Hey everyone. After stumbling upon a couple of quotes from Ben, stating that people don't casually buy CDs anymore, I thought that would be an interesting topic to discuss as I personally love having CDs so much more than just owning some virtual files on my harddrive. I may be old-fashioned in that regard, but both books and music feel so much more real when you actually "posess" them, I feel. As soon as I have the music, I do play it on my computer, yes, and I do have a lot of digital music. But it means so much more to me to just have a nice CD box with some album art etc. I don't know, am I just being silly or how are others feeling about that? Oh and by the way, the bundle you order in the store comes with a real CD, yes? )
Yeah, it comes with a real CD. A mini hardback book with the booklet bound into it. I still haven't seen the finished product due to all the manufacturing hiccups, but it's supposed to look nice. Fingers crossed. But I like owning the physical things as well. Digital is fine for checking out an album, but once I know I like it I'd rather own it. Vinyl is particularly fun. But I have nothing against mp3s. They just feel disposable is all.
Ah, great. I have to say that "Ghost" is one of the prettiest CDs+booklet I've seen. Vinyl is awesome, but not as easy to handle, heh. I was kind of worrying that you might skip the physical part in a not-so-distant future.
Yeah, I agree! Although Mp3's are very handy on the computer/iPod and for making playlists etc. But the artwork gets lost a little bit there. For me that's a big part of the music as well. If you look at the artwork/packaging/design of records by Mount Eerie, it's almost part of the music. It really adds something special to it. That's why I prefer vinyl over cd's, the artwork comes out better and the sound feels more real. When I first played Ghost on vinyl, I swear I heard more layers and sounds then when listening to the mp3's before. It was like listening to a different recording of the same songs. And I always seem to listen more carefully when playing vinyl, because you kind of have to commit to the record by turning it half way. Though what I've had a couple of times in the past year or so, is that I end up buying the same record 2 or 3 times. When a new records come out, first it's only available in digital format, than the cd and than on vinyl. Sometimes I'm just too excited to wait for the physical record to come out. But it's ok, I don't mind spending my money on music I love and supporting the musician.
Ben, I have forgotten to ask... You mentioned before that there WILL BE a vinyl edition of The Family Tree: The Roots. Will this be sold separately than the pre-order bundle? I am assuming so...just confirming.
Yeah, it'll be separate. It's taking a lot longer to produce than I'd hoped, but it will happen eventually. It might be as late as mid-December, which is a bummer, but it can't be helped.
I love having the actual cd with the album art, especially with Ben's releases. It seems these days that artists really put the effort into album art and liner art which I really appreciate. Having said that, I am only a couple of months away from moving from Perth, Australia to Vancouver, Canada so I am trying to limit the amount of shit I have to take over so I bought The Roots on iTunes...
I personally have 100's of CD, mostly from working at a mom/pop store and DJing in Vegas...what i didn't get for free from the station, i blew my money on at work...I also have 100's of Vinyl in crates as well - but, being the geek that i am i spend my days behind a computer and want/need access to my music...so, i've taken to ripping/archiving all of my music to FLAC, which is an exact copy of the CD...i always look for FLAC when buying an album online and if it isn't an option, will buy the CD and rip it to FLAC...i personally do not like MP3's because they aren't a true representaion of the music, because they are "missing" little bits in compression...i want to hear exactly what was created...having said that, i do have several thousand mp3's i've purchased over the years online from things like eMusic, etc... So, Ben, you've mentioned that you wanted to have FLAC available for sale when the album came out...i keep looking for it in your store, but haven't seen it yet...any time frame?
Hahaha. Depends on who you ask. Yeah, it's coming. Just trying to figure out how to get it work on the store, and I have to leave again tomorrow. So it probably won't be until next weekend. I might just put up the .wavs in the meantime.
No problem at all - you are busy... You might want to look into bandcamp.com - i've purchased a ton of music through them and know labels like Deep Elm and Asthmatic Kitty use it...you can then offer FLAC, 320 MP3, WAV, whatever you want and they do everything and just pay you...i only know it from a consumer side, having spent a big chunk of my paycheck each week, but I love when albums are available on their site cause they push FLAC/WAV/ALAC to people who really want it...you could integrate it into your store pretty easily i'd think... Let me know if you'd like any help - i've been doing computer <geek> stuff for many many years now...
Yeah, I've been looking into other methods to do all this. I had to get something up fast to keep up with the release, but I'm probably gonna tweak everything over the next couple months to make more sense. The way I have things built currently, I think I'm only a little over breaking even after I pay everyone out. But I don't want to charge a ton, so I'll have to get creative with it. It's just tough to set up sometimes due to the lack of volume. You can get deals when you move a lot of merch, but it's tricky when you don't. But I'm back on the road tomorrow, so it'll have to wait until I get home. As will cleaning my apartment.
Hey, Ben. I just got my stuff in the mail. The packaging is MAGNIFICENT. Pretty amazing. Well done. I remember how anxious I was, finding out it was delayed for re-printing... Now I understand the importance. I'm glad you didn't settle for the first run. Kudos!
Ben, I just got the CD in the mail today. I LOVE the CD packaging. For anyone who is on the fence about the CD vs. MP3 version, I can't recommend the CD more strongly. The booklet and artwork, the lyrics, the little details -- so well done and worth the wait for sure. As for the music...I put it in the stereo right away and once I hit 'play', the only other button I pressed was the volume. Straight through, from beginning to end. That's rare for me for new music. Fantastic, awesome, incredible. Thank you for making this music. --Brian
i got my CD today, its gorgeous haha. i buy CDs from bands i really care about and mp3s from bands I want to listen to very seldomly
Thanks, guys. Glad you liked it. As I said in the other thread, I'm proud of how it all came out, so it's a really nice thing to hear.
-= sad face =-I'm not bragging but I got mine I believe on Monday, and you'll not be disappointed. Hang in there Lui. I've worn the shirt probably twice already, and I've been getting looks. With comments like "Dude! I like your shirt!" (I live in California) and "That's....odd." which I think is still a compliment. Need more merch, because I'm willing to pay! lol. another topic: Lui, is it possible you might be writing your interpretation of this album in your perspective in a literary story form too?
Oh sweet! Dang, I'm getting even more excited. I'm still listening to the album over and over again. I wanted to write something to the first EP, but when Ben posted his explanation of it I scrapped my version because it was almost too similar haha. Still finding some sort of anchor for The Roots to start working on, but apart from that I already started on another novel about a month ago, so any interpretation would take a little while to emerge!
