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Post by Lord Gargoyle on Oct 11, 2019 16:43:04 GMT -5
What influences your decision to buy an album, rather than just listening on Bandcamp? Do you buy digital releases if you like it enough, or do you save your purchases strictly for physical releases? And with those, how much are you buying into the music vs the artwork, etc?
As a minimum wage student, I find it often takes me more than just appreciation for the individual songs for me to actually make a purchase, I often need to feel invested in the artist as a person - not wanting to know their personal life, but feeling like I can connect with them is a factor. As I don't have a tape player, I don't buy physical releases of DS, but with other music it's often about the album as a whole working cohesively.
I'd love to hear your opinions, both as a listener and as a musician
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Post by thekeeper on Oct 11, 2019 21:41:42 GMT -5
I mostly buy physicals but try to only buy things I'm going to listen to multiple times. If I come upon a CD of something I'm somewhat interested in that's cheap enough, I'll pick it up just to see what it's like. I kind of recreate that pre-streaming era experience of 'blind buys' in this way, but they're more like semi-blind buys since I rarely buy physicals of an artist I've never heard of, usually just "ah, I I've seen this band referenced as X genre or is supposed to be like Y band". But all that's the small minority of my purchases. Most are very intentional purchases that I plan to keep for a long time. I used to buy way more tapes blindly or things that I'm only semi-interested in, a lot of random BM demos, but I did a big collection purge a year or so ago. The majority of what I buy is CDs. If it's tape only, I'll get the tape. Used to prefer tapes because they were cheaper, but since I've become much more selective I've mainly purchased CDs. I think they're the more practical medium for me anyway. If I really love something I'll get an LP, but I only have like 30 records or so.
The only digital music I've bought has been from Bandcamp. I think my decision making on there is a bit more lax since most of it is PWYW anyway, so I don't mind throwing a dollar or two at an artist if I like their stuff.
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Post by crystallogic13 on Oct 11, 2019 23:52:20 GMT -5
I no longer buy physical at all except if it is something really rare and can't find it digital .. I love all my old metal mostly physical tapes,cds and vinyls but the space they require etc down the road becomes an issue for me so.. When I discovered DS I made a lot of blind buys on Bandcamp but since I've reconsidered, due to economic factors I usually preview before buying anything really... The price is a big factor too... Imho except if you have a good strong back catalogue anything else than NYP will just make me bookmark it and check it a lot later.. And for the releases that have the price tag, I have problems with non Euro/Dollar prices since they require you to use paypal.. All in all depending on the artist a price tag of 1 Euro and up to maximum 5 euros is what I consider ok for me..
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Post by stormcrow on Oct 12, 2019 7:24:26 GMT -5
I buy records since I was a child and go to record fairs since 1997, so I am actually a collector. That's why I always prefer physicals (rarely blind buy) but in contemporary DS this is not always possibile, you know. I love to support a bandcamp-only project anyway, if I really like the vibes and the music: years ago I bought a bluetooth adapter for my stereo, so I can listen to my BC library the same way I do with vinyls,CDS and tapes. Alternatively, I stream digitals through my studio's monitor-speakers: way better!
PS. Don't expect too much from bluetooth adapters, since their broadcasting quality is not that good. They will never be the same quality of a vinyl or a CD...
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