Death of the 8-track tape
p2pnet news view | P2P | Music:- “There are numerous reasons for the format’s decline. While the cassette offered features that the eight-track lacked, such as smaller size and rewinding capability, its tape speed was half that of Stereo 8, producing theoretically lower sound quality; however, constant development of the cassette turned it into a widespread high-fidelity medium. Another factor was the cost of blank tapes and recorders, where cassette systems tended to be cheaper. There was also a sustained effort by record companies to reduce the number of different formats offered in the late 1970s, and when sales of eight-tracks slipped, they were quick to abandon the format.” – wiki
I was around for the 8-track, and noticed that the price of a cassette was the same as the 8-track in most cases. Yet the cost for the music industry diminished significantly. The music industry forced socialistic change and demand with full intention of leveraging newer, cheaper technology to improve their ‘cut’.
Demise of the compact cassette
‘In many Western countries, the market for cassettes has declined sharply since its peak in the late 1980s. This has been particularly noticeable with pre-recorded cassettes, whose sales were overtaken by those of Compact Discs during the early 1990s. By 1993, annual shipments of CD players had reached 5 million, up 21% from the year before, while cassette player shipments had dropped 7% to approximately 3.4 million. The decline continued such that in 2001 cassettes accounted for only 4% of all music sold. Since then, the pre- recorded market has undergone further decline, with few retailers stocking them because they are no longer issued by the major music labels. Sales of pre-recorded music cassettes in the U.S. dropped from 442 million in 1990 to 274,000 by 2007. Most of the major U.S. Music/ Record Companies had discontinued them by late 2003.’ – wiki
I was around for this, too, and again, a CD was significantly cheaper to produce than the cassette. Yet the price remained constant in another step taken by the monopolistic music industry to force consumers towards the format and buying trends they dictated.
Buy what we have to offer at the price we want, or go without.
Demise of vinyl and gramaphone
” … by 1988, the compact disc had surpassed the gramophone record in popularity. Then, vinyl records experienced a sudden decline in popularity between 1988 and 1991, when the major label distributors restricted their return policies, which retailers had been relying on to maintain and swap out stocks of relatively unpopular titles. First the distributors began charging retailers more for new product if they returned unsold vinyl, and then they stopped providing any credit at all for returns. Retailers, fearing they would be stuck with anything they ordered, only ordered proven, popular titles that they knew would sell, and devoted more shelf space to CDs and cassettes. Record companies also deleted many vinyl titles from production & distribution, further undermining the availability of the format and leading to the closure of pressing plants. This rapid decline in the availability of records accelerated the format’s decline in popularity, and is seen by some as a deliberate ploy to make consumers switch to CDs, which were more profitable for the record companies.” – wiki
Enter Napster …
In 1999, Napster was born. This was the beginning of the end of the music industry’s control over distribution.
“Although there were already networks that facilitated the distribution of files across the Internet, such as IRC, Hotline, and USENET, Napster specialized exclusively in music in the form of MP3 files and presented a friendly user interface. The result was a system whose popularity generated an enormous selection of music to download.
“Although the recording industry denounced music “sharing” as equivalent to theft, many Napster users felt justified in using the service for a number of reasons. Many believed that the quality of new albums had decreased by the late 1990s, with the typical bestselling album containing only one or two good songs bundled with many low- quality “filler” songs. At the same time, the cost of the CD format had decreased immensely, but the price of CD albums had stayed constant. People praised Napster because it enabled them to freely obtain hit songs without having to buy an entire album. Napster also made it relatively easy for music enthusiasts to download copies of songs that were otherwise difficult to obtain, like older songs, unreleased recordings, and songs from concert bootleg recordings. Some users felt justified in downloading digital copies of recordings they had already purchased in other formats, like LP and cassette tape, before the compact disc emerged as the dominant format for music recordings.” – wiki
In November 2000, the CD hit the market in force with the release of the Beatles ‘!’, which sold 30 million worldwide. (Odd there was no international licensing issues then.)
During this time, I noticed a significant drop in ‘talent’. The primary focus, once the CD came out, was to reprint the back catalogue onto the new format.
All those 8-tracks, vinyl and cassettes were designed to wear out — planned obsolescence — so the consumer would have to replace their ‘right to listen (not actually own)’ their music all over again.
The music industry used this period in history to organize their monopoly, and profits soared. Contracts offered to artists were outright extortion—- sign, don’t sign, they didnt care. ‘What do we need more talent for, we have the back catalog.’
Once the stupidity of this sank in, they began to dole out the crap. Then, IMO, artists, at least the good ones, started getting wise to the machinations of the music industry and all that was left to sign were the Milli Vanilli’s and Back Door Boys of the world. ( Listen to Britney Spears’ REAL singing voice here). Clitney has about as much talent as a trained walrus.
Basically, their entire ‘fuck you’ attitude was about to bite their business forever. The ideology of what/where/when/how/price control was vapor, and slipping thru their fingers by the hour.
Then came phase-shifting. The ability to transpose one format to another for use on multiple devices. Technology had advanced far enough to allow computers to digitize the information from an audio CD. Initially, this didn’t upset the music industry, nor was it of much concern. They didn’t have the foresight to understand.
“Recording industry representatives have claimed (in the context of Atlantic v. Howell) that ripping itself may be regarded as theft. However, even within the industry, this is the minority view. In oral arguments before the Supreme Court in MGM Studios, Inc. v. Grokster, Ltd., Don Verrilli, representing MGM stated: “And let me clarify something I think is unclear from the amicus briefs. The record companies, my clients, have said, for some time now, and it’s been on their Website for some time now, that it’s perfectly lawful to take a CD that you’ve purchased, upload it onto your computer, put it onto your iPod. There is a very, very significant lawful commercial use for that device, going forward.”‘ – wiki
Now the digital age is here, and the music industry is NOT, have no reservations, hesitations, or moral compunctions to avoid file sharing with your friends.
Have no sympathy for these oligarcic dinosaurs whothink they own everything.
Lose not one night of sleep over sharing your Grateful Dead collection with someone: the MAFIAA collected their blood from this band ages ago and a couple million extra copies have already been paid for, several times over.
Take the time to burn a couple of CDs of music you like and give them to a friend, co-worker, mailman or the kid that cuts your lawn. Allow them to experience the music as it should be, without the encumberance of an ancient distribution system.
Install PeerGuardian and surf all the bittorrent music you can fit on your hard-drive, and enjoy.
The music industry has been screwing the customer for 20 years. Now it’s payback time.
Vote with your wallet. Don’t purchase MAFIAA crap. Download just the good stuff for free, and give your buddy a copy while you’re at it.
Enjoy the choices this decade has to offer to find the quality entertainment in music and movies that are out there.
Barely 30% of quality entertainment comes from the MAFIAA any more.
So let’s help them die.
surfer – p2pnet
stw
June, 2009
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June 8th, 2009 at 1:36 pm
“Then came phase-shifting. The ability to transpose one format to another for use on multiple devices.”
I think that should have said “format shifting”.
Phase shifting is a sound manipulation technique that has nothing to do with this discussion.
: )
Otherwise, nice overview, Surfer!
June 8th, 2009 at 1:47 pm
“Install PeerGuardian and surf all the bittorrent music you can fit on your hard-drive, and enjoy.”
You previously said that anyone still using BitTorrent was a clueless loser, or words to that effect…
June 8th, 2009 at 2:41 pm
yes, there are safer methods of acquiring ‘content’, and I dont personally condone or use it, however, during technical testing to search for MediaDefender, I am satisfied with its’ level of security using PeerGuardian. nor do I endorse PeerGuardian, it was just the tool I used for the experiment.
i still maintain my opinion of uneducated use of bittorrent is very dangerous, and unsafe.
June 8th, 2009 at 6:05 pm
The 8 track not only had better sound fidelity, it had better stereo separation because the wider tape allowed the tracks to be separated by a larger space between them. It was the same width as the reel to reel. What the 8 track did not have was better frequency response, rewind, nor space saving package that the cassette did. Both were poor containers for music because the sun would ruin the tape, the heads would become magnetized and degrade the upper frequencies, or even that the tape laid upon itself layer upon layer and that contributed to high frequency loss too, because of the residual magnetism in the recording on the tape would tend to reduce the high frequencies bit by bit over time. Nor was the tape format particularly durable. Given enough time, the tape would become tacky as it aged, meaning that it would sooner or later wrap on the spindle that moved the tape and cause it to eat the tape.
My days of music go back to remembering the 45 vinyl records, back when the major labels didn’t sell albums so much, the main market was the single A and B side. This is where the sales market is once again. Because as mentioned, no one wants the filler and the filler represents unwanted music that is not worth the price, making the cost of an album the price for the one or two good songs. While the album was where the profit was, the majors screwed people so badly over the buying of the album, people began to see the cost of the album as a rip off.
They have no one to blame but themselves because of the direction that music sales has taken. With subpar bands “made” and the back catalog being pushed on the radio all the time. Funny, songs 30 years old are more expensive today than they were when they came out! Since they are no longer the hot Top 40 hits, that is certainly a rip off. No wonder no one wants to pay for their stuff any more. If you think about it, this is most likely the start of where file sharing got it’s popular approval, not the lack of wanting to see the artist get paid but the constant screwing the majors did to the customers. They are receiving their just deserts now and it doesn’t seem to sit so well with them as it did when it was the customer getting screwed. Amazing isn’t it.
The music industry has been screwing both the customer and artist for far longer than 20 years. Before the introduction of Rock and Roll, Blues, and Country, it was the Big Band era. The Big Bands became sort of dead musically for the younger generation that desired something with a little more snap to it.
Back in the 1920’s blues were being sang by the blacks and it was relativity unknown to the radio listening public. When it was felt that The Blues would be the next big thing for racially directed and aimed music, they set out to secure works of the blues. Only the blues artists were harder to find than what the artists of the time were playing for public consumption. What resulted was the roaming agent, recording blues works where ever they could find the artists. Often that was in the Mississippi Delta area. The artists were told that the agent would like to record their music for showing back in Hollywood. If they signed the agreement, they were then paid somewhere around $10 for the song and turned over all rights to it.
Now today, major labels have a real problem with mix tapes and mashes. Hip Hop suffers distinctly from this as they tend to take snippets of music and mix it into their work, making a new work. During that time, major labels had no troubles with it. Popular artists of the time were welcomed and encouraged to listen to the recordings, steal the licks from the music, and incorporate it into their own songs which would be later recorded as yet more major label works. Elvis Presley was one of those artists that blended blues and rhythm into yet an entirely different set of works but have strong works in the blues.
But stealing from the artists was an established practice in the 20’s before the Great Depression.
June 8th, 2009 at 11:51 pm
Cadillac Records
June 10th, 2009 at 11:58 am
“yes, there are safer methods of acquiring ‘content’, and I dont personally condone or use it, however, during technical testing to search for MediaDefender, I am satisfied with its’ level of security using PeerGuardian. nor do I endorse PeerGuardian, it was just the tool I used for the experiment.
i still maintain my opinion of uneducated use of bittorrent is very dangerous, and unsafe.”
At the moment, Usenet newsgroups and sites like Rapidshare are the safest method of downloading music or recent movies. Public file sharing networks like BitTorrent seem relatively safe for older movies and TV shows.