I’m on holiday at the moment. Now that I have a full time job I really look forward to my holidays, more so than I ever did when I was at university (the ‘rents will tell you that that is because my time at university was one long holiday, though I beg to differ). I am calling this a holiday, but really it is just a week where I do absolutely nothing. Apart from a little trip to Manchester to visit friends, I plan to do absolutely naff all. It’s during this sort of break that I like to catch up on things I don’t get to do when I am at work, like listening to music. When I was at uni I always used to have some sort of music playing in the background, whether it was the radio or my ipod, but since starting my job I have cut back on my listening hours.
Today I have been listening to Sleigh Bells (an edgy punk duo from New York whose music is v guitar heavy. Love it), James Blake’s debut album: soulful, electronic, beautiful. Album highlight, in my opinion: Measurements. At this very moment, I am enjoying Rumer. Nominated for the British Breakthrough Artist at this year’s Brit Awards and dubbed as the next Norah Jones, her voice, to me, is very reminiscent of Karen Carpenter. Lovely. All of this music has been brought to me through Spotify. This amazing software has completely changed my life, as it means, if I choose, I never have to buy music again. Well, as long as I have my laptop and internet access. It’s a great way to check out new artists without having to spend a single penny. Although it’s great for the listener, how good is it for the artist and the music industry as a whole?
In fairness, Spotify is a great way for new artists to gain exposure, and as its main function is to allow listeners to stream music rather than download it, it is not as damaging as websites that allow people to download music illegally, for free. But it has got me thinking about how much technology has changed the way we listen to music. My generation is the last to have experienced the cassette and I remember when I was younger, taping songs I liked from the radio. I also remember having to listen to whole albums from start to finish, because rewinding and fast forwarding to exact songs was such a faff that it was hardly worth the effort! It has been a long time since I listened to an album in this way. If I listen to one these days I am constantly skipping tracks I don’t like, or re-listening to the songs I love. The thing I miss most about the good old days of cassettes and even the early days of CD’s, though, was the fact that you had to go down to the music shop to buy them. These days you have access to a whole range of music from the comfort of your bedroom. Most people’s music collection is far larger than the number of CD’s they actually own. Call me old fashioned, but I love owning the actual, physical disc. There is something that feels permanent about it; like the music can’t be lost. Unlike having your music in some virtual space on a hard drive in a computer, which feels far less secure to me. I fear, however, that the compact disc is heading towards the same end as the humble cassette: extinction.
And it’s not just the way we listen to music that is changing, but also the way we make and produce it. It seems a long time ago that people marvelled at Daniel Bedingfield’s Gotta Get Thru This which was produced in his own bedroom, but now everyone is at it! On the one hand, it does mean that many more talented people can release their music to the public, which is great, but what does it mean for the music industry as a whole? Is the record company becoming obsolete? As an area that I am looking into career wise, I hope it isn’t. I’m not sure how many people would agree with me though.
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