[Dixielandjazz] changing patterns of music merchandising; -Paul Kurtz writes

[Norman Vickers]

To:  Musicians and Jazzfans; DJML
From: Norman Vickers, Jazz Society of Pensacola

Paul Kurtz is a trumpeter who plays with several different bands in
Jacksonville, FL.
He has degrees in psychology and computer science.  He writes about
advantages for him, being blind, to having his music available on computer.

Thanks, Paul, for sharing with us your unique experiences.
____________________________________________________________________________
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Paul Kurtz writes:

-----Original Message-----
From: Paul Kurtz Jr [mailto:kurtzph at comcast.net] 
Sent: Tuesday, July 12, 2011 12:46 PM
To: Norman Vickers
Cc: dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com
Subject: Re: When you pay less, you get less" changing patterns of music
merchandising; -Ken Dryden writes

I've been very interested to read the comments on distribution of music.
When Itunes became accessible for the blind, latter part of 2008, I was
over-joyed!! For the first time in my life, I could finally read the
information about tunes without having to produce a Braille label and have
somebody take the time to read it out to me. I copied every one of my 900 or
so CDs onto my computer with Itunes and haven't looked back. With only a FEW
exceptions, my entire collection of CDs is now in boxes. 
I think a few technical clarifications are in order. When importing my CDs,
I set my import levels to the highest bit rate possible so I could get the
widest breadth of sound the CD could offer. And, I got it. There's no
degradation or changes in this type of import. 
Since that point, I've bought almost exclusively through downloads from
Itunes, Amazon, etc. I immediately have the songs, don't have to memorize or
create a Braille list of where I put the CDS, and can search/select in
whatever way I want. I've compared both CDs and LPs with what I have on the
computer and don't really find enough difference to worry about. (in terms
of sound quality) Having now bought a new computer (instead of my old
piece-parts machine), I find that the sound production is even better. 
Now, from a marketing perspective, I guess it can be argued that my $9.99 or
whatever price I pay for a download is under-cutting CDs and their sales and
that might be true. But, I can tell you that I've spent more now that I can
download, be it from individual songs or full sets, than I ever did before.
It's too easy not to!! I get a song or author in my head, go find them, and
buy! It's less expensive per, but more is made in the aggregate by the
musicians playing. Trumpeter friends of mine are simply taking control and
selling their own material. 
The book written fairly recently (name escapes me) about the suicide of the
recording industry is right on the money and I can't honestly sympathize
with them. They didn't care about inaccessibility of materials for me and
they really didn't care about the customer needs and desires in general. I
do hope they survive because I'm sure there are good and dedicated people
working in these entities. But, they resisted things that could have helped
me 10 years ago or more and now, they pay the price of not being willing to
think forward. 
One other quick note is this. As music formats become better, i.e. .m4a as
opposed to .mp3, the music will do nothing but get better. And with storage
space being so cheap, production costs will be cut, the consumer will keep
getting a better price, and the artist will not lose. 
One last little point. I can now focus a trumpet student on the specific
area of music in a recording that highlights the technical stuff I'm trying
to get across to them and the reasons for exercise assignments. This is
helpful and now easier than with CD and more especially LP.
Paul Kurtz Jacksonville, FL =