Understanding the FLAC Audio File Format

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Okay, so you’ve recorded your album, had it mixed and probably pressed some cd’s. You’ve also probably ripped it into a computer and have mp3’s available for sale through your website, have uploaded them to all the places on the web like MySpace, Imeem, and Reverbnation, and are ready to start selling tracks and albums.

Hold on. There are some technical things which need to be discussed that will provide the hardcore music listeners of the world high quality versions of your music that you may have not considered.

Mp3’s are compressed versions of the music you had recorded to a CD (which even in itself is not the highest quality of music in itself - vinyl is, and you should also pursue getting your music pressed on it as well).

SO, as these Mp3 files are compressed, the quality of audio output is less. Many view the Mp3 as pretty much the worst quality of a piece of recorded music.

But because Mp3’s are the industry standard and most consumers don’t notice a difference in quality (or give a shit for that matter), you’re main file format will be remain the Mp3.

But for hardcore fan of music (including musicians themselves), file formats like FLAC also exist. Having your music available in this format will provide these fans with higher quality versions to dig into - a higher quality could also demand a higher price, giving you an additional revenue stream in the distribution channel.

I’be dug up some information regarding the FLAC file format so you can learn more about how to record and distribute your music in FLAC.

FLAC stands for “Free Lossless Audio Codec”, and basically means the file is compressed like and Mp3 but doesn’t lose any of the quality. You can learn more about the codec here : FLAC @ Sourceforge

The information about the file format is pretty convincing, and it doesn’t seem to difficult to rip your music into your computer into both FLAC and Mp3 file formats. Be sure to include an option to purchase FLAC files alongside the lower quality Mp3’s to appeal to the geeky music lovers - they could turn out to be your biggest fans!