And on the 27th Day He Created Napster
All right, he probably didn't create Napster, or for that matter, any of the other music downloading programs out there. Somebody did, and I would like to give them a big handshake, or hug, depending on how comfortable they are with that, because these services have saved the music industry.
So what did Napster do?
What magic formula did it uncover?
I remember back in the day when I would sit and watch MuchMusic or listen to the radio and here some great songs. Back then you have to go to the store and buy the album only to find out that the rest of what they call turns out to be crap. I have just spent $15 on one song for a band or artist that deserved about as much attention as bad hair cut on a pedestrian. Sure we give a look, maybe a snicker or quick comment, but that hair did not need our investment. Yes, it did get some attention but it needs to disapear as quickly as it appears.
This is true of a lot of music these days and Napster gave people to option to ignore the rest of the bad hair cut and focus on what they like. In a way Napster is the most patriotic software ever developed. Napster gave people back what they had been missing since the early 80's, since Michael Jackson's Thiller or The Clash's London Calling, their freedom.
It forced artists to make good albums. The reason why album sales dropped off was because a lot of artists were creating great commercial hits followed by nine to twelve songs of fertilizer. So here we are in 2005 and we are finaly starting to see the emergence of some great, start to finsh albums, and those artists are having no problem selling millions of copies. A band like Greenday and artists like Usher still seem to be doing pretty good and are bigger than ever with the release of their great albums, not just songs.
Now one hit wonders have always existed and will always exist. There will be no stopping that from happening. One hit wonders make the world go around, but it is great albums that can bring balance back to our lives. For the past 6 years we have been having to create our own CD's. Sure we have been making mix tapes forever, I used to pack a tape around with me, but Napster gave us something we never had.
A group of friends that owned every album on earth.
A mix tape with no filler songs, no songs we thought were ok, and dreaming of the songs that we always wanted. We now had mix tapes with all of our favorite songs without wasting time and money on full albums that were useless outside of that one hit.
I alone have bought too many of these albums and could not even tell you the proper name of them other than the song I bought it for. Albums I would have not bought if Napster could have existed a little bit earlier.
Semisonic - the album with "Closing Time" on it, great song on an otherwise lame album
White Town - the album with "Your Woman" on it, good song surrounded by chucks of crap
The Verve Pipe - "Freshman" was a huge hit, too bad the rest of the album caused small animals to fall over a die
and many many more.
These bands made way more money than they deserved to. They should have been Napster fodder, they should have sold 7 albums each, they should count their lucky stars. Napster has done one great thing. It has made musicians have to be good at their job. It is weird that everybody else had to be good at everything about there jobs before or they good fired. Hmmm, how do you like them apples Primitive Radio Gods?
So what did Napster do?
What magic formula did it uncover?
I remember back in the day when I would sit and watch MuchMusic or listen to the radio and here some great songs. Back then you have to go to the store and buy the album only to find out that the rest of what they call turns out to be crap. I have just spent $15 on one song for a band or artist that deserved about as much attention as bad hair cut on a pedestrian. Sure we give a look, maybe a snicker or quick comment, but that hair did not need our investment. Yes, it did get some attention but it needs to disapear as quickly as it appears.
This is true of a lot of music these days and Napster gave people to option to ignore the rest of the bad hair cut and focus on what they like. In a way Napster is the most patriotic software ever developed. Napster gave people back what they had been missing since the early 80's, since Michael Jackson's Thiller or The Clash's London Calling, their freedom.
It forced artists to make good albums. The reason why album sales dropped off was because a lot of artists were creating great commercial hits followed by nine to twelve songs of fertilizer. So here we are in 2005 and we are finaly starting to see the emergence of some great, start to finsh albums, and those artists are having no problem selling millions of copies. A band like Greenday and artists like Usher still seem to be doing pretty good and are bigger than ever with the release of their great albums, not just songs.
Now one hit wonders have always existed and will always exist. There will be no stopping that from happening. One hit wonders make the world go around, but it is great albums that can bring balance back to our lives. For the past 6 years we have been having to create our own CD's. Sure we have been making mix tapes forever, I used to pack a tape around with me, but Napster gave us something we never had.
A group of friends that owned every album on earth.
A mix tape with no filler songs, no songs we thought were ok, and dreaming of the songs that we always wanted. We now had mix tapes with all of our favorite songs without wasting time and money on full albums that were useless outside of that one hit.
I alone have bought too many of these albums and could not even tell you the proper name of them other than the song I bought it for. Albums I would have not bought if Napster could have existed a little bit earlier.
Semisonic - the album with "Closing Time" on it, great song on an otherwise lame album
White Town - the album with "Your Woman" on it, good song surrounded by chucks of crap
The Verve Pipe - "Freshman" was a huge hit, too bad the rest of the album caused small animals to fall over a die
and many many more.
These bands made way more money than they deserved to. They should have been Napster fodder, they should have sold 7 albums each, they should count their lucky stars. Napster has done one great thing. It has made musicians have to be good at their job. It is weird that everybody else had to be good at everything about there jobs before or they good fired. Hmmm, how do you like them apples Primitive Radio Gods?
posted by Duncan McAllister at 3:52 p.m.
2 Comments:
Good post.
Signed, The owner of the Semisonic and Verve Pipe albums.
YECH!
$30 for 2 good songs seems so outrageous these days, but I don't mind shelling out for a good CD if I know most of the songs will be good.
The new pay as you go Napster / iTunes / Rhapsody systems all seem pretty good, (about $1 per song seems fair) ... but it's still really easy to download what you want for free, it's still a tough sell $0.00 vs $1.00 for the same product. [Hoping I don't spark a legal / moral discussion.]
Tony
I'm all for the downloading of free music. I mean, how rich do these people hafta be?? They make money from concerts, merchandise, selling their songs, appearances... granted they'd make more if we bought their crappy albums, but it's that silly Western school of thought--More more more... it's never enough. NHL lockout anyone?
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