I have not made clear yet that I am not a professional, I initially started this blog just because I love the genre(s) so much, those being mostly 90’s/early 00’s R&B and Hip-Hop.
I think I started doing this back around 2010 when I started this blog.
Initially I ofcourse started contacting similar people on blogs with stuff I didn’t have and offered my own cd’s for trade. This wasn’t always easy because the people I contacted then were already what you now call ‘elite’ in the sense that they had stuff almost nobody had.
It was very difficult to get in the good graces of said people because even when I offered multiple rips for 1 of their rare rips they would most of the time find a way to tell me “no thank you”. That only inspired me to buy even more stuff from online auctions/music websites like Ebay or Musicstack back then.
Then in the following years I got to know some people that were like the above “elite” and they were kind enough to make reasonable trades with me.
All fine and all good.
Then at about 2014/2015 you would see people asking on my blog (and others) to send them stuff for free. Then if you’d explain that you invested a lot of money to get your collection to where it currently is, they would always get mad. “It’s just files, let the music be free”.
I would always use the rhetoric “so I have to pay my money to send stuff to you for free. And you didn’t do anything for it”.
I never got a proper response to that question.
And now it’s 2025, I have met a lot of great people along the way with similar interests in music. The best guy is someone from London who I only know through the net, but never met in real life. You know who you are, you did a lot for me and I owe you so much for all the rare music you shared with me.
And this is also the time to call it quits. I have more important tasks in life to deal with and the love for the music (even the rarest of rare) has quite diminished over the years. I can’t even crack a smile for a CD that goes on discogs for $500 or something.
For all the people I have dealt with, thank you it was a pleasure.
The proper response to your question is "yes that's right, we are all going to die some day so let's perform small acts of kindness for others while we can and while there are other people around who share similar passions and interests to appreciate those small acts... like sharing music no strings attached. Just because things were difficult for you doesn't mean you can't make things easier for those who come after". :)
ReplyDeleteI love that you publish this as "Anonymous". What did you EVER do?
ReplyDeleteI’m not the other Anonymous here but it’s good to know I’m not the only one with critical thinking skills and a functional moral compass! As for what I’ve done… a lot more than you that enables me to back up what I say. But I don’t have an ego or inferiority complex so don’t have to broadcast to this niche section of the internet what I do. And if your concern really is that people will sell your rips, have you ever considered that spreading them for free far and wide would shrink the market for selling rips? Why let others make money from your collection when interested people can just get rips for free? Unless YOU want to sell and profit off of copyrighted material yourself…….
Deletebut Esco, I'm not from London lol
ReplyDeletebro, THANK YOU for everything you did share. even now. I know exactly where you're coming from. to me you're one of the elites. I didn't really get into "collecting" til recently. but by then you were miles ahead of me. your collection is INSANE. I'm lucky enough to have known you for over 10yrs now. I'm gonna miss this blog. to me, you are what the guy from London was to you.
i just checked. i have 678 folders with the -Y2H / -Y2H_INT (back when you had the links) - I still have the -hlm promos too. man. what a time.
ReplyDeleteThe crazy part is, in your own telling, you only got in the game in the first place thanks to the generosity of strangers with whom you shared overlapping interests. And in the same breath, you complain about those who want to browse your glorious collection without having anything to offer. The hypocrisy!
ReplyDeleteThank God for the amateur archivists amongst us who share their love with the world. And fuck all the greedy, competitive hoarders! I'm sorry you lost your passion, but I can't say I'm surprised.
Signed,
A fellow collector and Discogs trawler
Reveal yourself please.
ReplyDeleteThe people who post such have hidden alterior motives (like a paid site)
Atleast I am not posting cds I got from others.
The funny thing is there are people who I have traded with who then immediately posted the release on their blog and told people they could buy my rip, lol.
Man, I got no ulterior motives, no blog, I got nothing. All I have is a love of music which sadly you've lost.
ReplyDeleteI stumbled upon your site looking for Speakerboxxx/The Love Below instrumentals, saw this post, and couldn't resist adding my two cents. Hope you will one day see beyond your ego and share your impressive collection. I'm sure you know the communities online that would relish an archive like this. It would be a contribution to culture and the consummation of what has surely been a massive undertaking.
Here, I'll leave my email address if you ever have a change of heart. nodjcdq at gmail dot com
ReplyDelete