Going to Vinyl

[lapsteel]

At some point music has to go back to music, not the overproduction of sounds. Last night I had the realization that music has become background noise for a lot of people. The release of an album is no longer an event for them.

This thread has given me some ideas that I want to try.

[floid]

i sincerely hope the vinyl fetishists among us aren't engaged in post-civil-war-southern-thinking - i mean, i really, REALLY hope not, for multiple reasons: the stuff sounds better, it has character, it's built to last, it provides more opportunity for distinctive artistic expression, it encourages music-as-ritual over music-as-commodity attitudes, it smells good, records containing sucky music still melt into great-looking whatnot bowls (as opposed to the lousy coaster/short-leg-shim options available from it's real (physical) successors), it sounds good...
and it's encouraging that, since this board made me aware of it, i've been noticing more and more indie labels that are going the "vinyl only, w/ downloads" direction...
but i wonder if we're trying to impose an ethic of permanence on a form of expression that is inherently transitory - the album is never gonna sound like the concert, all too rarely does it capture the true moment of creation itself that somehow seems to BE a lot of the good music i've heard, and hey, even w/ sheet music surviving we got no idea how Mozart REALLY wanted his stuff to be played (which is a good thing, since it allows each generation of performers some leeway in interpretation, preventing stagnation)...
then again, isn't it strange that recording technology came along right about the time that lots more folks were starting to realize that there was this new, distinctly American music that just didn't translate very well on to paper?
is it possible that every "advance" in sound-media technology has made it a little bit easier (and thus less valuable) to do those transcriptions?
can we successfully revive a format of the past without being crushed by the weight of the tradition it contains, the way "canonical" jazz has done in the last 20 or so years?
man, i really, i mean REALLY hope so

[jca83]

Read about these guys in another thread: musicnuvo
Might be what you're looking for.

man thanks for thinking of our service. it is brand new but we can accomodate to every need mentioned here, except pressing the vinyl. musicnuvo can generate unique MP3 download codes that you can affix to any piece of product - we'd thought about stickers, in vinyl, on lanyard cards, postcards, ANYTHING.

the codes can also represent any specific item in your nuvo store that you want - it could tie to your album, your music video, even ringtones.

i'm using this function in my own digital-vinyl label, Identity Theft Records, and i think it's a great one. the source for the store is hosted and handled purely by musicnuvo, but you can also put your own embedded HTML into your myspace or webpages.

great ideas and thoughts for all. i'm glad to see others are thinking this way.