Soulseek Mother**kers - Discussion >

Cuki talk's about Soulseek (share or banned) for 5 pages in the music discussion space of Beyondjazz site. My friend over the sea have something to say about. Sharing files is a disgrace? well...

- Nilov
- NYC

First of all Cuki & Routes have apparently too much free time, and should compile a collection of the writing either together or separately which can one day supplant (if just by mere length) the holy bible.

So let me add my short chapter.

Now, I’ve been reading this thread thinking should I or shouldn’t I post something (probably shouldn’t, but what the heck): I think we touched this issue a million times already, but I guess the cow is not dead yet, and I need to make sure I aim accurately this time: VINYL IS DEAD.

(And it has nothing to do with sound quality…).

Can someone explain to me, please, how pushing 500 units of anything worth all this trouble? I am far from being Big Business, but even a small wholesaler of travel products I can’t imagine even bothering with any product that I have only 500 or even 2000 units to sell. Sorry mates, doesn’t worth the effort in any type of business.

But yet vinyl preserves on, and with it ridiculous costs, various issues of pressings, re-pressings, shipments, customs, lost then found, etc.

And with the costs, as Davie mentions, comes an outrageous price for a 3 tracker with a life-span of 2 months tops, before it is escorted to its final destination and eternal resting place = your vinyl vault… you will pass by it once a day on your way to the toilet, as a kind of an unconscious farewell, or a visit to your great-great-great-great grandfather buried in an unmarked grave on which they built a café where you drink coffee every day. Your precious vinyl of past reduced to a black thin line standing horizontally among a thousand more of the same. Sure it impresses the girlies… I know…

Guys, vinyl costs too much, and creates too many difficulties in distribution, that with its digital counterpart you just have to start thinking on more volume, less costs and relatively less profit margin on each item sold. I am far from being an expert on technology, but from my experience in my field at least let me draw you a picture:

A distributor in Albania (whatever) has loaded his entire product to his online store. He makes contacts with online stores in Germany, Malaysia, Honduras and Ethiopia, they exchange their API or XML protocol (I think that what they call, from the little I understand from my IT manager at the office, he might as well be speaking Chinese), and seamlessly his product is loaded, displayed and becomes available in all of these stores. Was cost saved? Oh yes: AND not only for the distributor, but also for the retailer. In fact if an online record store finds enough partners of this kind they don’t need to load anything by themselves, they don’t even need to contract anybody else directly – they have the product.

And on the side of the distributor: once this link was done once, it can be done a million times and each time for much less. Hell, you can even dictate which script language the retailer must use in order to link with you… you can even sell him the back office operating system and collect capital on that too. We do that in the travel industry, why not in music?

But seriously Soulseek is not the problem, on a previous post I admitted using Soulseek occasionally, and yes I still do. I still purchase a shit load of music (I did the math and it is over 15% of my annual income), so quite frankly I don’t feel bad about ‘stealing’ “Black Land of the Nile” by Masqua Myers because Routes said it’s a gorgeous track, especially given that those fuckers didn’t think about me when they released it only on vinyl.

So what now Nilov? You want to hear this song, you want to buy it, but they are not selling it to you? What then? As Davie mentions, with Trancetracks digital and the likes there is at least a start in the right direction, and I am putting money where my mouth is… but where is the product???? Obviously they are trying, and probably they have difficulties in the beginning, but I couldn’t find one digital records store with more than 4 tracks I want to buy. They have nothing that I am looking for, their inventory is small and insignificant, and in most cases my feeling is that the suppliers/labels are dumping on them 90% shit that doesn’t sell traditionally, 10% things that sell so at least it will maintain the appearance of ‘we are trying”.



Now, I cannot vouch that every Soulseek user is like me, but you are kidding yourselves if you think that the music that beyondjazz is representing is available on Soulseek. Broken beat/nu jazz is simply hardly there… sure search ‘Just a Little Lovin’ and you will find some, and click on Red Astaire and you will find plenty. But seriously can you honestly say anything to me about dling as much GAMM as I can on Soulseek???? I dare you!

And who in his right mind start promoting a product 6 months before it becomes available to order???? What sense does that make to you, good people of beyondjazz??? You want to kiss up to Gilles and send him an advance copy, what the... commo’n that’s not serious. Either you keep in your pants, or at least keep it your pants long enough just before you release the record. Radio shows should promote sells not theft right? What exactly is an advance copy on WW promoting?

A month in advance, that’s a reasonable amount of time to wait, me thinks. Send the copy to promote the album not promote your industry credibility, would be prudent. Then I will take you seriously. I just trying to think how would it look like if I start promoting to my clientele about a new contract I am negotiating and would not be available for months, how ridiculous would I look, if it didn’t fall through in the end?

Let me end with an analogy that actually this scene does not deserve, it would be appropriate to the major labels of the world, and THERE and only THERE is the real issue of file sharing, not this scene, it has nothing to do with this scene:

Probably you all read Chomsky (I personally prefer other leftist thinkers), but he written at least one thing that I like, I believe the book was called ‘the emperor and the pirate’. Chomsky tells of a famous pirate in the days of the Roman empire who was terrorizing the seas, looting Roman merchant ships, etc. Finally he is seized by the Roman fleet, and brought to the Emperor he is asked: “how dare you terrorize my sea and my empire?” To that the pirate answers: “How dare you terrorize the entire world?”.

Now the moral of this story has a lot to do with those huge corporations and network of thieves in a suite who run the entertainment industry: There is no way in the world someone can make so much money without excessively overpricing their product, which means that yes King Kong has nothing on me, and before I go to sleep each night I pray that the fuckers that sold the world the Britneys and the Jessica Simpsons of the like file bankrupt, and if filesharing is the trigger, than I will fire the first bullet.


& only if u were travelling outa space in the past 3 years - HERE - u can d l slsk mother**kers.