Ronnie Dunn: Take Country Back By Learning to Download
Ever since I first started this dumb thing, I knew it would take a fight on all fronts to truly “Save Country Music,” and that the most important front would be education. Educated consumers make better choices, and people educated about what to listen for in music can get so much more entertainment and fulfillment out of music than people who are not educated about music.
Last week Ronnie Dunn took to his Facepalm page to educate his fans on why it is important how they consume music. Dunn is one of these artists whose facing declining sales and support because he’s seen as an aging, more traditional country star. And though Ronnie may not be up to speed about what is happening with Billboard’s new chart rules, what he said applies very much to how older country artists are getting shut out of the chart process as well, specifically because their fans are more likely to by music in a physical format than digital.
I don’t necessarily agree with everything Ronnie Dunn said, but he said it so well, instead of butchering it into paraphrases and quotations, I’ve decided to do something I never do and cut and paste it in total below for your reading pleasure.
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Yes…baby boomers and beyond have been left behind by the music business !
It’s not that you have AGED OUT. Statistics show that you do not download. Record labels live by research and statistics.
Guess who hasn’t shown up IN MASS as a buying group on the download / digital front…….YOU.
I’ve said for years that the final straw needed to complete the final transformation to an all digital playing field for music will be the day that automobile (PICKUP TRUCK) manufacturers stop putting cd players in cars. Well, it’s happened. Ford announced, in July that it is phasing out cd players in it’s vehicles.
If you’re a baby boomer and feeling like YOUR kind (genre) of music …”country music”, etc. has been tossed by the wayside and you have been left in the dust, this is your opportunity to take your COUNTRY back. Do yourself a favor. Learn to download asap.
The music business has, most definitely placed it’s focus and energy on developing a MUCH YOUNGER than normal demographic because the market has become digital.
Baby boomers and beyond do not download music like Generation X.
The music industry, especially the “COUNTRY” music business….in, “do or die” fashion, leap frogged over your age group to get to that very young demographic.
I cannot remember the last time that I listened to an entire cd in one sitting. I have downloaded my music and made my own playlists for years. So have kids.
I can, if it’s really good….get through a 3 to 5 song EP /short cd. Google EP.
Get your hands on an iPod, Iphone, smart phone, use your laptop with external speakers. Learn to use BLUE TOOTH (wireless interfacing) technology.
Now, you can simply plug a wire that comes built into your vehicle into any of these devices and have complete control over what you choose to listen to. I just put had a complete digital unit put in my 1956 pickup 🙂
Yes…that can get expensive by most standards but there are inexpensive iPods / phones out there.
I’ve found MORE music online than I ever did at a music store. Most music stores are phasing cds out. They just won’t tell you that. The digital selections are absolutely, endless.
You push a button and the song or cd of your choice shows up on your computer in less that a 30 seconds in many cases.
If you’re REALLY a music fan and REALLY mean it when you tell me that YOU MISS REAL COUNTRY MUSIC….”you want to hear YOUR kind of country music…. simply go to iTunes / Amazon, etc. and download it to your computer for $.99 and transfer it to your phone, iPod or other listening devices. It’s not hard.
Once you unite and show up as a serious consumer block the BUSINESS will come to you 🙂
…..YOU can turn the music business around. YOU can bring
YOUR country music back. It’s the beauty of the internet.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-31001_3-20028837-261.html
….sorry for typos, misspellings, etc. my editor is off today 🙂
RD
November 8, 2012 @ 1:51 pm
He is right. I’ll never forget I was at a Willie Nelson show they were selling thumb drives of that nights show as people were leaving the gig.Burned straight from the soundboard as the show was hapening and duplicated in large enough numbers to sell almost immediately after the last encore was over. Times they are a changin’.
November 8, 2012 @ 5:32 pm
I’m a big fan of downloads. I can buy just the tracks I want. I don’t have cds taking up space. I have 34 gigs of music all downloads I bought.
November 8, 2012 @ 8:44 pm
Ronnie Dunn is being left behind because his music sucks. this dinosaur has the gall to scold the people who made him a superstar because his itunes sales are a joke. get the fuck outta here…
November 9, 2012 @ 7:45 am
When Ronnie states, “If you”™re REALLY a music fan and REALLY mean it when you tell me that YOU MISS REAL COUNTRY MUSIC”¦.” he obviously doesn’t get that statement was directed to sellouts like Ronnie Dunn. Yes he would probably make a few more bucks if some people would buy MP3s but his music would still suck.
November 9, 2012 @ 8:09 am
Can please let me know how Ronnie Dunn is a sellout? Calling someone a sellout is a pretty bold accusation, and it gets tossed around here pretty irresponsibly.
Just curious, why is he a sellout? In your opinion.
November 9, 2012 @ 8:42 am
I think you should be able to compare the music and presentation of Brooks and Dunn to someone like Dale Watson and the answer you’re looking for will be obvious.
November 9, 2012 @ 10:43 am
Everyone please note that “Karl” “Tim” and “IceColdCountry” are the same commenter.
More info here: https://savingcountrymusic.com/ronnie-dunn-take-country-back-by-learning-to-download#comment-264867
November 8, 2012 @ 10:03 pm
Easier said than done, Ronnie. Even if my mother could afford a good computer with loads of hard-drive space and a fast Internet connection, she wouldn’t know the first thing about how to operate the stuff — and doesn’t really care to learn, anyway. :-\
November 9, 2012 @ 2:24 am
I’m not old, but I’m trying to go the other direction for the sake of sound quality. As Neil Yound has said, the digital tracks are only a shadow of the songs. It’s sad to see CDs go away, they were all that’s left of high defnition music!
November 9, 2012 @ 10:41 am
Digital recording is much more hi def than analog. I think it comes down to having a certain style and sound to preserve tradition rather than sound quality. I wish 35mm film was still being widely used too, but unfortunately it really isnt because digital photography has far surpassed it in image quality. But, I still shoot 35mm when I can.
November 9, 2012 @ 7:05 am
I hate to hear CD players are going away, almost as much as I hate to hear RD put a complete digital unit in that poor ’56 pickup. I still listen to CDs at work, I don’t even have a smart phone. When I do download music, which is very very seldom, I burn it to a CD. I wish technology would sloowwwww dowwwwwn.
November 9, 2012 @ 7:50 am
I don’t want to start a shit storm here, but, some of the comments here are how many think and then they wonder how we got to the point we did.
You can wish/hope all you want that CD’s don’t go away (think about your parents who wished records didn’t go away and could figure out how this “CD technology” worked???) or that it is easier said than done to get an older person to learn a computer and downloading…but the times change. And you change with them, or you live/deal with what you get…which is pop country on your radio.
Raido stations look at music sales, they see what is on top, they play what is on top assuming they will get listeners, which then they can sell high ratings to attract advertisers. Broadcast/radio stations care about advertisers, not listeners. Even NPR needs to sell what is attractive to potential donors. So no wonder NPR promotes what it promotes. If teenage girls started listening to NPR, guess who would be front and center?
As for the comment about Ronnie being upset his iTunes sales are down, I can promise you, he is just fine financially. Ronnie is hitting the nail on the head as to why country music has changed so much. Any industry goes where the money is. I.E. millions and millions of young, tech savvay kids download.
Sure, there are artists that try and take a stand, but fans = money, and labels need to make money. Whether the label wants to make billions or is a small label just in it to give an outlet to underground bands….both types, need to make money so they give fans what they want. It is just how much money do they want/need to make determining what artists they go with.
How about the online radio that SCM promotes? That is great music, but you have to have a computer and internet connection. Yet many on here say “fuck radio, I just listen to online radio”, and with that, you get what you get on the radio. Is listening/supporting online radio any different than knowing how to download?
Ronnie is just saying it plain and simple. It aint changing back, so if you want your country music back, doesn’t matter who comes along, you have to buy their music the way it is being sold. Downloads.
* You don’t think if the #1 downloaded artist on iTunes was say, Bob Wayne, that someone in the industry, some radio station, wouldn’t notice and track Bob down and get him some bigger exposure?
Now some might say, “Fuck it, he doesn’t need it”, but I’m sure Bob wouldn’t mind more money rolling in.
* As for his 1956 pick up and putting in a digital jack… what is he going to do, ride around with a station playing Aldean out of a stock radio, or would you rather have him cruise around with Ray Wylie coming through the speakers from his iPod?
Times are changing. The G.O.P got that smack in the face Tuesday.
November 9, 2012 @ 8:39 am
Amen Tim. What gets me are some of these commenters that come on here and talk about people “selling out.” Alot of the good stuff from years past, the Waylons, the Paychecks, the Hanks, the Tubbs, etc. charted on, gasp, the Billboard chart! Sometimes they hit #1 on the Billboard chart.
Some people think that hardcore country music was created by Hank 3 et. al. Do your homework children!
November 9, 2012 @ 10:36 am
I think being a (to quote Unknown Hinson) “chart topper” is much different than selling out. But, the two usually go hand in hand nowadays.
November 9, 2012 @ 6:45 pm
no one thinks that.
November 9, 2012 @ 10:42 am
So I noticed that wherever “Karl” was commenting, “Tim” was very close behind always agreeing with him.
So I did a little research. What I found was that Tim and Karl both had the same IP address: “216.82.251.227”
In other words, unless Tim and Karl live in the same house, are using the same router, and the same computer, Tim and Karl are the same exact people.
So then I did a search of the comments section for that IP address to find out if there were any other aliases using the same IP address to agree with themselves. I also found “Karl44” that had been used a few times. And then I found none other than “IceColdCountry,” one of SCM’s most notorious comment trolls.
So please, everyone appreciate that in the past, when you have seen comments from “Tim,” “Karl,” or “IceColdCountry,” they are all the same people.
And he is officially banned from commenting on the site.
As you were.
November 9, 2012 @ 11:24 am
HAHAHAHAHA… nice…
November 9, 2012 @ 11:31 am
poor grumpy old men & women. RD has the right idea, but most elderly folks are not going to conform to downloading music, but will continue to complain about the “changing times”. lesson learned from this article… schizophrenics are not allowed to comment on SCM anymore, haha- go get em Trig.
November 9, 2012 @ 1:52 pm
Of course he is, he disagrees with you.
November 9, 2012 @ 9:53 am
I pray every night before I go to bed that a solar flare wipes out all sattelite, wireless, digital, electrical, etc. forms of communication and media. Like digital tracks being only a shadow of the real song, the modern lives we now lead are only a shadow of real living.
November 9, 2012 @ 11:09 am
Anyone else offended by a musician (I honestly dont have an opinion on Ronnie Dunn as I dont know much of his music) telling me that I should get on board with downloading (which I actually am) because he doesnt have the patience to sit through an entire album in one sitting??? Seriously, there is something wrong with the music scene if the artists cant sit through an entire album. It isnt about getting people on board with downloading, its about artists putting out quality material. Or perhaps it is about his short attention span and not being able to actually take the time to stop and enjoy things as they are meant. Next will he be asking for touring bands to only be playing 4 or 5 songs and then get off the stage because of the time?
I know this comment isnt making perfect sense and may be jumping to some conclusions, I just take offense to how he worded it and insinuated that there isnt enough good ALBUMS out there when we all know that many amazing full albums have come out recently that deserve to be heard in full and not just downloaded for the singles.
November 9, 2012 @ 2:38 pm
That’s one of the things I disagree with in Ronnie’s statements. We should not be trying to cater to the short attention span.
November 9, 2012 @ 2:47 pm
Sometimes songs can stand out on their own without a strong supporting album. 80s music, for example, is full of great songs (some of the best pop songs of all time) but contains very few great albums.
November 9, 2012 @ 3:37 pm
Oh I agree for sure that some songs can stand alone, but those are not the ones that are crying about being left behind in the new music world. Dexy’s Midnight Runners know they had a one hit wonder and are happy with that. But to say that we should take up downloading for just the few songs and not an album is appalling. It leads to more songs like “Red Solo Cup” and “Dirt Road Anthem” that will be written just for the download and the short attention span minds. Gone will be the great albums and artists trying something new as they are just focused on getting a hit download.
I also think the cost of download is far too high. I can download an album for 9.99 on itunes or buy a physical copy of it at my local store for between 7.97-13.97 depending on sale pricing the week it comes out, being a hit album, etc.
November 9, 2012 @ 1:55 pm
Are there rules to your comments section? Is there a reason you give your own opinion but when other do as well you just delete the comments and call them out? I don’t get it.
November 9, 2012 @ 2:36 pm
Here are the comment rules:
http://www.forum.savingcountrymusic.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1303
Nobody’s comments are getting deleted. I didn’t even delete Karl/Tim/Karl44/IceColdCountry’s comments. In extreme cases, I have deleted comments in the past, but it has mainly been for threats and off-topic comments.
I feel pretty comfortable in saying anyone can look at the comment section of this article and many others and see that comments aren’t being surreptitiously deleted to suppress differing opinions. I feel confident in saying my comment sections prove that dissent is encouraged.
Deleting someone making multiple comment names to agree with themselves is not taking anyone’s side. Karl/Tim was mostly agreeing with me when I figured out what was going on.
November 9, 2012 @ 2:52 pm
Nothing in your “FORUM RULES” says that this guy that is banned broke any rules. It just seems to me like you hold a double standard. Commenters that disagree with you do not get the liberty to freely speak, yet you do. I understand this is your site as you point that out very frequently, but this is getting a little too catty.
November 9, 2012 @ 3:30 pm
This is going too far. Trig stated that they were agreeing with him in this situation. I can state that many times I have disagreed with Trig in the comment section and have never seen one of my comments removed,edited or anything. He allows many people to disagree with him (hell have you ever read a Shooter Jennings comment section?) and it fosters conversation. All he is doing here is stopping a duplicate account/fake accounts. Nothing wrong with that at all.
November 16, 2012 @ 1:18 pm
I just added this rule, because of this recent issue, and because of the impersonation of Mr. Bandana that happened a while back.
#6 Impersonating Other Commenters or Making Multiple Screen Names
Anybody caught impersonating someone else in comments will be immediately banned from the site. Also, using multiple screen names to post multiple comments to bolster one’s arguments, to agree with ones self, or to gang up on other commenters will not be tolerated. Using multiple screen names by either accident, or because you happened to change your online handle, or other understandable cases is fine, as long as it is not expressly done to create the illusion of multiple people giving their opinions instead of one.
November 9, 2012 @ 2:30 pm
testing
November 9, 2012 @ 2:39 pm
Something very strange is going on here with comments. I’ll post this one again. This is intended as a response to Triggerman’s banning of Ice Cold Country.
Ice Cold Country did post a lot of solid comments in his time on this site, though. When a commenter would attack an artist (particularly Jamey Johnson) by weaving in made-up “facts” with opinion, he would use logic and knowledge of the actual facts to absolutely shred the baseless claims. In my opinion, someone like that provides an important check and balance in the comments section whenever a heated discussion about a mainstream artist crosses the line into slander.
November 16, 2012 @ 1:30 pm
I agree. Some of the time, IceColdCountry would make solid, constructive arguments, and that’s why I kept him around for as long as I did, even though he probably cost me dozens of other commenters because he would also bully folks, and always want to bring up Jamey Johnson and Hank III at the most inappropriate times just to pick fights.
I always say, the best part about this site is the comments, and my job is just to stimulate the conversation. But at times they can also be the worst part of the site, and folks have used the exposure of the forum and the openness of the format to attack either this site or other commenters. I’ve had people use comments on this site to say that I promote child molestation, for example, or say that I have no integrity because I edit them, etc (which is not true). And people have now used both impersonations and multiple accounts to attempt to discredit my opinions and the opinions of others. For the comments to work, there has to be a healthy balance. When someone is banned or any comment is deleted, we all lose. But we lose even more if people cheat the format and are allowed to get away with it.
November 9, 2012 @ 10:40 pm
I can’t believe all the ragging on Ronnie over “I cannot remember the last time that I listened to an entire cd in one sitting. I have downloaded my music and made my own playlists for years. So have kids.
I can, if it”™s really good”¦.get through a 3 to 5 song EP /short cd. Google EP.”.
Seriously, making a playlist for your MP3 player, iPod, phone, computer, etc. is no different than making a mixtape of songs from the radio back in the 80s and early 90s, or a mix CD after that.
I do listen to albums all the way through, the first time. Usually after one or two listens, I take the songs I really enjoy, and put them on a playlist and delete the rest from everything but my two computers (one is my main computer, the other just has my music on it as a backup) so that I don’t run out of room. Being a music fanatic, I’ve got a 16gb flash drive plugged into the USB port in the JVC stereo in my GMC truck (could I possibly find more three-letter acronyms?) it’s full, the stereo can only handle 255 folders, so songs have to be cut and choices have to be made. Same story with my MP3 player that’s on my toolbox in the shop at work, and the one on my workbench in my home garage. There are albums that are exceptions, where every track is so good, or the album as a whole is incomplete without all the songs and in the order that they were recorded in, that I can’t do without the whole thing.
November 12, 2012 @ 10:28 am
Ther is nothing wrong with making playlists/mix cds and that stuff. The part that bothered me was he said “i cant remember the last time i listened to a full CD”. Thats pretty messed up for a man who makes his living making CDs to say he cant listen to anything loner than a 3-5 song EP. If its good.
November 13, 2012 @ 8:30 am
I’ll be honest. Very rarely do I listen to complete albums anymore. As Mattwrotethis said “I do listen to albums all the way through, the first time. Usually after one or two listens, I take the songs I really enjoy, and put them on a playlist and delete the rest from everything but my two computers (one is my main computer, the other just has my music on it as a backup) so that I don”™t run out of room.’ I do this as well. there are very few albums that I enjoy listening to straight through. There are always a couple songs on any album that just don’t grab my attention.
November 13, 2012 @ 9:19 am
I think most music listeners do this. I certainly do this. What’s troubling is Ronnie seems to allude that he never does this. Though he may be glossing over an obvious point to get to the more important point he wanted to make.
November 19, 2012 @ 11:48 am
I still listen to cd’s in their entirety if they are good artists they will make a good album, not just a few for radio singles. But then again this is Nashville.
January 27, 2013 @ 11:22 am
I’m 57 yo, and I don’t feel left behind by the digital age. I and most of my friends have kept up and download music that we like. Better look for an older group of Americans to pick on than us baby boomers!
November 19, 2013 @ 2:45 am
For the second year in a row, Ronnie Dunn donated his time and talent to raise funds for southern Kentucky charities with the Ronnie Dunn & Friends Holiday Bash Concert, sponsored by United Country Heartland Realty and Auction.
Source:http://www.nashville.com/music/2013/11/ronnie-dunn-gives-back/