Holiday music exchange: a modest proposal.

[rivka]

I know that there are at least a couple of people on my friends list who like Christmas music, or general winter holiday music. (In particular, I'm thinking of fairoriana and patgreene - but there are probably others.)

Would anyone be interested in a CD mix exchange with a winter holiday theme?

Comments

[fairoriana.livejournal.com]

Um, not to say that I would tell other people to do the same, but I have tried very hard not to burn/swap music. So I'm afraid I'd have to opt out, even though it sounds like fun.

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

Do you have something against acting on behalf of music artists?

[fairoriana.livejournal.com]

If I knew the artists were willing to have their music swapped, I'd be willing to do so. However, much of my music is symphonic. It's hard to get the consent of the 80 or 90 musicians whose work is represented in each piece.

I'm not telling other people what to do. I'm just personally acting in the best way I can see.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

This seems like an awfully harsh response, given the unconfrontational nature of fairoriana's comment. If you feel that swapping music helps musicians, go ahead and explain why. If you're curious about why fairoriana doesn't believe in swapping, go ahead and ask her. But please don't pick a fight in my journal.

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

Offhand, I'd say we have different readings both on what constitutes harsh and what constitutes unconfrontational, but matters of tone are notoriously tricky. That being the case, though, perhaps it's best if I not comment further on the subject since I wouldn't want you to construe it as "picking a fight".

[klwalton.livejournal.com]

I tend not to swap whole albums, unless they're out of print. But I will swap individual titles. I, for one, tend to buy whole CDs based on liking an individual title someone has given me on a mixed CD. That might be a massive rationalization :), but I really have bought more music as a result of swapping.

[fairoriana.livejournal.com]

Yeah, if an album is out of print, and no method of purchasing it will help the artists who created it, I'm game.

[writingortyping.livejournal.com]

There is an interesting set of articles penned by Janis Ian (an interested and informed party on the subject of file-swapping) - go here (http://www.janisian.com/articles.html) and select the article "The Internet Debacle - An Alternative View. She sees increased album sales out of downloads of singles.

[klwalton.livejournal.com]

Yes, indeedy!

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

Yes, this sounds like fun. I'll have to rip our Christmas discs, because I'm pretty sure they're not in the database yet, but I'm game for that.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Cool! I was thinking that we should try to send the CDs out around Thanksgiving, given it's the traditional "no Christmas stuff before now" point. So that'll leave plenty of time for ripping and sorting.

[jmhm.livejournal.com]

I could do that.

[green-knight.livejournal.com]

I would be interested. I'm always interested in unconventional stuff. (My offering might be short. I'm not really into Christmas)

As for the ripping off thing:

I would not *buy* any of them. In days of yore (I'm too lazy nowadays) I would have copied things onto tape from the radio. These days, I copy onto CD from other CDs. It's not taking anyone's revenue away. At UK prices - $25 for an album, and that's Woolworth's price, last time I looked - I cannot *afford* to buy albums, and I refuse to be ripped off thus.

[writingortyping.livejournal.com]

I would be happy to - I have some nifty close harmony if anyone else is into that.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Yes! Yes! Yes!

[writingortyping.livejournal.com]

How are you envisioning this? 6 people sign up = everyone makes 5 CDs and sends them out?

I know at least one of the CDs I have is out of print. My parents had it on a reel-to-reel tape and every year my dad would have to fix the reel-to-reel deck so Mom could hear the Jimmy Joyce Singers. I would wake up one frosty December morning to, "ssssoooooOOOOOOMMME children see him lily white..." It was a true sign of the season... The CD was back in print for maybe 2 or 3 years. A great loss to the world!

[rivka.livejournal.com]

How are you envisioning this? 6 people sign up = everyone makes 5 CDs and sends them out?

That's how CD exchanges I've done before have been, but I want to wait and see how many people sign up. I think there's probably an upper limit, above which people won't want to pay all that postage. So if tons of people want to do it, we might set up two swap groups, or a round-robin sort of thing.

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

I'd like to be in, but I have two problems (and so must beg charity).

I have no means to easily copy music, and (the more cucial) almost all my christmas music is in storage. What with three moves (two of which I wasn't really here for) and things of that nature I have no idea where they are.

Which means I even more want the charity, because I have but the few I put in the car for a trip to Tenn. two years back (though thankfully The Bells of Dublin is in that set).

I will chime in with an interpretation of what akirlu meant.

She believes (and I tend to agree) that the swapping of songs increases the sales of an artist, by increasing the number of people who get to hear their work. Ergo swapping songs (though not neccessarily albums; though the argument could me made that having a copy of The Wind might lead one to buy Sentimental Hygene) is in the better interest of the artists.

TK

[rivka.livejournal.com]

I have no problem sending you a CD without getting one back in trade. I imagine that at least some of the other participants will feel the same.

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

Not quite, on interpreting me. It isn't sales that are relevant to the swapping of music aiding artists, though I do indeed believe based on the evidence that free access to music is crucial to driving sales of said music. Rather, the fact is that in terms of popular music, most artists make little or no money from the sales of lp's, tapes, and cd's. At least not if they are signed with a major label, they don't. This is because royalties seldom if ever catch up with the up front cost that the artist "owes" the label for studio time, equipment rental, session musicians, etc., which the label will deduct back out as the album makes money. It's a system not unlike the company store of old. Where artists actually make their money is in their percentage of ticket sales for performances. To make more money, performances need to generate more ticket sales and more and larger bookings. To sell more tickets, artists need to build audience. But to build audience they need to get their music out to as many people as possible, in order for the music to find its audience, and vice versa. And radio, formerly a fairly good source for the free passing of music to potential audience, is growing far narrower in its selection as it becomes more corporate and homogeneous. And even worse than publishers, major record labels have little time or money for the promotion of their midlist artists. They have a model of success that is heavily weighted toward having a few mega-selling superstars. So midlist and other non-superstar artists need other ways to reach their audience. Thus, it is beneficial to the artist's bottom line for their music to be passed freely among potential new fans.

To the extent that the metaphor of theft (which I take to be the motive behind moralizing about swapping music) applies to passing copyright music around to other interested listeners, it is the label, not the artist, who is being deprived, and on the field of moral probity, the major labels appear to me to be bad actors. But, in fact, the label is likely to benefit, too, rather than be deprived of income, because extending the audience is likely to increase sales not only of music swapped but of prior and subsequent releases by the artist as well. Also, the metaphor of theft is a very bad one to apply to passing music around anyway, though that is another long discussion, perhaps best left for another day. Also, I have no idea how the model for popular music relates to that for classical.

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

Also, you will perhaps have guessed this already, but in fact I don't have any problem sending you a disc even though you can't immediately reciprocate. In fact, if this project prods me to get to the point where I'm a little better set up to burn music CD's, I may put together a few compilations of other sundries to help tide you through the dry spell. Dealer's choice, but I'm open to suggestion.

[mactavish.livejournal.com]

I'm fine for sharing a CD with you without a CD back. It'd be hard for me to say that I'd get nothing back from you, I like what I know of you so far.

And rivka: Sure. :) I'd probably need to send stuff out toward the end of the first week of December.

[geekchick]

I would, assuming I get my CD burner problems fixed in a timely manner.

[geekchick]

Which I have (knock on particleboard), so count me in.

[okoshun.livejournal.com]

I think that would be quite fun. :) You can count me in.

[ruisseau.livejournal.com]

I would like this and I think I put together an interesting mix. I have a CD of Christmas songs from around the world, for one thing. :)