Physical Only vs +Digital Release
Aug 22, 2017 14:01:34 GMT -5
Post by crystallogic13 on Aug 22, 2017 14:01:34 GMT -5
Since I did not want to hijack this thread : dungeonsynth.proboards.com/thread/259/sacred-dominions-cassette and hoping I haven't missed an existing thread, I'd like to start a discussion on material released exclusively on tape and/or vinyl without a digital release..
I will be straightforward that from my point of view is that I hope all releases get sooner or even later an official digital release (bandcamp or not).. With all the respect to the artists who for any reasons decide not to release a digital version, please consider some of my thoughts bellow :
1. The first point is that simply put, an unknown percentage of possible listeners/buyers gets cut out, people who for whatever reasons simply do not buy physical . Some (like me) could have a player but do not want to even bother listening through the form, others could simply do not have access to one. My personal statistic is that while I have a collection of 130 (almost all DS) releases on bandcamp, I've never bought one single tape - and again I do have both an old mini stereo with tape and an old sony walkman..
2. Second but most important, is the actual heritage and archiving thing to think about. While I am pretty sure blogs like Dungeon Excavation and Asmodian Coven will be around in 20 or 30 years from now still I really think that if you value your work enough to survive forever in that dark capsule we will someday sent in outer space will all of man's created art forms, than please release it in digital so it has more chances of it staying alive through time for generations of humans and maybe aliens someday Joking aside, I don't think I need to start a rant about serious archiving projects around the world digitising all kinds of stuff (music, books, old films, even museums , even Google Street View in my opinion will be a digital Museum in soon due time.. ).. Please make your music and effort a favor and release it in digital too..
3. This is more personal but I think this also isn't me : I understand the lofi vibes of the tape. I even remember using a BIC pencil to roll back the damn tape and save some battery as a 8 y o listening to Iron Maiden way back. It brings me great memories. But today I simply find it a million times more convenient to listen to music from my desktop PC. Not because it probably has the best speakers (nothing special) but it is way way easier to listen to exactly the music I like without eating time turning tapes and vinyls sides, going backwards/forwards & play on tape to reach a certain song and then remove tape to put another tape to hear next song etc etc. I also understand people who like to listen from start to finish but this is anyway done in digital too obviously and you get all the conveniences of creating ENDLESS custom playlists with your favourite digital audio player (old Winamp for me) which you can rapidly locate, change, etc etc. Can you imagine how much time a single custom mixtape takes if you could still do it instead of custom playlists (like "Astral Stuff", "Epic TaleS" etc etc)? Digital form is the way the music will be listened longterm no matter how many returns vinyls and tapes make (which I LIKE still, please no mistakes). It all comes down to it : Limited Time for all of us. Digital form is a wonderful convenience of our era and it's there for us to grab when time is a valuable resource .
Personal Experience : I listen to a DS album the following method : load it in its entirety in Winamp. Listen start to end 2-3 times at least. From then on starting to remove from playlist anything I don't like. In the end I end up with what I DO like. Could be a whole album (like Depressive Silence) or just a single song. I add all the songs in that playlist in a MASTER playlist of DS I've named " Dungeon Campaign " (Campaing as if all I like included, and not a themed playlist) and becomes one with the rest of them. To get a grip , at the moment this master playlist is 931 selected songs, weighing at 70 hours 16 minutes and 49 seconds worth of Dungeon Synth that I put on random shuffle, with fade in / out to make it as a seamless mix that I enjoy more than you can imagine (respect to all artists btw..).. And remember that I also have the choice of simply listening the old way start to finish any album in 0 seconds with a few clicks.
Sorry for the wall of text, hoping that you all consider always a digital release. Thanx for your time and reading.
I will be straightforward that from my point of view is that I hope all releases get sooner or even later an official digital release (bandcamp or not).. With all the respect to the artists who for any reasons decide not to release a digital version, please consider some of my thoughts bellow :
1. The first point is that simply put, an unknown percentage of possible listeners/buyers gets cut out, people who for whatever reasons simply do not buy physical . Some (like me) could have a player but do not want to even bother listening through the form, others could simply do not have access to one. My personal statistic is that while I have a collection of 130 (almost all DS) releases on bandcamp, I've never bought one single tape - and again I do have both an old mini stereo with tape and an old sony walkman..
2. Second but most important, is the actual heritage and archiving thing to think about. While I am pretty sure blogs like Dungeon Excavation and Asmodian Coven will be around in 20 or 30 years from now still I really think that if you value your work enough to survive forever in that dark capsule we will someday sent in outer space will all of man's created art forms, than please release it in digital so it has more chances of it staying alive through time for generations of humans and maybe aliens someday Joking aside, I don't think I need to start a rant about serious archiving projects around the world digitising all kinds of stuff (music, books, old films, even museums , even Google Street View in my opinion will be a digital Museum in soon due time.. ).. Please make your music and effort a favor and release it in digital too..
3. This is more personal but I think this also isn't me : I understand the lofi vibes of the tape. I even remember using a BIC pencil to roll back the damn tape and save some battery as a 8 y o listening to Iron Maiden way back. It brings me great memories. But today I simply find it a million times more convenient to listen to music from my desktop PC. Not because it probably has the best speakers (nothing special) but it is way way easier to listen to exactly the music I like without eating time turning tapes and vinyls sides, going backwards/forwards & play on tape to reach a certain song and then remove tape to put another tape to hear next song etc etc. I also understand people who like to listen from start to finish but this is anyway done in digital too obviously and you get all the conveniences of creating ENDLESS custom playlists with your favourite digital audio player (old Winamp for me) which you can rapidly locate, change, etc etc. Can you imagine how much time a single custom mixtape takes if you could still do it instead of custom playlists (like "Astral Stuff", "Epic TaleS" etc etc)? Digital form is the way the music will be listened longterm no matter how many returns vinyls and tapes make (which I LIKE still, please no mistakes). It all comes down to it : Limited Time for all of us. Digital form is a wonderful convenience of our era and it's there for us to grab when time is a valuable resource .
Personal Experience : I listen to a DS album the following method : load it in its entirety in Winamp. Listen start to end 2-3 times at least. From then on starting to remove from playlist anything I don't like. In the end I end up with what I DO like. Could be a whole album (like Depressive Silence) or just a single song. I add all the songs in that playlist in a MASTER playlist of DS I've named " Dungeon Campaign " (Campaing as if all I like included, and not a themed playlist) and becomes one with the rest of them. To get a grip , at the moment this master playlist is 931 selected songs, weighing at 70 hours 16 minutes and 49 seconds worth of Dungeon Synth that I put on random shuffle, with fade in / out to make it as a seamless mix that I enjoy more than you can imagine (respect to all artists btw..).. And remember that I also have the choice of simply listening the old way start to finish any album in 0 seconds with a few clicks.
Sorry for the wall of text, hoping that you all consider always a digital release. Thanx for your time and reading.