[Al Maazif]

I'm trading since something like 10 years and looks like it's more and more difficult to find "young" traders and even traders as well, people are less spontaneously proposing it, are making bad packages...
It is just me who have wrong adresses or you see the same things?

[mad_conflux]

Hello, this is my experience and what I think.

I was involved trading audio and video music files (bootlegs, rare release rips,etc) in 2005-2009, in my case it was almost exclusively about japanese punk and metal, and in a couple of years I already had a pretty decent list and I spent a lot of time uploading and downloading and even went to the post office to leave DVD-r recorded for major exchanges in which the internet connection was not enough.

At one point (this is quite personal) I think I only devoted myself to hoarding files, and not enjoying them as much as before. I attribute this to having been stupid and also being a teenager.

Times change, internet connections have improved globally, and moving large amounts of files is no longer a problem. I even got to pay for digital copies of videos that years later appeared on YouTube with much better quality, so access to many "rare" files was democratized. For those kinds of things I think there are not many people interested in trading files anymore.

Then I grew up, I dedicated myself to collecting records instead of digital files and I used all that energy and time previously invested in exchanging files to contribute to the underground doing something. It still makes me laugh when someone in slsk has a lot of files downloaded on the internet protected or "trade only", I think it is a waste of time and does not make sense to me.

So I'm actually glad that the trade is dying.

[megachameleon]

For me trade was Good and it was influence in the heavy and thrash metal revival, then many re-realeased oldschool albums. I started trading near 2003, now i still trade and i'm glad of it, but not as often as i did in the early years, the reason it's because of some bad experiences with greedy ashholes, i prefer trading with Good comrades, make Friends on trading. Trading is also dying because there is more rare music available like in this fórum and also the old die hard traders are no longer in the scene. It's a pity trading and making fanzines it's dying because is part of the spirit of underground. There are some cool trader list i've seen and it's a pity some of those cool stuff will be buried and won't surface, when they stop trading. In the other hand, it's cool that some music considered rare years ago it's now appreciated by a wider audience.

[Al Maazif]

Hello, this is my experience and what I think.

I was involved trading audio and video music files (bootlegs, rare release rips,etc) in 2005-2009, in my case it was almost exclusively about japanese punk and metal, and in a couple of years I already had a pretty decent list and I spent a lot of time uploading and downloading and even went to the post office to leave DVD-r recorded for major exchanges in which the internet connection was not enough.

At one point (this is quite personal) I think I only devoted myself to hoarding files, and not enjoying them as much as before. I attribute this to having been stupid and also being a teenager.

Times change, internet connections have improved globally, and moving large amounts of files is no longer a problem. I even got to pay for digital copies of videos that years later appeared on YouTube with much better quality, so access to many "rare" files was democratized. For those kinds of things I think there are not many people interested in trading files anymore.

Then I grew up, I dedicated myself to collecting records instead of digital files and I used all that energy and time previously invested in exchanging files to contribute to the underground doing something. It still makes me laugh when someone in slsk has a lot of files downloaded on the internet protected or "trade only", I think it is a waste of time and does not make sense to me.

So I'm actually glad that the trade is dying.

Hello,
I was more speaking about official lps/cds/tapes, but i agree it's way more easy for listening whatever/mp3 now and mp3 trade is dead with bandcamp/youtube/blogs etc.

For me trade was Good and it was influence in the heavy and thrash metal revival, then many re-realeased oldschool albums. I started trading near 2003, now i still trade and i'm glad of it, but not as often as i did in the early years, the reason it's because of some bad experiences with greedy ashholes, i prefer trading with Good comrades, make Friends on trading. Trading is also dying because there is more rare music available like in this fórum and also the old die hard traders are no longer in the scene. It's a pity trading and making fanzines it's dying because is part of the spirit of underground. There are some cool trader list i've seen and it's a pity some of those cool stuff will be buried and won't surface, when they stop trading. In the other hand, it's cool that some music considered rare years ago it's now appreciated by a wider audience.

I agree it's also troubles, i've meet absolute assholes who ruined forums and gave me awful image on some genres too, but as you said it's also the spirit of underground and friends.
It's the same problem for everything, without a good promo/practical sale system people are no more really curious on small sites and you remain unknown/don't sell. Plus people who are criticizing without knowing all the work on it, then complain when something disappear. I'm into them too, sometimes i find interest in something too late, i prefer a direct link because of rip offs...

I've spoken to some people and it looks like as both of you either people are happy things changed because they don't liked/had troubles with trades and music discovery before internet, or people are nostalgic of this period and try to revival it (i know someone who never listen before buying, because he prefers old system).

Trade is more for "fun" (and sometimes some discoveries/finding a good edition) than necessity to keep the scene alive now.

[mad_conflux]

Hello,
I was more speaking about official lps/cds/tapes, but i agree it's way more easy for listening whatever/mp3 now and mp3 trade is dead with bandcamp/youtube/blogs etc.

Hi,
I personally associate trading stuff with rare recordings, audio or video bootlegs, for official releases there will always be a market price, usually high for rare releases. Anyway it is always fun to trade specially if you carry a couple extra copies of something, in fact, underground metal and punk labels never stopped trading stuff from their cataloge or distro with another labels or underground enthusiasts, so perhaps the perception that one has of the matter depends a lot on the experience of each one.

I agree that trading can be a very good opportunity to discover more bands and make good friends with common interests, but that can happen in a thousand different ways as well.

I don't agree with megachameleon that the zines are dying, I especially admire the way in which the underground metal scene has been kept releasing material of all kinds, in my country (Chile) there is a young generation that in addition to making killer metal bands, They are active in bonding with the global under through releases and fanzines keeping what has been done here since the 80s, so I can't see that as a reality.

[Al Maazif]

er labels or underground enthusiasts, so perhaps the perception that one has of the matter depends a lot on the experience of each one.

Hi, yes sure.
Rare or not official releases are traded too, but yes bootlegs are commons
In Europe zines are dying (except maybe in Black Metal)

[mad_conflux]

Hi, yes sure.
Rare or not official releases are traded too, but yes bootlegs are commons
In Europe zines are dying (except maybe in Black Metal)

Those are bad news, I hope that in the future that situation will improve.

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[megachameleon]

I don't agree with megachameleon that the zines are dying, I especially admire the way in which the underground metal scene has been kept releasing material of all kinds, in my country (Chile) there is a young generation that in addition to making killer metal bands, They are active in bonding with the global under through releases and fanzines keeping what has been done here since the 80s, so I can't see that as a reality.

I'm from Peru and there are quite Good bands, but less people going to concerts diskshops are also dying, there are still some people making the battle with underground labels to make realeases for the foreign public mainly, Chile has maybe the more vibrant metal movement in southamerica so it's good you have another experience there, i speak of what i see worldwide and in my country, so my answer to Al Maazif is that trade indeed is decreasing but i think will not die in a while, both of you are females, now i see more females in the scene here in Peru than before, we were mostly mans, cheers!

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