Single Reissues Campaign - Causing a Commotion - OUT NOW

[BoyToyMark 682]

On 8/13/2024 at 8:18 PM, maxijazz said:

Some albums, (LAP, HC, Confessions, etc.) appear to have most songs updated to 24bit/44.1kHZ as opposed to 16bit/44.1kHZ  previously on Apple Music. Are you guys seeing that too? Do they actually sound better(er)? Do you see EY and 4 Minutes still only in 16bit/44.1 in their related albums?

16bit/44.1kHZ is CD quality industry standard. It would probably be slightly noticeable at 24bit/48 kHZ that's usually what most sessions would be done at and then bounced to CD, LP, digital. 24bit/44.1kHZ is arbitrary, I'm not sure the average listener's ears are that good. 

However it is very clear that Spotify need to at least improve their sound quality, its pretty poor still if Apple can give us CD quality at least.

[subversive 1,142]

MDNA was made for Susan Thomas, not Madonna. This is my bet.

[BoyToyMark 682]

Live To Tell - 7" Edit

When will it be on streaming? :D

[subversive 1,142]

From the single

[Brendanlovesu1 13,284]

59 minutes ago, Aiwa08 said:

Susan herself was involved in the process, and we know it because she said so and shared videos about it. An MP3 recorded directly from the soundboard sounds better than the 5.1 mix.

she seemed to poud of it at the time judging by her IG posts in 2013, praying for the rest of the pro shot footage from Paris to leak one day

[Burroughs 918]

5 hours ago, Aiwa08 said:

Erotica, where many fans turned against the album when it didn’t meet expectations.

Did Erotica really didn't meet the expectations or people actually were outarged by SEX and Body of Evidence that preceded Erotica, which resulted in boycotting the album? I mean Erotica itslef without SEX book background is just an album named Erotica. Some lyrics might be perceived as dirty but finally in lyrics wise they're just wordplay.

[Burroughs 918]

1 hour ago, Brendanlovesu1 said:

she seemed to poud of it at the time judging by her IG posts in 2013, praying for the rest of the pro shot footage from Paris to leak one day

Did Madonna bite those off?

[deathproof 11,096]

20 minutes ago, Burroughs said:

Did Erotica really didn't meet the expectations or people actually were outarged by SEX and Body of Evidence that preceded Erotica, which resulted in boycotting the album? I mean Erotica itslef without SEX book background is just an album named Erotica. Some lyrics might be perceived as dirty but finally in lyrics wise they're just wordplay.

look for the full much music interview special. It goes into this

[Aiwa08 18,402]

25 minutes ago, Burroughs said:

Did Erotica really didn't meet the expectations or people actually were outarged by SEX and Body of Evidence that preceded Erotica, which resulted in boycotting the album? I mean Erotica itslef without SEX book background is just an album named Erotica. Some lyrics might be perceived as dirty but finally in lyrics wise they're just wordplay.

The reason why it didn't meet expectations was obviously because of the Sex book, but I was talking about fans complaining about Erotica Album (in the 90s) because it wasn't a huge success.

[maxijazz 120]

3 hours ago, BoyToyMark said:

16bit/44.1kHZ is CD quality industry standard. It would probably be slightly noticeable at 24bit/48 kHZ that's usually what most sessions would be done at and then bounced to CD, LP, digital. 24bit/44.1kHZ is arbitrary, I'm not sure the average listener's ears are that good. 

However it is very clear that Spotify need to at least improve their sound quality, its pretty poor still if Apple can give us CD quality at least.

Looks like Apple Music is giving us above CD quality on some Madonna releases then 🙏🏼

[missberic 1,169]

Going back to the American Life discussion just because @steady75 was so sweet to share their thoughts about the whole era and the album itself. I never thought about how she had poured out so much negativity and rage towards the lyrics. I mean, yeah, she was upset about politics and that was the main theme during the album release, but I never really applied it to the whole tracklist.

My guess is since Evita Madonna had started experiencing a new hunger for attention. People were seeing her under a positive light instead of tossing her aside as a has-been-grandma, and everyone started acknowledging how poised, serious, religious and intellectual she looked and sounded. That's why during ROL she was annoyingly trashing her past-self and old songs, as if she was just saying what everybody wanted to hear.

And then she married an intellectual, moved to England and more and more people and the press got interested in what this "new Madonna", who was so spiritual and eager to change the world, had to say. The Bush-9/11 incident basically came at the perfect time for her to develop this hyperfocus and be really vocal about something specific and universal, so she tailored the whole album based on this rebellious persona and that's the anti-Madonna era we ended up getting.

I personally have a special place in my heart for AL because it was the first M era I followed as a fan, but it's not amongst my favorites and the way @steady75 described it made perfect sense to me. It's not bad, but it's not the Madonna I wanna listen to when I feel like listening to Madonna.

[luckypierre78 277]

4 hours ago, BoyToyMark said:

Live To Tell - 7" Edit

When will it be on streaming? :D

March 26, 2025 is my guess?  Next year's anniversary of the single release date.  Or never if the eventual single release only includes the album version.  

Maybe also on a True Blue expanded edition, which is also likely never .  (kidding)

[Alpha 1,896]

7 hours ago, MPowered said:

I have no issue with those songs because you can tell that she heavily tweaked them and she didn't shy away from giving the actual writers their well deserved flowers.

For MDNA as well as Revolver, she acted like it was all her and those songs were barely changed from their original form. She didn’t bother doing anything to actually make those her own and still received a very generous portion of the writing credit. The only song that she genuinely changed was Gang Bang.

I must've missed all the interviews where she gave those people flowers lol

[Would You Like To Try 9,416]

3 hours ago, deathproof said:

look for the full much music interview special. It goes into this

Could we talk later if you want to? Hopefully you'll accept 

[beastwivvin 27]

4 hours ago, luckypierre78 said:

March 26, 2025 is my guess?  Next year's anniversary of the single release date.  Or never if the eventual single release only includes the album version.  

Maybe also on a True Blue expanded edition, which is also likely never .  (kidding)

#SOON

[Bjonkers 1,690]

When did this turn into an MDNA thread. Didn't we all suffer enough the first time around... The Cherish 7" is great, I really love it.

[Aiwa08 18,402]

12 minutes ago, Bjonkers said:

When did this turn into an MDNA thread. Didn't we all suffer enough the first time around...

I fucked up, I made a mistake
Nobody does it better than myself
I'm sorry, I'm not afraid to say
I wish I could take it back, but I can't

[MPowered 7,733]

3 hours ago, Alpha said:

I must've missed all the interviews where she gave those people flowers lol

They received full writing credit and didn’t have to share it with someone who barely contributed anything.

[MikeyK 962]

15 hours ago, Aiwa08 said:

So what? Many of her biggest hits were songs nobody else wanted, and she just tweaked a word here and there, and we never complained about that (Holiday, Like A Virgin, Open Your Heart, La Isla Bonita—a song originally for Michael Jackson, Justify My Love..........) Let's not be hypocrites now with this issue when we talk about MDNA...

One of Madonna's greatest talents has always been her ability to take songs written by others and make them her own.

 

14 hours ago, Alpha said:

Ray of Light says hello!

La Isla was an instrumental that was sent by Pat to MJ. He didn’t want it so Pat gave it to M and either she and Pat or  she alone wrote the bulk of the song, like Live To Tell.

ROL she at least added the 2nd verse.

Candy Perfume Girl is a better example of what you all were talking about. 

Many of her albums have a song or two like that. Dear Jesse on LAP. CPG. Don’t Tell Me. Nothing Fails. I think w/MDNA it became more obvious just bc the demos became readily available online around when it was out. There are songs on there that def originated from her though. I’m Addicted sounds like her. Best Friend, which doesn’t seem to get much fan love, is a very personal song and imo one of the better tracks on the album.

I’ve thought about starting a thread on the songwriting credit thing. People can correct me if I’m wrong but I believe Erotica is one of the few albums in which she was involved in the genesis of all the songs (barring the Fever cover, obvs). Confessions too I think. Or I mean, there were no acquired fully completed songs she slightly tweaked and slapped her name on the credits of on either as far as I know.

[Aiwa08 18,402]

@MikeyK I agree with what you wrote, but the point we're making is why it's considered legitimate for Madonna to use songs written by others in some classic tracks, while it's criticized in MDNA. Anyway, I don't want to prolong the discussion about MDNA. As far as I'm concerned, the topic is closed.

[MikeyK 962]

35 minutes ago, Aiwa08 said:

@MikeyK I agree with what you wrote, but the point we're making is why it's considered legitimate for Madonna to use songs written by others in some classic tracks, while it's criticized in MDNA. Anyway, I don't want to prolong the discussion about MDNA. As far as I'm concerned, the topic is closed.

No I get you! That’s what I touched on in my comment. I think part of the reason it became such an issue was bc some of those demo leaks were happening during the album era itself iirc. So the fact that some already weren’t happy w/the singles or how the album cycle was rolling out only made it more contentious.

[Alpha 1,896]

1 hour ago, Aiwa08 said:

@MikeyK I agree with what you wrote, but the point we're making is why it's considered legitimate for Madonna to use songs written by others in some classic tracks, while it's criticized in MDNA. Anyway, I don't want to prolong the discussion about MDNA. As far as I'm concerned, the topic is closed.

PROLONG IT PROLONG IT! 

[Would You Like To Try 9,416]

I will not tolerate the Acoustic version of Love Spent not being available on other services except Apple Music..but Apple Music is good for Itunes but the lack of single artwork for new singles and instead album artwork is tiring and plus some errors and stuff

[Would You Like To Try 9,416]

According to ChatGPT 

Madonna's *MDNA* album, released in 2012, is often noted for its high compression, particularly in the mastering process. This compression is part of what's known as the "loudness war," a trend in the music industry where albums are mastered at increasingly higher volumes to make tracks sound louder and more impactful, especially on radio or streaming platforms.

 

In the case of *MDNA*, the heavy compression results in a louder, more aggressive sound but can also reduce the dynamic range of the music. Dynamic range refers to the difference between the quietest and loudest parts of a track. When an album is highly compressed, the quieter parts are brought closer in volume to the louder parts, which can make the music feel more "in-your-face" but can also lead to a loss of subtlety and detail. Some listeners feel that this approach can make the music sound fatiguing or harsh over time.

 

The decision to use such compression might have been driven by a desire to ensure the album's tracks stood out in the competitive pop landscape of the time, where many artists were adopting similar mastering techniques. However, it's a stylistic choice that has its pros and cons, depending on the listener's preferences.

[lennyleonard 1,829]

From a certain point in her career on, she defaulted to what became the industry norm: the actual writers getting only part of the credits, or sometimes none at all (Max Blagg with Sky Fits Heaven, for example; they settled for him being paid for letting her use his lines, and getting no writing credit, but she couldn't release it as a single) in a sort of a "do you want to have a song of yours in a record that's gonna do numbers and be attached to a big name, or not?" kind of deal... not saying that it's in bad faith, but... when basically all the powerful and prominent singers in the industry do this, why would any of them try to be the fair one, and give up on some royalties' bucks?

Curtiss Maldoon (writer of Sepheryn, which was the basis for ROL) once said: "I was a bit annoyed at first because Madonna wanted 30 percent just for changing a couple of lines, but then I realized that 15 percent of millions is a lot better than 100 percent of nothing. I did very well out of it. It's been a life-changing experience. I'd say I'm financially secure for at least the next five to 10 years as a result of 15 percent of one track by Madonna."

From a business perspective, giving up on (at least some part of) their writing credits is not only tempting (in the case of starting artists, it's promised as a way to help launch their careers), and for olders ones, like Curtiss Maldoon, it's a source of income. I mean, we're long past the days when albums sales actually made the bulk (or any lol) of the money, and what they make from streams is actually offensive. Since the most money for these big artists was made through touring (which does not make a big profitable margin as it did 1 or 2 decades ago), I think that compensates for that, though... don't know how it works in other countries, but I know that here in Brazil you need to submit a form with the songs played/sung, so that they calculate how much you have to pay for the writers... on a long thread about the TGS concerts here, they mentioned that for just that minute and something that she sang The Girl From Ipanema, Tom Jobim was paid a good amount of money... and considering that it's usually calculated by the attendance, you see that replacing I Will Survive and DCFMA for EY and Music in the Rio concert was not only an artistic, but a business choice as well...

Sorry, went on many tangents here, but it's because this writing credit debates usually get to my mind... just because big artists have their names on the credits (and sometimes before the people who actually did the bulk of the work) it doesn't mean a lot... is it ethical that M does this? Very likely not. Is she the only one or was she the first to do this? Absolutely not. Is the music industry going to change to tendency? Also not. If anything, it might actually get "worse".