Matador Records phases out physical promos

October 2, 2006 9:42 a.m. by Justin Sheppard

Via: hypebot
Venerable New York indie label Matador Records has decided that physical promo copies are so Twentieth Century, and plan to distribute advance copies of their releases electronically from here on out. Obviously this really isn't relevant to people who aren't tied to the business in some capacity, but just for fun, let's look at some of the possible problems that will arise from this decision.
- These mp3's will likely be low quality. Call me cynical, but I'm willing to bet that Matador isn't going to be ripping albums at 192 kbps or higher. That means music journalists will have to form their opinions at a handicap. It's like asking a food critic to rate a restaurant while wearing a condom on his tongue.
- The news piece didn't mention anything about liner notes being included through a pdf file, or otherwise. Curious if what you're hearing is a bass, or a guitar run through a whammy pedal? Can't quite make out that lyric? Better hope a kindly publicist takes pity on you then, or you get to play the guessing game.
- Your hard drive crashed? Well, you better go buy another computer with the quickness if you wanna meet your deadline.
I could go on, but I think I've made my point. The only possible advantage I can see coming from this is reviewers getting their (figurative) hands on these advance copies quicker since there's less leg work, which could give people more time to let an album digest before having to commit to an opinion. Of course, i could just as easily see this being an excuse to send out promo's later than ever, since there won't be any worries of mail delays any longer.
What do the rest of you think? Will this policy catch on? Is this a positive or a negative development?

9 Responses

October 2, 2006 at 9:54 a.m.

Matthew Gasteier

Heh. Condoms on their tongues.

October 2, 2006 at 10:32 a.m.

L.A. Stephens

Fully agree with everything. How could anyone even consider reviewing a record in any format other than lossless? When are we going to learn that easier, faster and smaller does not = better!

October 2, 2006 at 10:50 a.m.

BTW

#1 reason against this idea has to be fear of leaks, no? I mean what's going to stop some unpaid reviewer from zipping up a YouSendIt file and blasting it to all of his friends? Not that you can't do the same with a CD but this makes it even easier. Potentially you could just forward the Matador link. I doubt they have a way to limit the amount of times those files are accessed. But anything is preferable to the hiphop advances that have movie samples (Thanks for ruining my enjoyment of "The Shining" BBE!) or DJ promos all over them.BTW

October 3, 2006 at 3:42 p.m.

abe

cut the melodrama, this reminds me of that hippie freelancer dude in Austin that was bitching because he didn't get comps to some secret Black Crowes gig he felt entitled to. You are complaining about the format of the free promo?10-1 says Matador sends them at the very least 192 kbps, probably 320. This is a label that cares about sound quality, and most of their releases can still be found on vinyl. I can't think of any (professional) digital promo that I have received less than 192."Your hard drive crashed? Well, you better go buy another computer with the quickness if you wanna meet your deadline." Is this a joke? Leaks are going to happen regardless.hell, I'll take 50-1.

October 3, 2006 at 7:54 p.m.

Justin Sheppard

Gosh Abe, tell me how you really feel!It's not my sense of entitlement that's got me complaining about the format of my "free" promo, it's the fact that my job as a critic, to give my opinion on a particular release, is handicapped if I'm being given an inferior product to critique. You can give me whatever arbitrary odds that you choose to pull out of your ass, but there's no guarantee that Matador will hold to a 192 standard or higher, or that other labels would follow suit if this trend catches on. Either way, why should I have to listen to the album on my computer's speakers, or have to burn them onto a blank cd myself to listen to it on my stereo? (assuming, of course, that the mp3's aren't protected against such an action.) If I'm "entitled" to anything from labels, it's the right to do my job with minimal fuss and bother, and this new policy doesn't seem to deliver on that end.Yes, I was trying to inject some humor into the piece with that last example. I can see that I can't get anything past you.

October 3, 2006 at 8:11 p.m.

Dave Park

I can't see any music critic being happy about this. Aside from the possibility of lower quality audio, I still want the liner notes and cover art. Although some people seem to like simply collecting music for the sake of having 10 million mp3s, I view music as more than a commodity.

October 4, 2006 at 10:29 a.m.

prefix » Blog Archive » Matador pwns V

[...] Via: Matablog Here at Prefix we take plagarism very seriously, so even though we’re still kranky over Matador’s decision to switch to digital promos, we’ll gladly help them in ridiculing Victory Records for stealng their shiz. [...]

October 4, 2006 at 6:24 p.m.

Chris Gliddon

This is a tricky one for me. Here are my comments: - mp3 sound quality is like listening to your music through a cardboard box. - if the awesome gang at Matador insist on doing this, please insist on using a lossless format- no digital copy is going to suddenly wipe out the threat of someone throwing an album onto YouSendIt or something. why is a hard copy more threatening?- it IS more environmentally friendly to not be producing all these discs; especially when there are writers in the world who dump their unwanted promos at Salvation Army thrift stores- it's also more cost-effective for Matador to host the files vs. production, sending, etc.- it's also a timesaver for them, considering they just have to send out one massive e-mail marketing blitz which includes links to said files- ps - i prefer vinyl to listen to an album, anyways.

October 13, 2006 at 2:12 p.m.

abe

"You can give me whatever arbitrary odds that you choose to pull out of your ass, but there'''s no guarantee that Matador will hold to a 192 standard or higher"does this mean you'll take the bet?

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