to fix their mistake and say no again cause they were already in process of the trade. the chick was lame ringing me up...maybe she didnt hear me say no the first time.

that's what i hate about selling stuff to stores. this store in pacticular (fingerprints in belmont shores/ long beach) used to hook it up, but not so much anymore. but their used section is off the hook... some of my best finds back in the day there were - a used walkman invaders for 7.99 (holy shit....is i could say when i found this one)

and when i was still in the punk/hardcore scene, i found the first shelter cd (6.99) which was equal-vision very first cd and was only pressed to 1,000 copies - most likely due to the band later signing to roadrunner if i am not mistaking. i knew someone right before i found this who paid 45 dollars over the internet for it. those were my best finds back in the day. but i can also see why they dont offer much money for re-sell cause a lot of people dont buy/ know about the underground stuff.


i really dig the vibe of used record stores that have cd player all around their store so you can listen to the music you find. i used (shit, still do when i get the extra time) to spend hours at these places listening to recommendations i would get from people and such. i agree that's the fun part about digging.

[existence76]

You can still come up on deals if you are willing to put in the time. CDs are now officially in the same discussion of the obsolete as records and tapes. What we all have to realize is that Mp3s are an abstract and not a 'hard copy' like the obsolete forms; what it comes down to is if you want to have something that lasts or have something that is convenient and economic. I enjoy all media forms of music but I like to own vinyl because it will last past cds and Mp3s generally(actually time will tell with this). The other part is the fact that you own a physical piece of music with vinyl, tapes, and cds; its an experience to own their music almost like having a stock market share. I think owning a physical piece of the music solidifies your commitment to the artists, if i hear a good Mp3 I will go buy the physical form etc., etc....

[JoeKooL25]

on used cd's we pay cash-half of what we sell it for.
used 7.99-you get 4 cash and you get and extra dollar if you buy something in the store.
2cd & box sets sell for more used and we still give half of what we sell it for cash.
YO Deep check this out though-if something is out of print or rare, we do up charge the price, so you will get more cash if its a rarity. for instance all those Mobile Fidelity Gold Disc from the late 80s and early 90s are worth alot of money and alot of collectors get em (even on ebay) so we do somewhat of a fair market on rare and oop. im not out here to shab people, cuz then i'd get shab'd.
unfortunately alot of the other stores dont pay ish for cd's no matter what it is.
the craziest part i deal with is hobos/fiends going arond the corner to Border's or CD Warehouse, and trying to steal the shipment on Tuesdays, then come to my store to sell all the fresh ish on shelves that day. you have no idea of what i've seen with all that

[luke_warm]

http://www.vimeo.com/1546186
Paul Mawhinney was born and raised in Pittsburgh, PA. Over the years he has amassed what has become the world's largest record collection. Due to health issues and a struggling record industry Paul is being forced to sell his collection.

[JoeKooL25]

http://www.vimeo.com/1546186
Paul Mawhinney was born and raised in Pittsburgh, PA. Over the years he has amassed what has become the world's largest record collection. Due to health issues and a struggling record industry Paul is being forced to sell his collection.
now thats a DJ and producers heaven.
yeah that collection is dope.
i think Just Blaze and some other super producer made the dood an offer, but it didnt go through.
i want that RollingStones Record he had at the beginning he said wuz worth 10g's
back to the original conversation
at Best Buy Ive seen:
plenty of Atmosphere, El-P, Aesop Rock-NSP, B.Ali, LL-vol.1,the gathering, Zion I, Necro,JMT,LMNO,Swollen Member.
other than that-you can only really get 1-2 albums of those artists except Atmosphere. so really they just have the popular indie Hip Hop.
take Legends for example-on my computer we can order everything from Creative and up, everything else is oop. i recently tried to re-stock Crusader which had a bonus DVD-and it's a product cutout through one of our distributors.
my point, some artists have distro for some of the catalog but not all of it

[Jay Dub]

MP3's fuckin suck though. The sound quality of an MP3 is fuckin garbage. Wave files are way better.

[diggingdeep]

You can still come up on deals if you are willing to put in the time. CDs are now officially in the same discussion of the obsolete as records and tapes. What we all have to realize is that Mp3s are an abstract and not a 'hard copy' like the obsolete forms; what it comes down to is if you want to have something that lasts or have something that is convenient and economic. I enjoy all media forms of music but I like to own vinyl because it will last past cds and Mp3s generally(actually time will tell with this). The other part is the fact that you own a physical piece of music with vinyl, tapes, and cds; its an experience to own their music almost like having a stock market share. I think owning a physical piece of the music solidifies your commitment to the artists, if i hear a good Mp3 I will go buy the physical form etc., etc....


i used to agree with you but my opinion has changed (so i guess i'l share it so people unstand where i come from... cuz like all of you i enjoy music....

mostly due to the fact all that hard-copy material takes up space... and as technology changes that material becomes more un-usable.


when i went off to college in the late 90's i had close to 1,000 albums which i loved. but it was close to impossible to take it all with me when i moved off to college as well as i had the fear of it getting stolen. so i packed it up and boxed it away for safe keeping. now this made it close to impossible to peep something that comes to mind if i cant listen to it.... unless it was in the selcected group of cd's i took with me. so from a physical stand point, the more you have, the more things get forgotten about while they get lost up in the shuffle of things. i also hated this fact when i was snowboarding pretty much everyday. i normally couldnt listen to what would come to mind....rahter i could only listen to what i had on hand at the moment.

so i went with the "new" and invested in an ipod shortly after learning about them (this was a while ago of course - 2002 or so...) so i could ride with more music to select from. then after getting into it, i uploaded all my music and found this to be the best gift ever....cuz now i can listen to anything/ everything i got when something pops in my head. in otherwords, i could be riding back county - see something that reminds me of an old song - and BAM i can play it with a touch of a button. So i now prefer digital over a physical copy any day while on the slopes or riding in my car.

Since then my music collection has also expanded greatly. i got over 615 different artist and over 1,497 albums(double disc count as 1) running around 68.4GB all on itunes. never before has it been so easy to find something when it comes to mind. you could search track names or whatever to find what you are looking for. you can type in an artist name to see all the other albums he has appeared on...hell, i got everything i want on that thing... so to me i would choose that anyday over the old days of carrying around the actual album. plus carrying around the actual copy - puts wear and tear on it - i know from experience as i cant return the cd's i have cause small marks on the disc.

now for lasting the test of time. shit i got so much value in music on my itunes i dare not to loose it ....that would be like loosing my entire collection over the years... so i invested in backup space. i wont go into details but i can/ have my music backed up 3 times at the moment....not including the fact there are programs to get it back off the ipod if your computer shits - so in reality i got it backed up 4 times). now the space it takes to back this up is (1) my home laptop - no space taken - and two external harddrives the size of an ipod/ a little larger. So from a physical stand point i can move my entire collection in one box, and if shit happens i got it backed up a couple times just to be extra safe.

So these days whenever i get music i transfer it to digital.
yeah, i still have cd and such... but i try to only keep stuff that is rare or has meaning to me. nowadays it seems whenever i buy something that is widely avail i make a copy of it and sell it used. that way someone with less money may come across it at a used record store or whatever. plus i am not wasting a lot of space collection these things.

with all that said, i completely agree with
"The other part is the fact that you own a physical piece of music with vinyl, tapes, and cds; its an experience to own their music almost like having a stock market share. I think owning a physical piece of the music solidifies your commitment to the artists, if i hear a good Mp3 I will buy that cd"....

thats why i keep a few of the cd's i still get or try to go to shows as much as possible to also show my support. i also try to get merch such as original bicasso paintings to contiue the support in theses digital days.

"what if" a fire takes place or some other harsh bullshit..... i would recommend to any music lover they should back up their music....

[diggingdeep]

MP3's fuckin suck though. The sound quality of an MP3 is fuckin garbage. Wave files are way better.

i agree.... i believe some people miss use the word mp3 to mean all digital recordings....which isnt the case as you know.... for those that don't, is more about the kbps. mp3's are in the 90kbps while other forms get higher. i would say anything over 128kbps you won't really notice a difference in quality. this fact was a huge reason i didnt get an ipod/mp3 player when they first came out nor did i ever download mp3 cause i always thought the sound was shitty... but once i learned some computer lingo i realized there are better qualities out there... you just have to know what to look for. Shit, if i am not mistaken, some artist offer downloads with a higher kbps than whats on compact disc.... so you might even get better quality downloading... but being able to tell it's better quality is a different story.

[luke_warm]

i agree.... i believe some people miss use the word mp3 to mean all digital recordings....which isnt the case as you know.... for those that don't, is more about the kbps. mp3's are in the 90kbps while other forms get higher. i would say anything over 128kbps you won't really notice a difference in quality. this fact was a huge reason i didnt get an ipod/mp3 player when they first came out nor did i ever download mp3 cause i always thought the sound was shitty... but once i learned some computer lingo i realized there are better qualities out there... you just have to know what to look for. Shit, if i am not mistaken, some artist offer downloads with a higher kbps than whats on compact disc.... so you might even get better quality downloading... but being able to tell it's better quality is a different story.

mp3 is a file encoding that trims the extreme highs and lows from your audio- thats how you save all the file space compared to .wav or .aiff. because of that no matter what kpbs you encode a mp3 at an original .wav and .aiff will always be better sound quality. the majority are often ignorant to the difference in sound quality.

[diggingdeep]

thanks luke.... i knew the highs/ and lows were cut out on the mp3's to reduce the kbps... but you explained it a lot better than i could. whats the diff between mp3 & m4a? i am confused when it comes to these little things as you could tell. or the difference between aac and wav....

[luke_warm]

thanks luke.... i knew the highs/ and lows were cut out on the mp3's to reduce the kbps... but you explained it a lot better than i could. whats the diff between mp3 & m4a? i am confused when it comes to these little things as you could tell. or the difference between aac and wav....

i'm don't know about that.

[diggingdeep]

oh well.... is minor stuff anyway. just trying to square it away. who still downloads mp3??? aren't downloads these days almost always better than
mp3's.... all i remember is i hated mp3's back in the day... but i really dont have any issues these days with downloading bad quality that cuts out the low lows and the high highs..... and i know what you mean most people are ignorant about quality.... but ever since i got my first 12 inch sub installed in 1996... i could tell mp3's sucked.

i thought it was more related to kbps versus mp3 or not. could you have an mp3 that's higher than 128kbps? or does it become some other type of file cause its larger?

[cycledelikwon]

to answer the show question...i'm beat to hell and my ankles are shot after a weeks work
travel is hard, standing at a shows, and sometimes you can't get in when you they say that you will be able, makes it all a challenge these days
to make the story a little bit more ishy
i got no cd burner
and my skillz are nil on downloading ish
...fading for sure

[diggingdeep]

to answer the show question...i'm beat to hell and my ankles are shot after a weeks work
travel is hard, standing at a shows, and sometimes you can't get in when you they say that you will be able, makes it all a challenge these days
to make the story a little bit more ishy
i got no cd burner
and my skillz are nil on downloading ish
...fading for sure


shit man.... that suxs. i guess i could understand.... i hate how shows dont start forever and it a lot of standing around.

to beat this fact, i usually roll in right before the last act. just last weekend i went to see 2mex and got there at 1230am for his set. (he got on about 1245-1am) this way my fade is still on from the car ride there, and there is no b.s. of waiting.... if i were i "new cat" i would have got there when it says doors open.... without realizing its just a bunch of dj's and no namers from 9pm-1230pm.... that 3.5 hours of sobering up and standing around before the act i came to see gets on stage.


my rule of thumb, if the flier says doors open at 9 or so, most likely the show goes until 145-2am.... meaning the best act wont go on stage til around 1245am... so i'll plan on getting there about 1230...

if its at an all ages venue like atmosphere in hollwood, i shoot for around 10-1030 show up time.

going by this rule of thumb has made my experience a lot better. plus i hardly do the day long venues anymore cause it doesnt get the same vibe as a smaller show.

[strikt9]

i download a lot of music; but when there is an album that i think is really good, i will not hesitate to buy it and add it to my ever growing cd stack. i have no problem purchasing an artist's album if i feel that they are an artist. there is a lot of garbage out there and downloading helps me decipher it. i have no idea what alias's new release is going to sound like, but i bought it anyways. i just hope he doesn't pull a mos def: black on both sides to that rock album kanye produced.

[JoeKooL25]

mp3 quality does suck, but if you know how to rip it's not so bad.
most mp3s are ripped at 128 kbps (which makes it a smaller files=worse quality)
you can rip an mp3 at 192 kbps and the sound is ten times better. the file will be a little bigger but the quality will be way better.
most people rip their mp3 at 128 and thats why the quality sucks.
make sure it's ripped at 192 for almost cd quality.
the reason people do them at 128 is cuz it's smaller and they can get more music. if you have memory issues for mp3s look into an external hard drive.
all mp4 is a little better quality and the capibility to play video as well.
a cd will hold 79.59 minutes of .wav or 250 mp3s.

Yo LukeWarm-
.wav is the file straight off the cd, mp3 is just a way of compressing the file smaller to store it on your computer. example-when you put a cd in iTunes depending on your settings when you rip the cd to your library, it compresses the file smaller to store it on your PC.

[Jay Dub]

i download a lot of music; but when there is an album that i think is really good, i will not hesitate to buy it and add it to my ever growing cd stack. i have no problem purchasing an artist's album if i feel that they are an artist. there is a lot of garbage out there and downloading helps me decipher it. i have no idea what alias's new release is going to sound like, but i bought it anyways. i just hope he doesn't pull a mos def: black on both sides to that rock album kanye produced.

I'm the same way. There's a lot of shit that I just want to check out, so I'll download it and bump for a lil wile, but never really come back to it. But if it's an artist I really enjoy and respect, I'll cop their CD.

I buy a lot of local shit, and I kind of have a thing where I'll buy a CD from an Independent label, but not from a major. I'll buy shit that's dropped on major labels still though sometimes.

[WesSezSo]

no one wants to pick up an indie artist if they themselves are an indie label and can't afford to take a risk...big labels and distribution companies don't want to spend the money to market unknowns.

Its back to the basic for most indie hip hop artists...and most of the good ones can't seem to get their shit together...and some of the really crappy stuff (myspace rappers...not all of them but you know what i mean) seem to have great packaging, artwork, shrinkwrapped cd's...the whole nine...and its horrible garbage. If i could say one thing to the indie hip hop artists out there: Do shows not mixtapes, get your name out there, don't expect to be paid for breaking your back, make connections and build your rep...trying to skip any of these steps and the plenty i didn't mention...it'll get you no where...money is and object you can control, don't let it control you or your music.

thats my thoughts on the poor distribution of indie hip hop...don't just blame the labels or the distribution company...the artists are sometimes at their own fault.

[strikt9]

word up. that shit was beautiful.

[alanp0099]

Interesting topic....

I personally don't see why anyone would buy digital music. What happened to physically owning a copy of the said album on CD, cassette or vinyl? I personally hate this trend of people buying all their shit off of iTunes because it's making my local record shops suffer to the point they go out of business. I can't even pick up the new KRS-One CD at Best Buy, and that's fucking bullshit! And I'm really sick of some of my favorite artists releasing shit as MP3 ONLY. If your shit ain't worth pressing up on CD, it ain't worth buying!!! :ugh:

[Nasty]

Interesting topic....

I personally don't see why anyone would buy digital music. What happened to physically owning a copy of the said album on CD, cassette or vinyl? I personally hate this trend of people buying all their shit off of iTunes

Everyone is not like you doot.

Huge collector here, but I buy cd's, put them on my computer and then the cd gets thrown in a box and stored away. I dont care about it at all. I care about the music only.

I am probably killing the music industry and making indie artists go hungry though right?

[eons]

I am probably killing the music industry and making indie artists go hungry though right?

yep, you should be ashamed of yourself.

[alanp0099]

Everyone is not like you doot.

Huge collector here, but I buy cd's, put them on my computer and then the cd gets thrown in a box and stored away. I dont care about it at all. I care about the music only.

I am probably killing the music industry and making indie artists go hungry though right?

You just said you bought CDs, so I'm not sure I get where you are coming from with the "killing music industry" comment, since you are a collector!

I do think it adds to the obscurity of the actual product/medium. Which I feel is sad. Submitting to the digital-only trend only takes more away from the validity of your music, IMO.

[JoeKooL25]

i like to buy the CD, burn it, and store the original.
i dont roll around with my real copies, i roll with a burned version, so my og will stay perfect. and for LPs buy 2.
buying mp3s/iTunes online is just lazy.
as for BestBuy/CircuitCity-they advertise the got the new KRS1,GZA,etc., but when you get there, it cant be found.
the mom-n-pop shops will stay strong, because the majority of good music still releases CDs/Vinyl and somebody gotta sell'em.
or you can fill up the trunk and hit the block