CD vs iTunes: where you buy your music? Options

[Kohlrabi]

In that order

1. Direct download from artist
2. Bandcamp
3. CD

I avoid big stores like Amazon or iTunes for the vanishing payouts artists get from sales there.

[skamp]

I avoid big stores like Amazon or iTunes for the vanishing payouts artists get from sales there.

Actually artists may make more money out of iTunes album sales than from retail CD sales.

[Kohlrabi]

Actually artists may make more money out of iTunes album sales than from retail CD sales.

It seems to strongly depend on the actual royalty deal, and whether you buy directly from iTunes or a reseller. The table is also kind of confusing since they put single track sales in there too. At least it is quite clear that Spotify and the like are really bad for artist revenues. Though this fact isn't that one dimensional, since Spotify can raise awareness and popularity, which in turn can lead to higher revenue in CD/digital sales. You also cannot really compare big label to small label to no label artists?

This post has been edited by Kohlrabi: Jun 19 2012, 12:17

[onkl]

1. Spotify, Youtube, illegal downloads
2. Digital releases from artists, Bandcamp and other means that get more money directly to the creators
3. Amazon
4. CD for everything else

I only keep physical media of my personal favourites and get rid of everything else. No need to fill my shelfs with plastic.
At the end of the day small artists should get the money they need, while big sellers do fine either way.

Haven't used a CD player in quite a while.

This post has been edited by onkl: Jun 19 2012, 13:33

[frozenspeed]

CDs all the way.

Wife & I also have a pretty impressive vinyl collection but mainly of stuff we can't find on cd and even more likely to satisfy some sense of aesthetic.

[Canar]

There are plenty of retailers offering FLAC downloads. I often frequent these. I also like Bandcamp. My ideal state is downloading an artist's music then shooting him money directly via eg. PayPal.

I refuse to pay for lossy media. I'm not a big fan of physical media. FLAC downloads -> happy Canar.

This post has been edited by Canar: Jun 19 2012, 22:15

[Satellite_6]

I searched around for FLAC downloads from artists I like and I was surprised to find some, but I like owning the CD.

[Brand]

http://www.cultofmac.com/38097/infographic...than-at-retail/

for the vast majority of artists, iTunes gives them ... orders of magnitude more cash than any other digital music service out there.

That's not true. There are several cheaper than iTunes (for the artist) online stores out there (such as Bandcamp, for example).
iTunes might be cheaper than selling retail CDs, but when it comes to selling download tracks online, it's not that cheap at all.

This post has been edited by Brand: Jun 20 2012, 09:57

[kornchild2002]

Are there numbers breaking down how much a band/artist/label has to spend to get their latest single on the iTunes Store vs. other services such as Amazon mp3 or Bandcamp? It would be interesting to actually see the numbers instead of getting into a "yes hu" and "nu uh" kind of argument.

[Porcus]

- new CDs
- download-from-artist (e.g. Bandcamp).

Actually, I also try to buy my CDs primarily from the artist. If I plan to attend a concert in support of a new album, I often deliberately avoid buying it in advance, hoping that the $$s I pay for it at the concert will go into the musicians' pockets. (Which may fail, depending on the record contract, but at least there is a fair chance that I pay the bands a couple of beers to share.)

[Brand]

Are there numbers breaking down how much a band/artist/label has to spend to get their latest single on the iTunes Store vs. other services such as Amazon mp3 or Bandcamp?

Bandcamp has their pricing explained in detail and it comes to 15% (or 10%) of the sale price plus the Paypal fee and you can sell directly.
Some others don't explain it so clearly, but if you do a quick search you'll find that iTunes takes 30% of the sale price. In addition to that, you have to go through a label/distributer to be able to sell on iTunes. How much they charge depends, some charge a fixed yearly rate, some do a certain %. It's the same for Amazon. I don't know if either of these has some Paypal or credit card fees for receiving payments, I think those get handled through the distributer.
Google takes 30% plus a one time $25 to sign up and you can sell directly. Payments go through Google Checkout and I don't know if there are additional fees involved there.

[Nessuno]

By the way: recently I started buying at eClassical 16bit FLAC albums by BIS label and verifying a couple of them with XLD AccurateRip verify function, they actually appear to come from accurately ripped CDs, or at least the tracks are taken directly from the same master.

[Porcus]

BIS is a label who frequently employs pre-emphasis ( http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index....st&p=796949 ), so I am curious whether you encounter some way-too-bright recordings that way?

[Nessuno]

BIS is a label who frequently employs pre-emphasis ( http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index....st&p=796949 ), so I am curious whether you encounter some way-too-bright recordings that way?

Fast answer: I wasn't aware of this issue and all I can say is that subjectively I'm very pleased with their overall sound quality.

This label seems even to have a certain audiophile pleasing inclination, for example in reporting the equipments used in recording sessions (you know, Neumann mikes, Studer consoles and all that stuff...) in the CD booklet (which BTW you can download as a pdf together with the tracks, and that's definitely a plus when buying music on-line! )
I have also a Fagius Bach recording by BIS and, by memory, the organ sounds quite "full bodied".

Anyway I'll investigate further...

[Porcus]

I have also a Fagius Bach recording by BIS and, by memory, the organ sounds quite "full bodied".

Care to post the AccurateRip ID and CRC's?

[Nessuno]

I have also a Fagius Bach recording by BIS and, by memory, the organ sounds quite "full bodied".

Care to post the AccurateRip ID and CRC's?

This is the album. Not found by XLD in AR db, anyway here there are the CRCs of each track from ReplayGain album scanning.

CODE

X Lossless Decoder version 20120609 (141.0)

XLD ReplayGain scanning logfile

TOC of the selected file
Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
---------------------------------------------------------
1 | 00:00:00 | 02:49:00 | 0 | 12674
2 | 02:49:00 | 06:21:15 | 12675 | 41264
3 | 09:10:15 | 04:19:00 | 41265 | 60689
4 | 13:29:15 | 03:52:72 | 60690 | 78161
5 | 17:22:12 | 05:12:68 | 78162 | 101629
6 | 22:35:05 | 04:16:07 | 101630 | 120836
7 | 26:51:12 | 03:56:68 | 120837 | 138604
8 | 30:48:05 | 03:27:00 | 138605 | 154129
9 | 34:15:05 | 02:40:10 | 154130 | 166139
10 | 36:55:15 | 01:56:60 | 166140 | 174899
11 | 38:52:00 | 03:28:42 | 174900 | 190541
12 | 42:20:42 | 06:46:63 | 190542 | 221054
13 | 49:07:30 | 04:03:22 | 221055 | 239301
14 | 53:10:52 | 03:31:35 | 239302 | 255161
15 | 56:42:12 | 01:42:63 | 255162 | 262874
16 | 58:25:00 | 02:31:37 | 262875 | 274236
17 | 60:56:37 | 02:17:38 | 274237 | 284549
18 | 63:14:00 | 01:13:37 | 284550 | 290061
19 | 64:27:37 | 02:40:68 | 290062 | 302129
20 | 67:08:30 | 06:42:65 | 302130 | 332344
21 | 73:51:20 | 07:24:55 | 332345 | 365699

All Tracks
Album gain : -1.47 dB
Peak : 0.961609
CRC32 hash : FDBA745F
CRC32 hash (skip zero) : 9B5EBBC9

Track 01
Track gain : -2.95 dB
Peak : 0.921539
CRC32 hash : EABF3645
CRC32 hash (skip zero) : AD1EE588

Track 02
Track gain : -2.81 dB
Peak : 0.907166
CRC32 hash : BD1B728D
CRC32 hash (skip zero) : 3C402E28

Track 03
Track gain : 11.32 dB
Peak : 0.161194
CRC32 hash : 828D49B8
CRC32 hash (skip zero) : 13CE7328

Track 04
Track gain : -3.45 dB
Peak : 0.904999
CRC32 hash : F5414995
CRC32 hash (skip zero) : D6E1FC9F

Track 05
Track gain : 6.97 dB
Peak : 0.330658
CRC32 hash : 4B403E35
CRC32 hash (skip zero) : 5AB937B2

Track 06
Track gain : 15.60 dB
Peak : 0.133240
CRC32 hash : DD9FB411
CRC32 hash (skip zero) : AEEE11FD

Track 07
Track gain : 8.30 dB
Peak : 0.272614
CRC32 hash : F55A42F2
CRC32 hash (skip zero) : C6F3A4E0

Track 08
Track gain : 3.74 dB
Peak : 0.426575
CRC32 hash : 30537CBD
CRC32 hash (skip zero) : 98FC22FF

Track 09
Track gain : 3.57 dB
Peak : 0.360596
CRC32 hash : 3A97B399
CRC32 hash (skip zero) : 8D4C979B

Track 10
Track gain : 4.67 dB
Peak : 0.383301
CRC32 hash : FDF90B62
CRC32 hash (skip zero) : 4A97ED46

Track 11
Track gain : -2.50 dB
Peak : 0.835907
CRC32 hash : C194AF34
CRC32 hash (skip zero) : 9E6F7935

Track 12
Track gain : -0.41 dB
Peak : 0.961609
CRC32 hash : 04C9D9E7
CRC32 hash (skip zero) : 06088AA1

Track 13
Track gain : 13.22 dB
Peak : 0.125305
CRC32 hash : B1EE1DFA
CRC32 hash (skip zero) : 551D7069

Track 14
Track gain : -1.84 dB
Peak : 0.783752
CRC32 hash : DE1CB362
CRC32 hash (skip zero) : 4AAD9B8E

Track 15
Track gain : 5.50 dB
Peak : 0.338501
CRC32 hash : 9B68CEC5
CRC32 hash (skip zero) : 045CC73E

Track 16
Track gain : -3.26 dB
Peak : 0.768616
CRC32 hash : D41D7C55
CRC32 hash (skip zero) : C351FB24

Track 17
Track gain : 8.17 dB
Peak : 0.235260
CRC32 hash : 49BBEF7D
CRC32 hash (skip zero) : 67C7FB22

Track 18
Track gain : 1.58 dB
Peak : 0.508331
CRC32 hash : 41B083E5
CRC32 hash (skip zero) : E60F2083

Track 19
Track gain : 7.19 dB
Peak : 0.280151
CRC32 hash : 5AC949EA
CRC32 hash (skip zero) : E0F306EA

Track 20
Track gain : -1.73 dB
Peak : 0.782013
CRC32 hash : 7DC5CC40
CRC32 hash (skip zero) : 71B7F151

Track 21
Track gain : -0.32 dB
Peak : 0.671753
CRC32 hash : B03EE7E8
CRC32 hash (skip zero) : 18CA202A

End of status report

[Porcus]

This is the album. Not found by XLD in AR db, anyway here there are the CRCs of each track

I have the complete organ works, not that compilation CD. Just checked the two first tracks (the 565) and the durations don't match (2:49.493 (7 474 656 samples) and 6:16.507 (16 603 944 samples)), and neither do the ReplayGain figures (which, by the way, change only .1 dB if I switch pre-emphasis on or off).

So, obviously a different master. Which isn't bad news.

[Nessuno]

So, obviously a different master. Which isn't bad news.

Very likely, especially if you have the Brilliant CD box.
This BIS album I have is a 2005 reissue of late '80 recordings: the BWV 565 is from february '88. Do the dates match, at least?

[Porcus]

So, obviously a different master. Which isn't bad news.

Very likely, especially if you have the Brilliant CD box.
This BIS album I have is a 2005 reissue of late '80 recordings: the BWV 565 is from february '88. Do the dates match, at least?

February 1988 is within the 1983–89 bracket stated on http://www.bis.se/people_info.php?pID=1623 . No date is given on my box, but the organ is: the Wahlberg organ in Fredrikskyrkan, Karlskrona. (Fagius gives some information on it in the liner notes.) The 17 CD box of mine seems to be the same master (apart from a likely different write offset) as the BIS original.

[Nessuno]

the organ is: the Wahlberg organ in Fredrikskyrkan, Karlskrona. (Fagius gives some information on it in the liner notes.)

Exactly: The reconstructed 1764 Wahlberg organ of Fredrikskyrkan, Karlskrona, Sweden.
By the way: is there in those CDs a night and day difference between pre-emphasis on/off or more subtle (but still perceivable according to TOS#8 )?

[Porcus]

By the way: is there in those CDs a night and day difference between pre-emphasis on/off or more subtle (but still perceivable according to TOS#8 )?

Large, but remember you don't do ABX here, you just got X