QN5 Music

ild also like to know about how the artists get compensated with programs like rhapsody

Kno said:
I mean, this is the norm. Based on all the info I have access to, I’d say only around 5-15% of the people who listen to our music actually support us monetarily. Pretty dismal.

So another thing that benefits us is expressing to your friends the difference between an artist like CunninLynguists or Blue Scholars or One.Be.Lo and artists like Eminem or even folks like Blu or Murs who are signed to major labels, is that we literally create what we do, from inception to delivery, all alone and out of pocket…our ability to continue making music completely hinges on people who like it supporting it in some way.

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. I think the culture now a days has made it such a normal thing to download music that convincing my friends to stop doing so (even for QN5 music) would be a very difficult task. It’s ingrained into our systems that music should be free and convenient when really it shouldn’t be that way, especially when you are an independent, self-sufficient artist.

I think around 25% of my friends would gladly pay for QN5 concerts, t-shirts and etc. because they’ve actually listened to the music and loved it but I don’t many of them who will pay for an album. The other 75% are people who like CL because they’ve heard “Lynguistics” but would rather pay huge sums to see Jay-Z or Kanye and talk about those artists on the big screens than actually sit down and actually give CL a try. Their attention span lasts for the length of one single at max. Most of them won’t try anything that doesn’t have a catchy hook or that isn’t already a Top 50. I don’t think you want fans like that anyways, Kno.

I think it’s more about that 25% who really like your music but aren’t informed enough to know that independent artists really need their support. Especially with my peers, downloading music illegally is the norm and is rarely even debated as a topic of morality. It’s accepted. To have them change their habits is going to be difficult but I think the way QN5 has created a community and such a high quality brand can only help in convincing these people to do more to support the music they like. Maybe it’s just a matter of time now?

RRR.

who you hangin wit?

It’s more crucial to support independent artists than to support mainstream artists, but you should really buy anything if you find yourself on repeated listens.

I think buying a QN5 album actually does something for hip-hop. On the other hand, being the 450,000th person who rushed out to Bet Buy to get Drake’s sophomore slump does nothing and means nothing to anyone. (So Far Gone the Free mixtape from 3 years ago might be the best thing he’ll ever release)

I would urge people to, like Kno said, get someone to buy a .99 song on iTunes, at the very least, support the cause. Shit, you got an extra .99 cent laying around go buy a song yourself, every dollar counts with QN5.

Posting a video on your facebook page is great, but the only way you can be sure that QN5 will be around is if you BUY music or you get someone else to BUY music.

I just bought Deffinitions Vol.1 on iTunes, somehow I missed when it dropped.

EDIT: Ahhh I forgot how ill some of these tracks were

Kno said:
A good example - Dirty Acres was released by a European record label, so even if you didn’t buy it preorder, you could pick it up at your local shop without the usual exorbitant import fee—but if you guys saw the abysmal digital and physical European sales numbers for this record in comparison to the U.S. sales you’d be shocked, especially when you see pictures from our Euro shows with 500-700 people in the venues…lol

So yeah, non-U.S. fans I’m calling you out specifically—it isn’t 2003 anymore, step it up!

While on the topic, when I buy albums on ughh.com for instance, do they count as US sales or european? I honestly can’t remember last time I bought an album in Norway.

You know, the funny thing about this whole debate is that people don’t put into consideration how much free music we get out of QN5.

For example, pretty much every lead single you’ve heard for the last three years has got a free zip-download right below the artwork. All other work, such as the brand new ‘That’s What Happens’ song, plus similar songs alike are free. Promotions like the Substantial/Burns album comes with a mixtape 100% free of charge. Free podcast. Free mixtapes. Free shows. What’s the damn problem?

As for the things we do pay for; albums, merchandise and some shows, I feel it’s really the height of generosity that we pay so little. In New Zealand, I can pay up to NZ$40.00 for a new album at any CD store. Here, it’s literally half the price, and that includes shipping! Also the Megashow 2009 was offered at the ridiculously low price of $15.00, when if you consider the quality of the performance, any fan would of been keen to spend at least $100.00 for that single show.

It comes down to this; if you understand QN5, like and support what they do, then ponying up $15.00 bucks for a CD or a t-shirt is not a big ask. It’s the least we can do. If you believe that piracy/bootlegging CD’s is good for exposure, understand that those sort of people chomp through albums in days and at the end of it chuck the CD-R aside for the next piece of music delight.

You want more QN5, get your pocket books out motherfuckers! lol

Friend of mine played lynguistics in some housparty back in 2004. Got hooked that second. Preordered every cd since dirty acres. Spent weeks to find where to buy APOS. Got t-shirt. Seen 2 of the 3 gigs in finland. Been trying to get everyone i know to start listening CL and tried to support in every way i can.

Now i been trying to find a place where to get older cds (i want the real cds. Just mp3 isnt the same thing). Have found moust of them as mp3 and now i want to pay back for the years of heavy listening. Problem is that its allmoust impossible to find those and show the love and appreciation for u.

To sum up my incoherent little story, i have done my share of illegal downloading and now im ready to pay for it (and preferably so that the money goes to right pockets).

@Hampusi, to buy music before Dirty Acres and give the money to CL

Will Rap For Food, Sloppy Seconds Volume 1 and Vol 2 - physical copies are Out of Print. If you can find a copy on Amazon/Ebay go for it but the only way to get the money to CL is Mp3 via iTunes, Amazon or Bandcamp (if they’re up yet)

Southerunderground - Re-released with a bonus disc last year. Cop the CD off Amazon or the MP3 off iTunes, Amazon, Bandcamp etc

A Piece of Strange - the bands magnum opus is currently unavailable straight from the group. All money will go to their shiesty ex-label or private collectors. I think Kno himself has encouraged fans to illagally download APOS for the time being.

When i graduated from discman to MP3 player….which honestly was only 3 yrs ago I discovered the joy of illegal and free downloads (YAY!!) I had been a QN5 fan for a few years prior but had burned copies of everything from my brother. Went to the megashow last year and when i got home to boston got onto QN5.com a few weeks after, and started reading thru old posts and forums. I never knew how much independant labels/artists put into their work for so little return. Since then if i dont buy a CD in a store everything I buy comes from Itunes. Anyone who has been on QN5.com for any significant amount of time and is still stealing shit should be banished to listen to Master P screwed up and chopped/autotuned by Tpain for the rest of their lives

I think that one of the major causes of people only downloading illegally is the disconnect between artists and their fans. I regret to admit that I’m really sparse with purchasing music. I usually reserve it for albums I would call all-time favorites, which is obviously a pretty short list. However, even if I wouldn’t call something like DA one of my all-time favorites (though it was damn good), I still felt compelled to get it because of things like this forum where you can feel the artists really connecting with their fanbase. Financial struggles feel real and I actually care about CL continuing on. Eminem would never be responding to fans on a message board, so he feels more distant. That’s why Recovery was strictly illegal downloading, but I’m getting Oneirology the first day I can get my hands on it.

I just think its funny when people say they don’t have the cash to buy music especially QN5 releases, come on now, they give you plenty of notice to save up the like $20 per record.

Tex said:I just think its funny when people say they don’t have the cash to buy music especially QN5 releases, come on now, they give you plenty of notice to save up the like $20 per record.

Yeah, I know times are hard and whatever but seriouslty. 4 days without the morning Starbucks gives you enough for a QN5 release.

I do love my morning Starbucks though.

or theyll pay $9 bucks to go to a movie in theaters that lasts 1.5 hours or spend $60 on a video game that they play for a week, beat it, then never play it again but they wont pay $14 for a cd which has music you can listen to and enjoy for years.

wrestler1256 said:or theyll pay $9 bucks to go to a movie in theaters that lasts 1.5 hours or spend $60 on a video game that they play for a week, beat it, then never play it again but they wont pay $14 for a cd which has music you can listen to and enjoy for years.

Yeah, music has better replay value than games / DVDs.

wrestler1256 said:or theyll pay $9 bucks to go to a movie in theaters that lasts 1.5 hours or spend $60 on a video game that they play for a week, beat it, then never play it again but they wont pay $14 for a cd which has music you can listen to and enjoy for years.

We’ve gotten used to getting music for free. When I was 17 (10 years ago) downloading music was a good idea. You were exposed to as much music as your bandwidth would allow. If you didn’t like it, you could get rid of it. If you liked it, you could get more at the same cost. For the people just a few years younger than me, stores like Sam Goody, Tower, and FYE are be relics. The independent record stores, fetish shops. Downloading music is what they know. Now your choices are iTunes/Amazon, or some other place that doesn’t charge you money. They’re both just as easily accessible. In fact, if you don’t pay you can get your shit early.
Music, and the way in which it’s obtained, has changed. A lot.

At the same time, video games and movies were available too. But it’s only recently that most people can easily afford the bandwidth/storage space to house libraries full of anything other than music. And that 9 dollars for a movie? You’re not paying for the movie, you’re paying for the theater experience. The popcorn, the friends, the stadium seating, the big fucking screen and the loud ass speakers. People who want to download movies still do, but going to the movies is going out. Very much like seeing concerts live, and being able to do so any day you like. And video games still take enough work for people to not really be all that interested in pirating them on the same scale that they do music or movies.

I’m not saying that people have no obligation to pay for any of the music they have. I pay for all the music that I get with any level of anticipation—just about all of the music I get now. Personally, I like physical CDs (and the fetish shops that sell them). I’m saying that there is definitely a reason that people download, and feel they have the right to download whatever they want. Especially in terms of music. It’s just what people are used to now.

Yeah, I don’t download as much illegally anymore. Anything i’m anticipating gets pre-ordered and it’s all part of the fun, listening to their back catalogue in anticipation and getting the CD through the mail are all part of the fun for me. I do have a shit load of illegally downloaded music on my iPod but it’s all music i’m not familiar with, it’s all 60’s and 70’s rock, dance, trance, 90’s indie, jazz, pop etc. I listen to it and if I really like it I buy it. If I don’t really like it I never listen to it again. There’s too much music out there to listen to mediocre artists.

Dr_Gonzo said:

And that 9 dollars for a movie? You’re not paying for the movie, you’re paying for the theater experience. The popcorn, the friends, the stadium seating, the big fucking screen and the loud ass speakers. People who want to download movies still do, but going to the movies is going out. Very much like seeing concerts live, and being able to do so any day you like

good point (popcorn is like another 7 bucks though lol its outrageous) i just remember handing over 9 dollars to get into the movie and thinking i could be 3/4 of the way towards a new cd but instead im spending it on only 2 hours of entertainment

who pays for movie theaters? pffft i’ve been seeing movies for free since last year, just find free coupons!

where do you acquire these coupons lol?

or sneak in or do the “stub exchange” method… (i know, its the moral thing to do)

Yup. Put them exit doors to work.

Well this got way off topic.

I grew up in the generation that bought vinyl, and records were a massive deal for young people in a way that it just isn’t now; video games, new computer apps, that’s so many other forms of entertainment competing for people’s attention. When I was a kid, we spent evenings round friends’ houses listening to music, smoking weed and chatting, in a way that people mostly don’t do these days.

Being introduced to QN5 music some years ago now brought back a lot of that feeling about the importance and primacy of music. Now that all the new music is available off this site, there really is no excuse! And at least I’ve been able to pass on my QN5 enthusiasm to my son!

Meanwhile, I hope some of those long-term touring plans Kno was talking about include another European tour at some point. If you can’t make the UK, dammit, France is near enough.

moto748 said:When I was a kid, we spent evenings round friends’ houses listening to music, smoking weed and chatting, in a way that people mostly don’t do these days.

DAD!?!?

“you damn kids these days have no morals with your video games and twitterings. Whatever happened to smoking a blunt and listening to vinyls. When did that go out of fashion? This country’s going to hell in a handbasket, I tell you what.”

Haha. My dad slipped up once and told me that he used to smoke weed back in the day.

Awesome.

I told my dad he needed to smoke a joint someday it might chill him out…he said before he dies he’ll blaze with me…..fucker will outlive me anyway he hasnt aged in 20 years.