It seems to me like classic things are making a comeback, a resurgence of sorts. Vinyl is now the new in thing. It seems everyone these days are putting out their new material on vinyl. There are also a ton of new releases of old albums in vinyl format. New websites are popping up, preaching the gospel of vinyl. This particular website was started in Feb 2013, and dont get me wrong, its a great site, but its a new site. Vinyl then isnt new, but the growing fascination with it is. How else can you explain well, this.
Vinyl never really died, but it has for very long remained a niche market, populated by audiophiles, DJs and music collectors. Nowadays it seems like everyone owns a turntable, and collects records. Honestly, i'm not ready to get into the whole debate over the merits of vinyl over digital music, why vinyl is awesome and what not. It doesnt matter. I think this resurgence is a great thing, regardless of the reason. No need to get all protective and possessive about it. Not hipster enough for that.
interesting data, boring chart.
interesting data, tumblr chart.
I do think its interesting to think about the changing trends in terms of music sales. CDs has seen a huge dip in recent times. I myself feel it. There arnt as many CD shops around, thats for sure. I used to walk into HMV at City Link (or wherever, actually) ever single time, spending at least 30 mins in there, much to the chagrin of whoever was with me. I cant do that anymore. I dont even buy CDs that much anymore. The last time i bought a CD was probably when The 2nd Law came out, which is Sept 2012. And even that was more an obligatory purchase rather than a case of walking into a CD shop with nothing in mind and walking out fifty dollars poorer.
The format on the rise is of course digital singles. iTunes is well, iTunes. What else must we say about iTunes. But its not just iTunes. Youtube, 8tracks, soundcloud, and of course the newly released Google Play Music All Access. The catch phrase of modern media being "on-demand". Technology has allowed to this instantaneous access to media of all forms, beyond just music. Singles have also become so much more definitive. It is so easy for artistes nowadays to be eternally defined by a single song of theirs (see: Psy, Carly Rae Jepsen, Gotye, Fun., LMFAO, the list goes on). The media explosion is massive, and it translates into advertisements product endorsements, parodies, memes, things that essentially take away from the essential quality of music itself.
The dominance of singles have resulted in the gradual death of concept albums (but thats another blog entry in itself. i'll get to that in the next couple of weeks). And the dominance of singles is a testament to society's increasingly shortened attention spans. I will be the first to admit that i seldom listen to albums start to finish. Yes, many albums usually contain shit in between that makes it hard to sit through, but the truth is that most of us are really only going for that one or two particular songs. For example, how many Pablo Honey songs do you know, other than Creep? (my answer is one, Inside My Head.) Our attention spans have greatly shortened, (Up till this point i have left my laptop about eight times to do something random and completely pointless, except perhaps to prove my point.)
and eat some honey. i have a sore throat.
Also, I think our increasing ability and disposition to multi-task is another reason why music as an activity somehow seems to matter less. When we go to concerts or performances, we have little choice but to participate in the act of watching the performance. But in the comforts of our homes and our daily lives, with ipods, stereo players and well, not that i want to belabour the point but iTunes, we can actually listen to music as we are doing other things. case in point, i have the Gatsby soundtrack playing now as i type this. What this does is take away from the actual act of listening to the music itself. Music as experience, if i may so term it. And thats the beauty of vinyl. You are forced to do nothing but listen to the music. With each side of the record lasting fifteen to twenty minutes, you dont really have the chance to do anything else, because before you know it you have to flip the record. And that's what I actually like and enjoy about it. Its the singular experience, in a world of furious multi-tasking.
My greatest fear is that music will slowly and surely become an afterthought in our daily lives. We go about doing whatever it is that we do, with music playing in the background, the soundtrack of our lives fading in and out. This is why I don't like radio, among many other reasons. Its too convenient, and ultimately too meaningless. And after watching Gatsby, I must say I really liked the role music played in the crafting of the movie, both in a good, bad but ultimately integral way.
Music is important, music still matters. And I know music is important to all of us. So i implore you, take some time, set aside whatever it is that you are doing, and just go listen to some music, with nothing else to distract you. Bask in the wonder of musical creation, because its worth it. Dont let music die.
when I got nothing but my aching soul
No comments:
Post a Comment