Why don't people buy good music?

[progmom]

[nickgutierrez]

1. Because good music doesn't play on top-40 radio stations.

I've had massive rants on this in the past, but sadly, none of them are in writing.

[progmom]

11. I'm analyzing sales data for a chain that sells music.

Deciding the fate of each jazz CD currently stocked in this chain.

Will it continue to exist in all stores? The top 50 stores? The average stores? All but the very worst stores? No stores at all?

It's killing me to see CDs that I love that no one wants to buy.

[JimmyJazz]

48. When I worked for an independent record company, we were

allowed to play any music we wanted, so long as it was a fairly current release. We played jazz on Sundays. Anyway, it was amazing how many people would purchase what we played and very little of it was corporate/commercial. It's all in the exposure and very few people are exposed to the good stuff.

[progmom]

51. this chain sells more jazz than most anyone

...and primarily for that reason. we promote it constantly in marketing programs and overhead play. it's just painful to see all the good music that i think of as essential just sitting there in the bins.

[tigereye]

54. i try to buy em!

:hi:

I think people need to work to find good music!

[LincolnMcGrath]

58. Maybe they don't buy from chain stores?

:shrug:

[AussieDave]

13. Agreed - it's all-crap, all-the-time on the commercial stations

you hear the same things over and over - what the record companies want you to DESPERATELY hear.

I've started just buying individual singles or downloading songs I like - very closed-minded of me, but I tend to live in the past anyway.....

[sundog]

2. because we have bad taste in music

[Initech]

3. Sad, isnt it?

It really pisses me off when people pay $25 for a Linkin Park CD and then complain that the music sucks. I go to a record store in LA where half is new and half is used and they have an unbelievable selection.

[bridgit]

4. "good music" is in piteously short supply...

imo of course

[Initech]

8. That's why, as much as the indie nerds piss me off...

They do recommend some damn good albums from time to time!

Except try to bring up any band that has any sort of popularity and they go apeshit (if you dont believe me, go into an indie music store and ask about buying a Tool CD). Weird, isnt it?

[anarch]

25. hahaha!

What's even better is how, once a formerly obscure band becomes popular, said band is suddenly not cool anymore, even if they don't change their sound or style at all.

(at least that's how it was...back in my youth)

[Initech]

40. Of course! It happens 9 times out of 10!

Look at The Arcade Fire. They were absolutely loved by the indie nerds. But as soon as Neighborhood #4 started getting played on KROQ, they start going off about how much Arcade Fire sucks now because they're popular.

[progmom]

21. of course you're right

but i'm talking about really good music - and it's out there on the shelves. music that has been lauded and stood the test of time. and now...no one wants it. :cry:

[PittPoliSci]

26. test of time?

like what? Led Zeppelin? Yeah, everyone hates them nowadays...


:hide:

[progmom]

28. ha - good one.

:P

[bridgit]

38. oh honey, people are sheeple, i trend toward: can, 12 stones...

talvin singh, ekova, ornette coleman = the classics, so...i wont hear my stuff either inbetween antique ac/dc :cry: education has something to do with it, a desire to seek. someone mentioned the other day that howard stern was "the leading liberal voice of radio"; and while i have no quarrel with howard as such, that 'handle' speaks volumes as to the misshapen sense of american culture & commodity imo

where's andy warhol when you really need him

[sundog]

5. it's also very sad to make fun of people with bad taste in music

[progmom]

18. yes, that's true

but my point wasn't about people buying bad music
it's about people not buying good music
it's out there on the shelves
and they won't buy it
and it breaks my heart

[sundog]

22. like when i see masses of shit on the video shelves

and only 1 copy of a halfway decent movie

and no one wants it

[mike_c]

44. hey progmom-- I think that's got MUCH more to do with...

...the music industry than it does with people's tastes. Most people don't even KNOW about the good stuff that's available, and it gets utterly swamped by this week's tripe from the industry. All that crap on the shelves is the result of a music industry motivated more by short term profits than by supporting long term artistry.

[tigereye]

59. if it's any consolation

one of our alt. stations here is now playing some jazz, some of those remixes that have wonderful cool school and other stuff mixed in, trying to expose the techno/xer crowd to the really good stuff. It's a start. There are so few "real" jazz/good music stations now, I think that's part of it. :(

[Droopy]

6. Somebody explained this to me one time

and I forget exactly what they said, but it seems like it went something like this. Many people like music that is easy for their brain to digest..........never mind. :)

I think it has something to do with radio programming. On new rock stations for example they'll just play stuff that has that sound. You know the sound that somebody came out with that was actually good and new and fresh. Then they start looking for bands that have that sound and play the shit out of it until it gets old and somebody new comes along with a new sound. Or even a recycled sound that seems new.

It's something like that anyway.

[anarch]

7. good music is not shoved down their throats

by giant corporations wielding huge advertising budgets. At least not usually. Real music fans buy good music (whatever that means to them personally), but people in general just buy whatever they think they are supposed to buy in order to fit in....

[underpants]

56. DING DING DING we have a winner

Exactly. They can make anyone into a "Star" I cite Madonna and all rap music as an example.

[sundog]

9. and it's also mean to make fun of people wih bad taste in music

[sundog]

10. just because someone doesn't like music you think is good

[sundog]

12. doesn't make them a bad person

[AussieDave]

16. And sundog why have you changed your avatar ??

Who is that person ?? Where is Saint Joe of FleshandTrash ???

[sundog]

17. nope

from "my own private idaho" :D

[AussieDave]

19. OK - something different - change is good.........

[tjwmason]

78. Yes it does.

:P

[sundog]

14. maybe you're the bad person

[ghostsofgiants]

15. I do!

Or do I not count as people?

[sundog]

23. you are not human

[ghostsofgiants]

27. ...

[sundog]

29. chin up pal

you'll be human once the rest of the parts get shipped :grouphug:

[WCGreen]

20. I thin it is coming around....

The cable system I am hooked up to has those music channels...

a lot of good stuff that wouldn't be heard on more commercial stations is being heard on the cable...

Prog, Jazz has been slowly wasting away for years now....

It's sad, really sad cause the music is so vital, but we have people like you to keep it alive for us....

I want to thank you for doing that....

[progmom]

24. thanks.

i'm just mourning the fact that Hank Mobley "No Room For Squares" just doesn't sell. neither does Pharoah Sanders "Jewels of Thought". it's such a beautiful fucking record and no one wants it. :cry:

[WCGreen]

30. I know it's a different Genre....

But I went over to the far east side of Cleveland to see Slaid Cleves tonight....

I only know about him from internet radio and the cable music stations...

This guy is one of the best singer songwriter storytellers I have come across in years, and yet he was in a bar, on a Sunday night, playing to 75 people.....

BTW, I always try to go and see at least one act every year at the TriC Jazz Fest.....

On a sad note, they closed the Bop Shop, one of the only remaining free style jazz joints in town...

I remember, not that many years ago, when I could go to at least three or four different lounges on the west side of cleveland for a bit of jazz every weekend....

[AVulgarianHue]

35. Jewels of Thought

I had it on vinyl. Thanks for the reminder to replace with a cd.

:loveya:

Also had Thembi.

[progmom]

52. Karma too, I hope

A beeeeautiful record. :hi:

[swag]

61. Thanks for the shopping list.

I'll bop over to Borders today and pick 'em up.

[progmom]

64. yay!

:bounce:

[swag]

72. Listening to the Mobley now.

They were fresh out of the Sanders, so I guess that's good news or somebody lifted it.

Stopped by the money section in the book store and snagged a paper copy of The Soul of Capitalism by William Greider.

Got these already low-priced items reduced even further on checkout with my Corporate Whore Discount Card.

Maybe monthly we need you to look into your magic spreadsheet and give us the best of the low-seller's. I love a good contrarian pick. It's like playing Moneyball with progmom.

[progmom]

74. Corporate Whore Discount Card?

:rofl:

[Floogeldy]

31. Because I can get it free over the Internet.

;)

[progmom]

32. ...

[RandomKoolzip]

33. People have all kinds of different tastes.

Taste is subjective. *I* happen to think that Guided by Voices, The Jam, and Shudder to Think were the greatest bands to ever tread the face of the earth, while others I have talked to on this board say all three suck.

Neither one of us is right.

It's a chicken or the egg question when it comes to marketing, however: Do people buy crappy music just because it's advertised heavily, or would people gravitate to GOOD music with the same kind of PR behind it? Who knows?

[progmom]

36. but people buy the artists you mentioned.

i'm talking about music that people acknowledge as jazz standards. i buy for a chain that sells more jazz than just about anyone else in america. and i'm seeing great classic jazz CDs with only a handful of sales across the chain. x(

oh - and your sig pic link is broken.

[tonkatoy57]

69. My favorite jazz music is an anachronism

I'm old enough to faintly remember when jazz music was part of the cultural mainstream. Hef and his swinging parties on broadcast television. Educated and aware people went to clubs to hear Diz and Miles. Jazz artists and their music was part of the cultural landscape. And it just wasn't jazz, classical music to some extent shared the popular culture spotlight. Remember, Leonard Bernstein's Young People's Concerts were on CBS (i believe).

We just don't have jazz and classical artists in the popular spotlight any more. I suppose part of it is the "choices" we're given because of cable television, the internet, specialty magazines and all the rest of it. Of course the cynic in me says it's also because we don't really value anything of worth in our society any longer, that everything is geared to the least common denominator and to that mythical "every man".

[Tyrone Slothrop]

70. Maybe the people who regularly buy from this jazz chain

Already own all the great classics?

Just a thought...I'm not a huge jazz person, but I've only had to buy one copy of Kind of Blue, Time Out, etc.

[HEyHEY]

34. Because they are fed shit music and told it's good

[hickman1937]

37. Good as it applys to music is very subjective.

Bad jazz bores me, good jazz (as defined by my beloved ex) makes me want to punch someone. Bad pop has the same effect. Good pop lifts my spirit and I sing. Really good rock makes me want to fly. Ten Years After at Woodstock, Goin Home.

[mvd]

42. We Lounge denizins will never fully agree..

and that's part of what makes the music discussions so interesting. No one will change their taste because of a post, but it's neat to see what everyone likes and dislikes.

With that, good night, everyone! :hi:

[hickman1937]

45. Patsy Cline and Mozart. Probably not cool, but I love them.

I'm a music doofus. I don't aspire to better.

[mvd]

46. They're great

I love many that are much less "cool" than them - but I stand by my choices.

[WCGreen]

68. That is a great song....

But Old Alvin learned a thing or two about constructing leads from the likes of Coltraine......

[mvd]

39. I buy lots of good music..

both on the Billboard charts and not on the charts. I'm more of a fan of the older jazz like Billie Holiday myself. You'll be happy to know I do have a more recent jazz album: from Regina Carter.

I know it's frustrating when a type of music we love isn't big at the moment. I bought satellite radio partly because modern rock has suffered recently. Philly doesn't even have a modern rock station, but one station, WRTI, has jazz for half the day. Keep doing your part, progmom. :thumbsup:

[mike_c]

41. I buy lots of good music....

I'm not a jazz fan, so you might not appreciate my choices, but I buy from the Rounder, Suger Hill, and Lost Highways labels for starters. Some good stuff on Rhino, and Alligator Records for blues. Lots of good music out there.

[RevolutionaryActs]

43. Because they're stupid?

:shrug:


Oh, and, because taste is relative. :)

[mitchum]

47. Because you can't make people have good taste

[GOPisEvil]

49. Because most people are not exposed to really good music.

Most people listen to the radio, so they get the mass-produced, mass-marketed crapola that gets corporate airplay.

Most people are not lucky enough to have decent music playing in their hometown nightly and have a decent radio station that plays music that is deicded uncorporate. www.kgsr.com :)

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

50. Because people are incapable of understanding good music.

Bad, catchy, pop music is far easier to digest than something complex.

[Rabrrrrrr]

53. Because Americans are fucking stupid

They don't think music is for listening to, or to be enjoyed - music is for the background, or to "dance" to.

God forbid music should actually challenge one, or make one think, or touch one emotionally. That's just unchristian.

[jane_pippin]

55. Because people with good taste shop at stores without Soundscan.

We're under the radar, and that's the way we likes it. ;)

[crispini]

66. Really? My local indie store

not only reports to Soundscan, but apparently they are considered a hot trendsetter & their data is closely watched, or so I've been told by the folk there.

[jane_pippin]

67. Well ok, but it's still fair to say that most indie stores don't have

SoundScan. Maybe in big cities they do but I know for sure they don't here.

[dolo amber]

57. Because you touch yourself at night

:D

[swag]

65. I will carry that image with me to Borders today, on my jazz-buying

mission.

Thank you, dolo amber.

[pitohui]

60. well do YOU want to listen to good music

i certainly don't

ugh

if they wanted us to like good music don't torture us by piano when we're small children

i could live perfectly well and never hear mozart agn

[LynneSin]

62. You won't buy Led Zeppelin so how can you answer your own question

:shrug:

[tjwmason]

63. I do my best.

Though perhaps not in the area which you're thinking of.

Give me a recommendation, and I'll add it to my next C.D. splurge - but I can't promise to make a major dent in sales figures, especially U.S. sales figures.

[indigo32]

71. We need more of you

out spreading the good music gospel

[name not needed]

73. I know someone who owns a record store

He's said in the past that if record stores only sold good music, they'd be the size of phone booths.

[JVS]

75. Good music sucks!

[Hand]

76. Insh'Allah... nt

[wildhorses]

77. good music is to the ear

as beauty is to the eye:shrug: