Now, onto some feelings from me. I'm fading away from wanting to post full albums from these favorite artists of mine, I actually feel pretty bad about it in a way, because they really do need support. Like, I saw Egadz at a show in Salt Lake, & he knew who I was, and he brought up me posting his albums. He said he understands what we're doing, but that it Really hurts. That made me feel REALLY bad, because I want to share & expose these artists to all of you that might not otherwise know about these artists. But try and do it without hurting them too much you know? & honestly, most of the time when I posted full albums, they were links that I found elsewhere, already uploaded. Usually the only thing I actually upload are my mixes, & tracks that I got direct from the artist... So anyway, I'm pretty much never going to post any full albums anymore from these artists that really matter to me. I know that doesn't make too much sense at this point, but after running into Egadz & hearing what he had to say, it really made me think about this. Everybody knows that music blogs are a tough situation, so I'm going to try something new. Interviews. Maybe try & work something out with the artists to get something exclusive happening here @ Strictly Beats, I'd really like to get Strictly at a point where it's like a Digital Magazine, stuff to read & learn about the artists, as opposed to just downloading their FULL albums. & always asking permission about things before posting. I'm sure a lot of you are shaking your heads at this, but it's how I feel & what I want to do. So expect to see some new things from me around here...
Alright, that's about it. I'll have an update sometime in the next week or so, & then work on the interviews shortly after that. I want to get Egadz, Emancipator & Tycho interviews up here soon. Please comment on this post, I want to hear what you all think & have to say about this idea. But, in the meantime, here is the new GUTS album. I've seen a lot of requests for it, & it is on a TON of other blogs, so I don't feel too bad about posting it up. I haven't listened to it yet, & won't be able to until I get home, so let me know if it's good! Alright, please comment & i'll catch up with everybody when I get back. PEACE!
GUTS - Freedom
@ Goodwill: Sorry about not getting back to you, just got your mails. Check yours, I got back to ya.
45 comments:
you gotta do what you think is best. Im still a fan. thanks
OHHHH maaan you got to see the tycho show in Seattle!!! Oh my god i am so jealous!!
Good music rises to the surface...this is free publicity. Without your blog, they'd have 10% the listeners they do now.
I'm feeling you. On my own blog, I've been a bit indecisive as well. Haven't posted an album in a while - mostly cos I was too busy to make a decent post, but also cos I don't feel the just posting-for-posting's sake. Plus, the wannabe journalist in me is trying to do something a bit more significant than putting up albums.
I'll probably still post the odd album, but I'll pretty certainly not post *brandnew* full albums (well, except to keep Stonesthrow on their toes, once in a while). As for posting slightly older material which has either got picked up from the shelf by now or isn't likely to make the big bucks anyway, I don't feel so bad about it, so I'll just go back to my original formula which was just that.
I'd definitely appreciate interviews and whatever extra info and background people could add to their posts. I have always endorsed at least a half-assed write-up as opposed to lazy posting, so go on and do that shit. It might bring some new life into this old maid (and turn off some of the strictlyloaders.)
people out there such as myself understand that dilemma where you want to expose ppl to the music but you want to do it legitimately at the same time. we've been getting free classics for a long time so changing it up for the sake of the artists is a step in the right direction imo.
Honestly, I give thanks to you and everyone who listened to my music as a result of posting it here. We used to trade tapes way back when, and talk passionately about what we hated or loved. I just hope that the tradition continues whether it be by blog or during 3 am drives to the nearest fast food joint.
I think it would be great to have a pw protected link for members only, because I think people who know music as well as you guys do should get it for free. I think there's a middle ground here to be explored.
cool, what you posted was wack anyway....just kidding!
maybe you want to collaborate with a dj who mixes the "full album" downloads
with that mix, your readers still 'get the gist' of an artist's work but not the same experience as one would have when listening to the full album
I don't pay for the majority of my music, but when I hear something I REALLY like, I support. Emancipator and Tycho are two artists I've been exposed to on this blog that I plan on buying albums from in the future. Im sure other people here will do the same. So don't feel too bad about sharing music, you may be doing more good than you think. I gotta say Im a little disappointed that you won't be posting up any full albums now, but I respect your decision and you have good reason not to.
Definitely feel what you are saying and looking forward to the new format.
You guys have been putting up some major heat over the past x years. Good lookin' out on all of that.
Looking forward to the new format.
As an artist I have to say downloading is horrible for the musician. It usually cost a little over a grand to make an album. So that means we have to sell a lot of albums to even start making any profit from our music at all. But then it cost more money to distribute it. And a lot of time to make the album.. and Time IS money. So in the end an artist has to bust his ass to break people off with an album. Then if the majority of the people goto some blog and download the whole thing for free... we not only lose profit.. but do not get back the money we invested in the project. Which then makes you pretty much want to stop making music altogether. But go ahead. Keep downloading. It doesn't affect you. But it does affect us.. a lot. And don't get pissed when we stop making music for you to download because we can't keep up with our bills.
dj shadow, in the building
to be frank we take down anything an artist does not want here, so for this blog and a few others. we respect artists that don't want their work given to emcees and dj' to push the art form with.
@ shadow - the fact this post was made at all shows the blog is wrestling with the issues and trying to find a balance that doesn't cripple the artists.
@ strictly beats dudes - i was turned on to tycho from another blog and i've bought everything i can find since then. you turned me on to nosaj thing, so hopefully the same thing will happen there.
i D/L a lot of music, but try to buy as much music per month as i always have. if everyone did that, maybe there'd be more room for artists to survive?
Not a fan egadz or what he has to say
Haa.. well you must have been one of the only ones who DIDN'T shut my server down when the links to my album got posted here. I never dissed Strictly or its readers.
You may or may not know or care but theres a similar conversation going on @ http://www.soleone.org/board/viewtopic.php?t=15014&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0
I feel u homie, as an artist who post here and makes my living exclusively now off my own music, thats a noble pledge you are making!
i have an instro album im bout to release shortly and planned on giving the sB readers the heads up first, it will be a PAID download and limited pressing but i hope cats who support myself, Panacea and my instro mixes will support me too!
i ironically caught mad ish from Rawkus for posting the panacea instros to Ink is my drink last year but frankly dont care as they aint do ish to promote us, but now that we indie again we gotta balance the freebies with makin some doe so ultimately we can stay makin more music!
K-Murdock
i just want to say that the only way i knew of egadz! is through this blog. i went out to his show here in tucson when he rolled through, bought one of his cds at the show (since he was out of vinyl) and then later purchased monotony on wax at a record shop here. i do the same for any other underground producer or dj that i find on blogs. i can only speak for myself though. anyone who just leeches off the internet and shows no financial support otherwise to these artists shame on you.
shendo
nawledge your on point.
considering the following you seen to have, i'm sure people trust your judgement well enough to pursue purchasing the artists you recommend.
considering that many of them are available for extremely reasonable digital download prices, its not really that big a sacrifice.
its like at the ice cream store - you get to try the flavour to see if you like it, but if they gave full serves away for free there would be no point running, and the best ice cream makers would go out of business.
haha.
that is a really shitty analogy, but hey, you get my point.
love your work, wish there was something like it here in Australia.
Do it.
There will always be other blogs posting full albums. Strictly Beats might as well be the one with ethics. If people want to rip off artists, let them do it elsewhere. It's not hard anyway...it usually consists of googling "Artist album .rar"...
Besides, Egadz himself talked to you about this. It's hard NOT to stop this when the artists themselves know you already.
I'm going to request a Blue Sky Black Death interview!
oh and don't forget
it's like selling drugs .. if you don't do it someone else will ;)
but would you guys be at their shows if you never downloaded their albums?
"Anonymous said...
but would you guys be at their shows if you never downloaded their albums?"
^^ this right here...
anyone making music in this climate should understand the risks in investing money into something that is a hobby..because in 2009, if youre making music, and not doing shows of any sort, thats all it is...a hobby. its almost impossible to generate substantial income and live comfortably from the music you make. especially if your new to the game. its just not gonna happen, sorry.. like everyones stated before, half of the artists music thats been posted on this blog wouldve never been heard by the majority of people who come to this site. the industry is changing, and unless you change with it, your just gonna be stuck on some comment section of a blog...
Really what artists need to do is to become more inventive about how they share their art ___ When I hear stuff like *time is money* I feel sad for people that really think that! this web thing is so beautiful, it opens up new ways to share art and ideas without being banned with these evil copyright corporations. Take a moment to realise the picture we have,,:
one dude very talented wants to share his art to the world, but doesn't have money and doesn't want to sign any contract with crazy oppressor people_Today he can do it in a way that is equally benificial to him and to the fans without no penny in pocket. posting it with donation proposal...
Dj shadow you're missing the point here, change the word stealing by sharing and things will go very well for you with little imagination!_
Vlooper
I am a graphic artist and huge fan of egadz, shadow, and some of the others you have posted..I agree with Shadow and would love to be involved and partially invested in some kind of online magazine...
Better to spread the word than to fade into obscurity. Most of us are beat lovers or DJ's who naturally share this music and support it anyhow. For those of you who whine about us not supporting your LABORious efforts, try and look at it from a different perspective, we're actually helping you
Handle it homie.. Stay true to you and the rest will work out..
God damn it....ever since this post nobody has posted anything new.
Fuckers.
hey shredmans, timmy here from alta (peruvian, redhead, saga jacket). found this blog by just googling some of my favorite albums. stoked on what you're doing. i was at Mt. hood all summer...please fucking tell me emancipator wasn't playing in portland all summer. i guess you're the reason everyone at the pdogg loves him.
think a membership+PW would be the way to go. stoked to check out Tycho. also, i think all small musicians need a website with a paypal donate button. just did a quick search and couldn't find one for egadz. Pretty Lights has to give out his music for free because of licensing issues (like Girl Talk)- i went to his website and downloaded two of his albums and immediately donated $10 (i mean i'm a poor ski bum and 100% of that is going directly to the artist). in an ideal society with ethically moral people, this is how music would/should work. if people know that 100% of their donation is actually going to the artist, i think they are way more likely to donate. also heard a cool story about how a blogger went to a show and afterwards went up to the artist and gave them $20--since he admitted to download their music.
Pretty Lights is a good example of a new artist becoming successful. Free downloads and a donation option have probably treated him well. I'm also positive that he's making a killing on tour, and for good reason; his music is dope. Granted, it's not your standard instrumental hip hop, but he's being rewarded for doing his own thing and creating a unique sound.
*I also agree with a members & password system.
ok here's the low down.
dropping instrumental albums for artists that only release instrumentals is not "cool"
however if an artist drops vocals over those instrumentals and calls it an album, then it's "cool" to post those instrumentals if released in full instrumental album fashion or released as 12" UNLESSSSS, unless the instrumentals then released are all made by the same beat maker and released by said beat makers label or said beat makers own indie sales approach, but if jay-z for example, releases instrumentals to his bp3 album, then post that shit....
you don't have to agree, but this is the compromise, and that's that for me.
membership system will not work if it's through blogger.
and if you make everyone become a member then your like every other forum that does the same shit. the thing that makes this place dope is it's all essentially on one page, organized and no need to sign up.
-gandalf
...back to the topic at hand, which is this work that has been posted for feedback and consumption...Whoever you are, Mr. Guts, your music drips with professionalism and sounds polished and full of potential....but that sometimes makes for a mediocre beat tape that may sound crispy but doesn't move you....I might be able to give "I Want You Tonight" a few worthy spins but I'm still lost as to which track was supposed to be a stand-out...and I'm still not sure who Mr. Freedom is either. Thanks for posting though.
I buy the music when I like the music. I got a decent collection of vinyl now :)
This blog is good because it's part of a revolution in how music is distributed.
I admit, a part of me has a hard time giving up on "free" music, but like the artists here have posted it's not free from there end, and as we all know "There's No Such Thing As A Free Lunch".
But still, I know it's just not right for distribution/marketing/etc. to cost so much as to justify a $15 CD. I am never going to pay that much for music again after blowing all my minimum wage high school money on the product. So we need to find a new way to distribute the music so that the artists can still get paid.
Anyways, I do hope you guys can still post mixes of random work, old soul mixes, exclusive shit from artists, and the like. And thank you Guys for sending the new GUTS album, I had no idea it was even out but I still love "Le Bienhiereux" and have sent a bit of $$ his way.
Peace.
~CKCK
Also, not sure how much this blog has blown up but when I first found it a typical DL link was accessed less than 100 times, sometimes only a dozen times if it was a c-box post. Damn that felt exclusive and did not seem like we were taking away much profit.
Interesting. I think posting mixes, playlists, and single tracks as a sampler for an album you like would be much more ethical and much more interesting; also i love the idea of the site becoming more like a beats-focused online mag with interviews and ppl talking about beats more.
i gave suggestions in response to a goodwill post some time ago http://strictlybeats.blogspot.com/2008/11/suggestion-box-and-one-suggestion-from.html#c7979375612301112133 that i think are a much more ethical and interesting alternative to whole-album dumps.
on the artist side, i think in this day and age you have to do shows and sell stuff at them. the dreams of megariches without a slow grind are all but gone.
Tim's idea of musicians having a direct donation link is also simple and astoundingly good. 10 bucks direct beats one buck or five off a deal.
I often thought all those dilla tributes were remiss in not having a prominent link to donate to the fam he had to leave behind.
Oh. Did I thank you jagoffs for murdering my favorite site?
Thanks.
Dicks.
Word... THANKS A LOT for all of the comments people. I really like to hear what you have to say on the subject.
TIMMAY!! What up homie?? Sorry about not gettin back to you on here for a Minute now, been super deluxe busy... I was up in Hood for a good portion of the Summer too mang! from like the 15th of July - Aug 15th, crashin in the woods behind Govy General every night with the occasional crash at the Girls/Matty Mo house. Too bad we never ran into each other. It was a legit Summer though huh? Too many night stumbling back to my air mattress after getting fuckin wasted off Hamm's at Charlie's or The Rat. Pretty much epic.
But no, Emancipator did a show in Portland in July with Bonobo's Live band, and then he went touring after that. He did a few shows with Pretty Lights on the tour (I actually just saw Pretty here in San Fran a few nights back, it was fuckin LIVE!) and then I caught him back in Portland after he had finished his tour. If you get a chance to see him though, I recommend it, I'm going to try and see what's up with him doing a show in SLC sometime over the winter, possibly...
What's up with you though, are you going to be back at the Dawg this year?? I'm going to be workin at the Photo spot again I think... We'll see. I hope to catch you around the LCC though son, dope to see you made the connection on this page!
Peace.
dude that depresses the shit out of me that we didn't run into each other. i barely had any money to get by this summer (could barely pay rent nevermind going to the bar). holy shit though. i was there may til september. do you remember that house behind govy general with the yellow woodward at copper banner on the corner? yea i lived there all summer, i just rarely went out. girl scene is sort of typical ski town, so meh. oh yea and i chilled at the girls/matty mo's a few times (they called us "the skiers" house). fucking wierd man. headed back to the dawg mid november. stoked to do some music trading and some scralping.
also unbelievably pissed i missed the emancipator/bonobo show. before the pdogg this year i wasn't even aware anyone else knew who he was. that would have been the fucking best show. you gotta keep me updated on slc shows this year. you already in slc? stoke level is dangerously high already...
oh and i never got to tell you that you did an awesome job on the "altered" pdogg picture. fucking hilarious.
@Tim:
Haaaaa. For real son. I had to stop with that Emp. photo, it would have been way more hype, but I had to stop lookin at that shit! Haha. That's crazy about Hood man, for how long I was there I'm really surprised I never at least just saw you around. Funny, I was talkin to some of the girls from "The Girl House" and they're actually tryin to see what's up with what sounds like your old place from this Summer, as their place for NEXT summer. They were all like "...that corner house by Govy Gen with all the woodward shit, tryin to get on that..." or some shit. So watch out! But I DEF feel you on the girl scene, that place is FUCKED when it comes to that, way worse than anything up the canyon. I've got a crazy story for ya on that tip... I'll fill you in when you get here.
But yea, chillin in SLC right now, it's fucking DUMPING as I'm typing this, things are already looking good. Mid-November's gonna be solid. I'll be up there a lot so we'll have to flip some shit when u roll into town, trade some stories. Stay up until then mang. Peace.
yo brett i don't have your email, so the only way i have to contact you is here...so...
http://www.bossasaurus.com/ !!!
check it man, funky fresh beateriffic!
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