i've got several parts down, but i actually spent the morning playing with my aleph releases. i put together an mp3 disc for a psychiatric appointment in the morning [i'll be glad when these are over with....] and realized the plan i had to fill up an mp3 disc with periods 1 & 2 is likely not going to work. too much material. i'll wait until i'm done period 2 (this track i've been working on for three months is the second last track; i thought it would be done by now...) before i figure this out properly.

but i took a good look at what i had and it didn't make a lot of sense. i had a bunch of dvd-audio comps up that, in hindsight, seem foolish given that i can fit more on a flac disc. i also had all these box sets up that were just unsellable due to shipping costs...

so, i've cut the aleph releases down considerably by focusing on two specific kind of flac discs. one is the period discs, which will necessarily have some overlap. it's by design, because they're meant to be self-contained. but they're $100 each, so i wanted to find a way for people to go this route without double paying. i've filled that out by condensing the box sets into single $50 flac discs, which cut the shipping down dramatically. it's now down to five aleph releases - three box sets, and two period discs. but, i should hopefully have a third period disc and three more box sets up within a few more weeks. i need to stop projecting things regarding time, as i never hit the deadlines.

so, these are the new aleph options...

aleph zero is a box set - earliest demoes. inri001-inri012. i need this to provide an option to not double pay for inri013-inri023.
https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/merch/inri-box-set

aleph one is also a box set, combining the later [more psych-oriented] inri releases with the deny everything singles. inri013-inri023.
https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/merch/deny-everything-box-set-2

aleph two is the first period disc, which is precisely the first two box sets. it was easily split. the second period is not so easily split.
https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/merch/period-1

aleph three is the first period 2 disc. i'm going to actually need two dvds for period 2, no matter how i break it down, so i've taken it to it's maximum extent. it's going to be a while before volume 2 comes up, but when it does it will close period 2. and, yes, there will be overlap with period 3.
https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/merch/period-21

....and aleph four is a box set, collecting the singles from the first jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj album onto one 7.5 hour long dvd.
https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/merch/jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj-box-set-2

there's going to be overlap with the periods, but i'm going to avoid overlap with the box sets and create the box sets in such a way that you can get around the overlaps with the periods by strategically subbing in box sets. so, for example, for right now, you could get the complete discography (up to inri033) by combining the inri box set and the period 2.1 disc.

the one exception will be the rabit is wolf box set, which is just a different animal.

so, the next box sets coming up will be for j^2, rabit, trivial group and ftaa.

for the mp3 discs, i intend there to be no overlap. but you have to keep in mind that the mp3 discs are going to be $200 each so it's a strong incentive. and, then there will be blu-ray discs at $500 for flac and $1000 for mp3.

well, what *should* 25 gb of flacs cost? think about it. that's like 75 hours of music. if you guesstimate that to around 75 hour-length cds, you're looking at $6.67/disc. keeping in mind that most discs are less than an hour, it's more like $5/disc.

i mean, consider the reality: if i'm to have a fanbase (and i know i don't really now....) with this much music, full discography torrents are going to exist. i've downloaded more than a couple myself. so, apply bootleg logic.

bootleg logic?

well, bands often don't care if you tape and trade, it's the people that press and sell the shows that piss them off because that's when it starts taking money away from them. the best way to avoid that is to press and sell your own concerts. i mean, if you're a fan, and you're buying the bootleg, you'd think you'd rather support the artist than some dude down the road.

so, i think presenting the option is about the best approach. people want it, there it is.

the price tag is really just a reality check on what it is that you're actually doing.

but, i've been over this before. music sales are down across the board. ok. that means that prices have to increase to make up for it. instead of mass producing something and selling it to thousands of people, artists need to get their heads around hand producing things and selling them to a smaller number of people at higher prices. the product shifts from a cheap commodity to a valuable scarcity.

what i'm selling at this point is the number on the disc. the digital files are basically free. but "copy 7 of a limited edition run" is valuable to the collector - both in terms of emotional attachment and in terms of resale value.

consumers might not realize that yet, but collectors have known it for years.

i learned a few days ago that slow riot for new zero kanada has been ranked as the greatest ep ever on aggregate. it was fifteen years ago, but, today, my beat to shit original pressing - that i bought out of aidan girt's hand on the actual slow riot tour itself - has more value than the version that's on the shelf at walmart. and, that's what collectors strive for when they buy records by obscure composers on bandcamp.