
Where Have All the Bob Seger Albums Gone? - tintinnabula
http://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2017/03/29/521642313/where-have-all-the-bob-seger-albums-gone
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zkms
This was why _what.cd_ was sublime (and its loss a travesty I haven't yet
recovered from) -- it was a peerlessly extensive archive with uncompromisingly
strict curation of metadata and content alike.

Wanton downloading was not tolerated; it wasn't a site meant to avoid paying
for music; it was a project meant to build an archive -- that there was no
payment involved was incidental. You had to contribute to download: either you
got buffer via leaving your torrent client on with a fast internet connection,
or you got buffer by filling requests (people could pledge some of _their_
buffer to an unfulfilled request to make filling difficult-to-find requests it
more attractive). If you wanted to download something and you didn't have
enough buffer, you'd either have to wait for your existing stash to generate
buffer (via other people requesting it from you) or you'd go in the "requests"
tab and buy/lend/obtain and rip the CD in question to fill the request.
Between the passionate userbase and this incentive system, over its 9 years,
there were a _lot_ of out-of-print albums digitised and distributed for the
first time. I spent money on it (for CDs that nobody had uploaded yet) but for
the value that it offered me, I'd be willing to pay a _lot_ for access to a
similar cooperative archival-quality music library not subject to _any_
copyright/licensing issues.

To see albums fall out of print and become obscure and inaccessible is heart-
rending, given that _we have the means_ to archive all of this. It is even
more tragic because we won't have forever -- physical media degrades and
people die (and their collections get lost or thrown away). To quote Pastor
Manul Laphroaig from PoC||GTFO,

> Bitrot will burn libraries with merciless indignity that even Pets Dot Com
> didn’t deserve. Please mirror—don’t merely link!—pocorgtfo13.pdf and our
> other issues far and wide, so our articles can help fight the coming flame
> deluge.

I feel similarly about libraries of music.

~~~
Freak_NL
The same holds true for film and television as well; any twentieth century
media really. It is a saddening state of affairs that we have the means to
built and maintain a global distributed digital library of Alexandria, but not
the political will or legal means.

The absurdly long copyright terms are too blame for most part. 2017 is strange
in that there are not nearly as many ways of sharing our vast collective
libraries of digital or digitized culture as five years ago (e.g., the fall of
What.cd), despite a steady increase in storage and bandwidth.

I wonder what will happen next? I'm not very hopeful about copyright reform
though.

~~~
peatmoss
Now that I think about it, I wonder if this is an area where technical &
financial investment from a volunteer geek corp, plus librarians & libraries,
could create something?

I don't know enough about copyright and how they apply to libraries. It seems
to me that they're the right repository for this kind of thing.

~~~
notatoad
A volunteer geek corp _has_ created something. There are huge archives
libraries of film, TV, and music. They just aren't legal. One of the sites
that has taken what.cd's place is currently sitting at ~477000 albums.
Passthepopcorn has 141000 movies in it's collection.

~~~
sireat
Any hints on what has taken what.cd's place?

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blakesterz
Wow, that's a realllly long read, I have no idea why I read the entire thing,
I'm not much of a Seger fan. The author sure is though, something about the
story kept me reading.

I guess the answer, for those who don't want to read, is something like Seger
and/or his manager just don't want to. Maybe it's money, or maybe they just
don't care.

 _" Much as Seger's status as a regional star from 1964 through 1976 left him
free to record and tour where he felt most comfortable, but those same
decisions prevented him from breaking out to the wider national audience he
craved, his current level of very substantial success eliminates any pressing
need to participate more fully in the digital age."_

~~~
sverige
I'm from that generation and still cringe every time I hear a Bob Seger song,
which is far too often still. There is an annoyingly whiny quality that
pervades his lyrics and singing style.

On the other hand, I can relate to the sense of loss of music that was
seemingly always available at the time but that I never got around to
purchasing. There is no current good service or seller that has a suitably
complete catalog.

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ilamont
Aside from major artists like Seger, something I have noticed is many indie
artists have not made the transition to digital downloads or streaming. I've
seen lots of good stuff missing from Spotify, Amazon Music (streaming), and
the old Apple Music (digital downloads) including early albums by the
Lemonheads (originally released by TAANG records in the 80s), Kula Shaker's
Summer Sun EP from 1997, and Christopher Parkening's Parkening Plays Bach LP
from 1990.

What many of these recordings have in common is they were originally released
on independent labels. I don't know if the labels are no longer in operation,
or whether the rights reverted back to the artist or to another entity during
a sale or special distribution deal. Whatever the case, important recordings
are no longer accessible unless you have the LP, CD, cassette, or DAT (!) from
20 or 25 years ago ... or can find it on YouTube.

I think moving up the format ladder has always been problematic for smaller
labels. I remember when Dischord started selling CDs I got the Minor Threat
album which didn't have a barcode on the back of the CD case. It also came
with a historical booklet so fat it almost didn't fit in the clear plastic
case. They were just kind of flying by the seat of their pants.

One of my neighbors happens to be a former member of the Boston indie band O
Positive; when I asked him why I couldn't get their songs on iTunes he said
the singer (who now happens to be a lawyer) said it was too troublesome to
sort out the paperwork and files (this is before Distrokid came on the scene).
I just checked Amazon Music and only one of their albums is there, which
happens to be their major label release on Epic/Sony. The indie stuff is still
MIA.

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donretag
I grew up listening to Seger's singles in the '80s and never cared too much
for his work. I am a massive music fanatic, and read several music-related
blogs that turned me on to his pre-Bullet work. Way different than the Night
Movies and Only Rock n Roll that I was used to.

Definitely seek out the "Never Mind The Bullets" bootleg mixtape

[https://doomandgloomfromthetomb.tumblr.com/post/86612418452/...](https://doomandgloomfromthetomb.tumblr.com/post/86612418452/never-
mind-the-bullets-bob-seger-1966-1974)

[http://www.aquariumdrunkard.com/2012/08/23/east-side-
story-n...](http://www.aquariumdrunkard.com/2012/08/23/east-side-story-never-
mind-the-bullets-1966-1974/)

~~~
behnamoh
Strangely, you have submitted the very same comment on this page which has
been downvoted and gone to the bottom of the page.

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FrozenVoid
I see bitrot&copyright as some evolutionary filter for content which has
greedy owners or become unpopular. Like natural selection, only the media "fit
to be reproduced" will eventually survive.

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SubiculumCode
Gone to youtube. Lots of his stuff there. Doubt Seger is getting compensated
though.

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behnamoh
His song "On the Road Again" was inspiring... Metallica put out a cover of the
song and took it to a whole new level.

~~~
DerekL
It's called “Turn the Page”.

