[HN Gopher] Cindy Lee might be the future of music
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Cindy Lee might be the future of music
        
       Author : b0ner_t0ner
       Score  : 89 points
       Date   : 2024-04-20 09:01 UTC (1 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.gq.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.gq.com)
        
       | b0ner_t0ner wrote:
       | Related: https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/cindy-lee-diamond-
       | jubil...
       | 
       | And the GeoCities website: https://www.geocities.ws/ccqsk/
        
         | Springtime wrote:
         | _> "Diamond Jubilee" is not available on Spotify/Apple/Bandcamp
         | etc. Digital WAV album files only available to DL via this
         | website._
         | 
         | It's curious they exclude their music from Bandcamp, which is
         | very different among those other platforms listed and indie-
         | friendly (not to mention far more attractive for customers who
         | want to buy and own lossless music). Yet they then link their
         | entire album for free on Youtube.
        
           | saulpw wrote:
           | Bandcamp was acquired by Epic Games in 2022 and then by
           | Songtradr in 2023. Its ownership and management has become
           | less different from those other platforms, and it's no longer
           | seen as indie-friendly by people who pay attention to these
           | things.
        
             | jrajav wrote:
             | And yet they still regularly hold Bandcamp Fridays (0%
             | commission) and haven't shown any signs of reducing or
             | locking down functionality. The acquisitions are certainly
             | worrying in theory, and it's worth keeping a close eye on
             | their operations, but for practical purposes they're still
             | one of the best distribution venues for artists in terms of
             | 'bang for buck' (buck being your fans' attention).
        
       | stavros wrote:
       | Grooveshark was the future of music, too bad it got shut down.
        
         | wakeupcall wrote:
         | It definitely was for me too, and because it had _everything_,
         | thanks to piracy. I started listening mostly mainstream bands,
         | because that's what I knew, and within a few months I was
         | listening to absolutely random authors, genres and "things" I
         | didn't know existed. And by that I mean stuff like old sega
         | genesis video game music somebody uploaded - without even
         | knowing what the genesis was.
         | 
         | I never _BOUGHT_ so much music since. It was eye opening for me
         | how little I cared about radio /mainstream music after that.
         | 
         | The closest I've found so far is soundcloud. Thanks in no small
         | part due to the barely-working recommendation engine, which
         | doesn't get stuck in a local maxima, frequently going offtrack
         | in pleasant unexpected ways.
        
         | cageface wrote:
         | Soulseek is still pretty good.
        
       | shermozle wrote:
       | And the future of text is definitely not having an autoplay video
       | of something completely unrelated follow you as you read down the
       | page.
        
         | klyrs wrote:
         | No, I'm afraid that _is_ the future of text. I 've been
         | complaining about this phenomenon for several years and it's
         | only getting more popular.
        
         | 8organicbits wrote:
         | Fix your user agent. I'm using this one (on desktop at least)
         | so I can open links directly in reader view using the right
         | click context menu.
         | 
         | https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/reader-view/
        
       | neuronic wrote:
       | Something about this just really struck a nerve with me this
       | Sunday morning. The music itself, which is phenomenal but also
       | opening this GeoCities site. What a beautiful little gem today :)
        
       | injidup wrote:
       | I have zero interest in going to a geo cities website to burnish
       | my non existent hipster musical credentials. It's just a
       | marketing stunt and evidently successful.
        
         | defrost wrote:
         | If it's working for the artist and returning more than the
         | micro pennies of streaming plays more power to them.
         | 
         | I'll continue to get my music via snail mail pianola rolls.
         | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_ZTrXAxZ-g
        
           | 48864w6ui wrote:
           | The difference between hipsters and hobos is that a hobo
           | spends two hours of pushing broom for their four-bit room.
        
             | PopAlongKid wrote:
             | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_of_the_Road_(song)
        
               | 082349872349872 wrote:
               | if you all like picking, here's a contemporary
               | interpretation of the tune:
               | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwwAdB1Wl9U
               | 
               | (I am slightly disappointed that it didn't get covered in
               | Me First and the Gimme Gimme's _Love Their Country_. Back
               | in the day, my father tells me, the reefer cars were the
               | best because (a) they used sawdust and hay to insulate
               | the ice, providing a comfier ride than most wagons, and
               | (b) the view, while sitting in the loading hatches, was
               | panoramic)
        
         | bitwize wrote:
         | It's okay. You won't even get an opportunity to hear the best
         | music. All that stuff is distributed by hand to DJs you've
         | never heard of, who play it once at parties you'll never
         | attend, and then put it into their collection never to be heard
         | again by anyone.
        
           | injidup wrote:
           | The idea that there is "best music" is nonsense. There is
           | music you like and there is music you don't like. Good or bad
           | is subjective. I know composers who will wax lyrical on the
           | genius of some piece and to me it sounds like two tortured
           | cats in a sack but give me some great Cuban rhythms I can
           | dance to and those same composers will look at me like I'm
           | daft. We agree to disagree. The concept of "best", "new" and
           | "original" is a teenage thrall to marketing. I assure that
           | there is enough depth on Spotify to satisfy any taste but if
           | it's only important to you to virtue signal then good luck
           | with that.
        
             | whstl wrote:
             | I think you're both agreeing here. Bitwize's answer was
             | sarcastic, and definitely not aimed at you.
             | 
             | People really like to romanticize those things.
        
               | bitwize wrote:
               | Yeah, there was literally a Hackernews a few years ago
               | who pretty much said what I said, but unironically: that
               | there was music out there better than you've ever heard,
               | but you'll never hear it because it's only released in
               | print runs as few as one copy, and that copy is owned by
               | a DJ who will never let it be heard again, and that this
               | was by design because a wide listening audience would
               | spoil the goodness of this impeccable music. I can't be
               | arsed to find this comment just now, but I remember
               | reading it.
               | 
               | See also: Prince's Vault (from which I believe his estate
               | is now compiling material to be released).
        
               | Projectiboga wrote:
               | Here is another example of exclusives from the old
               | soundclash culture.                    A dubplate is an
               | acetate disc usually of 10 inches diameter, traditionally
               | used by studios to test recordings prior to mastering for
               | the subsequent pressing of a vinyl record, but pioneered
               | by reggae sound systems as a way to play exclusive music.
               | They would later become an important facet of the
               | jungle/drum and bass, UK garage, grime and dubstep music
               | scenes.
               | 
               | https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dubplate
        
               | dpflan wrote:
               | But this phenomenon is real among music purists. There is
               | not irony in the real act of exclusively guarding the
               | sharing of music that is known to put the listener into
               | the state of mind of musical enjoyment unlike anything
               | one has heard before. I would argue that is the a main
               | point of music, and replaying the same sounds at every
               | concert can work but what if the audience had no idea
               | what to really expect? Their minds cannot predict and
               | hence the stimulus hits different. But again, some minds
               | may not want that.
        
         | ecocentrik wrote:
         | People usually complain about mid and late stage hipsters. The
         | late actors, imitators and wannabes and that keep repeating the
         | same behavior to signal ingroup inclusion. But that has more to
         | do with the commodification of hipsterisum by millenials
         | (hipsters), boomers (hippies) and generations before them.
         | 
         | I'm not really sure what the basis of you complaint is. Has
         | anyone else been releasing albums on GeoCities?
        
         | greenie_beans wrote:
         | luckily for all the nerds, it's available to listen on youtube:
         | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LJi5na897Y&feature=youtu.be
        
         | jnovek wrote:
         | Is someone forcing you to? Blink twice if you need help.
         | 
         | I see this take all the time on HN and Reddit -- trashing
         | something in the most cynical way possible because _you
         | personally_ don't enjoy it. Things that an outspoken poster
         | dislikes are always "marketing" or "karma farming" or "bots".
         | 
         | Why not live and let live? Why not accept that people have
         | different tastes and interests? What is their enjoyment taking
         | away from you?
        
           | injidup wrote:
           | If it were an article that simply was a link to a cool band
           | that would be different. The article sets itself up as click
           | bait claiming to be "the future music" and making the absurd
           | suggestion that we will all soon be getting our music from
           | random Geocities sites. It's akin to the claim that we will
           | all soon be getting all our calories from home produced
           | organic food. As a marketing stunt for one or two bands it's
           | great but it doesn't solve the issue of distribution and
           | monetisation that most artists have. One has been able to buy
           | CD's direct from band sites since ever. The only notable
           | thing in the article is the mention of "Geocities" which
           | seems to be a trigger word around here for the golden days of
           | never were.
        
             | jnovek wrote:
             | The impression I got from the article is that some bands
             | are experimenting with different distribution media because
             | they're not happy with the discoverability or pay from the
             | big names like Spotify.
             | 
             | The bit about it being the "future" is mad hyperbole but, I
             | dunno, I think it's kinda interesting that people are
             | experimenting with distribution methods that they control.
             | One of the things that frustrates me about the modern web
             | is that it's become such a monoculture dominated by these
             | giant vendors like Spotify and Meta. It's pretty rad to see
             | people say "no" to that.
             | 
             | I don't know if it's an experiment that will work beyond
             | Cindy Lee (it reminds me of Radiohead's "pay what you want"
             | distribution of _In Rainbows_ which didn't really work for
             | anyone else) but I'm glad they tried.
             | 
             | Also re Geocities: It triggers some rose-tinted nostalgia
             | for some of us in a certain age range. E.g. for me I
             | learned HTML as a teenager in the late 90s so I could put
             | up my own sites on Geocities. It was a formative part of my
             | career in tech. It was definitely a mess, though.
        
               | IncreasePosts wrote:
               | Upset about discover ability and pay...so choose a method
               | that is undiscoverable and no built in method for payment
        
         | JKCalhoun wrote:
         | > It's just a marketing stunt
         | 
         | Man, you need something these days. Good for them.
        
       | r721 wrote:
       | "Diamond Jubilee" album is currently ranked as "#1 for 2024" on
       | RateYourMusic:
       | 
       | https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/cindy-lee/diamond-ju...
        
         | Loughla wrote:
         | And this is yet another moment when I learn that musical taste
         | is very personal and wildly different between individuals.
         | 
         | Because I just listened to part of that album on YouTube
         | (granted I only listened to the first half hour or so).
         | 
         | And I hated it. It's boring, repetitive, and not that good.
         | 
         | But that's my tastes.
         | 
         | Musical taste is always so fascinating, and I legitimately
         | believe the best way to get to know someone.
        
           | squigz wrote:
           | What does one's musical tastes tell you about one's
           | personality?
        
             | gizajob wrote:
             | Everyone thinks they have good taste in music... because
             | they only like what is to their taste.
        
       | gorgoiler wrote:
       | Ariel Pink's _The Doldrums_ -- another anthology of anachronistic
       | nostalgia pop down sampled to AM radio quality -- was released
       | nearly 24 years ago. It is surprising to not see his work
       | mentioned but maybe I'm not looking hard enough, or his
       | cancellation has been too thorough?
        
         | whstl wrote:
         | True. There's a revival of this kind of music/asthetic that
         | happens every 10 or so years, people keep rediscovering it.
         | Which is fine. But you can't mention this if you want to make
         | it sound fresh.
         | 
         | Either way, the lede here is the web 1.0 website and not the
         | music per se, despite the article's title.
        
         | HDThoreaun wrote:
         | Ariel Pink is completely done as far as music journalism is
         | concerned. After that tucker interview you wont hear about him
         | again from critics I think
        
       | joshstrange wrote:
       | > "But where I'm at now, in my mind," Flegel said, "you just need
       | some regulars. Some people who've got your back, are into what
       | you're doing."
       | 
       | This reminds me of "1,000 true fans" [0]. A concept I've always
       | liked and been drawn to. The internet has made that more possible
       | than ever with things like Patreon. There are a couple podcasts
       | in way behind on that I still pay for simply because I like the
       | hosts and want to support them, I'd love to see more of that.
       | 
       | [0] https://kk.org/thetechnium/1000-true-fans/
        
         | Valodim wrote:
         | So how many things can one person be a true fan of, and what
         | does that tell us about how many people can statistically have
         | 1000 of them?
        
           | twoodfin wrote:
           | Americans spend on average about $3,500 annually on
           | entertainment. If we benchmark success of the "true fan"
           | model at $100k, that's a $100 annual bar to be a true fan,
           | which means the average American could be a true fan for a
           | reasonable number of artists.
           | 
           | What "reasonable" means determines the answer to the second
           | question, but since we're basically talking about the cost of
           | a streaming service, 4 seems like a reasonable number that
           | maps closely to today's consumer behavior in that similar
           | space.
           | 
           | That's about 1.2 billion aggregate "fanhoods", which leaves
           | room for 1.2 million artists if fans are distributed
           | uniformly.
           | 
           | But that's extremely unlikely. Typically, this kind of
           | interest and attention follows a power law curve, so the real
           | number would be much, much lower. Hundreds, most likely.
           | 
           | https://www.bls.gov/news.release/cesan.nr0.htm
        
           | hinkley wrote:
           | I would be shocked if the answer to this is not tied up in
           | Dunbar numbers. But whether it's proportional or cumulative I
           | cannot say.
           | 
           | Could a person who is a true fan of World War I era postage
           | stamp lore and still retain a full complement of social links
           | or is there a quick point where the obsessions subtract from
           | the total number of human contacts a person can sustain? Or
           | is it like Sherlock Holmes whom Doyle made afraid of useless
           | knowledge for fear of crowding out "important" things like
           | the scent of every brand of smoking tobacco and the color and
           | texture of every muddy spot in the United Kingsom?
        
       | nutshell89 wrote:
       | I'm not quite sure I get it, the album itself is kind of...mid?
       | It's 2+ hours of an aggressively boring take on the previous
       | decade's music ideals desperately in need of an editor.
       | 
       | Honestly, it solidifies the ideal that with the vast quantity of
       | new music released today, that if damn near every song isn't
       | worth the listener's time, those songs don't belong on an album,
       | they don't belong on a remix album, they don't belong on a deluxe
       | edition, they really only have a place in live shows,
       | livestreams, or anthologies when you're dead.
        
         | greenie_beans wrote:
         | what do u think of this song?
         | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y59XYOjU1Hs&t=170s
        
           | deepspace wrote:
           | Not the person you are replying to, but that sounds like an
           | attempt to combine Billy Eilish with Godspeed You Black
           | Emperor, while not managing to capture the essence of either
           | particularly well. The result is utterly uninspiring and
           | boring.
        
           | nutshell89 wrote:
           | I'm not sure why you set the track playback to the middle of
           | song, but it feels very literal. There's the "suffering"
           | starting from 2:50 or so from the distortion of the guitars
           | -- I guess it reminds me of 56k modems, maybe?
           | 
           | But because that distortion fades completely by ~ 5:00, and
           | the track ends at 7:30, it feels like 90 seconds of "dead
           | space" so it feels incomplete if that makes any sense. It's a
           | song which places its emphasis on the dead center of the
           | track, but because it doesn't build on the distortion or play
           | off of it -- it kind of overstays it's welcome.
        
         | throwingrocks wrote:
         | That's fine. Not everyone needs to "get it". Some like it. Some
         | don't. Cool.
        
           | jnovek wrote:
           | OMG this. Why do people get so upset because someone else
           | likes something that they don't? It's OK to like different
           | things.
        
             | MichaelZuo wrote:
             | Since when does calling a piece of music or artist mediocre
             | indicate 'upset'?
             | 
             | It seems perfectly normal for a large portion of passing
             | readers to simply not care that much either way.
        
               | jnovek wrote:
               | That's fair. GP doesn't really seem that upset, they just
               | don't like the record.
               | 
               | When I wrote this I was coming off another comment where
               | the commenter seemed _genuinely_ upset over the
               | distribution medium. I think a little bit of my sentiment
               | about that post dribbled through.
               | 
               | Even so, I wish people were more live-and-let-live about
               | very subjective things like music. It's a big world and
               | art is not zero-sum.
        
             | Barrin92 wrote:
             | >Why do people get so upset
             | 
             | Probably because of the extraordinary reception mentioned
             | in the article and the claim that's being made? This is
             | apparently the highest rating Pitchfork has handed out in
             | half a decade and it's supposed to be an indicator of a
             | major shift in the music industry.
             | 
             | That's quite a lot and after having listened to it I have
             | to agree with the original poster, I don't really get it
             | either. I expected the next Bowie after those reviews.
        
               | sdenton4 wrote:
               | Sadly, pitchfork has recently been gutted. Wouldn't be
               | surprised if the new masters are doing this purely for
               | PR...
        
               | jnovek wrote:
               | Pitchfork was already past its prime in recent years, but
               | seeing it gutted by Conde Naste is a bummer.
               | 
               | Have you found a good alternative?
        
           | voidfunc wrote:
           | It's always the people who like something that have a
           | persecution complex when someone says their thing sucks.
           | Maybe look inward for your answers.
        
             | warcher wrote:
             | I mean didn't you just describe every performing artist
             | ever?
        
         | JKCalhoun wrote:
         | Thirty-two tracks.
         | 
         | No real barrier to the distribution of music might just mean
         | we're getting less curation from the artists. There was a
         | "discipline" that 12" of vinyl imposed that I miss.
        
           | troyvit wrote:
           | I was going back through Pink Floyd's discography the other
           | day and was reminded that The Wall was a four record album!
           | And yeah I do think that exception proves your rule. They
           | coulda trimmed that up a wee bit.
        
             | mondobe wrote:
             | *four sides, two records. And "only" 80 minutes (not
             | derogatory, it's my favorite album).
        
           | mrbluecoat wrote:
           | Perhaps Taylor Swift chose a middle ground by releasing both
           | a curated set of 16 tracks, then an anthology of 31 tracks.
        
             | wahnfrieden wrote:
             | That is a decision about streaming money.
        
         | heresie-dabord wrote:
         | Here is discussion about a recent work that impressed me _as
         | art_.
         | 
         | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39930463
        
         | HDThoreaun wrote:
         | Its a concept album that celebrates the last 60 years of music
         | history. Understandably a lot happened in those decades and
         | cramming all that onto a single LP would lead spirit of the
         | beehive style insanity. I think a double LP makes tons of sense
         | here, the album is only 2 hours long so not like the length is
         | absolutely insane. Obviously its not the tightest, but I think
         | that lets the influences shine even more.
         | 
         | Music critics also love concept albums, I think because they
         | spend all day listening to music so something unique is
         | especially intriguing to them.
        
           | gizajob wrote:
           | Seems to only celebrate a tiny little slice of those 60 years
           | of music history to my ears.
        
       | ikesau wrote:
       | I've loved Pat's music for 15 years now. There's an obsessive
       | passion in the people who are into him, trawling for bootlegs and
       | demos on soulseek, binge watching old Women live shows on YT. my
       | friends excitedly recount the email conversations they've had
       | with him, and hell yeah, wavs up for free e-transfer him if you
       | can.
       | 
       | Regardless of whether you like the music, I think the larger
       | object of his art and our reaction to it is terrific and I wish
       | more people could create, discover, and relate to art this way.
        
         | ssfrr wrote:
         | Oh man, soulseek brings back serious nostalgia for me. Is it
         | still pretty active?
        
           | squigz wrote:
           | I've only been using it for a few years, but it's pretty
           | great for finding and discovering music.
        
       | msephton wrote:
       | I got caught up in this hype when this album hit number one of
       | the year so far on rateyourmusic (think of it as letterboxd but
       | for music).
       | 
       | So I downloaded it, converted it to a format I could add to
       | Music.app and play on my iPhone (for this reason alone it's not
       | the future of music), listened to it, was distinctly unimpressed,
       | so deleted it. It sounded too derivative.
       | 
       | Since I've heard new music by other artists that did a lot more
       | for me.
        
         | JKCalhoun wrote:
         | > Since I've heard new music by other artists that did a lot
         | more for me.
         | 
         | Feel free to drop names. I'm all ears (ha ha).
        
           | msephton wrote:
           | My favourites of the year so far...
           | 
           | album: Yo Irie "Love Affair"
           | 
           | single: LAGHEADS "Your Light"
           | 
           | most anticipated album: Hazel English
           | 
           | A playlist from last year:
           | https://blog.gingerbeardman.com/2023/12/31/japanese-music-
           | re...
        
           | indigodaddy wrote:
           | I mean, like he said, it's kind of alright, but not what I'd
           | call great music (I'm listening now and I'm going to have to
           | try really really hard to call it good).
           | 
           | Here's some great bands/artists to check out (not saying they
           | are in whatever category Cindy Lee wants to be):
           | 
           | Islands (Nick Thorburn/Nick Diamonds/The Unicorns/Mister
           | Heavenly)
           | 
           | The Growlers
           | 
           | Blonde Redhead
           | 
           | Bill Callahan
           | 
           | Cat Power (the older stuff especially)
           | 
           | Molly Nilsson
           | 
           | Lady Lamb
           | 
           | Big Thief
           | 
           | Andrew Bird
           | 
           | Chastity Belt
           | 
           | Thao
           | 
           | WHY?
           | 
           | Mark Ribot y los postizos cubanos
           | 
           | Intergalactic Lovers
           | 
           | Felice Brothers
           | 
           | Goran Bregovic
           | 
           | Kevin Morby
           | 
           | Hurray for the riff raff
           | 
           | Cherry Glazerr
           | 
           | Michael Kiwanuka
           | 
           | Hamilton Leithauser
           | 
           | M Ward
           | 
           | Khruangbin
        
             | JKCalhoun wrote:
             | Since you're going older, you missed Grandaddy and Jason
             | Lytle's solo stuff.
             | 
             | Also Luluc, Courtney Barnett.
        
           | gwill wrote:
           | I'm in my early thirties and grew up in the midwest, so i
           | feel that plays a bit into my music tastes but Petey has been
           | my favorite artist lately. both of his albums are fantastic
           | front to back, but i'd start with USA.
        
         | politelemon wrote:
         | > for this reason alone it's not the future of music
         | 
         | The opposite - it is a future that your platform hasn't caught
         | up with yet.
        
           | msephton wrote:
           | I mean I can play FLAC on my iPhone if I want to...but I'd
           | rather just drop some files that I don't have to post-process
           | in some way onto an app and have them magically appear on all
           | my devices. That's the future and we have it today.
           | 
           | Even Bandcamp figured this out and gives me the option to
           | choose the type of download that best suits me, and I buy
           | much music from there. If Cindy Lee had put this album out on
           | their Bandcamp page on a Bandcamp Friday, with the included
           | choice of formats, it would be better for everybody. But of
           | course that wouldn't have garnered any press about an
           | unorthodox method of distribution.
           | 
           | All that to say: a zip of FLACs on a no-frills website is
           | definitely not the future of music, regardless of "platform".
        
       | xil3 wrote:
       | You think this is the future of music?
       | 
       | https://youtu.be/AG8fJ50sxR8?si=jTsAS_siwnvXCLj2
        
         | abathur wrote:
         | They mean this: https://youtu.be/_LJi5na897Y
        
         | ksherlock wrote:
         | I'm disappointed that this wasn't a rickroll.
        
       | FrustratedMonky wrote:
       | Did anyone pick up vibes here of Pattern Recognition from William
       | Gibson?
       | 
       | The use of old web1 web sites, small quirky art pieces being left
       | on back corners of internet to only be appreciated by small group
       | 'in the know', the 1000 true fans.
        
         | 082349872349872 wrote:
         | If that's web1, what might the other integers be?
         | 
         | web0: blue/purple links in black text on grey, with occasional
         | HRs
         | 
         | web-1: MacPaint/Hypercard
         | 
         | web-2: -=> T E X T f i l e s <=-
         | 
         | web-n: illuminated parchments
         | 
         | web-2n: cuneiform tablets
         | 
         | web-3n: bullae labels
         | 
         | web-4n: cave paintings
        
           | FrustratedMonky wrote:
           | Maybe add Printing Press. Gutenberg Bible.
           | 
           | I'd vote for Printing Press to be some 'zero' point.
        
       | ricokatayama wrote:
       | Jack Conte was very spot on in his SXSW talk this year
       | https://youtu.be/5zUndMfMInc?si=2SqvZIyYi7QLKqmV
        
         | msephton wrote:
         | TL;DR recommends using Patreon and avoiding platforms with
         | algorithmic feeds (disclaimer: the speaker is the creator of
         | Patreon)
        
       | mynegation wrote:
       | The music itself sounds more like the past than the future of
       | music and I guess indie is just not my cup of tea, but as a fan
       | of some other obscure bands and styles, I can relate. Even then I
       | do not think it is the future of music distribution, more like
       | marketing gimmick. I am a software developer and I still dread
       | the idea of making downloaded files available on my iPhone. If it
       | is not on Spotify it may just as well not exist.
        
       | Semaphor wrote:
       | It's a bit different, but Indian extreme metal label Transcending
       | Obscurity has had several bands release two days early on
       | bandcamp (I know for sure about Vorga [0] and Replicant [1]), and
       | indie black metal band Adon [2] simply decided to stay bandcamp
       | exclusive for a week before releasing on streaming platforms.
       | 
       | I very much appreciate those :)
       | 
       | There are, usually big-ish and famous-ish, bands who do the
       | opposite, only release on streaming, leaving me no way to buy the
       | album, also those only releasing on something like Amazon (which
       | then requires me to get the disk to rip it myself, raising the
       | buy-rating for me from 3.5 to 4/5), and of course also Japanese
       | artists who often don't seem to care about western audiences at
       | all with their music only available on Japanese sites.
       | 
       | [0]: https://vorgaband.bandcamp.com/album/beyond-the-palest-star
       | 
       | [1]: https://replicantband.bandcamp.com/album/infinite-mortality
       | 
       | [2]: https://adonmetal.bandcamp.com/album/adon
        
       | evo_9 wrote:
       | These comments are embarrassing. It's a landmark album and being
       | recognized as such by critics and us lifelong hardcore music
       | fans. You see it's not for any of you, or rather very few. It's a
       | sort of love letter to me and my ilk, aka those of us that
       | started collecting records when we were teens and went on to own
       | indie record stores in the 80/90s and early 2000 before most of
       | them were shuttered. There are hints of Spacemen 3, Velvet
       | Underground, hell even some more obscure nods to forgotten bands
       | like Boo Radley, Crime and The City Solution and many many more.
       | If you are not steeped in musical experience this record will not
       | land with you. But for me and about 6 of my oldest collector
       | friends (all in our 50s now) this is a towering achievement by a
       | single person that wrote nearly every note on the record. On top
       | of all that there is the utterly brilliant GeoCities website with
       | its decidedly Twin Peaks vibe and oh so much fun to blade runner
       | zoom around. Brilliance like this shines only a few times in life
       | and us ex NeptureRecords and Play It Again forgotten staff and
       | friends of those great record stores are having the time of our
       | lives listening to the entries 2+ hours daily.
        
         | indigodaddy wrote:
         | I hear you. For example, I literally cannot find anyone I
         | interact with who has even heard of this band called Islands
         | (Nick Thorburn), but they are probably my favorite band of all
         | time.
        
           | evanelias wrote:
           | I was initially surprised to read this sentiment, since his
           | prior band The Unicorns was relatively popular in indie rock
           | circles. Then I realized that was a full two decades ago, and
           | I suddenly felt old...
        
             | indigodaddy wrote:
             | Imo Return to The Sea is a masterpiece, but also confess to
             | live all subsequent Islands albums.
             | 
             | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Return_to_the_Sea
        
         | raincole wrote:
         | ... People expressing their preferences are "embarrassing"?
         | People _have to_ like something because critics say so?
        
         | greenie_beans wrote:
         | it's been interesting to see the public reaction to this album.
         | i'm excited they're finally getting some well-deserved
         | acclaimed.
         | 
         | all the haters are so fascinating. everybody chiming in about
         | this artist, somebody they didn't know anything about until
         | last week. like how everybody became an epidemiologist in 2020,
         | financial expert in 2021-2022, ai expert 2023, bridge expert
         | 2024, war strategist in 2022, etc.
        
         | jrflowers wrote:
         | This is an excellent point. People have been discussing the
         | album and music industry trends and have neglected to broach
         | the most fundamental topic at hand here: that evo_9 is the
         | poster that is best at listening to music
        
       | indigodaddy wrote:
       | It's interesting music. Two tracks through, I'm not exactly sure
       | how/what to think about it, but I'll keep listening for now.
       | Maybe Beck meets Lord Huron meets Bill Callahan?
        
       | _jcrossley wrote:
       | Today's a great day - what a delightful 2000's throwback on all
       | fronts. I wonder if there's any connection between this article
       | and the rumored Pitchfork -> GQ reorg.
        
       | m3kw9 wrote:
       | In the pre-streaming era, Radio Heads In Rainbow is one of the
       | best albums and it was distributed as a pay what you want.
       | 
       | It's a cut the middle man move, it may be more trouble than it's
       | worth because the distribution channel is a pain to setup
        
         | sandyarmstrong wrote:
         | Yeah, that was really cool. A couple of years before that,
         | Harvey Danger (yes, the Flagpole Sitta band) literally released
         | their album Little by Little on BitTorrent. I loved that move,
         | and it also happened to be a great album.
        
       | m3kw9 wrote:
       | In the future if artists can get their way, they would release
       | this as an exclusive for 2 weeks on a site then release it on
       | streaming. 1. People would pay to listen to it first. 2. People
       | will still use stream to listen subsequently as it is easier.
       | 
       | Negative side is that streaming service may not like it, and
       | people will spin it as a rip off even if it technically isn't.
        
       | solomonb wrote:
       | I feel strongly that the future of media content will be a search
       | for human authenticity buried under an ocean of generic generated
       | content.
        
       | coldtea wrote:
       | > _I like Diamond Jubilee and am happy to pay for music, but
       | downloading files and loading them onto my iPhone feels archaic
       | and time-consuming._
       | 
       | Then perhaps you don't care for music (or for that music) as much
       | as you think, you value conviencece more?
       | 
       | Watch some cat videos, they'll readily available for streaming
       | from everywhere.
        
       | aqme28 wrote:
       | This is, I think, the same idea that has given vinyl such a
       | strong resurgence in the last few years.
        
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