i'm just going to point out that this discography update is discarding most of my youtube uploads of tracks dated over 1998 to the status of outtakes. to be more precise, they're now all discarded mixes.

i'm not that upset about this. i'm using youtube as an advertising platform - which is basically all it really can be used for. if i had ads on, i'd have something like $30 in my pocket from the 30,000 hits i've bit and clawed for over the last two years. it's impossible as a revenue source.

so, basically, it now means that most of my ads for music from that period are low quality versions of the final products, which are only available at bandcamp.

in fact, the change i'm going to make moving forward is that i'm going to stop uploading high quality tracks. what's here is here. but, i'm basically giving it away - and it's not as effective of a portal as i hoped it would be. i think i'm better off doing something like this, which is floating a tease and giving people a good reason to exit the site.

i was online young. to me, the internet is actually the internet. but, i know that to a lot of people that tuned in after 1998, and especially after 2005, the internet is two or three safe sites and a giant mass of scary. it may strike some as kind of hilarious to think people are actually afraid to leave youtube. but, i know this is the actual truth. what if they get a virus? this is seriously how people approach exiting the troika of google, facebook and twitter.

so, i need more push factors along with more pull factors.

but, this is really a huge overhaul. i've uploaded a bunch of singles already, but the actual replacement of files is just seriously getting started this afternoon. the increase in sound quality is immediately apparent. but, i don't want to disturb the algorithm i've got set up. and, as stated, i really want to be pulling people off of youtube, rather than holding their attention here.

i know there's some possibilities in the "google play" store, but i don't like the idea of streaming as a business model. the majors may see some value in this, and it may end up being the default way to get old catalog items like a pink floyd or led zeppelin record for the near future. but, it's just not going to be the way that independent artists work. that has to be something closer to a bandcamp model.

i mean, i guess if i thought i could pump out a hit single, i'd change my mind a little. but, i'm dealing with a more specialized audience. fuck, you can't even really listen to this stuff properly unless you have an audiophile set of headphones, y'know? i'm not aiming for a teen-pop market. i'm really aiming for an adult contemporary market that only bleeds marginally into a younger audience. file next to autechre, kind of thing.

real music fans already know that they have to get outside of the default channels to find what they like. the reality is that the discerning music fan isn't going to be any more likely to find what they're looking for through spotify or google play or whatever else than they ever have been by listening to the radio or watching mtv. the streaming services can be the next gen radio. they can't be the next gen independent music store, too.

indie artists just won't buy into something where they don't get paid. they will find their own distribution channels. and their fans will follow them.

that's why youtube is so bizarre - it breaks that apart. i don't know how long it will last for. but, i need to kind of clue-in to what it actually is, too, and start using it more appropriately.

so, yeah. these files are now all deprecated. and, i'm not going to replace them. i'm just going to put up links to the current versions.