shame matt, its people like you that I use for examples… as a reason NOT to get into the music industry… of course, your only the one of the many

am i downloading the torrent? yes. will it stop be from buying the album? no. (pre-ordered already). as it happens, i got into matt’s music through a friend giving me a lot of downloaded stuff about 5 years ago - then went out and bought every single cd there was, including a copy of loser anthems i paid an obscene amount of money for…

quality was a consideration, not to mention the obvious fact that you need to register you support for an artist that doesn’t pander to lowest common denominator taste in order to sell 17 billion records (long list that one), and hope enough people will do same in order for said artist to keep having the opportunity to release music…

and my only complaint is i can’t come to any shows! i lived in the uk, now live in greece, so my only option is to travel to canada, which i can’t do this year coz i’m working till october and then my passport gets temporarily revoked until i do my bloody national service… but the plan is there for when touring starts for the next album… fingers crossed…

And even though the stream is up and I can listen to the whole thing I am not! I am waiting until I buy the CD, put it in the player, and listen the good old way! It’s asking a lot of patience but it’ll be worth the wait in the end I’m sure! ;)

:D

I must make it absolutely clean as well.. that i intend on buying a copy the day it is released in stores, and plan on supporting at least 2 shows on the upcoming tour (i know the majority of money artists make is through touring).

I would also prefer to maybe purchase the album directly from matt.. so the middle man doesnt get any money. im sure you will offer that on the site as well.

To be honest though.. i do download a lot of media and i do not in turn buy the actual copies… why, its too expensive and i make just above minimum wage. if i were to buy every movie, game and record that i wanted, i would need hundreds of thousands of dollars.. and to be perfectly honest, most of this stuff is not worth the price of admission, hence i have a very good reason to download it for free. If more entertainment that was released to the public was of a higher standard, then maybe i would feel obliged to spend my hard earned money on it.

As it stands right now.. Matthew Good’s albums are the only music i have bought in the last 10 years. Although i feel shamed for a few of my other favorite artists that i have stolen from :( i just cant afford it!!

And Mr McCormack, speaking as someone who has set foot in Scotland, you’re in desperate need of a good old Glasgow Kiss. And some music lessons. Also, it’s quite inetersting that your photoshop art looks like third-rate radiohead album art cast-offs. I’ve heard it said that good artists borrow and great artists steal, but there’s something to be said for at least some level of originality.

I for one, plan on buying the album…and not from iTunes unless there ends up being some type of iTunes-specific extra goodie. And since the days of Napster, have been of the opinion that not paying for a product is theft…and that ripping a stream is violation of a not-always-unspoken contract, and falls under the theft category also.

I agree - you deserve my money for making music that I enjoy listening to, even if it has never been commercially released. It’s yours, it’s awesome, and you deserve compensation.[/quote]

I agree and you can count me as another would-be buyer of this material as well.

I agree - you deserve my money for making music that I enjoy listening to, even if it has never been commercially released. It’s yours, it’s awesome, and you deserve compensation.

Many years ago, I was invited by friends to attend a show of yours. As encouragement, they gave me a CD of bootlegged Raygun, Broken, and Left of Normal tracks… which tuned me into your music. From there, exposure to your writing and political activism has helped shape my character in a positive way; and for that I’m indebted to both you, and to my friend who earnestly promoted your music so many years ago.

I had the opportunity to go out driving with friends last night, and immediately wanted to share your new album with everyone, in a genuine effort to continue that cycle. I would’ve put down any form of payment right then to get a good quality recording to put on my iPod. In the absence of that option, I had the album downloaded from a torrent in under ten minutes, and listened to it with friends for two hours. It left quite an impression on all of us.

My ability to enjoy and share your art one month before your record label decides to release it on some arbitrary “new music tuesday” will not discourage me from purchasing it from the same record label on its official release day. It will not curb my desire to purchase tickets for both upcoming shows in Victoria and the show in Vancouver (because your live shows are fantastic — bootlegged recordings can never do them justice). If we all come to terms with the fact that there will always be hecklers and freeloaders like `catastrophe`, and there will always be fans and supporters like most everyone else in this thread, even the act of addressing music piracy to fans on your website seems somewhat pointless, albeit a necessary evil.

I’d like to propose a new discussion for the group: What’s involved in establishing an environment that can support the creative works of artists like Matt? I don’t have the luxury of being a member of the Medici family: one who could use their wealth and influence to support artists and bring about an era of prosperity for the arts and for human rights. No single person on this forum has the money for that kind of sea change… so what do we do?

Record labels seem to be the big blocker in opening up a path for independent artists. I could go on for hours describing ways in which labels affect the creative process and dilute the quality of music we are exposed to; Rather than dwell on the negatives… can we focus on ways to remove labels from the picture altogether? Is the money a big label throws at an artist in terms of the production, distribution, and promotion of new music completely indispensable? With the advent of iTunes and CD Baby changing the face of the distribution channel, if we forget promotion for a minute (tough to compete for radio time when it’s all been bought anyway)… would the higher percentage of album sales going directly to the artist cover things such as living expenses and studio time?

I almost think this should be spun into a completely separate thread, but it really depends on what we as a community can come up with. What’s realistically gained if existing fans purchase two, three, or four albums? Short of sharing music by giving the legitimately purchased copies to friends… it’s only marginally padding the pockets of labels, and isn’t the paradigm shift I’m looking for. How could recording studios be made more affordable? Should the Federal government be doing more to subsidize burgeoning Canadian artists? (This could mean anything from direct sponsorship, to tax breaks, to a requirement for more Canadian content on television and radio stations enforced through the Department of Canadian Heritage…)

The crux of my post is that if Matt’s record contract is in jeopardy because of a few lackluster album releases (where greater fault rests in poor decisions by label management surrounding their promotion than the fault of those without the intent or financial means to purchase the albums at all), we owe it to ourselves to explore every available option to ensure he can continue creating new music free from a hostile label environment.

Happy Canada Day, everyone!
:: soundstruck (the optimist)

As for the topic at hand, I tend to group music into three categories: Good enough to buy, good enough to download, and good enough to delete. Matt has always been in the Buy section. I don’t even need to preview his music first; he always delivers the goods.

Side note: availability on torrent doesn’t appear to be having an immediate effect if amazon is any indication. As of right now Hospital Music is hovering on amazon.ca’s sales rank around #2/#3, and that’s on preorders alone with a month left to go before release. I don’t know if that means much, but your fanbase seems alive and well, Mr Good.

I wonder if the stream rip will inadvertently have a positive effect on sales. Once the album comes out people will be looking for it on P2P, then may end up with the low quality stream version instead, which may encourage them to just go buy the CD. (Didn’t music companies try this, flooding the P2P networks with inferior versions of songs just to frustrate downloaders? I wonder if it had any effect.)

I’m with alanrob on the DRM issue. As far as I’m concerned, preventing me from ripping a legitimately-purchased CD to my MP3 player equates to a faulty disc that will be returned. (I wouldn’t do that with Hospital Music, of course, but ONLY because it’s special special.)

Also got to admit that I download most albums that people rave about to give them a listen and if I like them then I buy a copy of my own. Piracy may be a problem for the record industry, but DRM isn’t the solution as I (like many others I know) refuse to buy either CD’s or iTunes downloads that are crippled by DRM.

All this despite the fact that I really hate all of the patently annoying restrictions that come with music downloaded from iTunes (which, it seems to me, are both a fool’s game and will eventually be the big 4 record companies’ downfall. That or suing grannies & college kids to try and make a point).

Earlier today I googled for “I’m not safer than a bank” and saw the aforementioned torrents, and yes, it’s tempting, if only to be able to listen to “Boy Come Home” on loop. Regardless I’m still purchasing a copy, maybe several. Both for the sake of a higher fidelity recording and the fact that I want you to keep doing what you do best.

Peace.

Perhaps I’m getting ahead of myself, but the thought alone is much too terrible.

If the artist wishes to SHARE his work for free, by letting you stream an album or song online, then great, be thankful & respectful and listen in.

I’m fairly certain the artist, in this case Matt, is also quite capable of setting up his website so that you can download/copy the entire album or a number of songs for free. (It’s not like we’ve all got some secret technology that he doesn’t). However, sometimes, such as this time, he might choose not to. And yet some decide to ignore this wish. So apart from the physical act of stealing, you’re also demonstrating rather unpleasent character by showing zero respect for the artist’s choice.

And if you think you’re doing the artist a favour by spreading the word with free copies or downloads or what have you - perhaps. But just because you think you’re being helpful, doesn’t mean you are. If you do me the favour of cooking me a steak dinner, you may in fact be doing me no favour at all if I’m a vegetarian. Maybe you’ve introduced ten new fans, but maybe you’ve burnt up five album sales. “Oh, well, they wouldn’t have known to by the album in the first place,” maybe you say. Well, why not instead of giving them a burnt copy, point them to the website where they can hear the streaming album or a few songs for free?

Ultimately, I believe & shall have a hard time not believing, that these choices of how their art is presented & shared belong to the artist. And we’ve seen a lot of generosity lately. Be it Matt’s streaming of his entire amazing album. Or the fact that you can preview 30 seconds of any track for free at iTunes. I’ve bought albums that instead of the tiny “All Rights Reserved etc” speech on the back, they say “please copy & share this with all of your friends”. I’ve been to shows where it’s $20 buys you up to five albums. You just want one for yourself - $20. You know three friends who’d absolutely love this music - $20 for 4.

Artists are being very generous these days. And yet somehow enough is never enough…. I’ve got no problem if an artist wants to give me their work for free. I’ve also got no problem if they’d rather not. It’s their art - their choice. Artists choose how to share & present their work, we as consumers then choose who to support.

Just because you can do something doesn’t make it right. Must I argue such simple things? Just because you can steal music for free online, doesn’t mean you should. Just because there are guns in the world, it doesn’t make killing right. And, for fuck’s sake, just because you’ve got an 80 GB iPod, doesn’t mean you’ve got the right to not pay full price for music. (From above -”It’s simply unreasonable to expect people to pay to fill their 80 gig iPods - at a dollar a song, the end price is crazy” - sorry Wolfrider, I don’t know you, you could be a great person, but c’mon - unreasonable??? really??? So you bought the largest of huge fridges - Do you now deserve discounted beer & orange juice???)

Please - Can’t we all just respect and honour the choices of the artists we claim to love as we would the wishes of our dearest friends?

Sorry for the extremely long post. I assure you this is the short version.
Maybe I feel too strongly because I’m an artist who realizes how difficult it is, how much work it takes, to create something you feel passionately about. Maybe I’m too into the whole treat-others-like-you’d-wanna-be-treated line of thought. Maybe I’m just tired of having this argument with my roommate who burns a stack of 50 discs and then sends them to his sister as a birthday gift. Maybe I’m still blown away by the fact that i can buy 12 or 15 brilliant songs for $10-$15!!!!!!! I mean, even if you’re working for minimum wage, you’re paying little more than an hour’s work for a lifetime music - not to mention the ideas, thoughts, feelings, and memories that it brings.

Anyway - Thanks Matt, for letting me hear Hospital Music. All I could say was “Wow”. I find myself engulfed by honesty I have not bathed in for much, much too long. Looking forward to July 31st & the next live show.

Nick

I re-discovered Matt last fall. I had previously bought the Underdogs and Beautiful Midnight CDs way back when. So when I re-discovered MG, I decided to purchase the Avalanche album off of iTunes. I loved it. So what about the other stuff I missed? I found it somewhere and downloaded it. Realized the quality of the material and ordered the CDs from Amazon. There ya go.

I forget the logic behind all this but I think it was along the lines of “Wow! I think it’s worth having my own CD of this stuff!”