At this point, I pretty much only buy limited-edition vinyl with some
element of special packaging to it, like 180-gram pressings, colored
vinyl, picture discs and especially box sets. If a CD release also has
some element of this kind of "specialness" to it, I'm inclined to pick
that up too (case in point - the Rather Interesting "Classic"
re-releases, which were signed and numbered). Digital music to me has
very little worth, I mean, as a whole, I appreciate my digital music
collection, but when you get down to the individual files in that
collection, they're almost worthless. Like Alan Lockette said, physical
media just has a much greater aesthetic cache.
In Philip K. Dick's "The Man In the High Castle", one of the storylines
is about how some of the characters create hand-made "Americana" objects
which have an element called "Wu" (or "inner truth") about them. When
the same objects are fabricated and produced on a mass scale, they lose
their "Wu". A pair of Japanese collectors of authentic Americana are
sensitive to objects with Wu and objects without, and develop special,
intimate attachments to the authentic objects. To me, limited-edition
physical media has much Wu, as opposed to digital files, which, with
rare exception, have almost none.
There was an article in the Village Voice this summer about Hospital
Productions, a tiny East Village record store specializing in noise
releases. There were a few quotes that seem notable:
--
His customers—almost exclusively drawn to the hidden shop through
friendly word-of-mouth—are searching for intimacy as well. "The more
obscure, the rougher the packaging, the more handmade, the faster it
sells," Fernow says. "The irony is that in getting away from trying to
be mass-produced, you created an even more desirable consumer product.
The CDs trickle. The vinyl? Pfft. Gone. I can barely keep that fucking
thing full. The tapes? Gone. It's the personal touch, it's the feeling
of the individual putting their mark on it."
--
and
--
The search, of course, is harder to find these days. "That's why things
like MySpace and file-sharing turns me off, because it takes the sweat
out of the underground," he says. "It just makes everything so fuckin'
easy. There's no passion, no pursuit. You might as well be checking your
fuckin' bank balance."
--
It seems to me that, mp3s and the like are the ultimate negation of Wu -
they're easy to obtain, easy to duplicate, easy to play back and easy to
lug around. They require little to no care. Their convenience is what's
best and worst about them. The convenience of the digital audio file has
also contributed to an overabundance of shitty music by shitty labels
sold at shitty online stores (rhymes with "Meatdork"). The only thing
digital audio files are good for, IMO, is padding out an extensive home
library and getting the word out about your music, which are very
valuable attributes, but not worth money in and of themselves.
If I were starting a label, I'd give the mp3s away for free (or by
donation), encourage their distribution on the file-sharing networks (as
complete packages, including .sfv files, .nfo files about the release
encouraging people to buy the physical media if they like it, and
high-res images) and put as much energy into creating physical media
with as much "Wu" and "personal touch" into them as possible.
Of course, that's just my opinion. I just think it's easier to sell
someone something they can hold in their hand and put on their shelf.
Their relationship to the music will grow more intimate if they have to
seek it out and actually handle it in order to listen to it.
w
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