Hoping for a return to vinyl
Everybody spends money
– that’s a fact that’s hard to dispute. Beyond the essentials –
food, housing – most have something that they spend on that is both
a comfort and entertaining. But not everyone spends it on the same
thing.
Hoping for a return to vinyl
Everybody spends money – that’s a fact that’s hard to dispute. Beyond the essentials – food, housing – most have something that they spend on that is both a comfort and entertaining. But not everyone spends it on the same thing.
Some would rather have 50 types of shoes instead of buying a new movie every week. Others would rather search through stores for the best sales and buy shirts they already have or don’t need.
Personally, getting a new piece of music every week is a must. But no, it’s not an iTunes download.
I buy music in the way it should be heard – on vinyl.
I have no issue with music readily being available to you at all times or having an abundance of it in a small 2 inch by 4 inch piece of metal. I own an iPod and it’s full – or at least close to it.
Plus, I need good music in the car and while on the treadmill at the gym. As much as I would want to, I can’t bring my record player everywhere.
But to sit down and listen to music at home – I need it on record.
Besides the fact that a record sounds better – all songs on a CD or an MP3 are compressed so their quality is worse – they make a listener listen to a whole album instead of a chosen single.
And that’s the basic principle of a good record and music.
Good music shouldn’t be written for a song or single, good music should be a book or novel – not a chapter. Each song tells a different story under a larger umbrella story.
An album is a tree and each song is a branch – they can’t survive without each other. But in today’s music industry most music is made with a branch first – which doesn’t add up. It’s why a musical embarrassment such as Justin Bieber is so popular.
A record allows the listener to experience the album as a whole and how the band or artist intended it to be heard.
A good record should be considered one whole piece of music that both flows and transits itself into something grandiose and meaningful. And this is why the fundamental purpose of the music industry is crumbling as most people either buy a single song or search through the Internet for a free download.
Really it started with MTV and its push for singles and videos way back in the ’90s. Bands started creating single songs simply for mass consumption and not for the art of the music.
It was all about the money.
From there, iTunes created its basic paying structure where they would break up an album into single songs and charge the listener per song. This gave people the opportunity to pick and chose what songs to listen to.
It’s great for personalization reasons but in reality it destroys the cohesive intent of a record. I can’t imagine listening to a record such as Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon in a sporadic order. The songs are in a certain order for a reason.
But iTunes has given people the opportunity to ruin the artist’s intent, well at least the good ones.
Yes, records don’t necessarily fix that completely – thanks to ridges in the record a listener can skip songs when they want or need to. Also thanks to the fragile vinyl material, records are easy to ruin.
Dust, scratches and just normal wear and tear can quickly hurt the records’ quality. But really some of those noise pops and crackles are what makes a listening to a record such an intimate and enjoyable experience.
Every time I drop the needle on a new record I get rushed into the room with the band. I feel like I’m there enjoying something completely different.
The sound launches out of the speakers with such clarity ¬– Apple CEO Steve Jobs can’t help but be jealous because he knows that sound is something his beloved iPods will never be able to touch.
And with today’s technology, you don’t have to separate your iPod and records completely. Today, most vinyl records come with a free MP3 download and usually it is at a better quality.
So if you believe there isn’t anymore good music in this world – think again, stop buying singles on iTunes and reinvest into vinyl records.
I did and I’ll never buy a CD or iTunes download again.
There are only a few things better in this world than lying down and listening to your favorite album on vinyl.
