MQA The Truth lies Somewhere in the Middle

[crenca]

3 minutes ago, Rt66indierock said:

 

It will get here I think they underestimated the time legal issues would take. It took Onkyo Music over a year to get some MQA albums available in Europe for download here.  

 

So its regional distribution licensing from labels and all the assorted middle men that's the problem?

[crenca]

16 minutes ago, Jud said:

 

 

Hi Dan, Mike -

 

Actually, I think Brink was indeed "bringing a knife to a gunfight," and that the MQA folks could really care less, for this reason: What these people care about is the dollar, not the holler.

 

People get outraged about closed systems and DRM all the time.  How badly has that worked out for Apple and Microsoft?  How badly for DVD and Blu-Ray?  What is absolutely critical to dollar value of a business proposition like MQA is consumers-at-large feeling that it is an improvement. 

 

First, we are not consumers-at-large; I doubt our little niche means anything at all to Tidal, whose experience with MQA I'm sure the rest of the industry is watching closely.  So far, results are mixed; while Tidal as a whole doesn't seem to be getting on like a house afire, it appears they've managed to sign up about 30,000 or so USA members to the MQA tier, of a total USA base of around 380,000.  This is seen as a somewhat hopeful sign by the industry, which dearly wants more people to be paying $20-$30 a month instead of $10.

 

So that's what the MQA folks are looking at.  Some fellow hollering on an Internet forum, or even a bunch of folks, they could care less about.  Such people can be easily dismissed.

 

What I would imagine the MQA folks are deathly afraid of is the sort of thing they reacted so strongly to from Chris at RMAF.  That was no accident.  Anyone who can show in a couple of charts information from credible sources (remember the attempted takedown of Archimago's credibility) that tells people they're paying extra for something that's worth it is very, very scary to folks whose money is riding on convincing hundreds of thousands of the opposite.  So people like @mansr, @Miska, and @Archimago are the folks who actually have the heavy weaponry in this fight.  Getting that good, credible information to more people will do more to combat the problem posed by MQA than any screaming or "uncivil" behavior here in our little corner of the Internet.

 

What your missing in your analysis is ironically optics.  The reasoned and information rich side from the likes of @mansr, @Miska, @Archimago and the like is necessary but not sufficient.  As evidence I submit @Miska's utter failure to carry the day on the Roon forums.  So there is this other side of it, the "political", the messaging aspect, that guys like Brink understand.  Sometimes the loudest guy in the room actually gets a message across that the smartest guy in the room talking in a low, reasonable tone does not.

 

Also, I would note that DVD and Bl-Ray carried the day because the industry carried the day (over and against consumers) with congress, and Apple and Microsoft carry the day because market forces support a de facto monopolistic situation.  In other words, consumers in both cases are relatively powerless.

 

It remains to be seen if in audio consumers are similarly hamstrung...

[crenca]

2 minutes ago, Jud said:

 

You are certainly free to try to persuade tens of thousands of Tidal customers by screaming at them.    How well does that tactic work on your positions?  When someone hollers at you, does it make you more likely to think you were wrong and adopt their position?  I'm guessing not - it probably has just the opposite effect, right?  So why do you think a tactic that fails miserably with you would work just great on a lot of other folks?

 

 

Apple's finances sucked before they brought out the iPhone, which consumers loved because they saw it as an improvement over the other phones that were available.  It's critical that audio consumers not see MQA as an improvement when in reality we know it isn't.

 

Not sure if I am exactly following your tie in with Tidal, but yes hollering does work.  Trump does not tweet because it convinces anyone, but because it "works" in other ways (e.g. keeping the media focused on "outrageous" tweets while he does other things he wants to do).  The numbers you quote I think include past subscribers such as my self who singed up for "hi res" or non mp3 - in other words 16/44.  The confidence game "switch" to MQA is not what brought me in.  What are the real numbers of consumers who signed up for Tidals Hi Fi tier because of MQA - in other words they actually bought into MQA?

[crenca]

Just now, Rt66indierock said:

 

Jud, one of the problems is the Tidal Hi-Fi tier in the US is about 80,000. CD quality and MQA is then about a tenth of percent of a market of paid subscribers in the US of 80 million. Various sources for the 80 million. 80,000 is from a Tidal royalty statement I got my hands on earlier this year.  I think people are worried consumers don't want even CD quality. Spotify has been test marketing for a while and people aren't willing to pay for it.

 

No, the vast majority of musical consumers don't want even 16/44 because mp3 is good enough for them and their playback chains.

 

"The Industry" tried to get Audiophiles on board the MQA train (by lying about its sonic, consumer, and industry benefits) so that we could then be used as examples to the general musical consumer "you see, you want this", as well as just being a sort of critical stating mass...

[crenca]

23 hours ago, Rt66indierock said:

People I've been away teaching Continuing Legal Education and Continuing Professional Education. Topics were about the new American taxes laws.

 

I'm disappointed at many of the posts.  I want better so stay on topic, hunt shills when necessary, Frank talk about MQA, the company or the seminar here (the topics of the thread) or post it in your own threads. christopher3393,  Agitator on Archimago's site and Hoffman's site said the same thing as Brinksmanship did about MQA's sound. Bob Craver and other's have called MQA a big fraud no different than Brinksmanship did. And I finally get back on good terms with Michael L and you may mess it up thanks. Chris we'll talk more about how "food fights" impact your advertising.  

 

I'm to play the rest of weekend in the sun and listen to some live music.

 

I have more to post soon including the end of the vaporware post. I have horse's mouth conformation that there are more than 10,000 albums. We will move on to the next phase is MQA commercially viable?

 

 

"the next phase is MQA commercially viable?"

 

CC's point about it picking up a major streaming source (Tidal does not count - say Spotify) OR(and) becoming the only format which one or more of the major labels use, how can it last past this decade?