Opinions on digital subscriptions to labels

[holy ghost]

The other thought I had after reading Oskar’s post is, and I’m not saying it was his intent to do so, I don’t think people should be made to feel guilty for being unwilling to offer an automatic $5 per month in support of a label or artist.

I think this is a very fair statement from our friend Thomas - my disposable income is stretched to bare minimum these days and I'm more interested in funnelling money into my mortgage than buying noise tapes so I have to be really picky about my discretionary income. Living in a world offset by a perfectly curated social media feed it's hard to remember what's important. I drive a 20 year old car because I simply do not feel that a new fancy car is a worthy luxury but everything is a trade off.

I also know that having released many tapes and records of my different projects as well as for others as well as the zine, I'm never going to feel resentful if someone doesn't have the means or even want to spring for whatever it is I'm selling. I get that! I struggle with wanting to support my friends projects and labels, and then struggle with the boxes of tapes I simply don't have time to listen to (because I need to work to pay for the tapes! What a cycle! Cue the Dystopia bass line).... quite frankly everything I buy these days has to be a banger and no foolin'! I used to feel really guilty if I passed over something but now I can't justify the expense of many things and I simply can't (and won't) feel guilty about it. My gas bill went up 40% since this time last year and everyone is struggling with the higher cost of food.

[luciferjonez]

. Why do people inherently balk at the idea of giving an artist they like and probably know $5 per month to support their work, but at the same time will unquestioningly give a large business ran by strangers well over $5 per day for impermanent treats, like a cup of coffee, booze, fancy food, etc.? Or will have no problem paying monthly subscription fees to media super corporations like Spotify, Netflix, or Disney, but have a hard time coming up with a few dollars per month to support a podcast focused on an extremely niche genre of underground music they are a part of? Or bitching about entry fees to noise shows when they creep over the $5-10 threshold?

Oskar makes some good points, and asks some difficult to answer questions; for instance, why do we prioritize certain single-use luxuries over supporting a community we actually participate in? I don’t really know the answer to that, but it did get me thinking about what more I can do to support the artists and labels I appreciate. The other thought I had after reading Oskar’s post is, and I’m not saying it was his intent to do so, I don’t think people should be made to feel guilty for being unwilling to offer an automatic $5 per month in support of a label or artist. Everyone has their reasons - circumstances, finances, etc. Personally, I’d love to spend more money on noise, be it attending more shows, or upgrading to the next WCN supporter tier but I have a pretty limited budget for noise these days and I’ve decided to prioritize buying choice physical editions such as cassettes, vinyl, or CDs. Sure, I have a household Netflix subscription that I could personally do without, but if I cancelled it and pumped that extra $17/month into noise, saying my family members would be pissed is the understatement of the century. Even if you‘re a noise freak who doesn’t have a Netflix addicted family to worry about, it’s okay if you want to prioritize binging the latest shitty true crime docuseries over instant access to the latest noise podcast, noise rant, or the 100th King Cobra album on Deathbed Tapes, or whatever. Also, I don’t get where this notion that noise people must live in poverty comes from - some of the biggest names in noise right now seem to have enough funds to mine discogs for their all-time noise grails, and the G.R.O.S.S. back catalogue isn’t cheap these days, and I think we all celebrate that. Circling back to the conversation about how fans should support the scene, would you argue that individuals’ money would be better spent on the current scene and not opportunistic Discogs marketplace sellers?

I would gather that folks invest their funds because it brings them a quick hit of joy like retail therapy? As much as I enjoy noise, my household does not, so spending $19.99 a month on Netflix would go further than 4 noises tapes a month in a variety of ways. Rarely does one find a partner who would rather have a night of noise and chill than Netflix and chill. Its like finding that rare "unicorn" and when you do they are usually just as unstable or flake. Also when was the last time there was a happy noise release?
Personally I'd rather find a cool release online, listen to a sample and order the physical copy. Similar to old record shops that had listening stations that folks can demo a release and buy what they liked.

I recently bought this and love it: https://jenno.bandcamp.com/album/cherry-gross

I get that this is a community and most of you know one another, but I do not so as a noob I am going to check out and purchase what catches my interest both sonically and to a lesser extent the packaging, but a cool package can win me over. What I truly find fascinating is for a genre that is so vast and global how insular scenes can be and how little folks know of one another outside of said scene. Not that it is any different from when I was actively playing but you would think that the net would have brought more of it together.

[Bubble-Congeries]

Rarely does one find a partner who would rather have a night of noise and chill than Netflix and chill. Its like finding that rare "unicorn" and when you do they are usually just as unstable or flake. Also when was the last time there was a happy noise release?

Does anyone remember that noise dating site? What ever happened to that? I know it was meant to be tongue-in-cheek, but it seems to have disappeared within just a few months... C'mon, I'm desperate!

[Residual / RT]

Such a huge part of what I love about noise is the physical releases. I've on and off been a subscriber to both WCN and Noisextra, but digital content just doesn't give me enough to support the creators continually. Same goes for digital only releases, just not into it enough to pay for it. I want that tape or CD, or a shirt or a zine. If noise as a whole would make the jump to mostly digital at some point, I would likely lose interest. Like I know I'm probably in the minority, but I would love to read Noisextra or WCN rather than listen to them.

[luciferjonez]

Rarely does one find a partner who would rather have a night of noise and chill than Netflix and chill. Its like finding that rare "unicorn" and when you do they are usually just as unstable or flake. Also when was the last time there was a happy noise release?

Does anyone remember that noise dating site? What ever happened to that? I know it was meant to be tongue-in-cheek, but it seems to have disappeared within just a few months... C'mon, I'm desperate!

A noise dating site sounds like a massive sausage party like an early aughts hardcore show! If that's a persons thing then they hit gold!

[oZiris]

Rarely does one find a partner who would rather have a night of noise and chill than Netflix and chill. Its like finding that rare "unicorn" and when you do they are usually just as unstable or flake. Also when was the last time there was a happy noise release?

Does anyone remember that noise dating site? What ever happened to that? I know it was meant to be tongue-in-cheek, but it seems to have disappeared within just a few months... C'mon, I'm desperate!

A noise dating site sounds like a massive sausage party like an early aughts hardcore show! If that's a persons thing then they hit gold!

A real 4chan Twitter shit post fest.
What a community!

[Bubble-Congeries]

Does anyone remember that noise dating site? What ever happened to that? I know it was meant to be tongue-in-cheek, but it seems to have disappeared within just a few months... C'mon, I'm desperate!

A noise dating site sounds like a massive sausage party like an early aughts hardcore show! If that's a persons thing then they hit gold!

A real 4chan Twitter shit post fest.
What a community!

Kind of the same vibe I get from the last two posts, yeah. I like sausage, though.

At any rate, IIRC, there were at least some alleged females on there. TBH, there used to be a lot more female posters in general. You guys probably scared them all away!

[luciferjonez]

A noise dating site sounds like a massive sausage party like an early aughts hardcore show! If that's a persons thing then they hit gold!

A real 4chan Twitter shit post fest.
What a community!

Kind of the same vibe I get from the last two posts, yeah. I like sausage, though.

At any rate, IIRC, there were at least some alleged females on there. TBH, there used to be a lot more female posters in general. You guys probably scared them all away!

By all means then go for it!! Love what you love!

[xIncorruptibleCorpse777x]

I got an email from Richard Ramirez via bandcamp and he is going to be doing a subscription-type thing, but it's going to include physical copies of releases, too. So that's probably not going to be some $5 digital download thing. Hopefully I can afford it. All I really want is to be able to pay $5-10 and have digital access to some of his releases. I'm done dealing with tape players.

[xIncorruptibleCorpse777x]

Look who has a patreon site now...

https://www.patreon.com/neubauten

[luciferjonez]

Look who has a patreon site now...

https://www.patreon.com/neubauten

for $29 you get the ability to purchase a leftover 7". Hard pass.

[xIncorruptibleCorpse777x]

Seems like many labels are using this model now.