Timeline Concerts on Neil Young Archives + Comment of the Moment: New NYA Membership Tiers: Rust & Patron

"Timeline Concert of the Week" | NYA

 

With the recent announcement of Neil Young Archives Membership Tiers: Rust & Patron, more details have been forthcoming on  the "Timeline Concert of the Week" feature.

The "Timeline Concert of the Week" feature is now available to members at the Rust tier level with streams of live concerts from Neil Young's entire career. "Rust" subscribers can also exchange memories and stories with other subscribers. Some concerts are already accessible via the timeline, more will be added over time. Subscribers can send inquiries and express requests.

Timeline Concerts -- previously  320kbs mp3’s -- are now in full 24/96 resolution. 

The 1st Timeline Concert is Neil Young + Promise of the REAL @ SSE Arena - Belfast, Northern Ireland on Jun 7, 2016 from 2016 Rebel Content Tour USA & Europe.

 

Neil Young + Promise of the REAL

SSE Arena - Belfast, Northern Ireland - Jun 7, 2016

 2016 Rebel Content Tour USA & Europe

 

Neil Young & Promise Of The Real - 2015

Photo by Jay Blakesberg

 

While all of this is fantastic news for so many Neil fans around the EARTH, there are some who feel that this is yet another "cough up the buck$" move.  A comment by Aer:

All these tiers do is find a way to suck more money from those that are already buying all the physical product, going to shows, and buying the merch. 150 million and counting. He could just keep improving his passion project without the tiers. He's gonna do it anyway, even if it doesn't pay...... but it looks like Neil is still gonna go for that extra Benjamin each year, too, for as long as he lives longer than we do, unless he thinks he can get more in years to come. It is, after all, the United States of America.

Yes, Aer, as you say: "It is, after all, the United States of America." And Neil -- while always an artist first -- seems to have very carefully plotted all of this over the past 5 decades.  Never selling his song and publishing rights (until just 2 months ago), retaining every lyric scrap, every tape, every mix, literally everything.  He's had this vision and has achieved it practically single handed in terms of the driving visionary force.

As a longtime fan who practically lived with the 1977 Decade retrospective album for years, expectantly awaiting Decade II, this is all a dream come true.  In our lifetime and Neil's.  Too many artists and fans have died before they could get their due or celebrate the history.

Uncropped Image for Neil Young's Decade
by Tom Wilkes
(See Neil Young's Decade: The Images Behind The Album Cover )

Which brings us to the TW Comment of the Moment:  MAJOR NEIL YOUNG ANNOUNCEMENT - New NYA Membership Tiers: Rust & Patron by the "Inextinguishable Scotsman", in response to Aer's criticism above:

Aer Stephen: Appreciate your comment.

We have to remember there are a lot of fans out there who aren't really active on forums, blogs etc. And so the online buzz you get is often from an echo chamber of fans with a particular worldview.

There is a whole community of fans who grew up trading tapes, collecting them, going to gigs etc. And the website can begin to connect these people who may not have been enthusiastic subscribers up until now.

No, there probably isn't this huge base of new fans out there...but there are plenty of "old" fans who haven't fully been engaged yet.

(Fair point - some of these people have either lost interest or are now dead).

But the beauty of a higher price, of course, is that Neil doesn't need many more fans: because each one is contributing more.

I have no objection to (optional) higher prices, as long as the website delivers more than it has been delivering. Better things tend to cost more money...and why not?

If, in a year's time, we are saying to each other "well, we paid extra - and it was so worth it", then it will have been a success.

(And yes, that is a big "if".)

You hit on another great point. The danger of a tier system is that it can become a vertical show of status that alienates anybody who chooses anything other than "top tier". Fine if you want to sell luxury products, but not good for building a grassroots community.

But the upside of a tier system, when handled well, is it allows different offers to target different sorts of people more precisely.

The "patron" option allows people to feel good about contributing more without the people in the other tiers feeling unfairly discriminated against. And I think that's a good thing.

Do I think *some* of the marketing for Neil Young products recently has been an outrageous cash-grab? Hell yes.

But overall, I think trying to make the the NYA website stand on its own two feet is a worthwhile idea.

Neil says he wants NYA to be an example that other musicians can follow. Well, Neil, it's not much of a great example if (with all your extreme wealth and power) you can't actually make a profit!
That's not very encouraging for those of us without a few hundred million in the bank, is it?

The *best* example NYA can set is by making a sustainable profit that is re-invested into making the experience ever more powerful for its subscribers.

And the way to make a profit isn't to be greedy. It isn't to rip people off with false promises of scarcity, or to treat the customers as wallet-happy idiots to be fleeced.

(Sure, that approach makes a profit; and then everybody leaves and you're left all alone, with your money and your greed).

No, the way forward is to offer a damn-good experience that is easily worth paying extra for. An experience that builds and builds and builds until it simply can't be ignored.

No,this isn't the sort of stuff they'll teach you in the 1983 record company handbook. What else is new?

Scotsman.

Thank you both Aer & Scotsman.  As you both know, our reader comments are vital and we love to hear directly from our fellow rusties.

We'll leave all of this right here. As always, we all make choices under our own true free will.  It is our divine right as sovereign individuals to choose and make informed decisions that is most paramount to us, as a citizen. And as a consumer., as well.  Yeah, there's a lot of crap and bullshit for sure everywhere you look.  And no one likes to get ripped off.

As long as the marketplace of ideas is open,unfettered and uncensored, then the choice is yours to buy, hold or sell.

TW promotes the open free exchange of information amongst fans.  If this helps someone make a decision, then we feel we have done our job and separated the wheat from the chaff.

peace to Aer, Scotsman and all.

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