4 Years Ago (2017)
Napster got real traction because of all the unreleased material on the site like live bootlegs, alternate takes and demo’s.
And we’ve lost access to these kinds of takes forever as we embraced streaming. Then again YouTube does have a lot of this stuff.
And some artists are releasing this content in their Anniversary editions. Whitesnake is a great example and so is Metallica with their recent Black album anniversary edition.
These personal tracks are my favorites to hear.
Dentistry is a cabal, holding us to ransom in a system which is corrupted and broken. It’s my rant at paying out of pocket costs to a dentist for extracting teeth from my son.
8 Years Ago (2013)
In 1983, Night Ranger went from an opening act to a headlining act with the release of their second album “Midnight Madness”.
It was seen as the band’s pinnacle moment by an overnight sensation.
But when “Midnight Madness” came out, Jack Blades was 29, Brad Gillis was 26, Jeff Watson was 27, Kelly Keagy was 31 and Alan Fitzgerald was 34.
All of the members had paid their dues in other bands since the start of the Seventies. They were seasoned. Music was all they had. There was no fall back position. There was no safety net or a plan B. It was all or nothing.
In a way, you could call Night Ranger a supergroup
People think that piracy ruined the recorded business. Most people didn’t want the album/CD. People wanted that unique track.
Instead of getting 35 to 45 minutes of music every year, we started to get 50 to 70 minutes of music every two to three years with only about 10 minutes of it being worthy.
The recording business saw the large profit margins and kept on marching along with the overpriced CD’s model, using MTV to push and promote the artists.
When people got the option to download, to cherry pick what they wanted to hear, a whole new market place was born.
The bottom line is this – if the artist creates that undeniable song, they will have no problems selling it. The song will sell itself.
I parted with $27 back in 1993 for the song “Believe” on a Lenny Kravitz CD.
Looking at all the certifications circa 2013, the singles dominate.
Even Metallica have Platinum certifications from songs that were released on their first five albums.
The following songs were given a GOLD certification by the RIAA (U.S) on December 13, 2012.
- For Whom The Bell Tolls
- Fade To Black
- The Unforgiven
- Master Of Puppets
- Nothing Else Matters
- One
- Enter Sandman
- The Day That Never Comes
- Until It Sleeps
40 WORD REVIEWS
Here is one Burning Rain featuring Doug Aldrich.
Here is one on Cage 9 which is like the love child of GNR, Shinedown, Def Leppard, Breaking Benjamin and Muse on hard rock steroids.
Lost in all the noise that is the music business, is a German neo progressive rock band called RPWL. They started of their career as a Pink Floyd cover band in the mid 90s and are still going today.
And that’s another wrap for another week.
destroyerofharmony 
Nightranger did pay they’re dues. Man, them boys were old back in 84 lol. Metallica juggernaut keeps on rolling.
Not many people are buying albums anymore, which is sad. Now, it’s mainly downloading and streaming music.
Vinyl sales are up significantly and have passed CDs which are also up a little. And cassettes are coming back so people are still buying physical just not in the numbers back in the day. The album format will always be superior to a non-physical electronic piece of nothing you can’t even hold in your hand. Covid has helped draw people back to physical product which is awesome.
Well said
Hmmm, interesting! I’ve heard vinyl and cassettes are becoming popular again. That’s good to know that covid got people into buying physical albums again. I actually have a draft of a post about why artists aren’t making studio albums as often anymore (my opinion) and I talked about concerts and people not buying albums as much due to streaming services. I’m just waiting for the right time to post it.
Vinyl is becoming popular but it’s minor compared to the dollars that streaming brings in.
There’s never a perfect time for a post. Post it, it’ll be a good read.
Yeah, I feel like with the younger generation it’s all about streaming, but that’s just my opinion. I was just at Target in Kapolei, Hawaii and the entertainment section grew smaller (very few CDs, DVDs, and vinyl).
Thanks for the encouragement destroyerofharmony! I’ll post it on Friday (since I try to post Mondays and Fridays).
It’s about access.
Everyone wakes up thinking “I want to hear that song”. And kids these days can do it easily as everything is at their fingertips.
Access and availability? That makes sense. I see how streaming makes things more accessible.
Post it any time as any time is the right time for a post!!
Thanks for the encouragement John!
I’m a big streamer and I still purchase. But not as much as I used to.
I guess it’s based on preference.