A Proposal

[Dan Gould]

I've been thinking about another way that we might be able to share and discuss favorite music with each other. Its inspired by a recent addition to Cadence magazine's regular columns, "Flying Blind."

In Cadence, it goes like this:

Reviewer gets copy of CD but no information on the band, the recording, etc.

Reviewer writes his usual review, including guesses about the musicians.

Here's my thought of how this could go:

1. Participants sign up for their opportunity to share favorite albums.

2. Burns are distributed to participants.

3. Participants post their observations of the album in question.

4. The answers are revealed.

Here's the most important part:

5. Participants who enjoy the CD are honor bound to purchase a legitimate copy. Participants who do not enjoy the CD are honor bound to destroy their copies.

So, the whole idea here is not to pick OOP or super expensive Japanese pressings. Participants should choose in print recordings which are easily found at retail or internet outlets. In fact, participants might want to give general descriptions of what they want to offer, so if someone's interests don't include "modern mainstream" or "free improv" they can safely skip an offering.

I realize the obvious risk here: We're announcing our intention to distribute copyrighted material. But I also think that #5 above does a lot to minimize that, if people are truly committed to following the rules (and considering how many people do say that when legit reissues come out, they purchase them, I think we're a fairly honest and ethical bunch). In fact, this idea actually leverages the cheap technology and the reach of the internet to create sales of music which might not otherwise exist-something that the music industry has tried to deny but ought to actually be thankful for.

The other potential drawback of course is the possibility that people who already find themselves hard pressed to keep up with the BFT won't want to add something new to their listening pile.

So what do you all think?

Edited November 5, 2004 by Dan Gould

[Dan Gould]

two hours, 21 page views, and nary a yay or a nay?

I guess its safe to say this isn't getting the instant acclaim Tony's BFT got. Maybe I need to be inspired by 3 AM feedings?

[Brad]

I kind of like the idea almost more so than the BFT just because it doesn't get us into the arcane plus you're giving the potential listeneners what kind of music they're getting into. It's sort of a combinatio of the AOTW and BFTs.

[couw]

I think pandering copies of copyrighted material is not a good idea, even with a cross my heart hope to die promise to be good and buy the real thing clause attached.

Furthermore, I doubt people will have the time, look at how the BFTs eroded the time spent on the AotW threads.

[pryan]

I think pandering copies of copyrighted material is not a good idea, even with a cross my heart hope to die promise to be good and buy the real thing clause attached.

Furthermore, I doubt people will have the time, look at how the BFTs eroded the time spent on the AotW threads.

I agree. No one should be required to purchase a certain disc, regardless of whether or not they like it. I think the BFT and AOTW more than cover the bases, if you know what I mean.