Reading a few articles lately, it's great to hear that vinyl sales are up in the US and in Europe. Visiting local places around town, seeing vinyl on the shelves in places other than the back of local record stores is an obvious sign that it's not just collectors reliving their nostalgia by playing occasional vinyl. All this warms my music heart.
However, a little more google searching quickly indicates that overall music sales is down. This is the part that bothers me. It bothers me in a big way. Especially when considering the overall decline of the local record store across the country. What is going on??
In this day and age of the internet making it more and more easy to display and distribute tunes, and when just about anybody with a laptop or a fancy phone can record pretty high quality music, why is music sales down? Music is more and more accessible than it has ever been.
I know there will be thoughts and talk of, "well, I can get it for free off of some streaming website, so why shouldn't I?" Or, there will be thinking like, "I can hear everything I want on some streaming site, so why bother with albums?" Then, there I am shaking my head in frustration and disbelief.
First, I consider a site like bandcamp.com, which I love and use regularly, and will probably write a whole entry on someday. It's a great site. I can't say it enough. It helps funnel money from the fan directly to the artist and takes a very very small cut. It's all in the artist's favor. The artist can share their music the way they want to. But, what's the point? The site insists that a high quality download is available, and that means wav or better. This is absolutely essential as an option in my mind as far as listening to music is concerned.
The resurgence of vinyl is so heartening because vinyl is a pretty high quality sound option, maybe the best generally available in a home. People seem to always think of the nostalgic crackles and pleasure of putting the needle on the record because it reminds them of a bygone age. More importantly though, with a high quality record, a high quality record player, and a high quality record player needle, this is the best way a person can hear music in their home. It's about as close to being in the studio as it is possible to get.
I bring this up because quality is not generally available on the music streaming sites (although I think some are starting), free downloads, or even through many digital purchase sites. Instead you get mp3s. An mp3 is less than 20% the file a wav is, even a high quality one. It is not smaller like a wall clock made more conveniently into a watch, as seems to be an ample comparison to what many think. Instead, think of a pizza cut into 5 pieces and somebody ate 4, what you're left with is less pizza. It's still pizza, but far less satisfying and it cannot sustain you. At least not if you really like pizza. I've joked that I'll buy mp3's over a CD when they cost 20% of the price for a CD, so about $2.00 an album is probably what they're worth, by my estimates. Otherwise I'll take the CD or vinyl.
Now, I have some digital music in the form of mp3s in my personal music collection and I've certainly listened to digital streaming sites. There are plenty of times I put them on because I'm not really paying attention, the music is in the background solely. I'm cooking, doing some work around the house, or talking with friends, having people over, or listening to it on tiny earbud headphones where the quality doesn't matter that much. There is a place for mp3s, sure. However, I also have times when I must listen to music I love, that's a part of me, that has sustained me. When I'm in that kind of mood, the mp3 just won't do. I imagine all people must have this inside of them (although, maybe I'm wrong... the trends in music sales would certainly indicate so). I can't imagine not being able to listen to my favorite albums in high quality.
Mp3s had their glory days. They made sense when "space" was expensive on a computer. Having mp3s rather than wav, or some other high quality file, was necessary because it meant having space for other stuff on your hard drive, or on your external drive. Nowadays that is not the case, though. Computers have massive hard drives (if you want one) and external TB size drives are pretty darn cheap. There's storage on-line. Even phones can hold quite a bit (although this is one place I might advocate for streaming sites or mp3s). There's plenty of space for as much high quality digital as anybody could need. I do know this. A person could not listen to all the music put on a TB hard drive, even in high quality files, there just simply would not be enough hours in a day or days in a year. If somehow you did, though, you could always get a 2 TB drive or two 2 TB drives, it's still only a couple hundred bucks!
Digital streaming sites can be fun and sometimes I find something new on one. More often, though, I have the feeling that whatever algorithms the site is using don't quite fit my tastes. I'm left thinking, do I have to hear the same freaking radio hit song by one of my favorite bands? Play a different song, one that doesn't get played all the time. And, aren't there any other bands that fit this style? Why isn't there more variety on the digital streaming? So, I turn it off and go to my own music collection.
I also have to make the point that often music makes more sense and sounds better when complimented by the songs around it, on the album it was intended. A lot of work, time, and energy often goes into ordering songs, completing liner notes, selecting the right artwork, and everything else that is an album. Music streaming sites don't account for this at all and digital music often does a poor job of accounting for this. It's probably the main reason I'll always be a fan of hard copies of albums.
Also, when did this sense come that music should be free? It's hard work making music, touring, promoting, and living on a tight budget. The vast vast vast majority of working musicians are in this boat. They also work second jobs. They also find a way to be creative and blow our minds with music that touches the soul. Shouldn't this be compensated for? Shouldn't we, as fans, be able to kick a few bucks (because that's usually all that it costs to make a musician feel satisfied... buy an album or shirt... at a show or on line) to support someone's dreams and art? I definitely think so. The vast majority of musicians I've met are just trying to make it like everybody else and work on something they love. And, they very often do it for free or for very little.
So, the long and the short of it is... think about going down to your local record store and making the purchase of music that's high quality... CDs and vinyl. Sometime try listening to it back to back with an mp3 of the same music, I bet you'll notice a difference. Some artists are even releasing studio quality downloads with Vinyl or CD purchases (The download that comes with Ryan Adams' deluxe edition of Heartbreaker is breathtaking!). If you don't have a set already, I think it's worth the time and money to get some good speakers, and a stereo, or some high quality headphones, you'll hear all the parts of the songs that we're being left out with the low quality earbuds or computer speakers. High quality sound equipment will usually last decades if it's taken care of. Or, if you can't leave your home to go down the street to a record store, explore a site like bandcamp.com. You just might find something new there, too, and you'll get a lot from spending a little, and you'll show respect to artists by compensating them for the work they do. Although, there's a lot of free stuff available there, too. Enjoy music. It is a reflection of life.
Keep the songs alive.
-Jason
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