Do you buy music anymore?

Quote: beax "Hola Peeps

Just wondered how many of you actually purchase music anymore? Be that on iTunes, Beatport etc or hard copy.
Or are more of you using youtube or streaming on say spotify? or simply downloading from illegal sources.

Not judging, although would be interested in peoples thoughts on music becoming thought of as free
and the complications on making a living as a music, what peoples perception of the implications of the download generation on the quality of music released, affect on labels and artists etc

Hey up Beax, long time no chat !!!
I don't usually browse RLfans messageboards other than Faxfans but this weather has put paid to usual saturday activities so i'm catching up with a few internet things & really glad I came across this topic.

Yeah, I'm still "buying" music but only in cd format. Far too much of it in the last 12-18 months really, most of it via the internet, either from a bands' website or at a gig. I've never been to so many gigs as the last few years, there's been a massive explosion of prog from many area's of the UK & Europe mainly. I'm still into Marillion & have paid a lot of money for their last 3 or 4 studio albums on pre-order & i'm a sucker for the de-luxe versions with artwork booklets/name in the album credits, stuff like that. Inc. p&p, usually in excess of £30 for a double album's worth of new music which I'm happy to pay for to be honest 'cos they still turn out different stuff on each new album rather than the "we've found a niche so that's what we're gonna re-produce every album" like a lot of bands do & have done for many years. They still have the draw on me & live, they're better now than they've ever been. I just saw them a fortnight ago in Holland play three consecutive nights to 3,500 fans, three different gigs, amounting to over eight hours of material & I also picked up the commemorative t shirt, a re-mixed album & a couple of support bands' albums too.
I'm not anywhere near as obsessed as some of the fans I know who will pay over £25 for a vinyl album which they run in limited numbers of re-issues, i still own my turntable but very rarely use it & certainly have no interest in collecting more LP's.
The way i discover my music is from discussing on band forums or at gigs or even reccomendations when folks post on their Facebook NP: album so & so by whoever the band/artist is. Occasionally i'll drop on a band website that are offering samplers or free downloads as a taster, they're the only stuff i ever download in all honesty. Very good use of the internet though in my opinion. Occassionally I'll trade music via Dropbox with friends or even musicians I know will send me stuff & ask me my opinion & they trust me not to upload it onto the 'net, it's a great tool for musicians to swap pieces for recording i understand. If i hear something i like on Dropbox i'll usually then go on and make a purchase.
There's some cracking prog around as I noted earlier & the live scene is buzzing at the moment, venues of up to 500 capacity not quite selling out but certainly a massive upturn in interest. Bands handing out fliers & samplers at gigs is still a great way of spreading the word too, I always take a handout if there's one going even if it's only to checkout a a link to a band website.
The thing that really pee's me off is the commercial gig ticket prices. For the forthcoming year I've already paid for: Rush £60, Peter Gabriel £45, Fleetwood Mac 2 tix for £154. I've never seen Rush or Fleetwood Mac previously & didn't want to miss the chance, and to be fair to my mrs, it's difficult finding middle ground music for us to gig together so the Fleetwood Mac date worked out massively expensive, considering we only paid £80 for a pair of tix to see Coldplay last summer in what was in my top 3 gigs of all time. Having seen Peter Gabriel previously, I daren't miss the chance again, he's simply stunning. All of this compared to a £12, £15 or £20 ticket for a modest band really winds me up paying large amounts to watch a band on a video screen the length of a football pitch away with over-priced warm beer on tap.
Bands & artistes who use the internet to promote their music are the sort of bands I'm interested in, it's much easier access nowadays. The music tv channels & FM/MW radio stations don't cut it for me either, I only ever listen to digital radio while at home.

My next live outing is the Hard rock hell "prog" weekender at Rotherham's Magna centre, there's a load of old bands like The Enid, Hawkwind, The Strawbs, Caravan & Curved Air on the two day bill but I'll see very little of them, it's the new bands I'm interested in seeing perform & hearing a lot of them for the first time.

Keep on rockin' Beax.