Collectibilty of Music in a Digital Domain

cosmosuave · Post by **cosmosuave** » Wed Feb 16, 2005 2:24 am

Since it is inevitable that music as a media will be a virtual object what will happen to the collector? The reason people collect CD's and LP's is because it is a tangible object, nice artwork, posters, pop up album cover all that sort of stuff which down the road increases the value of that said media....

How will this transcribe to a digital release? Will the collector have a special electronic id indicating limited release and where is the enjoyment in that... If a release is deemed to be a hit I guess the label could release a limited edtion MP3 USB chip with fancy packaging for the collector....

Something to ponder...

oddible · Post by **oddible** » Wed Feb 16, 2005 3:01 am

Collector of course doesn't imply age but uniqueness, something you don't come across every day - could be an especially well preserved LP in its original sleeve but it also could be an mp3 release on an obscure website that was only up for 3 weeks and that the rest of the world will never hear again. It's now in YOUR iTunes collection and when people come across it in your party shuffle, you as the collector will be revered...

Good topic btw.

dirtystudios · Post by **dirtystudios** » Wed Feb 16, 2005 3:09 am

i've had the experience of trying to track down a rare mp3 online. it's no easy chore, almost as hard as trying to track down something in real life. the most prevalent case was with a twine release from his website. he puts up a new mp3 for download every few weeks, and then they are gone forever (at least, gone off his site). there was one called spearsmix, which was the mangling of a brittany spears track and it was georgeous. i've had for a while, then i lost it (fried computer parralled a physically corrupted backup cd) and spent six months or so trying o track it down on p2p networks and the internet before i found it again. the whole experience, and the rush i got when i finally found it was not unlike that of physical collecting.

i have of course, since lost it again, and will soon be mounting an attempt to locate it once more.

k

MrYellow · Post by **MrYellow** » Wed Feb 16, 2005 3:24 am

"It's now in YOUR iTunes™ collection"

hehe sounds like a slogan

So who's collection is it again?

-Ben

cosmosuave · Post by **cosmosuave** » Wed Feb 16, 2005 3:25 am

I don't see how an MP3 can be collectible? What is stopping somebody from copying it and redistributing it?... With vinyl or CD it takes some effort to bootleg either...

Maybe this is were the generation gap comes into play... I for one would rather read from a book that a LCD/CRT but younger people don't mind reading from a screen or collecting MP3's as I'm to believe...

mikemc · Post by **mikemc** » Wed Feb 16, 2005 6:04 am

cosmosuave wrote:I don't see how an MP3 can be collectible? What is stopping somebody from copying it and redistributing it?...

hmm, nothing I think, but you can create supply and demand by 'disappearing' the MP3. Artist announces in a key place "hey mp3 up for you to grab, but only for x days/hours" so the people who are really in are able to snag it.

Maybe they decide not to share for a few days to savor their cool.

It's like collections for those with A.D.D.

DISUYE · Post by **DISUYE** » Wed Feb 16, 2005 6:18 am

The music I DJ is essentiallly disposable... some tracks are classic, but on the whole these tracks get played for no more than about 6-12 months before being replaced by new music. And the bulk of this music is obtained from the artists as AIF/CD files or bought as WAVs from beatport.

On the other hand - music which has a longer term life - albums and such, I still buy on commercially made CDs. Yoou get the music, but I also enjoy the effort gone into sleeves, the whole concept behind the design, packaging & the music.

Dan

Moonburnt · Post by **Moonburnt** » Wed Feb 16, 2005 11:19 am

DISUYE wrote:The music I DJ is essentiallly disposable... some tracks are classic, but on the whole these tracks get played for no more than about 6-12 months before being replaced by new music.

Which raises a whole other issue. Personally that use-once-and-discard "disposability" of a lot of dance music bugs me, I'd rather hear quality than quantity any day.

BTW that's not a dig at you or what you play (because i have no idea what you play, other than from what you just said). It's more of a dig at the nature of this digital media-saturated world

onyxashanti · Post by **onyxashanti** » Wed Feb 16, 2005 1:25 pm

it makes no difference whether it's digital or not...it will still be coveted just as much.

example; one day, 20 years from now, someone will post on ebay that they have an authentic antique laptop from the early 21st century that was used by [xxxx] to make [xxx] style of music. it's in working order, and included the sound card, the machine itself, and a 200gb hard drive filled with the music making and djing software, as well as 30gb's of mp3s from the era...guess what? that thing will sell for way more that it's worth now, because nothing that is on it's hard drive will have been heard or used for quite some time, and the availability of any/all of the stuff on that hard drive will have been discontinued long, long ago because digital peddlers, whether it is software, or music, want you to keep buying the next thing, so the old stuff will just be forgotten.

mp3's and software are more like disembodied digital thoughts, than tangible objects. and although it is easier to pass on a thought, it is also easier to forget, so their value is greater, in a sense. especially since true greatness is only known over time. alot of mp3's from artists that are simply alright, now, will be considered collectible in a few years, but by that time, alot of people will have deleted them to make room for more recent music. which will make it more collectible.

Angstrom · Post by **Angstrom** » Wed Feb 16, 2005 2:57 pm

This is an interesting topic - one that became really interesting to me when I was selling some digitaly generated artwork through a local gallery.

I was selling digital montages alongside some traditional painters, some photographers and sculptors. The best way I could explain how to sell the work was as a 'numbered limited edition print' - the same way photographers do it.

Then ...

the owner said they wanted to buy the original artwork for a collection !

In photography you could buy the negative, but what do I sell as the original here? ... the photoshop document, the harddrive (I originally made it on), the computer? Do I sell them the flattened 'for print.psd' or the working copy with loads of layers.psd ???

it started me thinking about where exactly did my Master Copy live exactly.

Especially when I had to try and explain to the gallery - there is no original!

They could not understand - it weas like a Zen koan to them ![/i]

sweetjesus · Post by **sweetjesus** » Wed Feb 16, 2005 7:15 pm

I think that what will happen once the RIAA gets its stranglehold and DRM (Digital Rights Management) comes into full effect, transferable licences will become the effective measure to ensure authenticity.

What you would do is release a track with say 500 licenses, which means 500 registered users will have licenses and will only be able to play it.

I believe however that in the future, we will eventually be able to transfer the DRM licenses that accompany a track.

You could have a track such as Blur , Song 2 - Licensed to: John Doe who happens to be one of 500 people this track is licensed to play for and change the license to Blur, Song 2 - Licensed for: Joe Smith

Same thing could apply for digital artwork.

Of course I'm sure there would be ways to either copy the track for other people or even hack into it to say the license belongs to you, but to guarantee the value of the media, the artist simply could post the list of registered licensees...

food for thouhgt.

anarchicluv · Post by **anarchicluv** » Wed Feb 16, 2005 8:00 pm

I personally don't feel that the digital music world precludes artists from releasing collectible versions of tracks/albums on CD for those who desire the artwork, the packaging, and a physical copy of something collectable. I think the digital revolution offers more options, not takes them away. I can only imagine how much more love might go into collectible items like this vs. mass produced CD's like we have now.

oddible · Post by **oddible** » Wed Feb 16, 2005 9:26 pm

Angstrom wrote: the owner said they wanted to buy the original artwork for a collection !

Do I sell them the flattened 'for print.psd' or the working copy with loads of layers.psd ???

it started me thinking about where exactly did my Master Copy live exactly.

I think that then things start to take the form of intellectual property and rather than physical media, they purchase the rights. Like software code for instance - you have the copy on your hard drive but someone else paid you to write it so you can't very well distribute that code unless you are licensed to do so. So by buying the 'original' they would essentially be buying the license to distribute - you could no longer publish the work or any derivitive work without their consent.

This concept of the digital collector who can purchase the rights to digital media raises several new questions. Whereas in the physical world there is no real contract for the owner of an original artwork to maintain its quality (as in keeping it free of mildew or other physically degrading effects) they can purchase insurance on the piece. So for a digital work, where there may be a complex setup procedure or environment to make the digital art presentable is it the responsibility of the collector to maintain the work in a presentable form? Can you buy insurance on a digital art piece in the event of a hard drive crash? Is it written into the contract that the original producer can maintain a backup copy of the original work?