I guess I don't get the fascination with the Survivor shit. I participated in the Beatles one, don't even remember what won.
Yeah, I don't either honestly. I'm know I post a lot of crap others have no interest in as well, so who am I to complain.
Speaking of which, please allow me to host a bitch session about how music stores seem to want to fail. I went to the biggest "independent music store" chain here in Utah today to buy some new releases. 3 or 4 years ago, this store was beyond amazing, and I would have stated my undying devotion to it. Now, it's slowly showing that they're not doing well, and seem to be following the example of mall chain CD stores in regards to pricing and inventory.
Take todays examples: The Bon Iver Blood Bank EP was priced at $10. It's under 17 minutes of music....for $10. I can get it off of iTunes for $4.....they priced the CD at $10. Jagjaguwar, the label, have it listed as $7.50, which feels more reasonable. This store priced it for $10. The front of the cover has a huge sticker that says "4 NEW SONGS', they priced it at $10. To me, this pricing point does not seem to benefit a music store trying to make a living off of CDs in today's music industry.
Similarly, Andrew Bird's new album, Noble Beast, was priced at $10. Quite a good price for a nearly hour long new album (let me once again mention, they had the 16 minute Bon Iver EP at the same price), unfortunately, they had the "deluxe edition" priced at $25 (on sale). So what's supposed to be a "bonus disc" of instrumental music and different packaging is $15 to $20 extra (based on the sale)? Not sure how it's a "bonus" to fans to pay more than double the price of the album for an extra disc of instrumentals that he didn't want to release separately. To me, this pricing point does not seem to benefit a music store trying to make a living off of CDs in today's music industry.
The new Animal Collective album has a paper cover and is slightly a different size than standard "plastic cases". They still decided to shove it in one of those magnetic "can't take it from the store without an alarm going off" devices, thus bending the cover because it wouldnt fit correctly. As it's a fairly safe bet that it would be a considerable amount of effort for me to find this album at any other store in Utah, i pretty much have to buy a "brand new" album with a cover the store ruined themselves. To me, this type of callousness to their inventory does not seem to benefit a music store trying to make a living off of CDs in today's music industry.
One last complaint, the DeVotchKa album I purchased today had been opened by the store. While I realize it is a somewhat common practice for independent stores to open albums to play over the speakers, why are albums like that not priced at "discounts" when for all intents and purposes, it IS now a "used" CD. Why would they instead put it back in one of the store security devices to make it appear as if it was never opened, and then put it directly into your bag without telling you it had been a "display" copy? Every other type of store I know of would sell a "display model" at a discounted price, why is that not a practice a store selling both new and used CDs would also employ? To me, this type of callousness to their inventory does not seem to benefit a music store trying to make a living off of CDs in today's music industry.
In short, the music industry all around seems to almost WANT people to stop paying for their medium. Labels twist the arms of distributors to raise prices and they give the artists less return for sales. The distributors then sell the items for an even higher price, and hand something over to you that is used or damaged before you even had a chance to open it. None of these practices benefit the consumer or music fan, nor do they benefit the artists who are trying to make a living by creating music. It's frustrating to see something you love completely raped by idiots who want to make an extra nickel on every SKU.
