Technology is an awesome thing. We live in an age where we can have anything we want delivered to our doors. I can hardly think of anything that can not be purchased over the Internet. You can even meet your future significant other without ever leaving the comfort of that Walmart office chair that sits in front of your put-together computer desk, or the cozy little booth by the fireplace at your local overpriced coffee shop. The information age has really given a shot in the arm to those who want to reach a broader audience to buy whatever it is they are selling. But what happens when technology completely upsets the apple cart? Today, the music business is desperately trying to pick up it's apples from the sidewalk before we smash them under our Old Navy flip flops.
I grew up in the 70's and 80's. You heard a song you liked on the radio, you found out the name of the song and artist who recorded it. You saved your nickels and dimes and went down to the record store (remember those?) or department store and laid down your hard earned cash for the album that contained that song. The bonus was you got at least 9 or 10 other songs with it! You didn't know them, but you learned them by going home and putting the LP, or cassette, or whatever format on your stereo and listening. I used to love the LP's that had lots of liner notes and photos of the artists on the inner sleeve. Listening to music you could hold in your hands was an event. An experience. I don't want to get into whether the music was better then or not, but I will just say that it I feel it had more of an impact on us than the music of today. I think the quality of the experience stuck with us more. Dare I say, you got more for your money when you HAD to buy an LP, cassette. or CD.
Now, you can pick and choose what you want from any artist. Not having to buy the whole album. You don't get something you hold in your hand and look at, and you usually don't get more than cover art when you purchase your music digitally. No cool liner notes and credits, no photos... nothing but mp3 files. Yes, its faster and cheaper, but it's just not the same experience. While I am forever indebted to Steve Jobs and am seldom ever without my ipod within arms reach, I long for the, "I just got a new record and I can't wait to listen to it tonight!" experience. For me the record album was a meal at Ruth's Chris steak house. Not just food, but the food. An event. An experience. The digital download has turned buying music to going through the drive through at Taco Bell. It's fast, cheaper, and it fills you up. It tastes okay, but the experience doesn't stay with you.
Then, there is the whole illegal downloading/file sharing issue. Now, I don't want to sound like Lars from Metallica, but I do not understand why people think that this is okay. The artists who spend time to write, arrange, and record this music usually really work at it. Even an American Idol contestant is singing a song that someone painstakingly wrote, and probably rewrote a few times. I am trying to say that there is significant effort in what musicians, singers, recording engineers, and producers do to create quality music. Why do we think that it is okay to say that their efforts have no worth any longer, and go to a file sharing site and get that music for free?
I will admit it. I used to "dub" my albums to cassette and even share them with my other musician and music loving friends. We did this for two reasons: Portability, and to preserve the relatively fragile vinyl LP. We used to share them to let each other know about cool music each of us had discovered. I almost always went out and bought the dubbed album for myself later. The music people got paid, the musicians got paid and I owned those albums. Why? I wanted the experience. The Full Meal Deal. To sit down and enjoy a large fillet cooked medium with a baked sweet potato, a large beer, and a salad with bleu cheese at Ruth's Chris steak house. Not Taco Bell served in the car and made by some teenage boy who is upset at the manager for making him wear a hairnet for only $7.50 an hour.
I realize this post has two different points. The lack of quality/experience in the digital age, and the lack of conscience of those who download music illegally. I will attempt to make this post be more of a cohesive thought by proposing this theory:
Is perhaps the lack of an experience in the digital download is a root cause of the decline in the perceived value placed on music today? The purchasing is painless and the music doesn't move you on as deep of a level, so therefore music is worth nothing or at least worth less in the eyes of the consumer. Whoa, my head hurts now...
So if you actually read through all this, what do YOU think? I am very interested to know what you, the modern music fan thinks about all this. Tell me. Do you even care? Tell me anyway. I'll wait right here and take a few Advil...
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Let me start with this. I am a music downloader, a pirate. Now, I know that this can be perceived as immoral. However, I have an issue with the music industry as a whole, more so the big music companies. Here is my reasoning; in today's music world few bands take the time and 'craft' their music. Most of them are just trying to get famous and whatnot. I know there are bands who are not like this. The problem is that the music companies cobble together an incohesive record created around a single. I may like a singular song by an artist, and when I buy the album the other 9-12 songs are total crap. I feel like I just got ripped off. So, now I download a copy, check it out and then determine if it's worth my hard earned money. I also know that bands get near nothing on cd sales. I go to shows, and buy merch which is where the real money comes from for bands. I still buy vinyl, and I still enjoy buying cds from bands that I have followed for years and popping the disc in the car on my drive home from the locally own record stores that I frequent.
ReplyDeleteOn you other point I totally agree. The music listener of today has no clue what it's like to get a record and pull out a full size poster out of the dust sleeve. Then again, few bands of the day make cds with much thought given to the cover art and contents. Unless, it's the re-release of the cd that was just put out 6 months ago to try and drive up the sales count with the 'limited' artwork and a DVD with some live concert footage just to get closer to the RIAA gold/platinum record.
There's my 3 cents.
Hey Scott, I think that everyone loses out if they cheat the system to get there music buy downloading it. What is the fun in it anyhow. Just because its faster and cheaper does not always mean its better. I will admit I am not one to always buy my music from the stores or even from mail catalogs like you can sometimes do. But then again I have had to do without a lot growing up and in my adult life. I do sometimes buy my CD's from the yard sales I go to or at times off of Craigs's list. Is it the wrong thing to do. For me its not; because I look at it this way...someone already bought it either from the store or buy mail, etc. So that the musican gets paid. They are the ones for whatever reason decided to sell it, bored didn't like it whatever. So there decission to do so just became my savings at times or like finding a diamond in the ruff so to speak. I still get that "new" CD feeling. I will even play it as soon as I can if it doesn't need cleaned first and get to have all the enjoyment as if I had bought it brand new from the store. Does this mean I never buy from the stores or mail order...Heck no! I love doing that just as much as the occasional buying from the yardsale, or Craigslist. I have even found an occasional brand new never been opened CD from a yard sale or too. Again someones already purchased it from the right means and there unwillingness to hold onto the CD has become my very much appreciated treasure. I have tons of CD's I have purchased by all of these means, be it Yardsale, craigslist, mail order or from the store itself. But you will not find me buying my music (unless its a ringtone) off of the internet to download for my MP3 player or other means. To me that is just wrong and no fun. Like you said its become like going through the drive for your Taco Bell! What a world we live in today! I miss your younger years.
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