Article: Announcing Josh Mound's Club TBVO

[Josh Mound]

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[The Computer Audiophile]

I love it @JoshM , we all want more of your great writing! 

[firedog]

Donated a small amount. 

But let's see....if this is good I'm donating money to something that's going to cause me to buy more discs from Discogs sellers....Pay  to spend.

No just kidding. Happy to contribute. 

If it's as good as I expect, I'll donate more. 

[ssh]

Done. Great articles @JoshM!

[PeterG]

I'm in and have donated, and like firedog, I hope to do more over time.  Your PhD-like treatises have been an inspiration and I look forward to short-form recommendations.  Good luck!

[austinpop]

Excellent idea! I’m in.

[Josh Mound]

Thank you to everyone who’s donated so far. I’m so appreciative. My goal to start is one or two posts per week, depending on length and other factors. 
 

Since part of my reason for asking for donations is the cost of buying the various versions of albums (and I’m often asked if/when I ever download rips), one upcoming post will be on the ethical and practical factors in that. 
 

I also have in the works a mini-TBVO of one of my favorite obscure ‘70s artists who’s finally received audiophile mastering treatment. 

[Rexp]

Maybe change the name to TBDVO to reflect no analog versions are included.

[The Computer Audiophile]

16 minutes ago, Rexp said:

Maybe change the name to TBDVO to reflect no analog versions are included.

Or not. 

[stereomatters]

Please suggest a contribution amount, or perhaps a couple of monthly contribution levels. I have greatly enjoyed your TBDVO columns and would like to support your writing through the club, but I have no idea of what is reasonable. Thank you!

[The Computer Audiophile]

3 hours ago, stereomatters said:

Please suggest a contribution amount, or perhaps a couple of monthly contribution levels. I have greatly enjoyed your TBDVO columns and would like to support your writing through the club, but I have no idea of what is reasonable. Thank you!

What’s reasonable is up to each person. There’s no right or wrong or correct amount. Consider what his work is worth to you and support his efforts with that amount. 

[Josh Mound]

9 hours ago, stereomatters said:

Please suggest a contribution amount, or perhaps a couple of monthly contribution levels. I have greatly enjoyed your TBDVO columns and would like to support your writing through the club, but I have no idea of what is reasonable. Thank you!

 

I totally second what Chris said. He and I talked about starting it paywalled, but 1) I didn’t want to potentially be writing things only a handful of people would see, and 2) it’s really, really hard to come up with a fair “ask.”
 

On the one hand, it depends on how much a reader does (or doesn’t) like my work. (I don’t expect everyone to like it equally or at all!) On the other, people’s disposable income varies. My academic work was about tax politics and policy, and declining marginal utility is real. What’s a lot of money to Paul McCartney is going to be very different from what’s a lot of money to a Liverpool music teacher!

 

If someone who has the means to do so wants to give a lot, great. But I absolutely don’t want anyone living paycheck to paycheck to give to TBVO, period. My wife and I are both public school teachers, though I still teach college classes here and there. So it’s not like we’re rich. But we also don’t have kids or student loans. So my Discogs orders aren’t bankrupting me, either!
 

As I wrote in the intro, Club TBVO is really about allowing me to write more short content and perhaps making TBVOs consistently net out positive, since it’s not uncommon for me to spend more on versions than I make on the article. But it’s not anyone’s responsibility to make that happen. Writing them is a joy for me, and I appreciate any amount that anyone is able to contribute, either one time or recurring. 

[Josh Mound]

While I can't promise to continue this pace, a new Club entry is up!

[cgiammona]

I will also start with a small donation and plan to raise it as this grows over time.

[Josh Mound]

3 hours ago, cgiammona said:

I will also start with a small donation and plan to raise it as this grows over time.

Thank you!

[Archimago]

Hey there @JoshM, I heartily agree with your quote. :-)

 

Hard work (but hopefully enjoyable!), and essential information which unfortunately we don't have enough of.

 

A little something just sent over for the awesome job man! 👍

[Josh Mound]

22 hours ago, Archimago said:

Hey there @JoshM, I heartily agree with your quote. :-)

 

Hard work (but hopefully enjoyable!), and essential information which unfortunately we don't have enough of.

 

A little something just sent over for the awesome job man! 👍

Thanks so much, Arch!

[Josh Mound]

Thank you to all who've donated so far. I really appreciate it!

 

I also wanted to alert everyone to a new post up on Club TBVO about the MoFi "One-Step" controversy and why my TBVO columns are digital-only:

 

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

18 minutes ago, JoshM said:

Thank you to all who've donated so far. I really appreciate it!

 

I also wanted to alert everyone to a new post up on Club TBVO about the MoFi "One-Step" controversy and why my TBVO columns are digital-only:

 

 

It’s a fantastic post. 

[ClothEars]

Where have you been all these years of me buying crappy issues of many albums that I regret?  Thank you so much for doing this - I think it’s fantastic. 
I’ve just donated and look forward to more reviews. 

[LucasZ]

👋 Hi, long-time reader, first time poster. Just wanted to say that I've greatly enjoyed the entire series of TBVO and I really admire the amount of work that goes into each article. As someone who spent way too much time surfing the SH forums in search of the best mastering for every classic album, this is right up my alley. I also appreciate the mixture of objective and subjective analysis. Looking forward to more!

[Josh Mound]

2 hours ago, LucasZ said:

👋 Hi, long-time reader, first time poster. Just wanted to say that I've greatly enjoyed the entire series of TBVO and I really admire the amount of work that goes into each article. As someone who spent way too much time surfing the SH forums in search of the best mastering for every classic album, this is right up my alley. I also appreciate the mixture of objective and subjective analysis. Looking forward to more!

Thanks so much, Lucas. A big part of the motivation for TBVO was reading the SHF forums. It whet my appetite for finding the best mastering, but with so few (if any) members having every version, let alone comparing them level-matched, I alway ended up feeling like I needed to just track them all down myself!

[Kalpesh]

1 hour ago, JoshM said:

Thanks so much, Lucas. A big part of the motivation for TBVO was reading the SHF forums. It whet my appetite for finding the best mastering, but with so few (if any) members having every version, let alone comparing them level-matched, I alway ended up feeling like I needed to just track them all down myself!

i'm a great admirer of your work. I wondered for a while if there was room for a kind of "back of the enveloppe" TBVO thread where we could share tips and maybe Musicscope captures but in the end I think it would end up subjective and unstructured and there's SHF for that. Your work is unique and, yes, the best we can do is encourage you to produce more 

[Josh Mound]

I have a new post up about how to support artists in the age of streaming:

 

 

This is the first of a two-post article. The second will get into the ethical and practical factors that go into sourcing versions of albums for my TBVOs.

 

[Josh Mound]

Hello All,

 

I have a few new posts up, including the second part of the How to be an Ethical Music Fan in the Age of Streaming series: