Since Spotify my music consumption has settled down into a new pattern. I use it as a way to listen to anything I don't have a copy of or to make playlists of things I feel like listening to regularly. But when I've decided I really like a record I have to own it. It seems only fair. This reverses the usual process whereby I bought albums and then convinced myself I loved them. Now I decide what I really love and then buy it. It's a big change. It could have the same effect on album buying as cohabitation had on marriage.
Sunday, April 08, 2012
Now you can "live in sin" with records before buying them
Since Spotify my music consumption has settled down into a new pattern. I use it as a way to listen to anything I don't have a copy of or to make playlists of things I feel like listening to regularly. But when I've decided I really like a record I have to own it. It seems only fair. This reverses the usual process whereby I bought albums and then convinced myself I loved them. Now I decide what I really love and then buy it. It's a big change. It could have the same effect on album buying as cohabitation had on marriage.
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I almost always try to find an MP3 or a Youtube file of a record I want to buy these days. Especially if I'm spending a lot on a 45 I've never heard of. It may take some of that thrill away of hearing a real stormer nestled in the grooves, but it also takes away the heartache of spending a fortune on a real stinker.
ReplyDelete"45"? "Grooves"?
ReplyDelete'Then they smash them all to pieces.'
ReplyDeleteYup. Got to agree with that. I don't use Spotify but something similar and in the same way, i.e. try and buy. In fact, if they don't get a new release up immediately I'm back to checking regularly in much the same way that I used to drop into my favourite record shops until it arrived.
ReplyDeleteOn Good Friday I found myself in a record shop in central London, clutching a small stack of CDs, most of which I new nothing about beyond the name of the artist and the list of song titles on the back.
ReplyDeleteAmong these was a reissued album from a band who I vaguely recall seeing at The Reading Festival in 1994, although I couldn’t remember a note of their music; also an album purchased on the strength of what Dorian Lynskey described as the most pretentious review ever written. Having read the review, I felt that I had to hear the music that had inspired this florid outpouring of ornate, pseudo-academic prose.
It occurred to me that despite the many opportunities to try before you buy, I continue to make blind purchases based on a gut feeling.
I think this goes back to my early record-buying days when, far in advance of an album’s release, there would be a news item in the music press telling you the title and maybe listing some of the songs. Nearer the time there might be a track by track guide, followed not long after by a proper review. Eventually the day would come where you could go out and buy the thing and hear it for the first time. I enjoy the ritual of it - the delayed gratification and the sense of taking a leap into the unknown.
It also bears mentioning that some of my favourite albums took a while to come into focus. Had my decision whether or not to purchase them have been based on a cursory listen on Spotify, I might never have investigated them to the same extent that I do with albums that I’ve gone out and spent money on.