This is huge. This is amazing. Not only are De La Soul incredible artists, but their work isn't available on Rdio. I had De La Soul is Dead on cassette -- I definitely know what I'll be doing at 11 am (servers willing).
I'm sure you didn't mean it to sound entitled, but it's free music. Disappointed in 128k is fine, as you can't get the sound quality that would meet your requirement to be in your library. But it shouldn't annoy you.
Umm. Not totally sure if you're making a joke or missing the point - there's no point making a lossless file from a lossy source, and even less point making a higher-bitrate lossy version...
Can you actually do that? Up-convert from a lossy source so that the file reads that it's 320kbps or whatever, but sounds like its coming out of an old telephone?
A single generation from 128 to 320 wouldn't be too terrible, mind - it'd probably be noticeable to most people on half-decent speakers, but it wouldn't totally wreck the music. A second generation from that lossy-sourced 320 would probably start to get pretty grating, though.
If you're thinking of doing it for artistic reasons, though, I'd say you're more likely to get better results from a judicious selection of high- and low-pass filters, with a flanger or two thrown in.
Just to expand on what eponeponepon said, digital generation loss (by transcoding/compression) sounds quite a bit different than analog generation loss.
Radiohead were one of the first major artists to do a 'pay what you want' which included $0. I believe they regretted it and I think I read one of the reasons was that it devalued music for everyone. e.g. if they are giving it away why do others think they can charge?
A few years ago, Reznor tried a kind of shareware-style "first episode is free, buy the full version" model with the Ghosts 4-disc set: Ghosts I was free, but you had to pay if you wanted Ghosts I-IV. You could buy either physical version of various levels of fanciness, or DRM-free downloads (MP3 or FLAC).
Here's my thinking about the decision on the part of an artist to release their entire catalog to the public for free: if digital distribution has rendered direct sales to the customer significantly less worthwhile than it once was, they need some alternate source of promotion and revenue. A move like this would likely increase the artists' visibility in the public's eye without significantly harming their total revenues.
Notice that they give out copies of their songs, but don't release their copyright: want to download their music to listen to it on your iPod? Awesome, enjoy. Want to remix it or use it in a commercial setting? The music isn't licensed for that, you're going to have to talk to their agents.
This move is genius: it increases artists' exposure, ultimately leading to increased sales, licensing, and presumably also concert revenues. There's basically no downside to this.
Actually, I think there's a major upside in revenue as the artist profits way more from live shows than from album sales, which are a low margin business as record companies take its lion's share.
Getting their music out there increases their visibility and, therefore, desirability, meaning more people will be willing to pay to see them live.
One trouble is that booking artists for live shows is (or used to be) very driven by album sales, so perhaps we'll start seeing other interesting metrics - like Youtube/FB followers, # downloads, etc - achieving the status a "more official" indicator.
Or, the potential market could grow along with the deluge of free music, no longer restricted to the credit card-holding western adult listener. This would have the potential to trigger increased popularity in radio and other media, benefiting both the artists and listeners. Pure speculation, of course.
believe it or not, amount of local radio play still is the most referenced metric for booking consideration, at least on a profitable touring scale (as in touring for income rather than promotion). downloads and internet fanbase metrics have been used as well for quite some time now, just on a smaller scale, ultimately these decisions are up to the promoter, whether to trust facebook likes to turn into ticket sales, whether to trust a new artist being represented by a historically successful agent (this probably holds more value than any online clout), whether to trust the promoter's own instinct with their local market in deciding what acts will prove successful. ultimately, i agree that making a back-catalog free will benefit certain artists but probably not the domestically touring indie band.
With the rise of national corporate-owned radio stations, you have fewer program directors you need to convince to play your songs. But you're also competing with lots of other bands who sound just like you, because of the record company's tendency to sign clones of already top-selling bands.
Internet playlists (today's mix-tapes?) and college-radio probably have the greatest chance of becoming famous. Live venues work for local markets (Austin in particular), but breaking out onto the national stage is tough.
De La Soul situation is a little more complicated. Many of their albums used uncleared samples and some of the rights are still unclear. That's also why their stuff isn't on iTunes..
But streaming services are so much handier, thanks to their large catalogs. I use Google Play Music and used the free matching/upload functionality to upload my Beatles, De La Soul, and John Zorn collection :).
You might be right about the overall move toward giving away music, but in this case, it's because they simply cannot get their music released digitally due to rights/sampling issues. Giving it away sidesteps the issue, gives them much more exposure, generates a lot of goodwill toward them and will get more people to come out and see them when they put on a concert in your area.
>>> This move is genius: it increases artists' exposure.
Only if people actually find out who De La Soul is. Considering they started in 1987 and their last album was out in 2009, I'm not sure most kids this side of 1997 really know who they are or care about their music.
It would be cool if they did get the exposure. I feel without a concentrated PR campaign, besides a few articles over the next few days, not sure their sales are going to get a big bounce from doing this.
Kind of narrow minded to think the only people willing to pay to see a band are 16-20 year olds. Lots of bands continue make money touring well beyond their initial upsurge era.
I'm 30, and spend hundreds of dollars a year on concerts (Rev Horton Heat, Nine Inch Nails, Lolla, Coachella, etc). I'm debating paying $400 for 3 days in Miami for the Ultra music fest (EDM festival) at the end of March. It's not just 16-20 year olds paying for live shows.
EDIT: I also go to Lakes Of Fire, Burning Man, etc. I may not be representative of larger groups.
Don't most concerts for big name bands easily run more then $100/ticket? Like the Rolling Stones and similar? I don't think those stadiums are filled with people under 30.
I know hip hop is treated as a disposable commodity by society, but kids who are really into hip hop as an art form will definitely learn who De La Soul is sooner or later.
>>>> I know hip hop is treated as a disposable commodity by society.
This is really depressing because most kids think of hip-hop as music only. I was taught hip-hop is a culture. Breakdancing, music, and graffiti are integral parts of the culture. It has such a rich, vibrant history that's disappearing as more and more suburban kids gravitate towards rap. Sure they know Kayne and Jay-Z. Do they know about Sofles, Dondi and Phase 2? Doubtful. Do they about the Rock Steady Crew or the Super Cr3w? No way.
Too many kids just think hip-hop = rap which is depressing.
Here's a viewpoint, coming from a different place, but with the same recognition of the one-dimensional quality of commercial rap, from a lover of hip-hop as a verbal art form --
"I think that mix of vulnerability, confidence and honesty was why our mothers loved [Prince]. I think that was the sort of alchemy we missed in hip-hop. We got close a few times--notably De La Soul on Buddy or Eye Know, or The Roots on Silent Treatment or You Got Me. Also, there are a few Outkast joints. But we never achieved that sort of confidence--that sort of true manhood."
Another viewpoint is from DJ Shadow ("Why Hip Hop Sucks in '96") -- it's the money.
Yeah, but their last album dropped 10 years ago (and my favorite, Stakes is High, will be old enough to vote this year). Great way to get out there agian.
I think this move is about recognizing that they're not going to make any more money on the old catalog, so they're using it as a way to connect directly with their fans - via collected email addresses. Next, I would expect they'll release new material and target it directly at these people. They can charge a minimal amount of money and make more than if they went through any label or, say iTunes.
TL;DR They're doing this to build their email list to create a direct channel for marketing future material.
"The same things that made 3 Feet High and other De La albums so influential — its creative, if not fully licensed, use of a myriad of samples — has also prevented the group's work from appearing on many digital platforms. "It's been a trying journey," admits Posdnuos. "We've been blessed to be in the Library of Congress, but we can't even have our music on iTunes. We've been working very hard to get that solved." The rapper points to frequent personnel changes at record labels and hazy language in early contracts that have led to long delays in properly clearing the group's catalog." - TFA
They can't give out any kind of licenses for these songs, because the rights for the samples they're built from are a tangled mess.
>Here's my thinking about the decision on the part of an artist to release their entire catalog to the public for free: if digital distribution has rendered direct sales to the customer significantly less worthwhile than it once was, they need some alternate source of promotion and revenue. A move like this would likely increase the artists' visibility in the public's eye without significantly harming their total revenues.
Well, if their primary source of revenue were the releases,
then the switch to digital (and the ease of just getting it from a pirate say even for people who would have ordinarily bought the LP/CD), then their total revenue is significantly harmed to begin with.
So, with sales hampered, mostly gimmicks like merchandise remain (for bands that catter to immature people buying branded t-shirts and the like, e.g not gonna really work for jazz or classical or tons of other genres).
And, of course, concerts. But those mostly apply to genres and bands with big enough fanbases to be able to have concerts and make a buck. For the rest, concerts are mostly lossing money (and were historically loss leaders for records sales for most bands).
I found it useful. Makes me more likely to click the actual link when I can see what it might be (an image in this case). Seeing the real domain and path is also nice.
I gotta say, "homage to the guy who produced their best beats" seems very inaccurate, you sure that's the right link?
The link tracks J Dilla's posthumous influence. J Dilla, a.k.a. "your favorite producer's favorite producer", the man behind De La Soul's Stakes Is High among others.
Having said that, I can't help but get nitpicky about a few things (I hope you take this as constructive criticism).
Filling in the blanks: Jackhigh is from the UK, Odd Nosdam is from the midwest but lives in Berkeley, Nocow is Russian (St. Petersburg). Shlohmo is from Los Angeles, not New York. Lunice is from Montreal, not the UK. Dakim is definitely from Detroit, but moved to California a while back. Mike Slott is marked as New York, where he lives now, but he's originally from Glasgow.
Ssaliva and Cupp Cave are the same person. His occasional collaborator Dem Hunger (who is an insane genius) seems only to be releasing music under the Wanda Group moniker of late. Jeremiah Jae is included, as is his older group material with Young Black Preachers, but not the newer stuff as Black Jungle Squad. The DJ for that group, Pbdy, signed to Brainfeeder not too long ago, runs a few regular nights in LA as well as his own label (TAR), and should probably be included, as should many others.
However, the most egregious omissions from the list are Kutmah and Daddy Kev. Daddy Kev is one of the residents and founders of Low End Theory, and the man behind Alpha Pup Records, a label which has released work by many—perhaps even most—of the artists on that list. Kutmah founded Sketchbook, the art/music night which evolved into Low End Theory. When Ras G releases a song called "One 4 Kutmah"—one of many instances of a producer naming a track "One for/4 x" as a nod to Dilla's "One for Ghost" on Donuts—that pretty well establishes you as a godfather of the scene. Without the contributions of those two guys that huge circle covering Los Angeles on the map gets a lot smaller.
And that kind of gets to the heart of what's really missing from this graphic—the personal connections. You're documenting an art movement which is very much alive, not only in the sense that it's constantly evolving, but that it's filled with real people who are friends and coworkers and share ideas (and experiences and meals and even sometimes bathrooms and lease agreements) with each other.
The fact that a handful of producers from across the map all dabble in samples that might qualify their work as "world music" is sort of interesting, I guess. What I find a great deal more interesting is that Kutmah used to earn extra cash by picking up shifts at Poo-Bah Records in Pasadena, one of the best independent record stores on the planet, which just so happens to be co-owned and managed by Take (who is going by Sweatson Klank these days).
Other employees of that shop have included Ras G, Black Monk, and Detective Tully, who himself has long been the stage manager (and frequent opening act) at Low End Theory, and is a founding member of the My Hollow Drum crew along with Teebs, yuk., Co. Fee, Bahwee, and others. MHD made their name playing a residency at the The Crosby in Santa Ana, which was co-owned by Chris Alfaro a.k.a. Free the Robots, a venue which more recently has played host to frequent performances by members of the Soulection and Team Supreme collectives, who have been making huge moves lately and are completely absent from your list. (Even more recently, The Crosby was forced to shut its doors, though I'm certain something incredible will rise from its ashes.)
Similarly, Kutmah was also one of the earliest participants in dublab, one of the first touchstones of the beat scene in Los Angeles. Its founder, frosty, was once a member of Adventure Time alongside Daedelus, and another early and frequent dublab collaborator matthewdavid would go on to release his own work on Brainfeeder, and put out tapes by Ras G, Samiyam, Odd Nosdam, Ahnnu, Dakim, Dem Hunger, yuk. and many others on his Leaving Records imprint, which just last year signed a distribution deal with Stones Throw.
And that brings us back to Dilla, as so many things do. His impact is wide and deep, and he inspired a great many people to do ...
Seriously though, I hate to see these kinds of unforced errors. Especially from guys who should understand that the only reason people know who they are is because of a business model that is under siege.
Now is a time when the music industry desperately needs to make the case for value. These kind of gags don't help anybody.
Of course the old model is upended - that's fine. Adapt and rebuild. Not telling myself anything. Just making the point that maybe this wasn't a genius move on the grand scale.
OK, so I get downvoting a joke that someone doesn't think is helpful to the argument. No problem. But why would someone downvote a legitimate music industry opinion that they disagree with? As someone with over 35 albums to my credit, I just happen to think this isn't a good strategy.
Is the groupthink so strong on HN that someone can't express an opinion supporting the commercial value of professional artists and their work?
I up-voted the comment before I saw this response, as I always do when I see a valid opinion down-voted. Down-voting opposing viewpoints is annoying, but generally people like me will negate it, so there isn't much to be gained from complaining about it.
The first comment was better off downvoted -- it seemed like you expressly came into the discussion just to insult the artist, which is just irritating.
The second comment doesn't seem to have negative karma at this point (it's not terribly insightful -- you don't back anything up, but it's not otherwise bad).
And this comment here is rightly trending a bit negative -- "why did you downvote my comment" threads aren't worth much.
Can you explain how they could release them digitally if they don't have the rights to all of the samples on it?
Given that constraint, how is giving their music away for free (and getting marketing information about their fans) a poor choice vs just letting the more savvy ones download it from the pirate bay?
Or perhaps they've seen the relative age of fans while on tour and decided that introducing their music to a newer generation could allow them to keep performing and making a living.
Well, looks like they've got a few options given what others in their "Old School Early '90's triphop" cohort have done: 1) hope for a Black Eyed Peas - like resurgence; 2) get a reality show (worked for RDMC); and 3) 40-something OG's and B-Girls are likely to have more disposable income than their 18-year old off spring, doing the tours might just be a comfortable enough plan...
God. Please. Don't compare Black Eyed Peas and De la Soul. 3 feet high and rising is a masterpiece of the 20th century. If this helps newer generations acknowledge their work, it will be incredible.
To me "Stakes is High (1996)" was their first album I really liked. And I can't find it online anywhere (not the warez servers, I support my artists). At the moment all I have is an empty CD case as someone has absconded with my CD.
I'm not sure why 3 feet high did not resonate with me. It was good but not great album, IMO. Me, myself, and I was getting too much commercial play so I never took it seriously.
It might also be timing. When 3 feet was released I was a pre-teen. Stakes is High arrived when I was a real adolescent, I was dating, working part-time, and hanging out with friends. Buying music was a big decision back then, a $15 CD required 3 hours of minimum wage, fast food work.
One thing I don't see anyone in these comments taking into account- this is music that, for various sampling law / licensing reasons, they have never been able to sell or stream online. They seem to be giving it away because they've run out of options for getting it in the hands of their fans otherwise.
This should get more upvotes as it is pretty important to understanding why they did this.
The earliest De La Soul albums were jam packed with samples that wound up getting them hit with a few lawsuits/out-of court settlements that severely hampered their ability to release this music in various new media/formats. They're definitely an artifact of the more wild-west times of hip-hop sampling.
Yeah, the story isn't quite as compelling when you put it that way. That first album would cost millions of dollars to release if they put it out today. The list of expensive samples (Johnny Cash, Led Zeppelin, Michael Jackson, etc.) on that album is totally out of control...
Oh, I don't know -- at least now new artists can (more easily) sample them, and continue making art under equally unclear legal status. One can always hope this will help push fair use to become broader, rather than narrower.
They've started now - http://www.wearedelasoul.com/
Process is: choose an album/albums, enter an email, click link in email, get message saying they'll be ready in about an hour
I suspect De La Soul hit some sort of quota limit and Dropbox will either (a) hit them up for a bandwidth bill, or (b) decide to raise the limit as a goodwill/marketing gesture, later in the day.
Edit: Downloads working now, 46 minutes after release time.
I'd guess Dropbox wasn't informed. The way this plays out, someone thought that this might be a good idea and didn't think it through - or didn't expect the reaction.
I'm not sure about the legality of sharing what I got - as I said, I finished 5 out of 6 downloads, missing just AOI: Bionix (well, the last one to click in the mail...).
Edit: Yeah.. The people who did this? Not technical.. ;-)
inflating: __MACOSX/De La Soul Is Dead/._.DS_Store
This sounds like the situation to use torrents. I wish there was a web torrent standard for large content delivery, and browsers implemented clients, which only seeded for a preset amount or only during the download. The checksumming would also help immensely.
The article says their back catalog will only be downloadable for 25 hours. Is it possible to prevent new downloaders from joining a torrent swarm if you take down the original torrent file? Someone could just repost the original torrent file on a different torrent site.
I suppose their whole discography has been available as a torrent download for a long time anyway. The whole thing could have been made a whole lot easier, all they'd have had to do was to say: "Look, for the next 24 hours, we're not going to press charges on otherwise illegal file sharing."
As a long time De La fan, this was a great thing to wake up to. They fell out of my daily playlist for a while because I'm horrible at keeping my devices synced. Now I have it engrained in my mind that I can download their catalog at anytime, so they'll probably be the first "go to" music in a lot of future situations.
There's some bands like
wilderness survival(http://www.wildernesssurvivalmusic.com)
that have always given away their music. Perhaps, this is how things will work going forward.
What's funny is one of the albums they've put up for download ("De La Soul is Dead") seems to itself been downloaded from a piracy website. This album lacks any ID3 data except for a link to "http://rappalata.net/". I can't read Russian, so forgive me if I'm wrong, but it doesn't look too legitimate. (EDIT: Correction: all tracks have that link)
The context here, which I haven't seen mentioned, is that De La Soul cannot release much of their catalog digitally given the way their contracts are structured. As a result, all material before Grind Date (2004) is not available on digital stores/platforms like iTunes, et al.
De La negotiated their contracts well before Internet distribution and revenue was germane. Oddly, this is sometimes described as distribution "throughout the universe". This is actually not an uncommon problem for artists from this era who relied heavily on samples (i.e., hip-hop).
Would they have cleared samples used on their albums "in perpetuity", giving De La the widest distribution license available (read: for use forever), we would not be talking about De La Soul releasing music for free online. We'd be buying it on iTunes and they'd be compensated for it. End of story.
Instead, De La makes most of their money off CD sales and touring, which is a tough spot as CDs are entering obsolescence and touring, especially at their age, must be grueling. On the flip side, the good news here is De La Soul and early hip-hop pioneers are seeing a resurgence (IMHO well-deserved) and getting the music out there by any means necessary is a crucial step to be heard. Go see them on tour, buy their gear or even a CD (ha) if you're feeling it.
Absolutely. As more people crave for personal experience, their live shows will mean more. Plus, if you've never been to a De La show, you're missing out on life. One of the best show's I've ever been to, hands down.
More artists should follow this example, and we HNers should listen to Stakes is High and "What we do for (love)" when nature calls. Its valentines after all.
127 comments
[ 0.23 ms ] story [ 188 ms ] thread...and then proceed to grab the lot anyway, of course.
A single generation from 128 to 320 wouldn't be too terrible, mind - it'd probably be noticeable to most people on half-decent speakers, but it wouldn't totally wreck the music. A second generation from that lossy-sourced 320 would probably start to get pretty grating, though.
If you're thinking of doing it for artistic reasons, though, I'd say you're more likely to get better results from a judicious selection of high- and low-pass filters, with a flanger or two thrown in.
Notice that they give out copies of their songs, but don't release their copyright: want to download their music to listen to it on your iPod? Awesome, enjoy. Want to remix it or use it in a commercial setting? The music isn't licensed for that, you're going to have to talk to their agents.
This move is genius: it increases artists' exposure, ultimately leading to increased sales, licensing, and presumably also concert revenues. There's basically no downside to this.
Getting their music out there increases their visibility and, therefore, desirability, meaning more people will be willing to pay to see them live.
One trouble is that booking artists for live shows is (or used to be) very driven by album sales, so perhaps we'll start seeing other interesting metrics - like Youtube/FB followers, # downloads, etc - achieving the status a "more official" indicator.
If everyone did it though, they'd be back where they started in terms of visibility, and short the money they were earning through album sales.
Maybe so, which is why it is a good idea to be first.
> and short the money they were earning through album sales.
But if you aren't selling a lot of albums, or if your profit per album is low, then you aren't risking much.
Internet playlists (today's mix-tapes?) and college-radio probably have the greatest chance of becoming famous. Live venues work for local markets (Austin in particular), but breaking out onto the national stage is tough.
There is a nice link to buy tickets to their concert at Shephard's Bush Empire in London in May. Now very tempted.
Only if people actually find out who De La Soul is. Considering they started in 1987 and their last album was out in 2009, I'm not sure most kids this side of 1997 really know who they are or care about their music.
It would be cool if they did get the exposure. I feel without a concentrated PR campaign, besides a few articles over the next few days, not sure their sales are going to get a big bounce from doing this.
EDIT: I also go to Lakes Of Fire, Burning Man, etc. I may not be representative of larger groups.
Considering $400 for 3 days of EDM at 30? Most people don't even spend $100 per years for concerts at that point.
This is really depressing because most kids think of hip-hop as music only. I was taught hip-hop is a culture. Breakdancing, music, and graffiti are integral parts of the culture. It has such a rich, vibrant history that's disappearing as more and more suburban kids gravitate towards rap. Sure they know Kayne and Jay-Z. Do they know about Sofles, Dondi and Phase 2? Doubtful. Do they about the Rock Steady Crew or the Super Cr3w? No way.
Too many kids just think hip-hop = rap which is depressing.
Insane video of Sofles - Limitless: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pv-Do30-P8A
in my opinion.
Here's a viewpoint, coming from a different place, but with the same recognition of the one-dimensional quality of commercial rap, from a lover of hip-hop as a verbal art form --
http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2009/09/all...
"I think that mix of vulnerability, confidence and honesty was why our mothers loved [Prince]. I think that was the sort of alchemy we missed in hip-hop. We got close a few times--notably De La Soul on Buddy or Eye Know, or The Roots on Silent Treatment or You Got Me. Also, there are a few Outkast joints. But we never achieved that sort of confidence--that sort of true manhood."
Another viewpoint is from DJ Shadow ("Why Hip Hop Sucks in '96") -- it's the money.
Come to think of it, not even that insane.
TL;DR They're doing this to build their email list to create a direct channel for marketing future material.
They can't give out any kind of licenses for these songs, because the rights for the samples they're built from are a tangled mess.
Well, if their primary source of revenue were the releases, then the switch to digital (and the ease of just getting it from a pirate say even for people who would have ordinarily bought the LP/CD), then their total revenue is significantly harmed to begin with.
So, with sales hampered, mostly gimmicks like merchandise remain (for bands that catter to immature people buying branded t-shirts and the like, e.g not gonna really work for jazz or classical or tons of other genres).
And, of course, concerts. But those mostly apply to genres and bands with big enough fanbases to be able to have concerts and make a buck. For the rest, concerts are mostly lossing money (and were historically loss leaders for records sales for most bands).
http://bit.ly/1dOAbq9
http://bit.ly/1dOAbq9+ (preview)
Actual URL: http://home.no/dwaynie/beat_scene.png
Edit: Need to double-read what I respond to.
I gotta say, "homage to the guy who produced their best beats" seems very inaccurate, you sure that's the right link?
Having said that, I can't help but get nitpicky about a few things (I hope you take this as constructive criticism).
Filling in the blanks: Jackhigh is from the UK, Odd Nosdam is from the midwest but lives in Berkeley, Nocow is Russian (St. Petersburg). Shlohmo is from Los Angeles, not New York. Lunice is from Montreal, not the UK. Dakim is definitely from Detroit, but moved to California a while back. Mike Slott is marked as New York, where he lives now, but he's originally from Glasgow.
Ssaliva and Cupp Cave are the same person. His occasional collaborator Dem Hunger (who is an insane genius) seems only to be releasing music under the Wanda Group moniker of late. Jeremiah Jae is included, as is his older group material with Young Black Preachers, but not the newer stuff as Black Jungle Squad. The DJ for that group, Pbdy, signed to Brainfeeder not too long ago, runs a few regular nights in LA as well as his own label (TAR), and should probably be included, as should many others.
However, the most egregious omissions from the list are Kutmah and Daddy Kev. Daddy Kev is one of the residents and founders of Low End Theory, and the man behind Alpha Pup Records, a label which has released work by many—perhaps even most—of the artists on that list. Kutmah founded Sketchbook, the art/music night which evolved into Low End Theory. When Ras G releases a song called "One 4 Kutmah"—one of many instances of a producer naming a track "One for/4 x" as a nod to Dilla's "One for Ghost" on Donuts—that pretty well establishes you as a godfather of the scene. Without the contributions of those two guys that huge circle covering Los Angeles on the map gets a lot smaller.
And that kind of gets to the heart of what's really missing from this graphic—the personal connections. You're documenting an art movement which is very much alive, not only in the sense that it's constantly evolving, but that it's filled with real people who are friends and coworkers and share ideas (and experiences and meals and even sometimes bathrooms and lease agreements) with each other.
The fact that a handful of producers from across the map all dabble in samples that might qualify their work as "world music" is sort of interesting, I guess. What I find a great deal more interesting is that Kutmah used to earn extra cash by picking up shifts at Poo-Bah Records in Pasadena, one of the best independent record stores on the planet, which just so happens to be co-owned and managed by Take (who is going by Sweatson Klank these days).
Other employees of that shop have included Ras G, Black Monk, and Detective Tully, who himself has long been the stage manager (and frequent opening act) at Low End Theory, and is a founding member of the My Hollow Drum crew along with Teebs, yuk., Co. Fee, Bahwee, and others. MHD made their name playing a residency at the The Crosby in Santa Ana, which was co-owned by Chris Alfaro a.k.a. Free the Robots, a venue which more recently has played host to frequent performances by members of the Soulection and Team Supreme collectives, who have been making huge moves lately and are completely absent from your list. (Even more recently, The Crosby was forced to shut its doors, though I'm certain something incredible will rise from its ashes.)
Similarly, Kutmah was also one of the earliest participants in dublab, one of the first touchstones of the beat scene in Los Angeles. Its founder, frosty, was once a member of Adventure Time alongside Daedelus, and another early and frequent dublab collaborator matthewdavid would go on to release his own work on Brainfeeder, and put out tapes by Ras G, Samiyam, Odd Nosdam, Ahnnu, Dakim, Dem Hunger, yuk. and many others on his Leaving Records imprint, which just last year signed a distribution deal with Stones Throw.
And that brings us back to Dilla, as so many things do. His impact is wide and deep, and he inspired a great many people to do ...
Now is a time when the music industry desperately needs to make the case for value. These kind of gags don't help anybody.
Is the groupthink so strong on HN that someone can't express an opinion supporting the commercial value of professional artists and their work?
Yes.
The first comment was better off downvoted -- it seemed like you expressly came into the discussion just to insult the artist, which is just irritating.
The second comment doesn't seem to have negative karma at this point (it's not terribly insightful -- you don't back anything up, but it's not otherwise bad).
And this comment here is rightly trending a bit negative -- "why did you downvote my comment" threads aren't worth much.
Given that constraint, how is giving their music away for free (and getting marketing information about their fans) a poor choice vs just letting the more savvy ones download it from the pirate bay?
what the fuck, dude, it's De La Soul.
It might also be timing. When 3 feet was released I was a pre-teen. Stakes is High arrived when I was a real adolescent, I was dating, working part-time, and hanging out with friends. Buying music was a big decision back then, a $15 CD required 3 hours of minimum wage, fast food work.
The earliest De La Soul albums were jam packed with samples that wound up getting them hit with a few lawsuits/out-of court settlements that severely hampered their ability to release this music in various new media/formats. They're definitely an artifact of the more wild-west times of hip-hop sampling.
Edit : I can confirm, they are 320 mp3s
I suspect De La Soul hit some sort of quota limit and Dropbox will either (a) hit them up for a bandwidth bill, or (b) decide to raise the limit as a goodwill/marketing gesture, later in the day.
Edit: Downloads working now, 46 minutes after release time.
Missing AOI: Bionix now, because
Error (509) This account's public links are generating too much traffic and have been temporarily disabled!
I'm not sure about the legality of sharing what I got - as I said, I finished 5 out of 6 downloads, missing just AOI: Bionix (well, the last one to click in the mail...).
Edit: Yeah.. The people who did this? Not technical.. ;-)
inflating: __MACOSX/De La Soul Is Dead/._.DS_Store
Edit2: I even got a Thumbs.db!
http://de-la-soul.s3.amazonaws.com/downloads/3-Feet-High.zip
http://de-la-soul.s3.amazonaws.com/downloads/De-La-Soul-Is-D...
http://de-la-soul.s3.amazonaws.com/downloads/Buhloone-Mindst...
http://de-la-soul.s3.amazonaws.com/downloads/Stakes-Is-High....
http://de-la-soul.s3.amazonaws.com/downloads/Art-Official-In...
http://de-la-soul.s3.amazonaws.com/downloads/AOI-Bionix.zip
http://de-la-soul.s3.amazonaws.com/downloads/Remixes-Raritie...
Seriously, though, BitTorrent Sync is amazing.
As a long time De La fan, this was a great thing to wake up to. They fell out of my daily playlist for a while because I'm horrible at keeping my devices synced. Now I have it engrained in my mind that I can download their catalog at anytime, so they'll probably be the first "go to" music in a lot of future situations.
http://www.discogs.com/KMD-Black-Bastards/release/4762758
Whoops, mis-parsed your comment initially. I thought you meant the video game, not MF-DOOM.
Yes, to both.
||
http://www.discogs.com/Siah-And-Yeshua-Dapo-ED-Siah-And-Yesh...
De La negotiated their contracts well before Internet distribution and revenue was germane. Oddly, this is sometimes described as distribution "throughout the universe". This is actually not an uncommon problem for artists from this era who relied heavily on samples (i.e., hip-hop).
Would they have cleared samples used on their albums "in perpetuity", giving De La the widest distribution license available (read: for use forever), we would not be talking about De La Soul releasing music for free online. We'd be buying it on iTunes and they'd be compensated for it. End of story.
Instead, De La makes most of their money off CD sales and touring, which is a tough spot as CDs are entering obsolescence and touring, especially at their age, must be grueling. On the flip side, the good news here is De La Soul and early hip-hop pioneers are seeing a resurgence (IMHO well-deserved) and getting the music out there by any means necessary is a crucial step to be heard. Go see them on tour, buy their gear or even a CD (ha) if you're feeling it.
More artists should follow this example, and we HNers should listen to Stakes is High and "What we do for (love)" when nature calls. Its valentines after all.