Jump to content

The psytrance scene and why the digital format is so expensive


Void Mantra

Recommended Posts

Just to drop a mention. I bought this EP a few days ago. https://sebtaylor.bandcamp.com/album/the-aquarius-ep
- It is only sold as files (digital), and 2 GBP is a REAL nice price for such an EP. Also, notice the very last track on the EP. Yes, its a DJ-mix of the EP it self! Love it. Love Seb. What a kind and sensible person. And what great music as well! 

 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just to drop a mention. I bought this EP a few days ago. https://sebtaylor.bandcamp.com/album/the-aquarius-ep

- It is only sold as files (digital), and 2 GBP is a REAL nice price for such an EP. Also, notice the very last track on the EP. Yes, its a DJ-mix of the EP it self! Love it. Love Seb. What a kind and sensible person. And what great music as well!

This ep is selling like hotcakes on bandcamp (currently in the top 3 on electronic charts). Sounds damn good anyway. Might buy...

 

Thanks for the s/o!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Out of curiosity, do you have an explanation for this?

 

Yeah, sad to hear that especially since I see Suntrip's releases in Psyshop's Top10. So either it's a general thing - which wouldn't surprise me, with most recent trend of putting full releases for free on Soundcloud, YouTube, etc. popularity of streaming services like Spotify - or maybe old school goa lost it's charm and 'novelty' it still had few years back. At the same time there seems to be more old-school goa labels & releases on the market, so the same money are getting distributed more evenly between them? One thing is sure - it's not the change in quality of releases that caused it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah, sad to hear that especially since I see Suntrip's releases in Psyshop's Top10. So either it's a general thing - which wouldn't surprise me, with most recent trend of putting full releases for free on Soundcloud, YouTube, etc. popularity of streaming services like Spotify - or maybe old school goa lost it's charm and 'novelty' it still had few years back. At the same time there seems to be more old-school goa labels & releases on the market, so the same money are getting distributed more evenly between them? One thing is sure - it's not the change in quality of releases that caused it.

Sadly, I think it's a general thing... Labels are stuggling, bandcamp is a breath of fresh air but for most of them, it's not enough. I know a few label owner who can make a living solely out of their bandcamp sales. They all have an excellent marketing strategy, a very strong fanbase but it's definitely a very small minority. People want their music everywhere, they want it now and they want it for free. For them, it doesn't really matter if labels and artists get screwed. That's the world we live in, that's our reality. If labels want to survive in a world like this, they must adapt, step up their game and hope God's on their side. Until people are more considerate of where their money goes, I'm afraid there's no way out of this mess. To me, that's the major part of the problem. The other is when labels overprice their releases. By doing so, they dissuade many potential buyers and their visibily take a hit.
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Out of curiosity, do you have an explanation for this?

Yes, cds sell less and less, and digital sales don't make that "loss" good... Simple as that. So, the cd buyers don't spend their same amount in digital sales after the change... 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oops, I replied before reading the rest. It is a general thing for sure. And the only result on the long term is, in the end goa-trance artists, and even psy trance in general won't get money anymore for their music. This becomes 100% promotional. Artists needs to get money from gigs. If you can't, or you dont like performing, you are basically screwed. 
And without labels? People will only focus on the "known" names from before, and all the newcomers will be flooded with so much other music changes are very big a lot of talent will get lost/unnoticed. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

the only result on the long term is, in the end goa-trance artists, and even psy trance in general won't get money anymore for their music. This becomes 100% promotional. Artists needs to get money from gigs. If you can't, or you dont like performing, you are basically screwed.

This might be even more true for the psytrance artists specifically. In my opinion, this scene is hugely associated with crowds and festifals. I wouldn't be surprised if less than 20% of the people who go to festivals actually buy albums on a regular basis. For those persons, music is only part of the experience and largely loose its appeal when considered in and of itself. This isn't the case for other genre such as underground metal for exemple.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

People find difficult to pay for digital downloads, because you're paying for a non-tangible. And when it's technically possible to have the same "product" for free. Perhaps one person buy a digital album, but what about his/her friends? Why not just copying the album for free? This is not possible with a physical album.

 

With this in mind, it's logical to sell at the same price digital and physical. I don't really want CDs; CDs are fragile and inefficient; but I bought them for obtaining the free FLAC/WAV downloads or at least rip it from the CD. So in the vast majority of cases I NEVER play those CDs. At the same time, the CDs look cool in the bookcase and, although I make security copies, if I lost my digital collection the CDs act as a backup. But that's only because the price of digital downloads and CDs is usually the same.

 

That's a shame because we are supporting an obsolete physical format only for supporting a musical scene. At the end the problem is the culture of paying for art. What if there was a really strong culture of supporting with donations the artists? It's true that it doesn't exist, we are used to show respect only for the things we pay for, but I think that some brave people has to do the right steps to this scenario.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

It's easier to lower prices when you have more volume. For less sales in a situation where lowering the price would not necessarily translate into more total income you have to hold a higher price if you want to earn money even to cover costs in a case where you need to pay for mastering, cover artist, etc.

 

A CD costs around 0.5.1€ to make at the cheapest, the price difference between a physical and digital release should be according to that, right?

 

I don't get people complaining about the price of the music. If you want it, pay for it. If you don't like it enough to pay for it, you are not missing anything, right?

 

It's just a fact, that there used to be money in releasing even underground music, before people got used to free music around. For an artist who is not purely a hobbyist, the current situation is not happy.

 

I'm not complaining, I'm doing my music just for fun, and can't see how it could reach more people that it already has, but from a wider point of view, I think it's a problem that people are not used to paying for creative work anymore :/

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...