Why Spotify's Purchase of SoundBetter Could Be The Best (Or Worst) Thing To Ever Happen To The Recording Industry

Chris (0:31)

Always great, because when I come on this podcast, you just tell me how awesome I am, and this is just lovely.

Thank you, Brian. How are you, sir?

Brian Hood (0:39)

I'm feeling gracious today and generous today. We had a group coaching call today with my students, and I got to critique a lot of websites, so it was fun to get all my anger out this morning, so I have none left this afternoon. I saw some really good websites and some really bad websites today, I'll say that.

Chris (0:55)

That's amazing. Well, I had a really fun week this week, in part because my middle son, Jeremiah, got his first electric guitar amp.

Brian Hood (1:04)

Ooh, I remember my first guitar amp. What did you get him? Or did he get it himself?

Chris (1:09)

Let me build up to it, let me build up to it. Well, last week, we talked a little bit about the nature of wealth, the nature of money, and how there's not a set amount of money on earth.

Brian Hood (1:19)

By the way, did you see the Facebook community chat about this?

Chris (1:22)

I did, there's been a fascinating conversation. I haven't participated yet.

Brian Hood (1:27)

Me either, I'm like, I don't want to open this wormhole further than it already is, so it's like.

Chris (1:31)

Yeah, I want to like, let's see where it goes on its own.

Brian Hood (1:33)

It's some of the longest posts I've seen in a comment thread ever.

Chris (1:38)

Yeah, super interesting. And so I bring that up because when I was a kid, my first electric guitar amp was a Crate, like GX15, I don't remember what it was called.

Brian Hood (1:48)

Better than mine.

Chris (1:49)

What was yours?

Brian Hood (1:50)

Mine was a Custom, with a K, that's the brand, Custom 10 watt guitar amp.

Chris (1:55)

Well, but if you get an old Custom, those were dope.

Brian Hood (1:57)

And a Synthsonics guitar. What is a Synthsonics?

Chris (2:03)

My first guitar was an Electra brand guitar, and it had two humbuckers and a single coil in the middle and push-pull pots so that you could do any kind of guitar ever, and then I took it all apart, never got it back together.

So there's that. Anyway, so here's why I bring this up. When I was a kid, I think it was maybe like 180 bucks or 200 bucks for me to get this little Crate 15 watt thing that had a crunch button.

Brian Hood (2:24)

Dude, mine had that too.

Chris (2:27)

Oh, it was super. My mom and I would get in a fight, and I'd be like, ah, I hate you, mom. And I'd go upstairs and be like, crunch button.

Brian Hood (2:34)

My first song I ever played on that guitar was My Own Summer by the Deftones.

Anyways, that's my song for the day. Continue on your story of your son.

Chris (2:46)

We need more of that, more of you singing songs. Da da.

Brian Hood (2:49)

We would put a sound clip in, but we would probably get some sort of copyright infringement, so that's the best I can do.

Chris (2:55)

Probably. So here's why I bring this up. My electric guitar amp was a crate. It was pretty expensive, and it sucked. It did not sound good. It was kind of cool. It sounded kind of like a tube screamer.

Brian Hood (3:07)

Nope, you're getting two gear slattles in here.

Chris (3:09)

Come on, come on. Anyways, so I'm gonna get a couple more on this episode, but here's why I bring this up. My first amp cost about twice what my son's amp cost.

We got him a Blackstar, it was like $109.

It's a little practice amp. It's got built-in effects, and it's stereo, which is fascinating. This amp is amazing. My son has been playing the crap out of it. I've been playing the crap out of it, but it's just a little tiny, like the size of two shoeboxes.

And it's an interesting illustration to talk about how there is not a set amount of wealth on earth.

Brian Hood (3:44)

I can't wait to see how you tie this into that conversation, because I have no idea where you're going here.

Chris (3:47)

Well, here's the thing. That amp cost $109, and it sounds awesome. It is a great sounding amp, and I'm used to my fancy vintage Fender Princeton Reverb.

It's, yeah, but it is an incredible amp, and it's incredibly fun, and it's wild to see how the market has brought the price of a great practice amp much lower than when I was a kid, and the quality is significantly better. That you can't compare my amp as a kid to my son's.