I am not sure why I felt inclined to rediscover one of my favorite bands, Styx. Of course "Come Sail Away" is a perennial favorite of classic rock stations. But I can't recall the last time that I intentionally listened to one of their albums. Last night, I listen to "Grand Illusion" from start to end and loved every minute. For those of you a bit younger than me, Styx was one of the most successful progressive rock bands of the late 70's and early 80's. They had four, triple platinum albums in a row!! Although I am sure that there are some other superstar artists that have had this accomplishment. I am quite confident that it is a very elite club.
Aside from the excellent music (all done without the aid of computers, sequencers or autotune!), I was reminded of when I purchased this album. As with most of my other record buys, it was stimulated either by radio play or friend recommendations. Occasionally, a record store clerk would suggest a new artist or release. But, generally speaking, I already knew what I wanted when I entered the record store.
As we all know, the overall music business has shrunk drastically. Digital downloads have not replaced the decline of CD sales and subscription services have failed to be the savior everyone has predicted they would be. Online radio and music discovery services like Spotify, Pandora, etc are ubiquitous now. But their revenue streams are still not able to sustain the music industry. I know that many music pundits, much smarter than me, have written volumes explaining the lack of music sales. After listening to Styx and remembering my old buying habits, it suddenly became clearer to me what happened.
The one thing that has not changed since my youth is the "pride of discovery". To discover a new band or some new music was as much a marker of coolness as it is today. Back then, we shared our musical discoveries with cassette tapes or listening parties or just one-on-one. Today, we share our discoveries with playlists, blogs, and other cool tools like the new "soundtrack your life". Helping expose your friends (and, now, friends of friends of friends) to great music is real sense of accomplishment. I'm not sure exactly why. But it always feels great to know that someone else is enjoying music you helped them to discover.
The biggest difference between then and now is not the "pride of discovery". It's the "pride of ownership". Back then, in order to share any music, you had to own it. That is, you had to go down to the store and actually buy a physical product. You could make a copy of a cassette loaned to you. But after a few generations, these copies would be unlistenable. So eventually, you bought the album. It was only after making such a purchase that you could then fully enjoy the music as well as showing your friends how cool you are.
Today, there is no requirement to buy anything in order to show how wonderful your musical tastes are. You can blog about new albums (as some of my staff do). You can create and share playlists. You can share Pandora stations. You can send links to full length streams in Soundcloud. You can repost music videos from Youtube. The methods are many and practically endless.
The one common theme here is that none of these techniques require any purchases. In other words, there is no longer any need for a "pride of ownership." I think that the desire to find and share great music is no less than it was 30 years ago. The only thing that has changed is that the requirement to buy music before you expose others to it has disappeared. The entire music industry has been struggling for the past fifteen years to figure out how recapture the pride of ownership. So far, it has not succeeded.
I'd like to challenge my readership to share your buying habits and, possibly, that of your kids:
1) What was the last album that you bought?
2) What format was it (e.g., CD, digital, 8-track, etc.)?
3) When did you buy it?
4) Why did you buy it?
Please post your answers in the comments section and let's see what develops.
Kate Bush "Hounds Of Love"
CD
Reason I bought it: Because I wanted to sooth my soul with her voice by the songs titled "The Morning Fog" ,"Big Sky" and "Running Up That Hill".
Online sources were not available at that time I purchased CD, I think I purchased at Tower Records.
Posted by: Deanna | June 13, 2011 at 04:57 PM
Alan Parsons Project "IRobot"
mp3 download on iTunes
Bought it because it was helpful to hear the longer audition files on iTunes to seal the deal. Awesome album!
Posted by: Rob Cairns | June 13, 2011 at 05:09 PM
Deanna: That must have been a long time ago. Tower Records has been closed for years.
Rob: absolutely in total agreement with you.
Posted by: steven corn | June 13, 2011 at 05:10 PM
1) Radiohead "King of Limbs"
2) Vinyl!
3) I bought this album because of the limited edition set that came with the vinyl purchase. Also, knowing that the money goes directly to the band (they self-release) really encouraged me to purchase.
I think that pride of ownership applies much more now that I have started collecting vinyl. Seeing the big flat cardboard box come in the mail is exciting.
Posted by: Kasey Fries | June 13, 2011 at 05:14 PM
Avenged Sevenfold "Avenged Sevenfold"
CD
I asked a clerk at my local FYE store, who's been there since it was a Sound Warehouse, to get me something that I had not heard before, even if it wasn't an easy listen, as long as it paid off in the end. Older folks will remember that not every album you bought one you over on the first listen, sometimes they had to grow on you. After 30 minutes of quite careful thought and with specific instructions to listen at least once start to finish absolutely no skipping, he handed me the self titled CD by Avenged Sevenfold. He wasn't sure I'd get it but it was the best he could do per my request. Well this 46 year old music fan might have looked out of place at the A7X concert that I went to last month, but they are my favorite "Death Metal Bubble Gum" band of all time. A genre to themselves. Truly the biggest musical rush I've had in years and both my kids agree! If you follow me on this ride, remember the rules! First time through start to finish absolutely no skipping.
PS It also helps if you have sub woofers for the sub-tones. lol
Posted by: John Collins | June 13, 2011 at 06:04 PM
I just bought Deacon Blues by Steely Dan, Your Surrender by Neon Trees, Circles by White Apple Tree and Butterflies by Alana Lee. All from iTunes and all for different reasons. Steely Dan songs because I wanted to feel what that song makes me feel. Yes I was a little buzzed. Neon Trees song I heard on David Letterman last week and loved it and had to have right then. The other two were gifts. Plus I give my kids $10 a month each to spend on iTunes every month. Every month they go over the limit. I'm good with that.
Posted by: Steven | June 13, 2011 at 08:38 PM
CD: Leonard Cohen Live in London
Saw him here in NZ last year and wanted to re-live the magic of that concert!!!
Download: Brooke Fraser's Flags
Heard a cut called Sailing and wanted to hear more
Posted by: Joanie Bartels | June 13, 2011 at 09:49 PM
Steve/Rob-Yes! it was a long time ago. I have purchased many songs from I-tunes though the last physical CD I purchased was Kate Bush about 25 years ago which I still play often. I have downloaded her songs from I-tunes. Just discovered her song "Lilly" which I love.
And yes Tower Records has been closed for a long time now.
Posted by: Deanna | June 14, 2011 at 05:32 AM
Steve great and important topic. I last bought CD's of some of my favorite jazz guitarists of old on Amazon just this week. I know amongst most of my musician friends pride of ownership still exists. Itunes is the 2nd choice. Among my kids and young music students it's all itunes. The one thing the general public doesn't seem to recognize or talk much about is programming. Before itunes I took great care to program a cd with the thought of the psychological curve of the entire play list. I still do but I realize it's mostly to the benefit of listeners who prefer cd's. I want listeners to have an experience like reading a book as you listen through an album. With playlists being designed by the consumers today it's a different story. Due to the prompting of this subject I'm inclined to write about the listening experience and educating my audience about the wonder of really listening from start to finish. It can be like attending a concert if the artist does have a design to his programming. I think their's some potential pride of ownership when a listener/fan really bonds with the listening experience like they do in concerts.
Posted by: Peter Pupping | June 14, 2011 at 07:12 AM
I bought "Ari Hoenig Punk Bop Live at Smalls" digital format, ten days ago on iTunes, because I wanted to listen to the music immediately. I live in a small village and I have to order the Cd if I want it, and it takes 2 days. I like sites where you can buy a cd and download the relative mp3.
Posted by: Carlo | June 15, 2011 at 11:32 PM