Why The Music Industry Is Better Than Ever!

I often remember the days when I was in elementary school when I would run home from school, get my saltine crackers, my can of coca cola, and turn on my little Sony stereo, with incredibly tiny speakers. I would frantically go from station to station listening to everything I could. Classic rock, classical music, hip-hop, jazz, everything but that wretched country. I would find some of my mom’s tapes and stick a little bit of toilet paper underneath the film, and then…. VOLA! You had yourself a blank tape! You see, back then we didn’t have too much money for anything, and buying blank tapes was out of the question. I would have so much fun recording all the music I could. The only challenge was to know when it was going to go to commercial break, which was very OFTEN!

Needless to say the fun would only last a few weeks. Due, to the incredible predictability of ALL radio stations at that time. So, I did what anyone else would do when they find themselves attracted to music as much. Try and purchase some albums! Or try to get my mom, or uncle to buy me some! And I still remember my first two albums like it was yesterday! The very first album I ever bought was Nirvana’s “Nevermind.” And the second, as drastic as this may seem, was 2pac’s “Makaveli: 7 day theory.” That probably explains my drastic taste in music. I shift from one style to style, genres don’t matter, only quality is what is important! And I already know, quality is in the eye of the beholder. I have had my fare share of guilty pleasures and will continue to have them. I went through a crazy Metallica phase, went through a crazy Grunge phase, went through “The Beatles” craze, went though my jazz phase, techno phase, gangster rap phase, indie rock phase, emo-music phase, as a matter of fact, if there is a phase… I went through it.  Now, back in those days, if you had enough money, you could possibly buy every single act there is in whatever genre your interested in. If you didn’t have much money you were stuck with the radio, and the endless amounts of ads! It wasn’t till I reached high school when I stumbled on to, what I thought, was the most brilliant thing I had ever seen. Napster, seemed to give me ALL the music that I wanted! At anytime! OH MY GOD! THIS IS HEAVEN! Or so I thought.

What’s wrong with free music? Well, as it turns out, if you like music and wanna steal it. GO AHEAD! I’m sure you wont really care, and I’m sure you could save the money. But, for me it all changed as I got older. After my life wentthrough the worst life can bring someone, I became really attached to music. And I felt like I really was stealing. It was time for a change. As it happens, I later lost my computer and all my music along with it. But, REJOICE! I still had some good albums. And, now It was time to rebuild! My life was in complete shambles at the time, two funerals, a crazy drug addiction, on the run from the law, but if anything had to be rebuilt was my music! Progress, huh?

When I started this, I was extremely broke. And, buying music was just something that was really irresponsible at the time. But did I do it? ABSOLUTELY! Those vicious record companies would like you to just buy any CD you find attractive. They would like you take a change and buy the entire record and your stuck. Like it or not. I know what you are gonna say. “But, Chris they always did have ways for you to sample CD’s at the music stores back then.” And, in many ways you would be right. But, In many was, I would say this was never enough. Most of the time you were so pumped up by one song that you would buy the entire album just for that one song. Which, shortly there after, Napster happened. And, thats where you saw all the blood sucking lawyers, artists, record companies’ C.E.O.’s come out the wood works! And, in some ways rightfully so. But, it is in my opinion that they just went about it all wrong. Napster had all of a sudden brought all the music you could think of in minutes. And a sense of community that was quite amazing. Was it stealing? YUP. Was it wrong? You betcha! Now, when you have an amazing community right there and then one should find a way to capitalize on it. Did the record companies capitalize on it? NOPE. What did they do? Tried to sue everyone and their dog! And it was on! Metallica headed the fight, and others tried, but they would all fail. In my mind there was only one company would succeed. That company was Apple. They introduced iTunes and changed the music industry as we know it. Instead of making you buy an entire album or stealing music, now you had the choice of buying music at an extremely cheaper price. And, in many ways I would so much more music. Which, at the end of the day, thats all an artist wants. They just want to be heard! If they are heard, they will more than likely sell more concert tickets. Will, there ever be a day were you would buy a record or album, go home and just fall in love and stare at the album art like you used to? Probably not. I think, that day is long gone! It’s really sad, but at the same time more music is available a lot more affordable. It is also way easier to record and publish an album now. There used to be a day when, if you have had enough money, you could every album by every artist in whatever genre you were into. Now, that is physically impossible! There just isn’t a way. Indie music has blown up to the Nth degree! And in many ways I LOVE IT!

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