Piracy is the new radio, says Neil Young

[Smokey]

You know what the biggest problem with music today is?

"Sound quality.", That’s Neil Young’s take on the issue, anyway.

In an interview in D: Dive Into Media conference, Young said that while modern music formats like MP3 are convenient, they sound lousy. “We live in the digital age and, unfortunately, it’s degrading our music, not improving it.”, he said.

While modern digital encoding schemes might sound clear on our iPods and smartphones, they only feature a small percentage of the musical data present in a master recording.

“It’s not that digital is bad or inferior, it’s that the way it’s being used isn’t doing justice to the art,” Young said. “The MP3 only has 5 percent of the data present in the original recording. … The convenience of the digital age has forced people to choose between quality and convenience, but they shouldn’t have to make that choice.”

Young proposed that fans stage a grassroots movement to demand higher-quality audio.

Also, Young discussed piracy, which he doesn’t view as the threat that some other musicians do. “Piracy is the new radio,” said Young. “That’s how music gets around.”

Neil Young on Music Quality, Record Labels and Steve Jobs - John Paczkowski - Dive Into Media - AllThingsD

[Hyfi]

The biggest problem is that MOST people have NEVER even heard a decent stereo setup so how would they even realize that the MP3 sounds worse than an AM Transistor Radio?

Most of the people here have heard what good quality sounds like and for the most part tries to find the best digital file, which is not MP3.

Since there are now many flavors of halfway decent digital files other than MP3, Niel needs to come out of his Heroin induced stupidity and realize that MP3 is so last week for the majority of digital dudes.

Piracy is not much different than all the comp trading we did here years ago that introduced many of us to music we would have never heard, and we then purchased a lot of it.

[Feanor]

I couldn't agree more with Young that low-rez can't do justice to the art -- but then I'm an audio enthusiast cum audiophile. Strange, but my personal love of music and love of good sound grew together; I suppose that for most the love of music proceeds the latter.

In any case there has always been a majority who don't care that much about quality sound. Whether it was back in the day of 45s played on portable TTs with crystal pick-ups, boom box cassette and later CD players, or 128 kbps MPs through earbuds, there have been people who just don't care. For example, these days I visit a couple of classical music sites where many are quite content listening on compacts and some do most of their listening on portable players. These folks just assert that they can appreciate the music just as well this way, and question the sanity of those of us who will spend thousands or tens of thousands on hi-fi equipment.

The heyday of hi-fi was the '70s, (as those of us who are old enough will remember). That was the era when it was cool to have a nice stereo, and purely audio equipment sales peaked. Note that in that era there was no video recording. When VCRs became available, people's attention was diverted to TVs + VCRs. My point is the for many in the '70s where into the "cool" of hi-fi, not so much the sound.

[Hyfi]

My point is the for many in the '70s where into the "cool" of hi-fi, not so much the sound.

Much different in my house as my oldest brother was building Heathkits, Hafler and Dynaco gear while my other brother collected AR speakers and gradually upped to SUMO gear.

In the early 70s as a young teen, I had a Heathkit Receiver and a BSR Turntable and small Dynaco speakers.

I was also taken to higher end stores when my brothers went so I got to see all this great gear at an early age as well as understand and respect what it's for.

That all said, all the guys who sit around me in work here have systems that consist of an iPhone and earbuds and they discuss which $20 buds are better.

I have had a few of them at my house and even after their jaws dropped, they couldn't be bothered with good sound.

[Smokey]

Piracy is not much different than all the comp trading we did here years ago that introduced many of us to music we would have never heard, and we then purchased a lot of it.

I am not sure if you are familiar with Usenet or not, but that is probably where most of music piracy occur. You can practically find any type of music in different formats in high quality, for free. Most ISPs use to offer Usenet to their customers for free, but due to piracy (or fear of it), they quit doing that.

[LeRoy]

The biggest problem is that MOST people have NEVER even heard a decent stereo setup so how would they even realize that the MP3 sounds worse than an AM Transistor Radio?

Most of the people here have heard what good quality sounds like and for the most part tries to find the best digital file, which is not MP3.

Since there are now many flavors of halfway decent digital files other than MP3, Niel needs to come out of his Heroin induced stupidity and realize that MP3 is so last week for the majority of digital dudes.

Piracy is not much different than all the comp trading we did here years ago that introduced many of us to music we would have never heard, and we then purchased a lot of it.

At my workplace, during the Christmas Holidays, we had a series of fundraisers to raise money for giving to local charitable causes. I thought it would be a good idea to try to introduce my workmates to Hi SQ CD's. I then "bought" new Alison Krauss, Ottmar Liebert, Pat Metheny, Fiona Joy Hawkins, and Cassandra Wilson Cd's-- all for a raffle as a donation to collect money for families. I even went so far as to burn copies from my existing collection so people could sample the music and hopefully participate in the raffle.

Well, no such luck. Only about 5-6 people out of approximately 50 in my workplace paid a couple of bucks to try to win the whole set of CD's. Most everyone has their smartphone hooked up to the PC with earplugs and they don't give a hoot about SQ or musical artistry.

When ever I get introduced to new music and if I really enjoy it off I go to buying original CD's that I otherwise would not have since I had no prior exposure to that musicians art.

[Fred70433]

Give it to em, straight between the eyes Neil!

I couldn't agree with him more.

[Hyfi]

At my workplace, during the Christmas Holidays, we had a series of fundraisers to raise money for giving to local charitable causes. I thought it would be a good idea to try to introduce my workmates to Hi SQ CD's. I then "bought" new Alison Krauss, Ottmar Liebert, Pat Metheny, Fiona Joy Hawkins, and Cassandra Wilson Cd's-- all for a raffle as a donation to collect money for families. I even went so far as to burn copies from my existing collection so people could sample the music and hopefully participate in the raffle.

Well, no such luck. Only about 5-6 people out of approximately 50 in my workplace paid a couple of bucks to try to win the whole set of CD's. Most everyone has their smartphone hooked up to the PC with earplugs and they don't give a hoot about SQ or musical artistry.

When ever I get introduced to new music and if I really enjoy it off I go to buying original CD's that I otherwise would not have since I had no prior exposure to that musicians art.

Yeah, pretty pathetic that most peoples idea of a good system is an iPhone and Dr Dre ear buds....or whatever.

I have had so many people tell me they are not all that concerned about SQ, only that they like the music. But after they sit in my living room and hear their music played, they realize that they have only ever heard half of anything they thought they were familiar with. And that is just with a run of the mill CD.

Is that raffle still open?

[LeRoy]

Is that raffle still open?

Nope, all 6 tickets sold out in 5 days time! lol

[tricott]

interesting