4 ms·

Buy CDs, buy vinyl, buy merch, go see shows — support artists instead of platforms and middlemen wherever you can. This is a welcome trend.

by cdrnsf 3mo ago

arthurjj 3mo ago
I try to buy as many shirts as possible from bands I like and this post reminded me to go look again. I listen to a lot of metal and punk and the problem is most the shirts are either black, which overheat you in SoCal, or have designs that are aggressively ugly [1]. I wish more bands hired better designers or at least had shirts I wouldn't overheat in [1] I own and wear this one so it's not always a deal breaker https://merchbar.imgix.net/product/174/7292/6127313518766/Zsk4ONDQpinkwhiteBrokenWorldTee.jpg?quality=60&auto=compress,format&w=1200&h=630 https://merchbar.imgix.net/product/174/7292/6127313518766/Zs...
- cdrnsf 3mo ago
  I have a ton of shirts, but have been sticking to buy limited edition ones or from bands at shows lately. I live in SoCal (north of LA) and end up suffering in the heat. Nothing did some non-black ones for their new album at least https://bandofnothing.shop/collections/apparel/products/essential-tremors-t-shirt https://bandofnothing.shop/collections/apparel/products/esse...
dylan604 3mo ago
There's a couple of artists that I would absolutely buy their vinyl except the shipping is more expensive than the vinyl. I've done it a couple of times for artists I really like and appreciate, but it is most definitely cost prohibitive. So it's pay their bandcamp prices for the digitals and streaming, but the physical media is just made in too limited quantities to be affordable by anyone but FAANG employees
- cdrnsf 3mo ago
  Shipping on vinyl is rough — even shirts from anywhere outside of the US have tipped towards being hard to justify with shipping and all. I'll usually go for Bandcamp in that case (or buy something licensed in the US in the hopes that the license fee is at least something).
  - dylan604 3mo ago
    > Shipping on vinyl is rough I'm well aware. I used to co-operate a vinyl store and very familiar with shipping heavy vinyl. I really wish there was a bandcamp distributor model so that artists could ship to each distributor in bulk so the consumer did not have to pay international charges rather than drop shipping per order.
    - cdrnsf 3mo ago
      I'd love that — didn't CDBaby used to do that? Hopefully something'll crop up if the popularity keeps increasing.
  - lovehashbrowns 3mo ago
    Even keeping vinyl is rough. I used to have a good collection that I had to drop because of moving. Still, some of my vinyls were ruined because I stored them poorly and they warped. It’s almost as bad as physical books, though they store more easily unless it’s mass paperback which will quickly stain to a weird yellow and develop a smell. Records are so fun though. The art, the physicality, the sound of the needle moving across the grooves, so good.
- nickthegreek 3mo ago
  I’m not sure if you live in big city or not, but if so, a visit to your local vinyl shop might be able to score you a copy. Or they might be able to order it in with their shipments.
- Acrobatic_Road 3mo ago
  I import a lot of stuff from Europe and the shipping is rough. I save by bundling items.
  - dylan604 3mo ago
    If only I could get the artists I like to release at the same time
    - Acrobatic_Road 3mo ago
      My guy holds stuff for me. My current order started last year.
- maccard 3mo ago
  I've not seen a case where shipping was more expensive than vinyl but; I made an album and sell the vinyl on our website. The sleeve to ship the vinyl safely in was somewhere between £0.5 and £1 depending on where we bought it from. Actually shipping it cost £5. So the £30 vinyl came with £6 in shipping fees. Lots of people complained to us that it was expensive, but that's just what it cost.
  - dylan604 3mo ago
    > I've not seen a case where shipping was more expensive than vinyl but; Maybe you have the fortune of being on the same continent the item is being shipped. Your use of pounds is a big clue there. Shipping it across the pond is routinely doubling the price of the album plus taxes on top of that
    - maccard 3mo ago
      Ah - shipping pretty much anything transatlantic is expensive, doubly so if you want it to actually survive. It’s never going to be worth shopping a $40 item from the US to the UK unless it’s tiny.
      - dylan604 3mo ago
        > It’s never going to be worth shopping a $40 item from the US to the UK unless it’s tiny. That's bold. Who are you to say what is worth something to someone you don't know. I've already stated that I have done this, but it is a limiting factor on how often I do.
        maccard 3mo ago
        Sorry - only a sith deals in absolutes. I didn’t mean “literally never under any circumstances” I meant “on the balance of probabilities it’s unlikely that the financial cost of shipping something small is worth it, unless the item has some value that is not financial” But that was wordy
localbolu 3mo ago
I've been turning back to radio. So many talented DJs playing great music around the world.
- squigz 3mo ago
  KEXP is great for this - various types of live shows and sets with great DJs. Most of the new music I've discovered over the past 10 years has been from them. https://www.kexp.org/ https://www.kexp.org/
- frollogaston 3mo ago
  I only listen to FM radio in the car. This has forced me to kinda enjoy Mexican music, cause it's either that or 1980s millennials' nostalgia channels.
- beenBoutIT 3mo ago
  All we really need is a solid system for adding all of the 100k+ internet radio stations to a synthetic radio spectrum that can be easily navigated with a rotary dial just like local radio.
pibaker 3mo ago
None of the things you listed are free of middlemen. Record companies were the OG villains of the music industry. Livenation has a monopoly over event venues. Sometimes you can't just outrun the bad guys. You have to fight them head on.

Buy CDs, buy vinyl, buy merch, go see shows — support artists instead of platforms and middlemen wherever you can. This is a welcome trend.

by cdrnsf 3mo ago

Buy CDs, buy vinyl, buy merch, go see shows — support artists instead of platforms and middlemen wherever you can. This is a welcome trend.

arthurjj 3mo ago

I try to buy as many shirts as possible from bands I like and this post reminded me to go look again. I listen to a lot of metal and punk and the problem is most the shirts are either black, which overheat you in SoCal, or have designs that are aggressively ugly [1]. I wish more bands hired better designers or at least had shirts I wouldn't overheat in [1] I own and wear this one so it's not always a deal breaker https://merchbar.imgix.net/product/174/7292/6127313518766/Zsk4ONDQpinkwhiteBrokenWorldTee.jpg?quality=60&auto=compress,format&w=1200&h=630 https://merchbar.imgix.net/product/174/7292/6127313518766/Zs...

cdrnsf 3mo ago
I have a ton of shirts, but have been sticking to buy limited edition ones or from bands at shows lately. I live in SoCal (north of LA) and end up suffering in the heat. Nothing did some non-black ones for their new album at least https://bandofnothing.shop/collections/apparel/products/essential-tremors-t-shirt https://bandofnothing.shop/collections/apparel/products/esse...

dylan604 3mo ago

There's a couple of artists that I would absolutely buy their vinyl except the shipping is more expensive than the vinyl. I've done it a couple of times for artists I really like and appreciate, but it is most definitely cost prohibitive. So it's pay their bandcamp prices for the digitals and streaming, but the physical media is just made in too limited quantities to be affordable by anyone but FAANG employees

cdrnsf 3mo ago
Shipping on vinyl is rough — even shirts from anywhere outside of the US have tipped towards being hard to justify with shipping and all. I'll usually go for Bandcamp in that case (or buy something licensed in the US in the hopes that the license fee is at least something).
- dylan604 3mo ago
  > Shipping on vinyl is rough I'm well aware. I used to co-operate a vinyl store and very familiar with shipping heavy vinyl. I really wish there was a bandcamp distributor model so that artists could ship to each distributor in bulk so the consumer did not have to pay international charges rather than drop shipping per order.
  - cdrnsf 3mo ago
    I'd love that — didn't CDBaby used to do that? Hopefully something'll crop up if the popularity keeps increasing.
- lovehashbrowns 3mo ago
  Even keeping vinyl is rough. I used to have a good collection that I had to drop because of moving. Still, some of my vinyls were ruined because I stored them poorly and they warped. It’s almost as bad as physical books, though they store more easily unless it’s mass paperback which will quickly stain to a weird yellow and develop a smell. Records are so fun though. The art, the physicality, the sound of the needle moving across the grooves, so good.
nickthegreek 3mo ago
I’m not sure if you live in big city or not, but if so, a visit to your local vinyl shop might be able to score you a copy. Or they might be able to order it in with their shipments.
Acrobatic_Road 3mo ago
I import a lot of stuff from Europe and the shipping is rough. I save by bundling items.
- dylan604 3mo ago
  If only I could get the artists I like to release at the same time
  - Acrobatic_Road 3mo ago
    My guy holds stuff for me. My current order started last year.
maccard 3mo ago
I've not seen a case where shipping was more expensive than vinyl but; I made an album and sell the vinyl on our website. The sleeve to ship the vinyl safely in was somewhere between £0.5 and £1 depending on where we bought it from. Actually shipping it cost £5. So the £30 vinyl came with £6 in shipping fees. Lots of people complained to us that it was expensive, but that's just what it cost.
- dylan604 3mo ago
  > I've not seen a case where shipping was more expensive than vinyl but; Maybe you have the fortune of being on the same continent the item is being shipped. Your use of pounds is a big clue there. Shipping it across the pond is routinely doubling the price of the album plus taxes on top of that
  - maccard 3mo ago
    Ah - shipping pretty much anything transatlantic is expensive, doubly so if you want it to actually survive. It’s never going to be worth shopping a $40 item from the US to the UK unless it’s tiny.
    - dylan604 3mo ago
      > It’s never going to be worth shopping a $40 item from the US to the UK unless it’s tiny. That's bold. Who are you to say what is worth something to someone you don't know. I've already stated that I have done this, but it is a limiting factor on how often I do.
      - maccard 3mo ago
        Sorry - only a sith deals in absolutes. I didn’t mean “literally never under any circumstances” I meant “on the balance of probabilities it’s unlikely that the financial cost of shipping something small is worth it, unless the item has some value that is not financial” But that was wordy

localbolu 3mo ago

I've been turning back to radio. So many talented DJs playing great music around the world.

squigz 3mo ago
KEXP is great for this - various types of live shows and sets with great DJs. Most of the new music I've discovered over the past 10 years has been from them. https://www.kexp.org/ https://www.kexp.org/
frollogaston 3mo ago
I only listen to FM radio in the car. This has forced me to kinda enjoy Mexican music, cause it's either that or 1980s millennials' nostalgia channels.
beenBoutIT 3mo ago
All we really need is a solid system for adding all of the 100k+ internet radio stations to a synthetic radio spectrum that can be easily navigated with a rotary dial just like local radio.

pibaker 3mo ago

None of the things you listed are free of middlemen. Record companies were the OG villains of the music industry. Livenation has a monopoly over event venues. Sometimes you can't just outrun the bad guys. You have to fight them head on.