LunarTunes
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The Residents & Ralph Records
Jul 28, 2010, 15:43
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Although I am glad that the wide world of torrents exist to allow live, unreleased and/or out-of-print material to circulate, there is no doubt a downside to such activity. For those who may be interested but unaware, Ralph America, the Residents label is closing down on August 15. Here is their official reason:
"As of August 15, Ralph America will be closing due to the general state of the music business and the expanding cost of creating physical products. It's been a great ride. Thanks for all your support over the past 11 years."
Perhaps more telling is the reason given on The Residents blog:
"Ralph America will be closing after 11 years on August 15, 2010. Changes in the music business have made it very difficult for small operations to exist as the world goes download. There are sites where you can download all RA titles for free (RSD ones too) so trying to stay in business no longer works very well."
Unfortunately, they only seem to sell mp3's through their digital store. One hopes they would start selling lossless digital versions of all their music. I reckon they'd make more money that way...
Anyway, there's still a couple of weeks left before they're gone:
www.ralphamerica.com
Peace.
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zphage
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Re: The Residents & Ralph Records
Jul 28, 2010, 16:07
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I assume they are looking at licensing,
like they did with ESD/Ryko in the 90's.
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LunarTunes
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Re: The Residents & Ralph Records
Jul 28, 2010, 16:10
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^Could be. I hadn't thought of that. And they also released some stuff through Mute in the '00s...
Peace.
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Lawrence
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Re: The Residents & Ralph Records
Jul 28, 2010, 16:22
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Damn!
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laresident
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Re: The Residents & Ralph Records
Jul 29, 2010, 03:30
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Indeed a shame, I guess we will never get "Not Available" remastered.
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red paeony
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Re: The Residents & Ralph Records
Jul 29, 2010, 04:05
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THAT is a drag.
At least I've still got my Residents vinyl and my eyeball dangly earrings. I was soooo fortunate to see them twice. They were captivating, brilliant!
RIP Ralph Records
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elegant chaos
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Re: The Residents & Ralph Records
Jul 29, 2010, 09:57
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Is it also because one of the original quartet has now retired? They've been playing European shows as a three piece.
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IanB
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Edited Jul 29, 2010, 10:05
Re: The Residents & Ralph Records
Jul 29, 2010, 10:04
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"Ralph America will be closing due to the general state of the music business and the expanding cost of creating physical products"
Bloody record companies eh? Ripping off artists, over-charging the public, failing to get down with the file-sharing cool kids and getting what they deserve! Er .... sorry, wrong meeting.
I thought the cool kids said that file sharing wasn't supposed to hurt the "real" labels and artists?
We've got a bad case of après moi le deluge going on. Don't say no one warned us.
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stray
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Re: The Residents & Ralph Records
Jul 29, 2010, 10:27
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It still comes down to 'is a download a lost sale' though. As in, would the pirate bought the tune anyhow.
Nah.. no it doesn't come down to that at all.
There is no way that you can sensible collect and correlate any data to provide a proof anyway. Mainly because there are too many exceptions, such as music sales initially increasing dramatically when file sharing kicked off properly (Napster). We can only go on gut feelings when it comes to how file sharing has effected the music industry, there are too many numbers missing from the table to do otherwise (such as being able to provide a qualified trend of how music sales would have developed without file sharing). Common sense does make us think that, well, obviously it's effected the labels and artists bottom line, but there are too many exceptions and other outliers that mess with common sense assumptions.
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IanB
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Edited Jul 29, 2010, 12:30
Re: The Residents & Ralph Records
Jul 29, 2010, 11:05
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stray wrote: It still comes down to 'is a download a lost sale' though. As in, would the pirate bought the tune anyhow.
Nah.. no it doesn't come down to that at all.
There is no way that you can sensible collect and correlate any data to provide a proof anyway. Mainly because there are too many exceptions, such as music sales initially increasing dramatically when file sharing kicked off properly (Napster). We can only go on gut feelings when it comes to how file sharing has effected the music industry, there are too many numbers missing from the table to do otherwise (such as being able to provide a qualified trend of how music sales would have developed without file sharing). Common sense does make us think that, well, obviously it's effected the labels and artists bottom line, but there are too many exceptions and other outliers that mess with common sense assumptions.
No one with any sense would claim that every free download = a lost sale of the same piece of music. The all-you-can-eat-today-for-free thing has people taking music they will never listen to so can't argue three.
On the other hand no one can claim that the proliferation of illegal downloads hasn't to some extent quashed people's general appetite for paying for recorded music. Gluttony leading to ennui.
I analyse people's sales numbers and publishing income for a living -major label and independent artists, big and small, active and heritage - and to me the evidence post 1996 is irrefutable. It's there for the people who want to see it.
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