Music: How Do You Listen?

As a teenager I loved purchasing CDs and putting them on display neatly aligned in my bedroom. Admittedly I haven't bought a CD in years, but working in the music industry I receive my fair share. And they still give me that same special feeling of ownership.

CDs don't have quite the same power as records, though. Maybe it's the lack of control as you set the needle loose to do as it pleases, or the unique sound of scratching that accompanies the music, or that artists on vinyl were more coveted among those who collected them. Now you can find any artist with an LP, and while this makes music more accessible for record player enthusiasts, there's something particularly irreverent in certain popular artists using this medium. 

"Vinyl is for someone who loves the experience of holding a physical object."

Vinyls and CDs aside (and let's not forget cassette tapes), you can find any song on the internet these days, whether it's through Spotify, Soundcloud, YouTube, Bandcamp, or the endless other music platforms coming into existence. Even when an artist refuses to share their music on Spotify per say, it's easily attainable through other sources. Users record and share music from their purchases, whether store bought or downloaded, for others to listen to without restrictions.

"Boeckner likes vinyl, but streaming, which he does primarily through Bandcamp and SoundCloud, opens up worlds of music that were once inaccessible. It makes him more of a fan."

The internet opens many doors, but it closes some as well. In addition to musicians worrying about their rights as an artist and the financial stability of the industry, some think that "passionate fandom is doomed". With so many new artists posting music to Soundcloud and Bandcamp, the listening options can be overwhelming. Soon after learning of an artist that absolutely blows your mind, there's another one just as good around the corner.

Don't get me wrong, it's great to have access to so much incredible music, but it also makes it harder to recall facts associated with artists that you like. When asked what I'm listening to these days, the names don't come to mind easily. Sometimes I'm so infatuated with an artist that I can speak about them knowledgeably after having read their backstory, but other times I can only mention a playlist which features equally awesome and yet somehow unidentifiable songs.

“Streaming sites make listening to music very boring,” he says. “I'll hardly listen to a record or song completely because I know that I can change to something else right away."

When vinyls, CDs, and the like were the only options for listening to music, apart from the radio, you had to take the time to absorb each artist's project, until you'd spend the money on something new. Now the methods of discovering and listening to music can be extremely satisfying, especially when you're "the first" to find something great. But it can also be very transient and can contribute to the present day mentality that there's always something better. When you're conditioned to think in such a way it's easy to only see half the picture.  

The music landscape is always changing and personally it's hard to take just one side. Whether you're all about the nostalgic and tangible vinyl experience or the magic of finding any music any time, let's hope that whatever comes next allows us to explore music with even more means without declaring its predecessors dead. Without the persistence of vinyls and CDs it would be impossible for current generations to understand their significance. On the other hand, without today's advances in streaming it would be difficult to find music by little known artists creating incredible art from their home, wherever that might be in the world.

Please check out Pitchfork's piece on "What Your Music Format Says About You".