I appreciate all the comments made over the past few days about making your
own compilations. Without wanting to incite inbox overload, I thought I
should summarize my thoughts about the issues raised.
In short, yes - I think the power will shift more towards the artists as
people are introduced to a broader array of titles, and no - I don't think
full-length albums are going the way of the dinosaur.
There are a lot of people who don't want to put up with the hassle of going
to a store, picking CDs based on cover art or store promotions or whatever
else, buying them, taking them home, then going all the way back to the
store to return what they don't like. The result is that they're less
likely to try new artists and usually follow the "safe bets" (i.e., the
relatively small portion of artists whom record labels can afford to
promote).
We're trying to make it much easier to try new music as well as to buy it.
Then, if you like the singles on our site, you can go to a record store (or
online retailer) and purchase the full-length album (if one exists) with a
better idea of what
it's going to sound like. In fact, many of our partner labels chose to work
with us in order to expand their customer base. The idea is, if a new
customer is interested enough to buy one or more of a certain label/artist's
songs on a custom CD, that customer will be interested in buying more music
from that label/artist (i.e. their full-length releases).
Eventually, we'd like to let people buy the singles by direct download and
burn their own CDs. While technically possible (Liquid Audio is just one of
the possible
technologies), it's not cheap to implement - and we don't know how many
people would actually use it. Any opinions?
I don't see our new distribution means as a threat to vinyl. DJs and other
vinyl lovers will continue to buy vinyl. They won't switch to CD format just
because we offer a custom product.
Regarding laziness, I think some people will see making a custom CD as a
burden.
However, most people interested enough to search for new music should
recognize that the effort involved in making a custom CD, given the end
product, is less than that required through traditional means (sampling in
record stores, where available).
Just so you know, we are paying mechanicals - either to Harry Fox or directly
to the relevant publishing company.
If anyone wants to pose further questions to me privately, please feel free to
do so. Also, if there are specific labels/artists you'd like to see on the
site, let me know. Things are really moving along. Expect to see some more
excellent artists and top indie labels on the site in a few weeks. Thanks
again.
-Tom Ryan
CDUCTIVE
285 West Broadway
Suite 230
New York, NY 10013
phatnfresh@aol.com or tom@cductive.com