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Void Mantra

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Posts posted by Void Mantra

  1. Truth be told, I discovered the "psytrance" scene very recently (about a year ago). That was when I first listened to Converting Vegetarians by Infected Mushroom* (sorry for the mistake in the title), which was warmly recommended by a colleague. At that time being an underground metal type of guy, I didn't think much of it. It finally clicked on further listening, headphones on and boy did it kicked hard. Still to this day I enjoy this album very much. I know this band doesn't have the best of reputation here, but why??

  2. I think Void Mantra would love to buy all albums in digital format only, but it's impossible to buy most of the released done from 1990-2000 as the digital version did not exist back then.

    I suppose what was advised about, i.e. to contact either Jaia or Daikini about it, could be a solution. I am pretty sure they might help with the files in exchange of a fee and you'll feel you have paid for the music properly :)

    Sounds like a plan, I might just do that. Thanks for the input :)

     

    Thanks everyone who tried to help out, much appreciated.

  3. You gave some really good points here and we understand that some people who prefer digital only option might feel ignored and neglected, but let's throw some facts before we make any conclusions. Usually for high quality audio format for 150 minutes of music you would pay 15-20 $ (that's the lower price range, usually some albums with running time of 75 minutes goes for more than 10 € depending on label/platform), in our case for double CD with approximatley 150 minutes of music you get the CD, shipping and probably some sticker for around 20$ (that was the case with debut Lunar Dawn album, which was also a double CD), so probably we will do something similar with this one too. Also, Bandcamp offers an optional digital download to all buyers and people who pre-order CD (I'm sure some people here are familiar with that option), so even you don't have to rip music from the CD (plus we always take care to stream music on our YouTube channel).

     

    In most cases when we had some sort of new content and we gave it for nyp option, some individuals would re-upload it and share it on other platforms without any permission from label or artist and that way they hurted us directly, damaging our work and effort. It's one of the reasons why we're taking down all non CC music from YouTube that doesn't include the permission from the label or artist. We could easily give new material for digital download with some reasonable price (heck, that would be an extra income for us), but basiclly the next day it would be available on different forums, on YouTube and so on. We talked with Kris and we decided this is the best idea for us at the moment and we really want to make everyone happy, especially long-time supporters (no matter do they buy CD or they donate for free music).

     

    Please, send me your Bandcamp supporter email address on PM and I'll give my best to get you the digital copy of the album after the release, because no one should be devasted.

    Thanks for taking the time to answer. I appreciate and totally see where you're coming at; in this day and age, labels are abused...hard. 20$ for a double cd incl. shipping is absolutely reasonable, no question. Unfortunately for us canadians, shipping charges are usually ludicrous (not the labels fault). On top of that, put the fact that our currency has been on free fall for several years, a 20$ usd album can rapidly transforms to 30-35$ for us canadians. Again, not the labels fault but a reality nonetheless. That's one of the reason why I more often than not choose digital over physical. In this case, it's even more "devastating" ;) giving the fact that I already own half of the release. But anyway, you can't please everyone and I totally understand your point of view. We just can't always have a win-win situation. I just hope that people who actually pay for their music will have the decency to refrain from illegal uploads.

     

    As for my bandcamp account, I'm the guy who wrote the mini review for Goad on your bandcamp space. Thanks for trying to make an arrangement, really. Of course, you can count on my future support. Cheers.

    • Like 1
  4. I don't see reason for anyone to be devastated, I mean we already gave almost 80 minutes of new UX for free download on our Bandcamp for all people who wanted to have it in digital format. Now it's time to give something to all collectors, and by that we want to make sure they get the exclusive content in top quality. If you purchase the CD you can rip it and convert to your favorite format.

     

    Also, we will make sure that everyone can preview the album on our official YouTube channel on the release day. I spoke to many people and a lot of them were interested in getting the CD but without being spoiled online, so we will make sure to post music on YouTube around the time of first shipments.

    Devastated because I mostly buy my music in digital format. Lazarus Rising was a nyp release I paid for and honestly, everybody should but that's a whole different topic. What's strange to me is why an artist/label would want to produce music exclusively for collectors? I think it's a false assumption to think that collecting a physical media makes you a bigger fan than the other guy who's perfectly content with the music itself. Collectors can pround themselves in having some limited edition hard copies, but really I don't see the point of completely ignoring the digital option. Anyway, your label, your choices; I'm just a joe giving his 2 cents.
    • Like 1
  5. Few points:

     

    - I've been collecting cds/vinyls since 2000 (mostly from the underground metal scene) for about 1200+ owned physical releases.

    - I recently transitioned from physical to digital. The switch wasn't smooth, at all. I've been defending the physical media for over a decade and had a lot of heated discussion with pro-digital consumers. Truth be told, my records were collecting dust more than anything else. The more cds I had, the less "special" they were. Digital media has so many asets over the physical, which can't be overlooked. Don't get me wrong, I still value the physical incarnation when it comes to a work of art; a tangible object to cherish instead of some bits on a hard drive. Still, I'm much more selective in regard to which album I'll purchase physically. Point is, I don't think the digital format is losing its momentum, quite on the contrary; which bring me to the next point:

    - Why the digital sales account for only 20%? Let's suppose the trance community is too old school for the digital age and the vast majority of them won't transition anytime soon; even if they do transition, you will have a decrease in cd sales which won't affect the total sales for an album. In this scenario, there's not much that can be done I think. On the other hand, we can suppose that the digital sales is doing poorly due to the pricing and I think that might be case here, for the most part. Let's be honest, when its comes to digital, the bandcamp pricing is high, very high and that seems to be the norm for Goa labels. And please note, I think it's not a question of whether or not the music is worth the asking price; it does. Your label has put tremendous records, some of them are worth thousands ;) The thing is, I don't know many people who are willing to spend 11 euros on an mp3 album. There's also the fact that it cost as much to buy the actual physical release, which is strange. I guess the idea is to push the cd sales but in my opinion, it just dissuades those who wants to buy digital only. On average, a well established label will let go their digital album on bandcamp for about 7 euros. I've seen several underground label (but nonetheless highly respected and professional) pricing their digial albums somewhere between 5usd to 7usd (about 5euros) and be very, very successful sales-wise. As far as I'm concerned, put this price on bandcamp and I'm buying every of your upcoming releases on day 1, no questions asked.

    - Entire albums free on youtube. We all hate it, but it's actually a good move as it gives you free exposure. People who don't want to support their music will find a way to download it for free anyway.

    - Someone suggested to bring back the tapes. I think it might actually work. I've seen several labels bringing those bad boys back and they sell like hotcakes. For well-known labels, it's not rare to see their tapes completely sold out within a month.

    - Die-hard, ultra limited collector edition usually works very well. Maybe that's a thing that can be done?

     

    Anyway, that's just my two cents. Thanks a lot for sharing this article!

    • Like 2
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