'98 to '08: What we lost along the way (MP3 Insider)
MS: I spent more than two years of my life working in a new and used record store in Sacramento, where used CDs outsold new CDs about four to one. Used CDs not only offered our customers an inexpensive way to acquire new music, it gave people who were bored with their music a way to put money back in their pocket.
Putting aside my nostalgia for used music stores, I think we forget that MP3s are the first music format consumers cannot legally resell. Maybe I'm weird, but over the past 10 years, I've been happy to find myself on both sides of the used music economy--selling CDs to make rent, and buying great old records at garage sales. iTunes has never helped me pay the bills, and aside from illegal file sharing, there's no way to put your MP3s back into circulation after you're tired of them.
Max Weinberg provides an insider's tour of life on E Street (OC Register)
MS: The expectation, he says, "if there is one that we carry with us, is not to live up to this idea of being Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. It's to live up to something Bruce said many years ago – that we want to give people more than their money's worth."
But how do you do that when the shows are shorter and the prices higher? Reasonable, yes, especially compared to what other Hall of Famers charge now. But still higher.
"Well, I think the point is, when you're buying a ticket – whether it's for a movie or an extremely expensive Broadway show, or to see us – are you moved by the experience? Have you been changed in some way? That's what we try to do every night – come in to your town, play, change you … and leave."
Record Labels Struggle to Stay Relevant (ABC News)
MS: "Now making a record is inexpensive, and a band could do it on their own for very little money, and it's much easier for them to just sell their stuff online," Gaston said. "The record labels aren't needed for distribution anymore."
"Their primary functions have been undercut by the advancement of technology," he added.
"The labels could theoretically strike these all encompassing deals with their artists like Live Nation has, but it's the question of are the bands up for it?" Gaston said. "Is it not cool to be with a huge label?"
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