So a couple of stories got me thinking this week about the digital revolution and how it effects how we enjoy our Metal.
First, my friend Monika visited from the Netherlands this past few weeks. She lives in The Hague, home to one of my favourite Metal record stores, Rocky Road. It was a great shop, with listening stations (a standard in Euro stores) where you could sit and listen to the discs you wanted to purchase ahead of time. Well Monika informed me that the owner closed his doors a little while ago - he couldn't justify staying open selling CDs, DVDs and merch when everyone who used to patronize his store could get the items online.
Next, the recent controversy over Century Media's decision to pull their catalogue from cloud streaming site Spotify. Metalsucks.net senior writer and founder, Vince Neilstein took them to task, essentially telling them that it was a suicide move and short sighted at best. CM's lawyers responded and Vince went to town responding. See the original here. And the response here.
Now, I'm torn. I'm in the finishing stages of transferring all my CDs into sleeves so that instead of a room, I can store the Vault of Violence in a chest of drawers. JP thinks I'm crazy though, saying that I've killed any collector's value in it. I countered in a day and age when digital files rule the music world, there is no value to be had (not that I would sell the collection anyway). I'm also digitizing a great deal of the CD's to make it more portable for the show. Not having to lug anything more that a laptop and a portable hard drive saves my back.
Most of our new music comes from the bands and companies in digital form now anyways. One file with music, press releases, artwork - easy and green. Unless you print the bio files...
It's rare when I get an actual CD put in my hand, and I'm happy. I still like seeing the artwork and now when I do collect a CD it's for the "special packaging", I will never butcher a digipack, but it quickly gets ripped and put into storage.
I understand that the industry will change and I fully am waiting for the day that CDs will be gone and that sticks will become the new medium, with more for the collector/fan, videos, lyrics, full booklet, etc. Or the big companies will (if they haven't already) go the Disney route with CD/DVD and digital stick. I'm old enough to remember when vinyl was king and bemoaned the loss of cover art when the CD came around. Change is a constant.
But it is that change that has it's down side. I feel sad that I can no longer go into a record store and sit and enjoy an afternoon, listening to a CD, and then deciding if I like it enough to buy. I will miss talking with the store owner who had his quirky "hot picks" that often would end up in my purchases. The Human factor is being reduced further and further to make music ultimately disposable. "I'll keep this on my iPod until I get bored and then either delete it, or put it into a hard drive", or soon cloud storage. Which leads to the whole Spotify/Metalsucks debate about music and value. And the larger debate about art versus commerce.
Bands will still record, music will still be made, and I'll still be there to listen. Only the method will change and with it the loss of some cherished times in a record store...
Yours in Metal,
Kevin