The end of promo singles? (Sort of)
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Topic: The end of promo singles? (Sort of)
Posted By: eric_a
Subject: The end of promo singles? (Sort of)
Date Posted: 16 November 2007 at 10:00pm
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Are any of you in radio/press finding the same phenomenon that I am? Over the past 6 months, we've gotten more and more promos burnt as CD-Rs. These often without catalog numbers or other useful info. It seems as though the labels might be burning these in small quantities, with mix/listing changes possible at any point along the run.
It makes sense, of course, if it cuts costs. So does the use of disc-free digital servicing. At the same time, I'm sure I'm not the only one here who would mourn the loss of hard-copy promos. Anyone else have any observations? |
Replies:
Posted By: aaronk
Date Posted: 16 November 2007 at 11:01pm
| What really disappoints me is that not only are they using CD-Rs, but often times the source is mp3 quality. I can't tell you how many promos we've recently received that sound even worse than what you can download from iTunes. There's just no quality control anymore, and nobody seems to care (or even understand the difference). It's kind of funny how everyone is very concerned about "high definition" television, but the average person could care less about great sound quality. |
Posted By: Brian W.
Date Posted: 17 November 2007 at 12:01am
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What's even worse, I read an article (I think linked from BSN) that said, more and more, commercial CDs are actually mixed so they will sound good as 128kb MP3s... and to hell with how they sound on a good stereo system.
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Posted By: eric_a
Date Posted: 17 November 2007 at 12:40am
Wow - it's an audacious step backwards for fidelity. I guess it's the way Motown mixed record to boom out of an AM transistor. It's a shame. The teenagers on my staff have no concept of why their grungy mp3s hurt my ears. They just figure that anyone over 25 is old. And yes, some recent releases have had terrible compression and artifacts. The acoustic mix of "Lips Of An Angel," for example, sounded terrible on Promo Only, but then I found it was equally bad on our promo single. For shame. |
Brian W. wrote:Posted By: Todd Ireland
Date Posted: 18 November 2007 at 9:54pm
I'd certainly miss factory-pressed promo CD singles from the standpoint that it would likely make it more difficult for Top 40 music collectors to document official radio edits without having any catalog numbers to reference! |