QOTD 1/30/07 Procuring Music

[scottieking]

Recently, I've come to take stock in the amount of music I procure a week.

I average about 5 new records a week, not counting shows and miscellany.

So the two part question of the day is:

1) How much new music are you grabbing a week?

2) And, is it broadening your horizons and enriching your music tastes or is it watering down the amount of quality time that you should be spending per recording in order to absorb the album's potential hidden potential?

Personally, I think it has alot to do with how much time I can spend on listening per week. In the short term I feel like I am gaining so much and really digging into tons of unexplored musical territory but what happens to the same disc 3 months later? 6 months? I think it's great in the short run but hurting me in the long run.

I also suppose alot of this revolves around HOW you procure said music.

Anyway, lots here. Now back to exam supervision (I can smell the fear from here)

[Jaimoe]

Virtually none, but I watch tons of new music at work.

[Cully]

Now that my computer is working and I have access to a cheap music site I will be grabbing around 5 albums a week and probably around 10 shows.

[MarcO]

I'd say my average would be about three new titles per month. That's going into a CD store and buying it, I have never downloaded a track or album. So, I seem to have plenty of time to absorb new music, and over the course of a year, the collection grows steadily. Of course, once in a while I'll walk in and pick six new titles at once.

Sometimes I grab "new" new music, other times it's a catalogue item.

Live shows I'm really not that interested in anymore at all. In that case I maybe download a couple of shows every couple of months, whatever I grab on a whim. I usually burn them, listen to them once, and forget all about them.

[bradm]

I think my main method of acquiring music these days is recording shows; since the start of the year, I've recorded about 14 or 15 CDs' worth, or 3-4 CDs per week on average. I don't buy that many CDs, and of the ones I do buy, I usually get them directly from the bands at shows. As for downloads, I get a lot of "office listening" music from the Live Music Archive; I download the VBR MP3s for a show, listen to them once or twice, and then discard.

Aloha,

Brad

[AD]

I 'procure' new music at a crazy rate, sometimes 4 or 5 albums a day. Because of this I don't have time to absorb it at all and it upsets me, but when I see something new I feel like I have to have it.

Also, money is tight right now and I've had problems with my ISP, so I'm nervous that they will close my account and then my *ahem* method of procurement will be closed. So I'm living in the now taking all I can.

I really want to get caught up on everything, my 2006-not-listened-to' playlist is over 700 songs. (That's why I haven't posted my best of 2006 list yet)

I do manage to at least listen to a lot of new stuff, either as background stuff or as a quick once-over. This lets me kind of weed out and prioritize the ‘good’ from the ‘bad.’ I find being exposed to all sorts of new music daily really helps me define what I like and don’t like, and lets me easily expand my horizons. It does water down some of the enjoyment, but when I find something I like in the haystack, I listen to it a LOT.

Already today I’ve downloaded an album by an artist named Matthew Herbert. “Matthew Herbert's 2006 album, which made numerous best of 2006 lists, used 635 objects to make the album, which, according to Wikipedia, includes coffins, breakfast cereal, and gas pumps in addition to traditional instruments.â€

Thank you prime procurement method, Internet, for helping me hear so much stuff that it stresses my out sometimes (good stress). I would love to have a career in music just so I could get paid to listen to it all.

[Davey Boy 2.0]

I used to DL about 3 shows a day but am more inclined to stream music nowadays, although occasionally I will dip into the dozens of CDs that i haven't listened to yet, mainly to 'get caught up'

that said if i find a band/sound/era that i like i'll try to find some stuff to DL

i do still like beer though

[boiler]

I usually keep about 40 shows seeding on Azereus, then when they reach a somewhat acceptable share ratio/ or have seeded a fairly long time, I take them off, convert them to MP3. I wish I didn't have to, but space constraints and or having too many CD's requires this. I try to listen to everything once or twice in lossless before converting.

I NEED an Ipod, I have a car stereo that it'll hook up to and I spend a lot of time in my car, I'd love to give away all my CD's.

As far as buying music, usually buy CD's at shows or when in music stores, I usually buy DVD's instead of CD's.

Edited January 30, 2007 by Guest

[djmelbatoast]

I normally buy 5-10 albums a month and grab 2-3 shows a month. I find I still get to spend a decent amount of time with it. I find that the stuff I feel I haven't spent enough time with. if I go back a listen again, it's because it just didn't really do it for me.

[Esau.]

1) How much new music are you grabbing a week?

2) And, is it broadening your horizons and enriching your music tastes or is it watering down the amount of quality time that you should be spending per recording in order to absorb the album's potential hidden potential?

1) Before my dual core machine (2x 360GB HDD also) went down, I was grabbing anywhere between 5 & 6 shows on DVD(s) and 5 or 10 shows on CD(s) a week. I averaged about 40GB a week, some weeks less. Not to mention I usually have 3-5 packages going out or in every week (still do) in snail mail trades.

2) Definatley broadening my musical tastes, I've grabbed alot of stuff in trades I normally would never be interested in downloading and in turn that causes me to download more. As for quality time, some weeks I just put the DVDs or CDs in my "in box" so to speak & work my way through, eventually the stuff I really enjoy gets lots of listening time. Stuff I'm not too interested in that I've aquired usually gets traded.

Currently, with my good machine down, I am not downloading anything at all. So, I've been using this time to listen to my "in box" and also re-listen to alot of stuff I perhaps didn't give alot of time to in the past.

Keep in mind, I really don't download released material, so my new music is almost always live. When I do purchase released material I always go overboard, spending alot of money, but I usually do that twice a year only which is on my birthday (june) & after christmas (dec).

[mattm]

I get stuck in loops. I will listen to the same shit (literally one song or even part of a song but usually a whole show) over and over and over until my friends think I'm absolutely crazy.

I live with slavetothegroove and debob and between us we download lots of shit (live) not to mention borrow from friends (and burn), etc. I can't afford to buy albums except the odd one at a show. Then again, I'm not the hugest fan of cd's. They are made from plastic and a few other select materials which, when they could just be digital or at least on tiny little memory sticks, is a huge waste of an already deadly substance (oil). If I had the money, I would download lots of albums (minus the packaging). After I finish school, that should be possible. Then again, I'm not the hugest fan of studio albums since I really like the diversity of live shows (not saying albums suck, just that in my opinion they aren't as good as live shows).

I also don't have a clue how to stay on oink. How in the hell do you build up a ratio short of just leaving something run for 10-15 years which should net me 1 or 2 K worth of download ratio. I've even downloaded albums I would be ashamed to have on the computer, just because they seemed popular but I still can't get any upload ratio built. There has to be a secret.

Live shows (audio): ~15-30+ per month

Live shows (video): ~1-5+ per month

Actual Albums: ~1+/- per month.

[Northern Wish]

Good one Scott.

Over the past few years I probably average about 15-20 new discs a month including downloads, new purchases (at least 50%), and stuff that friends copy for me.

My musical horizon has never been so broad, but I feel as though my listening relates to the "Jack of all trades, master of none" school of thought. I rarely get way into an album the way I once did, when I only got a small handful of new tunes every few months (student years). The only one of late that I can think of is Bright Eyes- I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning. I used to know every word, every note, the track listing, the producer and special guests on every cd I owned- but now I just know which albums I like.

Good topic too, as over the past few days I have stumbled onto massive archives of full albums available for download in zip files. In the past two days alone I have grabbed all of Death Cab for Cutie, David Bowie, The Decemberists, and Sinead O'Connors albums and all of the Dylan cds I didn't have. PM me for the link.

Interestingly enough, I do find that I pay more attention to the discs I purchase. Maybe I am trying to get my moneys worth, or maybe I just really like the packaging. I haven't figured it out yet..........

Sean

[MarcO]

Not wanting this to be misunderstood, as I realize many of you have the patience, ambition and time to absorb a lot of new music, but I for one hate when listening to music becomes "work". When I start to get into an artist, I dislike (but appreciate the sentiment) when someone says "well, here's ALL their CDs, let me know what you think". Immediately, it becomes a chore to listen to them.

I prefer a "slow burn" process to appreciating new (to me) artists.

[Mr. Photogeek]

I tend to go in spurts where I grab a lot at once...like Alabama Man, Christmas and my birthday are my biggest "new cd" purchases, and usually it is pretty even between older "catalouge" items, and a couple of new CD's. I haven't really got anything new since Christmas because I am currently ripping all my cd's for my ipod...and rediscovering many of my old cd's. I think I will be downloading a lot more now though as opposed to buying them at any record stores...though I will miss the artwork, but honestly downloading from itunes and "other" sources is so easy now I have become to lazy to go to an actual store to buy anything (not just CD's, but books, DVD's etc.). For the record these days I find myself buying much more DVD's and books.