So I'm thinking of starting a new podcast with a music buddy of mine. The theme of the podcast would be vinyl and independent record shops. My friend and I are big fans of listening to music on vinyl. We find it to be a superior listening experience. Additionally we would review, interview, and promote independent record shops. These record shops are so vital to the music industry. Currently however they are dying. So anything we can do to help promote them, would be terrific.
My question is, what are today's music generations preferred music listening experience? I'm sure it is digital, but why? Is it the convenience factor? This can be something the podcast explores. Does this sound like a good idea?
1 comment:
You have a GREAT idea. It would be really interesting interviewing independent record shops. There's lots of different angles you can take with talking to the shop owner.
I started listening to music in 8th grade with cassette tapes and CDs. I would record music off the radio onto mix tapes. Through the a couple radio stations on the left of the dial in 1992 I found that I liked pre-1945 jazz and dance/techno. At the time the radio didn't play that genre much, so the library came in handy where I can borrow albums and I would copy their albums onto tapes. The library also introduced me to world music.
For me, discovery of non-mainstream music is of primary importance with my music media. I loved the music listening stations at Borders. But the physical collection at libraries and Borders listening stations can only introduce you to a small fraction.
In the early 00s, mp3.com came on with independent music. That site had soooo much music, but a great majority of it sucked. It was really hit or miss.
Then came was online radio where I could record stuff straight off the online stations into mp3s with the artist, title, and album in the metadata. That exploded my music collection big time. Again, that was hit or miss, but I could just set my computer to record a station over night and then go back and pick out the songs I liked and keep those mp3s.
Last.fm and Pandora became the first websites that allowed you to play related artists. I didn't like Pandora much because they didn't let you make playlists. I want some control over the music I play. We have an entire world of music, but since the late 90s we've been able to convert CDs into mp3 files and make as many playlists as we wish. The sequence of tapes and CDs are out the window. Listening to Pandora was sort of like listening to a tape or CD. Someone else would dictate what music I heard.
Last.fm was fantastic, but then in 2010 last.fm made playlists unplayable. Mog.com was great with their selection, but Spotify blew them out of the water in 2011.
Old school purists will read this (actually they wil just skim, cuz this will be all alien) and think, "dude, I just want to put a record on and listen." For me, music is more than just that. I want to find new music. I want to share it. I want to keep track of what music I've listened to. I want to make custom playlists. Can you do that in a record store? Yeah. But I want to try new music without the pressure of someone standing over my shoulder while I listen.
If record stores were smart, they would make playlists on Spotify as way of introducing old and new music to listeners. If there was a Chicago record store that made awesome playlists where I found new artists, I would be more likely to go to their store to purchase music.
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