Buy Songs

I remember the first CD I purchased: Sheryl Crow’s Tuesday Night Music Club. What a fantastic work of art. Shortly after that album, I added Nine Inch Nail’s The Downward Spiral and The Offspring’s Smash to that collection, and the list goes on. My CD collection eventually grew to the double digits and then triple digits. It’s safe to say most of (if not all) the money I earned in high school at my part-time job went straight to music purchases.

And I look at that collection now, and there have been very few new additions in the past five or so years. What happened? Well, that’s easy to figure out. Downloading music has become the standard for obtaining new music these days.

It’s amazing what modern technology has done for music, and entertainment in general. You can now hear the newest track by your favorite artist on the radio, decide you like it and want to hear more, and click a button and purchase songs via iTunes, and (poof!) minutes later you’re listening to the new Dave Matthews Band album. How great is that?

And of course, there’s the pirating way. I cannot, on the record, admit to downloading music from file-sharing websites and what not, but I will say it is an extremely growing trend amongst the younger generations. They’re quite crafty when it comes to media, and thanks to these innovations in web capabilities and ever-evolving software, music lovers around the world can download music for free with just a click or two of the mouse.

Now I’m wondering, what’s next? Music artists and record companies are constantly struggling to find ways to get consumers to actually pay for their product. It’s so hard, when it’s so easy to do it the less legitimate way. I’m sure file-sharing programs and websites will eventually be a distant memory, and we’ll find a new way to add to our music collections. I look forward to it.

What happened to music videos? I remember watching The Box (or channel 13) as a child just waiting for my favorite video to come on. If you were a Box junkie like I was, you remember you had to call and order the videos you wanted to see. My parents never let me call, so I had to sit and wait in hopes that someone would request Nirvana’s “Heart-Shaped Box” or Snoop Doggy Dogg’s “Lodi Dodi.”

Then we finally subscribed to cable television, and (gasp!) all my favorites were televised all day everyday on MTV. No telephone requests required! Two decades ago, MTV really was “music television.” When they weren’t playing music videos, they were interviewing artists or televising live concerts. It was 24/7 music.

But somehow over the years, it transformed into something very sad. Now that I’m an adult, I don’t watch as much television, so maybe that’s why I didn’t really notice the evolution of MTV right away. But recently it’s been brought to my attention more and more that MTV (and the others like VH1 and BET) almost have NOTHING to do with music anymore. They’ve become home to reality television and teeny bopper spring break events. I just don’t get it.

When did we become a society that prefers scripted dating shows over live music acts and creative video displays? I don’t know about you, but I just don’t see this as entertainment. Maybe that’s why I cancelled my cable subscription. Maybe that’s why I use that money now on attending live shows and purchasing new literature. These things exercise the mind. And I miss the old MTV. I miss that time when artists really cared to express themselves musically AND visually. But how can they care now, when we waste our energies paying attention to Flavor Flav’s flavor of the week rather than the art he created?

I’m not sure if this is something that comes with age, but it almost happened to me overnight. I completely stopped enjoying pop music. One day, I was dancing to Britney Spears’ latest album, and the next day, I turned on the radio and just couldn’t stomach it anymore.

And with the dominance of pop media channels it can be hard to find new artists out there that don’t necessarily appeal to the pop fans out there. I know from my  own personal experience, I need to actively seek out musicians in other categories, such as indie rock, hip hop and electronica. And if you take a look at my music collection, you’ll see I’ve been quite successful.

There is a ton of websites out there dedicated to using users own musical preferences to refer them to newer, not so well known artists. One of my personal favorites is Pandora.com. You simply enter in a song or artist to create a personal station, and Pandora plays songs from similar artists. During each song, you can give it a thumbs up or thumbs down, and the site narrows down your preferences. I’ve narrowed down my stations to the point where I no longer really need to give songs thumbs up or thumbs down. Pandora has my tastes memorized! It’s amazing what technology can do, isn’t it?

Another method of finding new artists is attending live shows in your community. Many parks and outdoor venues offer free summer shows, where local artists introduce listeners to their product. Check out your city’s recreational website; most have a link to events at parks. I have discovered some of my favorite bands this way. They key is to not be closed-minded; allow yourself to enjoy something you’ve never heard before. You may just stumble upon a gem!

Music makes the world go round. Buy Songs.