[Spliffington]

The majority of my tunes up here are available for download. The only exceptions are copyright issues (where I take someone else's tune & reggaefy it, or when I'm collaborating with another artist who may have other plans for the music) & a couple of tracks I want to spruce up a bit & shop around. Still, when I check my page stats, the streams seem to outnumber the downloads by about 10:1.
I still think it'd be nice to set some kind of standard such as free streams & 99c downloads. Do you all think that would cut the downloads here way back?

[Springline Jamaica]

Hello Spliff mate ,I havn't forgotton ya bruv by the way ,gonna link up with you soon.
Well i purchased a couple of downloads from here yesterday for tunes I like and just to see how it works and i was very impressed as to how fuss free and quick the process is and i thought to miself blimey I've just bought two reggae ''records'' for i think it came to a Dollar fifty or something ,not even 90 pence and to all intense and purposes they are 'almost exclusive' by that i mean only a few dozen people have heard em or bought em ,I felt good about that ,brand new reggae for the same price of a bag of dry roasted in a tourist pub in London I also feel good because i havn't just taken it (which i have been doing of course for the stations) i've helped put something back in ,however small it's something. Good vibes.
Steve the 'sho be do be' tune is on the springline page here under the 'Collective' moniker ,I mean't to mention it to ya bruv but as per ,I forgot bless.
Thanks Irish ,tis a pleasure and we hope that we can continue to promote the artist's even more and further as time goes on ,time is what's needed and plenty of it!! it's been great to link up with new friends and a few old at RDW to which ,and I have to say We have never come across a more positive and professionally run organisation and venue for the unsigned and uprising of the reggae music arena.
We hope that we can do our little bit in promoting this message and music.

[Spliffington]

Yes, give I a ding Gibsy, that would be welcome...
The bag of dry roasted is about right, for ages reggae musicians and artists have gotten paid peanuts for their music! But bless you for actually paying for some artists' blood, sweat & tears instead of doing a Queen Raj/audiomaxxx style ripoff...respect!

[jahvice]

Just uploaded one tune and thought to go thru whats happening in the forums and noticed this thread..

Atleast for me, for the 2 tracks i've uploaded here, is that the tunes are dubplates for sounds that i dont control - i've done the tune and got my rewards but still the tunes are theirs and out of respect (with permission ofcourse) i don't want to spread everything "publicly" ..


Anyway, streaming as an option to disable copying is just obstacle. Doesnt even require that much talent to copy the stream anyway..

Hello guys, it's my first post here. You possibly know Dub Flash, if not, you don't.

In my opinion, you underestimate what is happening due to all the free downloading. Especially in such a tiny field like reggae or - even smaller - dub.

All the small labels are struggling heavily nowadays and don't sell enough records to be able to continue. I'm completely bankrupt for example. I have spent all my money into Dub Flash and am happy if I sell 300 copies of a record. And then I see that "Dubnight" is downloaded more than 10.000 times?!

Don't you think this is completely wrong? Why are not even 5% of these 10.000 people regularly willing to pay for a quality dub release and only go for free internet downloads where a lot of stuff is definitely only minor quality? I don't understand these people.

Making e.g. dub and reggae music has become a hobby. There are more dub producers out there today than dub fans, more dub radio shows than listeners. So many people request a promo copy from me. But who generates me some sales? That's only very few DJs, the ones on real radio stations. If at all. And even if you claim it, I say that no online radio show leads to any more sales for the labels. So why give out promos or free downloads? What's the benefit for the labels? Hooray, so many people know Dub Flash? Guess what, as long as these people only know but don't support us (by buying the records), I don't care. Then they call me an arrogant bastard because I don't have the "irie irie reggae culture" vibe. Bloody hell, dem a nothing but hypocrites!

The dub "industry" has been destroyed. Look at all the little labels, most hold back their new vinyl releases. They either don't have the money at all or they doubt that it will be worth putting something out. There are more illegal MP3 copies of the "Dub Shoe 1" LP out there than sold vinyl copies. Who of you owns a Dub Flash vinyl copy? Why pressing vinyl anymore? Or CDs.

And it's not only for me personal, ask other labels or professional producers. They tell you the same. It's a difference if you only do this for fun or if the business is part of your existence. Some of them guys don't have another job from which they could earn a living. They need to get some money in from their music because it's the only thing they can do!

But due to the masses of free downloads - I want to call it "dub spamming" - nowadays, there is so much to listen to and also so much crap, that everyone is overloaded. I can download 200 dubs in a row if I want without paying a Cent. Afterwards I don't feel like going to a shop and buy the latest 10". It's pure overkill. And also, the market is flooded with crappy productions. Really, there are so many bad tunes available online (as Aliensonny also stated), I don't think these should be offered at all!

And I don't only speak about the music itself, but about the production, about the EQing, about the mastering. Every Dub Flash release got a special mastering treatment by specialists in order to make it sound better than the average sound. It costs a lot of money! It's not enough to let a warezed Waves Platinum plugin run over a tune. How many free downloadable tunes are properly mixed (don't even want to think about mastering)? That's all wrong. The music consumer is taught two things: 1. Why pay for music if there is so much available for free. 2. Quality is not an issue anymore. Am I the only one who has a problem with that?

I know that there are a lot of good new dub producers out there nowadays. And they need to put out tunes in order to become known, of course. But the way it is done today is: Offer the tunes directly to the masses for free. That leaves out all distributors, all labels, all promoters. No one could sign such an artist and hype him as being new. He is already known. And as has already been stated here, too, no one is willing to pay for this artist because so many tunes from him are already available for free. You dig your own graves!

How it should be done is the traditional way: Produce your tunes, give them to a hand-selected group of DJs, soundsystems, promoters, labels and then let them do the rest for you. Let them create a demand. If you're good, you would get your release then. Today the labels either go for popular artists, themselves or for unknown artists which are completely unknown. Some years ago, I could play a dubplate and people came to me and asked: "Who's that?" Nowadays, I play a dubplate and people yawn "heard it already on Myspace". What a pity.

Apart from that, if you want a song that is only streamable, why don't you simply record it. You all have the gear and knowledge for that, I'm sure.

[Meef Chaloin]

its not so bad that the 'dub industry' has died, now people do it because they love it rather than because they think they'll be famous and rich (ok not so applicable to dub). Plus there are more people producing than ever before so music as a whole can only go forward and progress. Its not good for people like you who have gone out of business but things change. End of the day it is just business, investments get lost, customer bases migrate, a better product comes out, you know, its the same in any other industry but because its music people think more romantically about it than they would for a hedge fund for example

[safira]

Well honestly I don't see why an artist would put their download for sale on RDW instead of making the download free. $0.99 does not make a positive difference when you may only make $2 if you're lucky and you would prob have to be an established artist for anyone to buy it.

If you dont want your chunes downloaded then dont add them to the internet. Or dont add the full versions. People dont need permission to download tracks these days they have softwares to record whatever is streamed. Putting the chunes for sale will drive your listeners away knowing that the reggae communities dont like buying a single file.

Put your cd/mixtapes for sale and they will buy the hard copies. Thats just my opinion still. As an artist I would never put my tracks on sale on RDW. This si a community to upload ur tracks and get reviews and feedbacks. When I upload my tracks I want it to be streamed, downloaded and reviewed because the more people have my chunes is the more people knows about my work of art and the more my chunes spread is the more opportunities I have in making dubplates.

Look at it I gave up $0.99 for a $100.00 dubplate. Makes better sense right? Sell the tracks for $0.99 and 2 people buy it and ur chune takes years to be mention by word of mouth. Have it downloaded free by 200 people along the way! Hmm possibility is endless of exposure.

[Debstar]

Yeah Sis, I really agree about peeps wanting the product. I put one up for sale as download just as an experiment, but will be takin it down again and reuploading it as a free download. And tru word bout bein able to rip the choon with a recording program. Don't tell nuh body but even mi can do that with me audacity prog.
So glad you got a dub plate deal Saffi
Blessings
Debs x

[phatsemelia]

The Only Way To Sell Your Music Now Is To Go Out And Do Gigs.
The Last 3 Gigs I Have Done,i Have Sold Over 100 Cd's And These Were Not Big Events.i Understand If You Are A Producer Then Doing Gigs Is Not Possible But With File Sharing And Free Downloads It Is The Only Way Now.it Is Too Easy Now For People To Stay At Home Making Music [in Any Genre,not Just Dub].remember The Days When You Had To Pay Crazy Money For A Studio And Ended Up Getting Crap Results Cause The Engineer Was A Wanker Etc.now Everyone Can Do It With A Little Bit Of Software And A Little Bit Of Knowledge.the Best Will Still Rise To The Top.
As For The Sound Quality And Mastering Thing,some Of The Best Reggae Stuff Was Recorded On Whatever The People Could Get Their Hands And Experimenting With Whatever They Had.no Fancy Compressors Etc.
I Have Been Lucky Enough To Work With Some Great Established Reggae Artists Lately And They Are All Perfectly Happy To Come To My Little Home Studio And Record.
I Am No Expert But If It Sounds Good,it Sounds Good.
Yes Brothers And Sisters,it Is A Hard Road If You Want To Make Money.i Only Put My Own Stuff Up For Free Download As Most Of The Stuff I Post Here Is From My Band And I Can't Be Bothered Asking Everyone If I Can Give It Away So I Just Put It Up To Stream
But Like You All Say,anyone Can Record It.
I Would Rather The Situation Now Though Than 20 Years Ago When There Was Nowhere For People,professional Or Amatuer,to Get Their Music Heard.only A Select Few Ever Made Big Bucks Anyway.

[el bib]

i think it would be better if a artist puts a tune up for stream only but also wants to sell it here if it is for sale in the store and that the 99 cent thing doesnt show on the front page.the minute people see the money thing they usually just by pass the tune.ralf dubflash does have a point though,i live in london and if i want to buy fresh reggae vinyl now ,i have to go south of the river to dub vendor as the ladbroke grove vendor is now gone,as are my local reggae shops gladdy wax.cant shift enough product to pay the inflated ground rent.double edged sword.saying that ive done a few dj gigs in europe with my flights paid etc.thru this site and the old one,which im sure i wouldnt have done if i didnt allow any free downloads.its a nice feeling when somebody comes up to you after a gig in germany,spain etc.and they know you and your music thru the web.years ago before i was on the net people i knew people who said they liked what i was doing but id never get anywhere doing dub reggae.well ive proved them wrong thankfully.i agree though somethings got to give with the music industry in general.3 times in the last few years ive been offered releases on small labels only to watch the labels go bust before theyve had the chance to release them,very frustating.this thread is about generosity,i openly admit that generosity has little to do with myself putting a tune up for free download,its more to do with promoting myself worldwide and trying to build a listener base.so hopefully when i do release a cd ,which you will need to pay for,theres enough interest.for instance,i dont see brizion around here much these days as hes progressed to makin exclusive dubplates for blackheart warriors and aint givin away anything free these days.hes a incredible dub producer and i think he deserves some commercial success .yet the irony is he can lose his listener base by not giving away freebies.i can remember not so long ago when he had a tune up for download most weeks.so personally i try to have a balance between givin away some stuff for free and some not.