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Comment by bashcoder | Hacker News Reader

Not a good enough offer - they would have to pay me to download these.

Seriously though, I hate to see these kinds of unforced errors. Especially from guys who should understand that the only reason people know who they are is because of a business model that is under siege.

Now is a time when the music industry desperately needs to make the case for value. These kind of gags don't help anybody.

"the only reason people know who they are"

what the fuck, dude, it's De La Soul.

Keep telling yourself that, just like those old-fashioned newspaper people. I'm sure it will work out.

Of course the old model is upended - that's fine. Adapt and rebuild. Not telling myself anything. Just making the point that maybe this wasn't a genius move on the grand scale.

Or perhaps they've seen the relative age of fans while on tour and decided that introducing their music to a newer generation could allow them to keep performing and making a living.

Well, looks like they've got a few options given what others in their "Old School Early '90's triphop" cohort have done: 1) hope for a Black Eyed Peas - like resurgence; 2) get a reality show (worked for RDMC); and 3) 40-something OG's and B-Girls are likely to have more disposable income than their 18-year old off spring, doing the tours might just be a comfortable enough plan...

God. Please. Don't compare Black Eyed Peas and De la Soul. 3 feet high and rising is a masterpiece of the 20th century. If this helps newer generations acknowledge their work, it will be incredible.

OK, so I get downvoting a joke that someone doesn't think is helpful to the argument. No problem. But why would someone downvote a legitimate music industry opinion that they disagree with? As someone with over 35 albums to my credit, I just happen to think this isn't a good strategy.

Is the groupthink so strong on HN that someone can't express an opinion supporting the commercial value of professional artists and their work?

It seems to have balanced out.

The first comment was better off downvoted -- it seemed like you expressly came into the discussion just to insult the artist, which is just irritating.

The second comment doesn't seem to have negative karma at this point (it's not terribly insightful -- you don't back anything up, but it's not otherwise bad).

And this comment here is rightly trending a bit negative -- "why did you downvote my comment" threads aren't worth much.

An opinion that's against the artist's wishes and insults their intelligence? Legitimate downvote.

Can you explain how they could release them digitally if they don't have the rights to all of the samples on it?

Given that constraint, how is giving their music away for free (and getting marketing information about their fans) a poor choice vs just letting the more savvy ones download it from the pirate bay?

I up-voted the comment before I saw this response, as I always do when I see a valid opinion down-voted. Down-voting opposing viewpoints is annoying, but generally people like me will negate it, so there isn't much to be gained from complaining about it.

Understood - thanks for the feedback.

Is the groupthink so strong on HN that someone can't express an opinion supporting the commercial value of professional artists and their work?

Yes.

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