The Music Buying Experience Has Changed

The Music Buying Experience Has Changed

The music buying experience isn't what it used to be. As soon as Napster and other services helped usher in the age of the download, things began to go down hill for the industry. It's gotten to the point where some people don't even buy their music anymore.

One of the effects this has had on some bands is they don't even attempt to record much new music these days. There was always an emphasis on touring and promoting their music that way. That's how bands really made their money, and it's still the case today.

With the radio driving record sales, the more hit songs that got played, the more records that were sold and the more fans would show up to concerts. Many of the acts that don't record much these days are classic bands. This is largely due to the fact that they can't get new music played on radio anymore, but their hits play on those classic rock, country and soul stations.

Popular downloads have eliminated most of the record stores from existence. There are a few, but big chains like The Warehouse and Tower Records are gone. The places that still exist near me deal with new stuff as we'll as used albums in record, tape and CD format. The artists that get pushed these days have CD's on sale at places like Wal Mart and Target, but it's dying fast.

Knowing what they now now, I wonder how hard they would push for CD's to replace cassettes back in those days. CD's were converted to a downloadable format so easily, and suddenly sales started dropping. People got the music for free. It didn't help that the industry increased the price with each new format.

Records were the cheapest, and ironically, vinyl records are making a comeback. The price went up for 8 Track tapes and then Cassettes. By the time CD's came along, people were complaining about it being too expensive to buy. The sound may have been better, but it seemed like a money grab.

It didn't help that by then people started to figure out how little the artist was actually making per sale. The money went to the people in the suits, and they kept pushing for more from each artist until sales slipped. Then, they were yesterday's news. Some groups rebelled, but the genie was out of the bottle.

A music buying experience used to be about spending time at the record store, listening to what was playing on the speakers. You'd look at the album and the art work. What songs were on it. Packaging made a difference and helped sell a lot of copies.

When you got home, you'd eagerly take the album out of the wrapper and play it. The better albums had liner notes and lyrics to the songs you could follow along with. You could look at all the pictures and thank yous and all of that. People don't care about that stuff now, but I liked it.

Now, new music is just a click of the mouse away. If you like a band, you can find most of their work on the internet and concert footage as well. You can support them if you want, but it's easier than ever not to.

It's a shame, but everything about the music industry is messed up. Who knows if we'll ever get it back close to what it once was. It used to be about the art form, but more value is being placed on star quality. I suppose one good thing about how things are now is you can easily find just about anything that suits your taste online for free.

Album Review: Styx Paradise Theater

Album Review: Styx Paradise Theater

I think the peak of the success of the band Styx was when they released the 1981 album Paradise Theater. This was a band that had certainly paid their dues for years until finally scoring a hit with Lady, a song written by Dennis DeYoung. It came from their second album, but it wasn't a hit until after their fourth album, thanks to a Chicago D.J. who insisted on playing the song every day until it became a hit.

In 1977, The Grand Illusion established them as one of the top rock Rock & Roll bands of the time. Dennis DeYoung sang and played keyboards, Tommy Shaw sang and played guitar, James Young played guitar and sang and the twin brothers, John and Chuck Panozzo, played drums and bass, respectively.

As big as The Grand Illusion was, when Paradise Theater came out, there were times when the band had to add extra shows to their tour to accommodate the demand of the fans. The album was a multi platinum success, and it was very much a part of the soundtrack of my life. I have fond memories of that tape playing on my sister's tape recorder as we hung out in the front yard.

The album really speaks of the changing of the world. The good old days of the past and the uncertainty of the future. Even with that, there's a certain optimism with those songs. This is Styx we're talking about, and they are very much a band about positivity.

The album cover and the theme of the album featured an old theater that once was the place to be. Now, it was closed. The intro to side one, AD 1928, sets the mood, leading into Rocking The Paradise. Both songs were sung by DeYoung, who has some of the best moments on the album.

Rocking The Paradise and DeYoung's The Best Of Times were both top ten songs on the charts. However, Shaw scored his biggest hit with the band on this album with Too Much Time On My Hands, another top ten hit. In fact, these three sings propelled the album to #1 status on the charts.

The album was not without it's controversy. The song Snowblind featured the vocals of both Shaw and Young. It's haunting melody at the beginning is followed by lyrics that speak of addiction. It certainly wasn't glamorizing it, and it's an honest song. Styx was once accused of backwards masking satanic messages on their records, and Young would sometimes comment that the devil had nothing to do with that song before playing it in concert.

On just about every Styx album, Young is called on to bring a little more of a rocking edge to the band. This comes out in his song Half Penny/Two Penny. Maybe it's not his best contribution, but it's not a bad song either. Tommy and Dennis seem to get the most notoriety, but James is also a triple threat as he is an impressive guitar player, has written on some of the band's hits and is not a bad rock & roll singer.

Nothing Ever Goes As Planned was one of the five songs released as a single and charted the lowest, while still in the top 60. It's another DeYoung tune and sort of reminds me of Why Me from the Cornerstone album. Tommy has an under rated song on this album with She Cares, which is about the woman who stood by him through everything.

For me, Paradise Theater is a satisfying album from start to finish. I bounce back and forth between this album and The Grand Illusion as to which is my favorite Styx Album. I never got to see them live at this stage in their career, but when I saw them on the Return To Paradise Theater Tour in 1996, they sounded great. Had they been able to work together after that, I'm sure they had at least one more hit in them.

If you haven't heard this album and like songs that rock, with an upbeat message, check out Paradise Theater. As Classic Rock albums go, it's still one of the best. The critics may not have liked the band, but judging by the record sales of well over three million for this album alone, the fans loved them.

And, though Dennis and Styx tour separately these days, I am reminded of a lyric from AD 1958. "But tonight will always last as long as we keep alive, the memories of Paradise."

Indiegogo Campaign Launched For Trans Created Film, Again Again

Indiegogo Campaign Launched For Trans Created Film, Again Again 

Transgender Actress/Writer Mia Moore and Experimental Artist/Filmmaker Alexa Feeney just launched an Indiegogo campaign for a movie they are creating independently. It's called Again Again.

 

Indiegogo for Again Again

It's sort of a Groundhog Day type of movie in which a woman named Agatha is stuck in a time loop for 10 years. However, everything isn't wonderful when she gets out of the time loop. She wants answers. She's struggling to make sense of it all. She's struggling to reconnect with her childhood friend and love of her life, Tess.

First of all, I'm a big fan of independent created work. This is stuff that is done outside of Hollywood, where the creators have more control. They rely on fan donations to make it happen. I've enjoyed a lot of "gaming geek" type of stuff, such as Journey Quest, Standard Action, Space Janitors and other such projects. These type of things span all types of genres.

You see fan created series, which generally release on sites like YouTube in 10-15 minute episodes. Other times, people just create whole movies like Mia is doing, and they do it on a very slim budget. It's amazing what people can do on small budgets. Given the technology we have these days, they can produce things with very good quality.

If you assemble a good crew who knows how to work with less and acquire the things that are needed, people who know how to write and people who can act, you'd be amazed by what you can accomplish.

This is something I'd like to be involved with. I am a writer and I'd love to create some sort of web series or just shorts on different subjects. Given budget, I'd probably start with dialogue driven things. I already have a few ideas in mind.

When it comes to the transgender community, we get marginalized and ignored. When Hollywood has made movies starring trans characters, frequently they put cisgender women in the roles. Or, when they've dealt with people under the trans umbrella, frequently they are the butt of the jokes and not to be taken seriously.

With independent created content, we can change that. What Mia, Alexa and their team are doing is significant. They want $80,000 to film in Washington, and I think the budget is reasonable.

The story they want to tell is intriguing, and I'd like to see this project get completed. In fact, I'd like to see this go so well that Mia and her amazing team are able to continue to do these things.

About a decade ago, Kerri Cecil had gotten out of film school and was looking to do some things. Brittany Blackmon was involved in that as well. In fact, Brittany did a little short called I'm Still Here, starring trans adult entertainer Vaniity.

They didn't have the budget for something with dialogue, so this movie relied on her emoting in different scenes. She was grieving the loss of the one she loved while her teddy bear looked on as if to say, "I'm still here."

Kerri and Brittany did a few more things, and they always featured transgender performers. I liked that, but I wasn't aware it was happening at the time.

They had an ambitious project called The Wi-Fi Killer, which once again was going to star Vaniity. The sad fact is when they opened up an Indiegogo campaign, people complained about them wanting more money.

I do understand that the trans community is pretty marginalized and doesn't always have a lot of money. Some people might have had the perception that this was a money grab, but it was merely the creators of this movie trying to fund what they were doing and do it in better quality. Kerri was a bit dark in what she was doing, but I thought she had intriguing ideas, such as a transgender superhero.

When I see somebody step up and want to feature trans performers, I take notice. If/when I ever get to be involved in something like this, I want trans performers.

I do stuff with animation right now, and some of my avatars are trans. Granted, I'm more in the erotica vein in this endeavor, but what I'd like to do would be more mainstream.

As was mentioned in the promo about Again Again on their campaign site, too often if you do see a trans performer in a movie, they're dealing with being trans.

It's as if that's the only thing to the trans existence. However, we live regular lives otherwise. We have loves, we have jobs, we have struggles other than our self-identity and it's important to tell these stories.

I like the idea that Again Again is dealing with somebody coming out of a time loop and not just resuming normal life as if it's all great. She was in a time loop with somebody else. So, she's dealing with reconnecting with that person, who doesn't know what happened in the time loop. There's so much potential for good drama and dialogue here, and I'm excited to see the finished product.

What I want to do is spread the word. I believe they are already 10% in on the fundraising towards their $80,000 goal. I'd like them to get to that point and even have a stretch goal. This type of thing costs money. People are getting paid to do jobs, they need props and wardrobe and other expenses may need to be covered. 

They won't get the Hollywood budget for this. If they hit a stretch goal, maybe they get six figures, but even that isn't a lot of money. It's enough to allow resourceful people to tell a good story that we can all enjoy. For that reason, I would urge people to support the indiegogo campaign for Again Again.