As the MP3 thread shined a bit of light into the idm sphincter,
I thought I'd add and ask.
* Jeff: I actually don't think that the consumer fetish of *owning music*
is that old fashioned though I agree that folks like you ( and me ) who enjoy
owning our music may be a dying, or at least a socially surpassed breed.
I am not the most tech person I know ( in fact I have no MP3 player and I have
never downloaded an MP3 file. ) HOWEVER, that being said, I do try to
follow the trends
and at least keep up with whats going on in the music world as well as the
tech world, at
least in theory if not always in practice. Even though there is a universe
of material at my
disposal in the MP3 arena, I already have so much available at the local
Salvation Army,
as well as Other Music, Kims and other NYC music barns, that I can't even
consider *more*
music available to me. Sam, I'm coming to your comments next on lack of
availability. = )
One thing I have been thinking of recently, though I have'nt read all of
those fancy pomo
theory books is that I think a new breed of music lover is emerging judging
from what I've seen in real life ( as in man on the street) in magazines,
in stores and on the internet.
I think this new music consumer truly does not care about the material
format as long as
he/she has the music to listen to. I don't know if this is good or bad,
right or wrong; it's just a
new thing. Personally I'm in the Ninja Jeff school of pretentious record
collector/snobs. I *understand*
hunting down a rare recording and hanging it up on the shelf for all of my
friends to ogle. However,
some years back, I stopped collecting ( for the most part ) as it drained
too much time and most
importantly, too much money! So, maybe *there* is reason enough to download
a rare Art Ensemble
of Chicago MP3; it's cheap and you can easily get it ( AEC example not
necessarily true but
cited for illustration ). Another reason I stopped collecting ( by the way,
I've never stopped *listening *)
is that I found myself manifesting ridiculous tendencies that from an
outsider's perspective seemed insane.
When I collected Throbbing Gristle, for example, I would have a first
pressing, a second pressing, another label's
pressing, a counterfeit pressing, an American reissue etc etc etc of *one*
record. I would never play
the records, of course = ), and would never even open the shrink wrap off
of the records less even play them.
I think I had 17 or 18 copies of " 3rd and Final Report", 16 of which were
sealed.
Another example that may parallel. A friend of my is a world renowned
reggae collector. He has over
2,500 Jamaican 7"s in his collection, mainly ska/roots/ bluebeat/ reggae
and dub oldies dating say, '62 to '80.
In order to preserve them he has recorded them all ( a side and b side )
onto 90 minute tapes and has given me the masters.This was done in case he
is robbed or a fire gets them. I now have first generation copies of one of
the most respected reggae 7" colections in the country ( no copies , don't
ask ) . I have close to sixty- five 90 minute tapes of this collection and
I still am getting more little by little. There, I'm done bragging.
My point is that although I'd *love* to actually *own* these, I don't care
to. I have the music. I could'nt afford the time to find them and
definitely could'nt afford them as some of them catch hundreds of dollars a
piece.
Last point with Jeff, I think it's sad that people don't leave the house to buy
records anymore. Apply the same thought to leaving the house for *anything*.
This is where global society is going....
Oh, yeah, I second the "please no CD vs. vinyl thread" !
*Joe Mull: The rise and rapid fall of the minidisc is a perfect example of
a great
product that never realy made it. Yes. Changing to a new format is a pain
in the ass.
On the downloadable art thing, I'd download art if it were at no extra
charge. That's
just me. On the MP3 jukebox idea, don't doubt that it's not happening
already.
As far as the music industry needing to encrypt and liscence recordings,
they are.
Also know that it is being crafted with the highest dollar for the industry
and the lowest dollar
for the artist in mind. Why would the music industry work to encrypt and
liscence if it
did'nt see it's own bottom line at the end of the mine shaft?
*Sam: I totally agree that MP3 is a great thing when you live in the middle
of nowhere
and don't have decent retail outlets to go to. Remember, Ninja Jeff, we are
spoiled!
However, I have to disagree as far as dj's being the only people who either
need/want/
or buy vinyl. *If* this is your opinion, I don't think it's true. Many
people, even on this list,
support and buy vinyl and are *not* djs. Also, I don't think that merely
avoiding MP3, that
I am *resisting* MP3, I just don't need it. You have said, "to resist MP3s
means that you
should acknowledge how much you're fetishizing technology, not music."
When I listen to
music, I listen to *music*. A VVM 7" in all of it's material fetishist
glory on colored vinyl
and hand packaging does'nt mean *shit* if the music's bad. True? I don't
care if it's on *8 track*, Sam.
I have a brain enough to discard all pomo theory as to where I fit into the
social scheme of music appreciation
and make my own decisions. Even with the going to a classical music concert
in a tux comment, I can make the choice of whether to listen to the record,
the CD,the tape, a live concert, or even perhaps, an MP3?
Maybe the music consumer who makes his/her own mind up is the *real* dying
breed.
Peter