Gail Zappa, the widow of legendary song-writer / compositional wizard, Frank Zappa, has a serious problem with iTunes and other digital music services. It all has to do with—you guessed it—the lossy and overly compressed nature of the MP3 medium. She argues that her husband’s music was meant to be heard at a certain quality, and that compressed, it’s just not the same. And so she’s joining the anti-MP3 club that so many classic artists seem to embrace.
“Let me say it in the simplest way. My job is to make sure that Frank Zappa has the last word in terms of anybody’s idea of who he is. And his actual last word is his music.”
And his music was not intended for distribution as 128 kbps MP3s. As a musician, I can certainly understand where Gail Zappa is coming from. However, the music industry is still an industry, and its primary interest is in moving units. Most people know that MP3s offer lower quality than CDs, but they are willing to make that sacrifice in the name of convenience, and the labels have no problem providing this. Neither do most artists.
Ultimately, the consumer should be given the chance to decide the level of quality they want for their music. The average MP3 downloader who listens to music mostly while driving, working out, or doing other tasks, probably isn’t missing out on much by using MP3s. Audiophiles, or others who put great emphasis on the quality of their music, will probably buy CDs, or download the music in a lossless format like .flac or .ogg.
To draw a parallel to visual art, it can be said that MP3s do for music what posters and calendars do for art. When you buy a $7 poster of a painting, you’re missing out on a lot of the fine detail of the original, or even of a high quality print. However, the poster is cheap, convenient, and you can still appreciate the painting at a base level. Plus, it helps pay the artist.
I will say this: in an age where massive, high definition movies are available for download, iTunes and other music vendors need to step up and release music in a lossless format. There’s no reason I should be able to see every pore of sweat on Mark Walberg’s face, but not be able to hear a Norah Jones track at the quality it was meant to be heard.
You have heard of Apple Lossless format haven't you?
What I really liked about Frank Zappa was that he always listened to his music on a crappy old record player so that he could hear it in the same way as his fans would.
He would be laughing about slot music too if he was still around.
One thing I respected Zappa for was that he always listened to his records on a crappy old record player so he could here it in the same way as his fans would.
He would be laughing about slot music right now too:)
Why not distribute on something like iTunes Plus, which is 256kbps AAC? Or Amazon MP3, which is 256kbps VBR mp3? Those are certainly high enough.
Heck, even the 128kbps AAC offered by regular iTunes downloads is good enough that most people can't tell the difference between that and CD.
Mp3's are low-fi if best
CD's unless remastered from
original studio (tape)recordings and master's
are showing up more requently.
The 8-Track went the way of the dodo bird, followed by store sales of cassette
format releases.Now you see
(a ery limited though) resurgance of LP's at 180 grams and they sound awesome
(wether a remastered release
or a new release in combo with
a nw CD , Personally I think CD's sound stale and always have, the are portable
and with computers you can create tour own etc.
with IPods and other brands
of Mp3 players Itunes is a goldmine for Apple as are other sites for ther customers. I read a article
where there are 3 players
for Cd's (walk in buys)Best
Buy, Target and the best profit Margin for artists is
Walmart(at least for Sony artists) who would have thought. I have no answer
but as a hobby guitar player
and hobby recorder, cables
(instrument and connetions)
are often the weakest link
I spent about $100.00 upgrading instrument cable
and 1/4 mono and 1/4 TRS cables and the sound change was so noticable I could not believe it, I had been using
fairly brand name cables but
went for hi -end cables
and it was so worth it.
It is similiar to file compression and water through a hose the smaller the hose the less water flow
same with sound fidelity
Peace
DW
Question: How does MP3 quality compare to LPs of the 60s and 70s?
I agree with her to a point. I think most of the mass consumers can't really tell one way or the other or just don't care. Portability wins. The trade-off is quality of the compression. With modern music, it's already compressed to Hell, so the end product compression doesn't really matter. The classic rockers have dynamics built into their recordings (despite the fact that Zappa and others were mixing for the crappy record player at home), so it's no wonder why they'd be conscientious of how their product sounds in mp3 or lower-encoded bitrates of AAC.
I first heard Frank on LPs played on a crappy KMart portable phonograph when I was 13. Is the Zappa Trust denying potential fans access? I'm all for the best quality, and I own a ton of Zappa CDs; but I also bought a ton of Zappa when it was briefly available at eMusic and iTunes. (And speaking of audio quality, the Zappa Plays Zappa DVDs are not at optimum, IMHO.) I appreciate Gail protecting the legacy--really, I do--but the legacy won't last if potential supporters don't even own CD players.
I'm old enough to have had my first exposure to music through crappy little transistor radios. AM. Mono. Didn't matter. Great music transcends its medium.
I can say with reasonable certainty that my iPod sounds a lot better than that transistor radio.
I agree with the art comparison. But the problem is a $7 poster is a small fraction of the cost of the original.
I have seen CD's for sale CHEAPER than you can buy the low quality MP3's online.
The problem seems to be the price of the low quality MP3's are not that much cheaper than the CD. Considering the money saved on manufacture, distribution and store costs online digital MP3's should be a lot cheaper.
"Audiophiles, or others who put great emphasis on the quality of their music, will probably buy CDs, or download the music in a lossless format like .flac or .ogg."
Although I am certainly a fan of the Open Source compressed formats, .ogg Vorbis files are still compressed using lossy compression. They are arguably better than .mp3 or .acc at similar bitrates, but they are not lossless.
I insist on FLAC, Apple Lossless, or the original CD. I will not buy lossy compressed music.
If you listen to the LP's on a good quality stereo installation, you know that there is an enormous difference in quality compared to mp3. I have no idea what Frank would think about it, but I do know that artists have the right to object to certain forms of publication, even if convenience is becoming a norm. Therefore, I totally agree with the widow in this respect. Artists should have the last say about the way their art is produced.
Well if she's the one to mannage Frank's music rights, she just does it like she wants to. If for any reason she doesn't want mp3, well there wont be Zappa's mp3.
And it IS the owner who decides what's allowed and not the custommer. Can we choose the computer on which we install mac OS???