I only read the first and last page of this thread, but...




Boys, boys, boys!



Why do I have to use that illustration so often here?!

Arguing is good for the spirit.

If people would have not argued, we would have been still baboons.

What's the point of this forum, to kiss our asses and talk about Lil' Wayne's latest legal problem while we are paying to be butt-fucked by some asshole who doesn't give a shit about nothing?

Well, I'm sorry you feel cheated, but Buy Early Get Now has always been and will continue to be focused on the physical rather than the digital, but are you telling me that if the early stream of the album was not a part of BEGN that you would not have bought into it?


Ok, I've been holding off with this rant because it seems so "duh" but here it is. As a label you set a release date so you can focus the energy of your staff, your band, press, radio, TV opportunities, touring, the actual manufacturing of the physical products etc. etc. towards that date and the relatively close time afterwards. This has proven time and again to be the most effective way of selling the most records possible.
A band like Sonic Youth is capable of getting a lot of coverage from what are mostly very conservative media outlets and a lot of those have a pretty long lead time for deadlines. Therefore, if you want the record / band covered in those places and you want that coverage to be as effective as possible you have to have a finished product well in advance of your release date.
With the advent of all new technology you now have records leaking and being available online sometimes months before their actual release date. We, of course, realized that the stream would be ripped right away and that is one of the reasons that it is only 128k/bit. There is a bit of a leap of faith that we are taking here where we hope that the vast majority of people aware of and taking part in BEGN realize that the actual product will sound a lot better than the stream (and we even hope that those folks searching out the torrents also realize this.) and they'll be able to "be cool" about it. We also realize that it is impossible for everyone to "be cool."
So the record is not released it is leaked. Those things are very different.

No, it isn't a "lie". It is what it is, we've been up front with dates and time frames for when things would happen so I'm sorry if you have buyer's remorse right now, but being an educated consumer is the best way to avoid this in the future.

Not sucking Matador's arse here, but i really don't see the point in going on about this??? I don't even understand the problem. Any digital format (except flac maybe but come on) will be inferior to CD, and even more so sexy waxxx. Everybody knows that even my greatgrandmother. What difference does it make between 128 and 320? Next to nothing, this is a STREAM to PREVIEW the album. You were warned. Stop crying. Nobody's forcing you to listen to it. Nobody lied and nobody's stealing yr money or time. On the contrary i think that a lot of effort has been put in to satisfy the customer and i guess there are label concerns that not anybody can actually understand or take for granted. just listen to the songs, damnit.
I've been listening to this on perpetual spin for three days. See? i'm not dead. And i'm loving it. if you're an audiophile, SKIP IT. FORGET IT.
What's with the hate? The label lets you listen to the LP A MONTH ahead of physical release date. Any dumbass Sy fan could do the BEGN thing to get the extra goodies and just AVOID to listen to the 128k (o fuck is that a swearword yet?) stream if they are so inclined. Who fucking cares????
Just be grateful there is a new album out, which is fantastic, that we will all have in our hands fairly soon.
i'm sorry but this is really ridiculous.
get a fucking life, bunch of morons.

greedex strikes again!

o i see you're doing THIS on purpose.
it's okay though, Roberta

I see there is already a 192k version floating around the internet. I'm glad someone who received an advanced copy has better sense than matador.

There is a 989kbs version playing in my nutsac!

bahahahahahaha

no one expects anything but uncompressed 44.1k, 16-bit wave files on a freaking CD. that doesn't justify selling a pre-release stream that makes sonic's hard work sound like total arse. did it prevent a leak? no.

how, exactly, do you think this 128k stream impacts the people that weren't going to buy a CD anyway? They will just upgrade to whatever higher quality mp3 pops up as we get closer to the release date.

So what is the point of torturing the people that care the most about the product you are selling??

You would have shot all three if you had an extra foot.

Watch this. You're gonna love my nuts!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWRyj5cHIQA

which explains why you won't return my philocalls. clearly your spirit is pristine.

that was fucking funny!

will people PLEASE stop trying to get me to download it? I've already told y'all that I want to save myself so the album and I can share our special moment together, like we were meant to, snuggled up, under the blankets, touching each other's tingly bits til we are both sweating, exhausted and in need of a smoke.

that said....

dear mr. martin,

although I feel yr fighting "the good fight", yr doing it on the internet.

nobody wins on the internet, because you can't reach through the screen to punch yr opponent square in the face.

so, please, spare yrself the large blocks of text (and the ire that's surely attached), and go have a smoke and smile. you know yr right, so relax and enjoy what I hope is a flu-free environment.

yr e-pal,

floatingslowly

He isn't right...

he's gonna floatslow but DEEP

actually, he is, and yr lucky to have heard The Eternal in any form.

despite what you may think, Matador (et al) owes "hevusa" nothing (not even a further explanation as far as I'm concerned).

if you have already ordered the album, you will be getting a cd copy soon; so why cry about a slightly-less-than-audiophile-quality recording that you can listen to now?

if this were the ONLY way that you would EVER get to hear this album, then sure, it would be a travesty. but it's not, and the gimme gimme now now now attitude is really unbecoming.

patience, young troll. patience.

192 rip eh? ..... Hervusa, I heard someone is going to leak the uncompressed high-quality wavs in a little bit. The whole album should only be about 570mb to download. You excited?

It won't be long...
which makes this 128 stream even that much more ridiculous.

And people wonder why the record industry is hurting right now.
Do I even have the option of buying a download only uncompressed version eventually? If this guy Dave is any representation of the current state of the industry, probably not.