"Next Album" rumor / speculation thread *UPDATE AUG 22/2023*

[Gavgnr]

Right now I’d buy a frickin dog turd if it contained new gnr tunes

[COMAMOTIVE]

 

Right now I’d buy a frickin dog turd if it contained new gnr tunes

 

[DeN]

CDs are kind of lame, when you think about it.

artwork is small, the material is cheap, it can be easily damaged
as anything who came before, and it's kind of ugly if you compare
it to vinyl records.

I prefer vinyl, and I like cassettes too, because it forced you to listen
to the whole thing, in order, face A then B, as the artist intended you to.

of course it was boring to select a particular track, and the magnetic
tape was fragile. 

[(t)]

of course it was boring to select a particular track, and the magnetic
tape was fragile. 

Not only are cassettes fragile, but they're a pain in the ass to make copies of.. so you usually don't bother. Then the original eventually breaks and you're screwed. With CDs it's super easy to digitize and burn multiple copies. You're also not losing sound quality between copies as you would with cassettes.

[Bridge]

Going to record stores, browsing, finding that one album you were looking for, getting to listen to is, reading the booklet....

This is something kids of this generation don't understand.  The actual act of going to the record stores was a big part of the fun buying a new album.

Record stores were magical places was I when growing up.  I would spend hours just looking around and listening to things.  My local mall once had 3 or 4 music stores within its walls, now you have to scour the earth just to find one music store.

I prefer vinyl, and I like cassettes too, because it forced you to listen
to the whole thing............tape was fragile.

Vinyl offered better artwork for sure, but once I started buying CDs, I never went back.  Reminiscing on vinyl now, I can't stand the sound of white noise.  I have to have the clean CD audio.

My cassettes would inevitably break no longer how I played them; a big cassette desk, a walkman, car cassette player, etc, and I often had to buy the same album repeatedly because of this.  Also, I always HATED having to constantly rewind back and forth to play my favorites songs.

[DeN]

see, cassettes are perfect for artists : difficult to copy, and
you buy the same thing over and over because it breaks 

[Hustlers Revenge]

Maybe I'm a geezer, but can any of you making the claim please explain to me how/why cassettes are difficult to copy? 

[NaturalLight]

Maybe I'm a geezer, but can any of you making the claim please explain to me how/why cassettes are difficult to copy? 

I was thinking the same thing. If you had a double tape deck, which many boom boxes (I can’t believe we called them that- haha) did, then it was simple.

[cineater]

Maybe I'm a geezer, but can any of you making the claim please explain to me how/why cassettes are difficult to copy? 

I was thinking the same thing. If you had a double tape deck, which many boom boxes (I can’t believe we called them that- haha) did, then it was simple.

Me too, double tape deck.  Works every time. 

[DeN]

I still have my Sony boombox CFD 110L, probably not working anymore, but yeah, it was easy to copy cassettes.

a few years earlier we used them to copy computer games as Amstrad ones for example, too.

[Bridge]

Maybe I'm a geezer, but can any of you making the claim please explain to me how/why cassettes are difficult to copy?

Oh, you can "copy" them rather easily, but the question is, what do they actually sound like?  The sound quality is extremely variable.  I had a double tape deck as well, and I never got one to copy without audio shifts and hissing noises.

[(t)]

Maybe I'm a geezer, but can any of you making the claim please explain to me how/why cassettes are difficult to copy? 

Well, with cassettes you basically have to monitor the recording. You have to stop side A in the right place or you get an abrupt ending in the middle of a song. And of course it's all 1x speed so you can't exactly churn out a bunch of copies in a short period of time. You also have to make sure you've got the correct length tape on hand to match your albums. Record a 65 minute album on a 90 minute tape and you've got a bunch of dead air to fast forward thru. Copying CDs just feels like a 'cleaner' and more precise experience to me.

It's not difficult exactly, just tedious. Hence my pain in the ass comment.

One thing that tapes were great for, though, is recording from FM radio (which used to be good).

[Bridge]

One thing that tapes were great for, though, is recording from FM radio (which used to be good).

This is definitely true. I had dozens of great compilation tapes back in the day from recording songs off the radio.

[jarmo]

So you're saying the next album will be a tape only release?

Tell us more! 



/jarmo

[Nytunz]

Lets have every formats so people can by what they want. Vinyls are back because of quality and artwork, casettes are retro, cd is still beeing used in cars, spotify and Tidal are very relevant. GnR have fans that love these formats. For me nothing can be compared with vinyl, mainly because i love to read the booklets and stydy the artwork.

[pilferk]

Grab a few! They're great and you support musicians!

Here, let me fix that for you:

Grab a few! They're great and you support the out dated, generally useless, draconian music label system and it's (and this is only slightly hyperbole) indentured servitude of artists!

You are handing artists about 8 cents on the dollar you spend on physical music....and that's if the labels don't find a way to cheat them out of that (and they do, trust me).  Better to throw money in a busker's hat.

Buy merch, see shows, if an indie artist has a self pressed CD...definitely buy that.  Truly, the release of music has become a means to an end, not a way to make money for an artist. Sad...but true.

Sorry, rant over.  The label system is, was, and will forever be a pet peeve of mine.

[pilferk]

Going to record stores, browsing, finding that one album you were looking for, getting to listen to is, reading the booklet....

This is something kids of this generation don't understand.  The actual act of going to the record stores was a big part of the fun buying a new album.

Record stores were magical places was I when growing up.  I would spend hours just looking around and listening to things.  My local mall once had 3 or 4 music stores within its walls, now you have to scour the earth just to find one music store.

I prefer vinyl, and I like cassettes too, because it forced you to listen
to the whole thing............tape was fragile.

Vinyl offered better artwork for sure, but once I started buying CDs, I never went back.  Reminiscing on vinyl now, I can't stand the sound of white noise.  I have to have the clean CD audio.

My cassettes would inevitably break no longer how I played them; a big cassette desk, a walkman, car cassette player, etc, and I often had to buy the same album repeatedly because of this.  Also, I always HATED having to constantly rewind back and forth to play my favorites songs.

Yes, to all this.

I have an original Live like a Suicide tape from an LA GNR gig that my uncle picked up for me when he was living out there.

I have no earthly clue what shape it's in.  I haven't tried to play it in over a decade.  It's kept in a nice, cool, dry place in a "special" box that is supposed to preserve it.  That cassette has meaning to me that no digital album ever will.  There's a sentimentality to it, especially since my Uncle departed this realm of existence back in the late late 90s.

Physical music copies retain something that digital copies never will.  And the current generation will never get that.  They don't buy albums. They subscribe to streaming services like Spotify.  They don't even buy digital music anymore, really.

But I have to tell you, I still have a hard time buying physical music, today.  It HURTS me to support the label system...and I know that's what I'm doing every time I buy a disc (vinyl or CD).  Streaming, while offering a pittance per stream, actually lets me get MORE money to the artist by streaming their entire catalog regularly.  Sure, it's only half a cent a song....but it's a lot easier to add that up vs the .80 I'll send their way, once, on a physical disc.  Streaming isn't great, and it's still supporting the labels more than the artists, but its better because I can control the volume (no pun intended) of my streaming and get the artists more revenue over time.

I wish more artists would take on their own publication and promotion.  With youtube and tik tok and insta and all the other social media platforms, they have more wherewithal to do that, and less need to rely on the labels, than my generation of artists ever did.  I hope we move into a more streaming and "patreon" type environment that lets me get more money to the artists who's creations I enjoy.  I feel like I've been saying that for a decade now, and we're still not there.  Someday, hopefully.

[COMAMOTIVE]

A topic worthy of it's own thread maybe?

I would hate for someone to check in here, see pages and pages of new posts under a topic like this and think that maybe...just maybe....

Eh..nevermind

 

[allwaystired]

Grab a few! They're great and you support musicians!

Here, let me fix that for you:

Grab a few! They're great and you support the out dated, generally useless, draconian music label system and it's (and this is only slightly hyperbole) indentured servitude of artists!

You are handing artists about 8 cents on the dollar you spend on physical music....and that's if the labels don't find a way to cheat them out of that (and they do, trust me).  Better to throw money in a busker's hat.

Buy merch, see shows, if an indie artist has a self pressed CD...definitely buy that.  Truly, the release of music has become a means to an end, not a way to make money for an artist. Sad...but true.

Sorry, rant over.  The label system is, was, and will forever be a pet peeve of mine.

Ummm......as opposed to the streaming system?!

You're kidding right?! I mean you can't seriously be suggesting that artists are doing better out of streaming? If so you must be the ONLY person in the world saying that.

If it's a choice between buying physical product, or streaming, it's absolutely black and white which one benefits artists more. As literally ANY musician, or look at the facts, will show. This one isn't even a debate.

Sure, buy merch, see shows as well of course. That's all good. But find me one musician, ANYWHERE who would rather you didn't buy their physical music, and I'd be amazed!

[Bridge]

You're kidding right?! I mean you can't seriously be suggesting that artists are doing better out of streaming? If so you must be the ONLY person in the world saying that.

This one isn't even a debate.  find me one musician, ANYWHERE who would rather you didn't buy their physical music, and I'd be amazed!

I agree completely.  As much as we love the internet, it completely destroyed the music industry.  And I mean FAR worse than record labels ever did.  Record labels were never perfect, but the internet sucked the life out of music sales AND opportunity for newer bands.

I recall the first year after pirate sites went online, CD sales in the U.S. alone dropped by a whopping 110 million.... in the first year!  Pirating and illegal downloading have never been successfully controlled, nor it is fully countered by these legit streaming sites even if artists make a few pennies more via streaming.

So yes, it is ALWAYS more beneficial to the artists to buy physical copies of albums.  As much as people bitched in the old days about having to buy a whole album for one song they like, the music industry overall was much, much better for it.