Bands which, in this age of streaming, are still automatic physical buys for you

[TAC]

Well, obviously, I think it's different if it's a local band.

But would you then consider for instance Pain of Salvation a local band?

Not for me. And by local, I mean from my town, of if I knew them.


I'll try and watch the video on them that was linked. I just feel like, if there's a band and they make music, if I like it, I'll buy it. Maybe if I'm really a fan, I'll buy a t-shirt. But those are purchases for me. And while those purchases "supports" the band, I wouldn't buy them to support the band.

[SwedishGoose]

I don't think anyone by saying support the band means that you should buy albums from bands that you don't like. Too many bands around for that.
For me it means buying albums from bands I like, going to their shows, buying their merch. It can also be spreading the word...

[TAC]

I don't think anyone by saying support the band means that you should buy albums from bands that you don't like. Too many bands around for that.

Right. I'm not saying that.

For me it means buying albums from bands I like, going to their shows, buying their merch.

I agree. Which I know in turn supports the band. But it gives me something I like.

  It can also be spreading the word...

This. Totally.

[Stadler]

I've seen the term "support the artist" a couple of times in this thread. Personally, I feel no obligation to "support the artist". Where or how I buy my music will be at my convenience, and I frankly don't care what percentage the band gets.

Well, it depends case by case. There's an italian band, Elvenking, big enough to be a professional band, but not so big to the point that they can live off their music; they're not really local but I've met them enough times to call them, if not friends, acquiantaces... maybe the term "friend" is exagerated but when we meet, it's not an "Hi, I'm your fan" situation, more a "Hey dude what's up"; last time they had an album out I could have bought it in a store or online, but I made a point to buy it at one of their shows so that 100% of the money would go directly to them.

With local bands I know, whenever possible, I always do this, the price for me is the same but if they gan a little more from a direct purchase why not do it?

Do we KNOW that they "get more" from one given outlet over another?   Some are obvious, but others are not.  For me, and this applies to 98% of artists, they make their decisions with the full understanding of what they are going to receive.   If they feel it's ok to sell at Best Buy, then I have no qualms buying from Best Buy.   I buy most of my (older) material used (eBay, used record stores, flea markets, pawn shops) anyway, so they aren't probably making bank on me to start with.  There are a very select few - Neal Morse, Marillion, Fish, sometimes Crimson - that I go directly to the website, but by and large, I'm not paying $16.99 to the artist when I can get an official - sanctioned by that artist - copy for $9.99 elsewhere (and that begs the question; if they are already making more on that sale, by cutting out the middle man, why charge a full 70% more for the product?)

[MirrorMask]

Well, I remember Christopher Johnson from Therion saying in a message on Facebook or on his website that buying a CD at the merch stand of a show is like buying 5 CDs in a shop, since all the money goes directly to the band rather than being split with the store. Then again it depends on the store, if it's the one of the band's site,  I don't think there's much difference, but if it's the label one, probably there are shares for more parties.

[ytserush]

Question for the people who buy albums without hearing anything beforehand: Did you love all previous albums from those bands? Do you still buy "sight unseen" if the band has put out a couple "bad" albums?

Mostly. There's the track record factor for me. I can only think of one band that  previously that was an automatic buy for me and then I just gave up on after two or three bad releases about 20 years ago and that band is Queensryche. Stopped cold turkey. Haven't listened to anything new since then.

[ytserush]

I've seen the term "support the artist" a couple of times in this thread. Personally, I feel no obligation to "support the artist". Where or how I buy my music will be at my convenience, and I frankly don't care what percentage the band gets. I would also never prefund a band before they record an album.

I'll support the artist to a point. I won't prefund a band before the album is recorded.

As much as love Marillion, I didn't even fund their US Tour back in what was it '96?  Of course, that was after Brave and Afraid of Sunlight came out which was the only point where I wavered and considered my fandom.

Similarly, I didn't prefund their albums or want my name in the liner notes because what happens if they record it and I don't like it?

I did consider prefunding Kevin Moore since I'm confident I'd like whatever he came up with but ultimately decided not to on principle.

[Herrick]

I've seen the term "support the artist" a couple of times in this thread. Personally, I feel no obligation to "support the artist". Where or how I buy my music will be at my convenience, and I frankly don't care what percentage the band gets. I would also never prefund a band before they record an album.

I'll support them up to a point. I only buy digital albums. I prefer buying them from Amazon but if a band gets more money from Bandcamp sales or from their website then I've no problem with making purchases there even if it's slightly more expensive. I won't see 99% of these bands play live so I like buying their music if it's good of course. I agree with what you said about pre-funding too.

[ProfessorPeart]

I'm very old school. The answer is all.

I only buy digital if the artist does not release a physical copy or the cost to import one from Europe/Japan is too much. I will first seek out uncompressed digital via Bandcamp, their own site, or HD Tracks. If all else fails, I use my Google Opinion Rewards to buy the digital from the Play store.

I drive my wife nuts with the multiple UPS/USPS deliveries of my music. I have actually run out of space to store them. I have stacks of discs with nowhere to put them. That drives her nuts too. I probably have close to 2000 CD's in my living room alone.

EDIT: Not to mention that, lately, physical has a tendency to be cheaper than the digital which makes it sweeter for me.

Self-quoting here. Just wanted to pop in and give some kudos to the German Nuclear Blast shop. Accidentally stumbled onto it yesterday and discovered that they sell FLAC versions of many releases and also allow you to purchase individual tracks. This was a prime case of where I would do some digital purchasing.

I own the Special Edition releases of Threshold's Wounded Land and Extinct Instinct records. I wasn't aware that Nuclear Blast had gotten a hold of them and created Definitive Editions with even more bonus tracks. In this case, 2 studio cuts for Wounded and 1 for Extinct. Instead of dropping $30 to repurchase the albums, I dropped $3.87 to complete the releases and got them in CD quality form.

This is a great model for these albums that get multiple releases or different track listings. Europe/Japan always seem to get more tracks than the US. I wish more labels would follow this model.

[DougMasters]

I don't buy anything physical anymore. I gave in. Abandoned my principles.

I have some movies and DVD's that i'll buy physically once in a while but that's it really

[Lethean]

I'm very old school. The answer is all.

I only buy digital if the artist does not release a physical copy or the cost to import one from Europe/Japan is too much. I will first seek out uncompressed digital via Bandcamp, their own site, or HD Tracks. If all else fails, I use my Google Opinion Rewards to buy the digital from the Play store.

I drive my wife nuts with the multiple UPS/USPS deliveries of my music. I have actually run out of space to store them. I have stacks of discs with nowhere to put them. That drives her nuts too. I probably have close to 2000 CD's in my living room alone.

EDIT: Not to mention that, lately, physical has a tendency to be cheaper than the digital which makes it sweeter for me.

Self-quoting here. Just wanted to pop in and give some kudos to the German Nuclear Blast shop. Accidentally stumbled onto it yesterday and discovered that they sell FLAC versions of many releases and also allow you to purchase individual tracks. This was a prime case of where I would do some digital purchasing.

I own the Special Edition releases of Threshold's Wounded Land and Extinct Instinct records. I wasn't aware that Nuclear Blast had gotten a hold of them and created Definitive Editions with even more bonus tracks. In this case, 2 studio cuts for Wounded and 1 for Extinct. Instead of dropping $30 to repurchase the albums, I dropped $3.87 to complete the releases and got them in CD quality form.

This is a great model for these albums that get multiple releases or different track listings. Europe/Japan always seem to get more tracks than the US. I wish more labels would follow this model.

Thank you!! I just recently saw that there were "definitive" editions and was wondering if I was really going to buy those albums yet again. I'll look into this.

[Ben_Jamin]

I always buy physical for anything because of the chance the electronics will shut down and all stored data will be erased.

[KevShmev]

I always buy physical for anything because of the chance the electronics will shut down and all stored data will be erased.

External hard drive is the way to go, man. 

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

I would say Rush is the only one, but since it's unlikely we will see anything new from them I guess my real answer would be none...

[Ben_Jamin]

I always buy physical for anything because of the chance the electronics will shut down and all stored data will be erased.

External hard drive is the way to go, man. 

But what if you break it.

Plus I'd like to add. I usually forget to backup my songs and other things. So I'm Shit Out of Luck with things like Coheed and Cambria Ascension/Decension demos and extra tracks I bought with the boxset. As that site isn't online anymore. Those things are why I like Physical.

[KevShmev]

I always buy physical for anything because of the chance the electronics will shut down and all stored data will be erased.

External hard drive is the way to go, man. 

But what if you break it.

Plus I'd like to add. I usually forget to backup my songs and other things. So I'm Shit Out of Luck with things like Coheed and Cambria Ascension/Decension demos and extra tracks I bought with the boxset. As that site isn't online anymore. Those things are why I like Physical.

I hear ya.

I actually still have most of my physical CDs (sold off maybe 100-150 last year), and while most new stuff I buy digitally, my brothers and a good friend collectively have just about everything I do, so if something did happen to where I lost all of my physical CDs AND the digital files, I could always restart by getting most of it from all of them.

[Ben_Jamin]

I always buy physical for anything because of the chance the electronics will shut down and all stored data will be erased.

External hard drive is the way to go, man. 

But what if you break it.

Plus I'd like to add. I usually forget to backup my songs and other things. So I'm Shit Out of Luck with things like Coheed and Cambria Ascension/Decension demos and extra tracks I bought with the boxset. As that site isn't online anymore. Those things are why I like Physical.

I hear ya.

I actually still have most of my physical CDs (sold off maybe 100-150 last year), and while most new stuff I buy digitally, my brothers and a good friend collectively have just about everything I do, so if something did happen to where I lost all of my physical CDs AND the digital files, I could always restart by getting most of it from all of them.

Lucky. I have to buy them all over again, as I don't know people who would have the cd's I have. I wish that New Mexico was a musical state, and not just mainstream rap/metal and country.

[ariich]

Automatic physical buys? Pretty much just Haken (somewhat ironically, since I always get the album digitally far in advance of release) and maybe The Dear Hunter.

Plenty of other bands I'll pretty much always buy the new album by, like DT, Anathema, etc. but won't necessarily be on CD.