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Why country acts sell more cds!


p90jr

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I'm not a country fan and have never bought a CD off of the internet, but if I was, caldernit, I'd saddle up and ride on down to the nearest Walmart...so I don't thing having the internet at home would make that big a difference, I think CD's just sell better at Walmart, country or otherwise, me I'm only buying live show DVD's from now on..
Take care, Larryz
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*Excerpt from article:

 

A survey conducted by the Country Music Association produced results that exemplify a reality in the industry not often realized: 50 percent of core country music fans do not have the internet at home. And 42 percent of those respondents report they have no desire to change that.

 

*Well, providing that there is validity to that statement, that's not necessarily a bad thing.

I mean...as much as I have to use my computer for my job and my home use...the internet simply has a lot of crap on it that is totally useless and can be dangerous to say the least.

 

What you have to know about country people and country music fans is that they're, for the most part, rooted in common sense and they much prefer face to face interaction over any other kind of cyber experience.

 

How do I know this?

I am one of those people.

 

I have access to broadband and could not even perform my job without the net...but I much prefer face to face interaction over anything cyber...which is why I am in outside sales.

 

I thank God everyday for my country up bringing, common sense, and for being grounded in reality.

Other than what I do here which is a cyber interaction between fellow musicians, I generally have a basic disdain for the computer and www.

If it were used for it's initial intentions, this may would be a different story.

 

I see so many country people that don't have the www at home, walking around with blackberries and their wireless connections to their laptops, just like so many other people.

 

So to sum this up...I think that country people simply have the common sense to "care less" about whether they have broadband at their home and place their values and concerns in much more "important" areas...of which there are many.

 

To add to your comment about concert CD sales, I think that country people "connect" more with the country acts simply because the music is mainly more "down to earth" and when they buy the CD, it could also be a momento of the concert as well as for their listening pleasure.

 

This is my humble opinion of course. :D

 

Randy

"Just play!"
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It kinda makes sense that a cross-section of people who, statistically, do less internet ordering, would buy or otherwise download fewer mp3's and buy more physical CD's... I can see that.

 

To add to your comment about concert CD sales, I think that country people "connect" more with the country acts simply because the music is mainly more "down to earth" and when they buy the CD, it could also be a momento of the concert as well as for their listening pleasure.

 

In general, I think there's been a lot less distancing, that hype and image-borne aloofness, separating Country acts from their fans, than there has been with Rock and Pop, etc. That "mystique" angle has been a part of the promotional mechanisms for Rock/Pop/etc., and pretty much not at all for Country.

 

http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:twzd1BUjuBnG4M:http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g2/closer2there/slingblade.jpg How do I know this?

____________I am one of those people.

 

You reckon, mghmngn-hghmngn? ;):thu::D

Ask yourself- What Would Ren and Stimpy Do?

 

~ Caevan James-Michael Miller-O'Shite ~

_ ___ _ Leprechaun, Esquire _ ___ _

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Well, Wal-mart sells cds as loss leaders, pretty much... $9.99, I think? Pretty much what vinyl retailed for in 1981... and the country audience would mostly live in rural areas where Wal-Mart is the premier retailer...

 

I think the WWW is like a library... I don't think of it as "actively" "dangerous"... you get out of it what you go looking for...

 

I will say that if I have a daughter she will not be allowed to have a private computer or any type of electronic photo equipment.

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By p90jr....I will say that if I have a daughter she will not be allowed to have a private computer or any type of electronic photo equipment.

 

That's a good one.

Being a father myself, I tend to agree with you on that one. :D

 

Hey Eric,

My daughter and her husband lived in Olean, NY for three years and we got to visit them several times and play tourist while we were there.

That's one of the first things that amazed me was how much people liked country music up in NY state and how rural it was.

 

Randy

"Just play!"
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My daughter and her husband lived in Olean, NY for three years and we got to visit them several times and play tourist while we were there.

That's one of the first things that amazed me was how much people liked country music up in NY state and how rural it was.

 

Oh, yeah! Watkins Glen/Finger Lakes/New York State here... When I was a kid, I had family who still heated with old wood and coal stoves, had a hand-pump in the kitchen, and outhouses instead of indoor bathrooms. Country & Western music (you know, like in the Blues Brothers, "BOTH kinds of music"! :D ) was big-time popular- still is, overall. The Woodstock-esque "Summer Jam" here was a colossal failure in multiple ways (and a success in pretty much NONE), which did little to endear Rock to many many locals. My parents were abjectly horrified when I came to like Rock and Blues! I mean, it was like I was in danger of sliding into some evil Satanic murder cult or something!

 

I will say that if I have a daughter she will not be allowed to have a private computer or any type of electronic photo equipment.

 

What if you have a Son, or both a Son and a Daughter? I think the potential dangers and bad-influences are just as much a concern, either way.

Ask yourself- What Would Ren and Stimpy Do?

 

~ Caevan James-Michael Miller-O'Shite ~

_ ___ _ Leprechaun, Esquire _ ___ _

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My uncle that introduced me to stuff like Hendrix, The Doors, Led Zeppelin, The Faces, etc... is now into country music, which he hated years ago. He says the modern country stuff is closer to rock'n'roll than the current "rock" stuff you'd hear on the radio. I'm willing to bet there are a lot more people like that who were traditional CD buying rock fans who made the switch when rock changed more to alternative in the 90's.

 

I'm not into country myself, but some of the more recent stuff I've heard has guitars in it and the singers don't seem to have so much of that annoying twang they once had. And the Shania Twain stuff that Mutt Lange produced sounds a lot like late 80's Def Leppard with a female singer. It's listenable.

 

I wonder how much of county's audience is comprised of former rock fans in their 40's & 50's that are fromer CD buying rock fans who aren't as technically savvy as the younger fans who now get their music via downloads?

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Like Caevan says, it's just significant that a big demographic of music fans would not be participating in the internet, would not be reachable using the shifting marketing paradigm but using the old business model... would still be buying cds to get the songs they like rather than downloading the single songs for $.99.

 

It would explain why country radio is such a pervasive format (I live in a mid-sized southern city that wouldn't be thought of as being predominately country-ish, yet we have about 5 country radio stations and maybe 2 rock stations), and why there are country music video channels that actually play music videos all day...

 

I would say country works on as much, or much more, of an image thing than rock... on par with mainstream pop. There's a lot of image management going on, you have a better chance to get a shot if you're more attractive physically than talented... and older acts can forget it - the likes of Johnny Cash had no place in "modern country" in the 80s, 90s and 00s. Country acts are just as tied (or more) into corporate marketing and product placement.

 

 

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I don't buy CD's anymore. I ain't a good old country boy either. Although I lived down south several times and have had good interactions with folks in North Carolina, Tennessee, Northern Florida, (inland where the rednecks live) I understand them pretty clearly.

 

In fact I lived south of the Mason Dixon Line most of my life, most folks do not know that the Mason Dixon Line passed through South Jersey a few miles north of where I lived for many years.http://img116.exs.cx/img116/1231/z7shysterical.gif

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Hey Caev...we went to Ellicotville once during the Fall and it was fantastic!

We also went to Keuke Lake a couple of times during the Fall wine season.

That was a blast too!

 

Randy

 

Keuka Lake is right over the hill from us here, roughly a forty-five minute drive or so in good weather it runs [/i]kinda sort of[/i] parallel to Seneca Lake; they're both part of the Finger Lakes. Really pretty over there, especially in the Fall some years when everything's extremely orange and red. When I was a young kid, we lived a lot closer to there, on Sugar Hill road off of Mud Lake Road.

 

OK, back to the actual topic of the thread! Sorry!

Ask yourself- What Would Ren and Stimpy Do?

 

~ Caevan James-Michael Miller-O'Shite ~

_ ___ _ Leprechaun, Esquire _ ___ _

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Nice area there Caev! :)

 

Well, I have an Ipod but don't buy singles.

I prefer the CD.

Yep, I'm old school. :D

 

I think new country is more like old rock.

That's why I like some of it.

Some of it can get kind of sappy and even ignernt. :D

But...so does other genres of music as well.

 

Randy

"Just play!"
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I love country music. And the players are some of the most articulate exacting pickers I have ever seen or heard. Chicken Pickin is one hard nut to crack. I have tried it for years on end and I only got mediocre at it. The scalular work is simple usually but the articulation....... Oh my my...........
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There is a lot of good country music out there; but you have to sift and dig. I'm not a big country fan, though I grew up in the CB-trucker craze of the '70's, and in between "Convoy" and "Phantom 309" I got to hear Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, and many other greats. Playing in bar bands during my Army days meant playing a variety of music, and Dwight Yoakam, Travis Tritt, and Garth Brooks took their place next to Led Zep, Stevie Ray, or Eric Clapton in the set list.

 

Once you get past the country song cliches, almost every country song tells a story, and has something the listener to connect with (You can usually hear the words, too). On the other hand, country honky-tonk get-down and drink up songs are rip-roaring tunes, with an emphasis on FUN! Something that rock seems to have forgotten about in the last decade. Go to see a country show, and the band is usually not phoning it in, and the guitarist will probably get a solo part where he gets to show off his chops.

 

On a personal note, Country is the only music where the songs related to my experiences as a Soldier. Listening to a song like "Letters from Home" or "American By God's Amazing Grace" and I know that the songwriter knows just what I'm feeling. Other than "The War Was In Color" by Carbon Leaf, I can't think of any rock song that has the same sense of empathy.

 

 

"Call me what instrument you will, though you can fret me, yet you cannot play upon me.'-Hamlet

 

Guitar solos last 30 seconds, the bass line lasts for the whole song.

 

 

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I agree with P90jr and alot of what's brought up here.You do have to sift thru to find the good stuff.Country churns out stars in cookie cutter fashion like any other genre once somethin works.That's nothing against the "artists" just that it's still a business like the others.Having said that it seems to be one that connects to a large audience on the aforementioned personal level.I do find myself ending up on the Cmt channel and liking a bunch of what I hear there.
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Well, I'm not heavy duty into most country music... while I certainly don't HATE it.

 

However, it's undeniable that there are a load of excellent guitarists in that genre.... many of whom also play good rock and/or jazz.

 

Remember "Nashville Cats" anyone? Still true today, no doubt... although I'm not sure if there are enough places for them to PLAY!

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Yep, I remember them.

 

I'll tell you who else kicks major butt in the stringed instrument department...and that's Bluegrass musicians!

Those guys can shred...on an ACOUSTIC instrument of all things! :rawk::D

 

Randy

"Just play!"
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Or could it be that folks in rural areas buy more CDs in general?

 

I say this because when I'd tour through the bigger cities, I'd find we'd sell fewer CDs--folks who liked us would just sorta look for us online and download MP3s. They were unlikely to socialize with us--they'd come out, see the show with minimal involvement, maybe buy a shirt or a sticker and then split. They might say, "Nice job" or "Good set," but they'd usually keep it to a minimum. You know, minimal involvement, but you could tell they had a good time.

 

On the opposite side of the coin, when we'd play in little podunk towns, we'd often have a ton of folks introducing themselves to us, buying CDs, rocking out during the set and generally getting to know us. Towns like these (especially in the South) were our bread and butter--we never had to crash in the van when we played a tour that hit all our favorite smaller towns.

 

So... maybe this just means country folks are more friendly, and city folk are more standoffish? Could be. But that's not everything... there's something more to this. Perhaps someone who feels like getting into a more sociological study could analyse this with more aplomb.

\m/

Erik

"To fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists of breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting."

--Sun Tzu

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Country folks more friendly than city folks?

Well, I grew up in Des Moines, Iowa, and it was considered perfectly normal to strike a conversation with a stranger.... not about personal matters, ordinarily, or to expect them to lend you money or their car keys........

I lived in various states in my early 20s... youthful wanderlust I guess, and moved to NYC in 1986, where I married my wife and have lived here ever since.

Are New Yorkers unfriendly? I thought so at first... especially on the subway. But once you get to know the local culture, they are friendly enough if you approach them the right way. They're funny... they love to honk their horns and give people the middle finger salute in traffic, and are always in a hurry, but in a crisis situation, they are quick to help people in need.

I've never played professionally here (outside of a couple of recording sessions) but people seem to go to up and chat with musicians at clubs on a regular basis. Whether they invite them HOME or not, I don't know...

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When I made my post, I figured it was a little touchy to make generalizations in the way I did--there is always someone who can refute a generalization.

 

Having said this, I still have to say... folks in smaller towns do seem to be a bit more outgoing... at least initially. Of course there are exceptions. We played in one small town in North Carolina where the room was packed, and we were totally unable to make friends with anyone at all, which was pretty weird for us, since that was a band of personable dudes who made friends everywhere we went.

 

On the flip side, we never played a show in Boston where we didn't have a our pick of at least four strangers offering us a place to crash.

 

So yeah, there are obviously exceptions.

 

But, yeah.... anyway... I'm just saying we definitely sold more CDs in the smaller towns. I dunno why. It's not like small-town people have more disposable income than big-city folk.

\m/

Erik

"To fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists of breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting."

--Sun Tzu

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"Remember "Nashville Cats" anyone? "

 

Steve Earle did a great version of that song with Del McCoury's band.

 

"Are New Yorkers unfriendly? I thought so at first... "

 

I think that city folks are generally just more into respecting other people's space; it's a way to cope with living in close quarters.

 

"Or could it be that folks in rural areas buy more CDs in general?" IT may be that they listen to music in their CD-player-equipped vehicles on the way to work, whereas commuters and schoolkids take buses and wear headphones.

"Call me what instrument you will, though you can fret me, yet you cannot play upon me.'-Hamlet

 

Guitar solos last 30 seconds, the bass line lasts for the whole song.

 

 

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