i just recently completed digitizing all my cd’s, boxed up the cases and discs and banished them to the basement. forever relegated to a back-up if my hard drive ever gets wiped.
i can say that i’ve not bought a cd for myself in many a year (i have for my wife though). mostly that’s apathy as there isn’t much new music coming out that interests me. and what does, isn’t a whole album’s worth.
musicians should be happy. they have to do less now in the studio. which, btw, should make them happy since most of their money is made on tours and merch anyway. forget producing whole albums, they just have to put out singles. i think this could be a good thing. focus on that which is the best, pour more effort into it, and forget the also-ran musical chaff that you had to include to round out an album so consumers felt like they were getting their money’s worth out of the excessive prices cd’s were being sold for.
i was reading an article not too long ago (where i can’t say, even though i know that’s the point of a blog to share links and resources, i would if i could remember) that proclaimed the album dead. when music was first recorded (i’m talking in a viable, mass producable and stable medium here - not wax rolls), it was very much a singles market. elvis would go into the studio, record a track and that was the record. the concept of the album only evolved out of necessity. the cost to produce and market one song was disproportionate to a whole album, so by fitting more on one record, the labels could make more dough and the audience also benefited as they got more music. with the emergence of digital media an ADD audience, a singles market is returning because that’s all anyone is interested in paying for - that one song they like.
does that mean albums won’t be made, no. some bands cry foul in the name of artistic integrity of an album and not selling a piece of art piecemeal. i’m sure the labels will continue to make the whole album available, but delivering them to the market won’t be the same. nor will the marketing. but i think people will be more than happy to pay 99 cents for what they like and forfeit doling out the other $15 to $20 to maybe stumble upon somehting they like.
travis st.denis
Past Mortem by Ben Elton: Written in typical Ben Elton style, full of wit, shock, poignancy and suspense you'd expect from past books. With old friends like these, who needs enemies? It's a question that short, mild-mannered detective Edward Newson is forced to ask himself, having, in romantic desperation, logged on to the Friends Reunited website in search of the girlfriends of his youth. Newson is not the only member of the class of '86 who's been raking the ashes of the past. As his old class begins to reassemble in cyberspace, the years slip away and old feuds and passions burn hot once more. Meanwhile, back in the present, Newson's life is no less complicated. He is secretly in love with Natasha, his lovely but very attached sergeant, while comprehensively failing to solve a series of baffling and peculiarly gruesome murders. A school reunion is planned, and as history begins to repeat itself, the past crashes headlong into the present. Neither will ever be the same again.
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