This is a blog based on an article I saw on Channel 5's 'The Wright Stuff' (the soft spot I have for this show is a cause of deep shame).
A few days back digital sales of music surpassed physical sales and the Wright Stuff did an article on whether those growing up within the digital era will lose something by not owning music on physical formats.
Its difficult for me not to be biased. - At this very moment I"m trying to sell enough physical copies of my EP to break even and pay back a very generous friend who fronted the money for the production run. Of course, from this perspective, I agree that music should be purchased on in physical formats. However, - the physical edition of Carry On! was not something I or Bit-Phalanx had to do. It was something we chose to do knowing we'd probably only just break even….eventually.
We did this because we grew up with physical music and understand the importance of holding a tangible object in our hands: - the embodiment of a finished process or journey, complete with art work, sleeve design, notes and CD.
As someone on The Wright Stuff panel pointed out, - you can include almost all of the above in a digital release. This is true; However I'd much rather look at a painting in a gallery than an online photo of a painting. - The principle here is much the same. We now as a culture spend so much of our time looking at screens, and for me personally, there is a very real sense that this increased time with screens has devalued a lot of what I absorb in art, culture etc.
If I make the effort to walk to my local independent record store and purchase a CD or vinyl I'll be much more inclined to spend time with the physical object and absorb the art work the artist has chosen, think how it relates to the music and what might have informed the artists choices. I'll read the notes and see who played on the album, see who collaborated with the artist and how much this gives me an insight into how the artist was working. In short I will engage with the product as a whole thus developing a much richer and deeper relationship with the art. To just hear the music is not to absorb the entire experience - its a little like trying to understand a film with the just the sound track as a reference.
This extends to how I listen to the music as well. - If I download an album (which I do) then it will often sit in my iTunes or on my mp3 player only getting one or two complete plays before being consigned to the lottery of shuffle play. (There is a pleasure in discovering tracks through shuffle play and this inadvertently opening an album up, but that's a small aside). If I physically purchase the same album I will take the time to sit down with the record and listen to it from start to finish as the artist (hopefully) intended (there is an argument that the album format is dead and no longer valued by artists - I would wholly disagree with this). Again this leads to a richer understanding of the finished product. - By physically purchasing music I gain an in-depth, fuller enjoyment of a wider variety of music.
An important element of my preference for physical releases is that I've spent money on the CD or vinyl, and so I owe it to my bank balance to try and enjoy what I've purchased. Having said that when I digitally purchase music it still does not receive the same level of attention as a physical copy. Buying a physical copy of something feels more 'satisfying' in terms of supporting an artist especially if it is direct from the artist at a gig or live event. There is perhaps another wider argument here around digital sales and physical sales - I'm aware that systems like Spotify do not work for mid-level and smaller independent artists and labels. I'm also aware however that I have a certain level of naivety and a distinct lack of research in this area but I think this highlights an important point about financially supporting artists in the most effective way - again, I am biased - but in a culture deeply reliant on economy and commerce I have no issue with paying money to artists as a sign of respect for the time, energy and emotion that has gone into their work and as a way of facilitating the continuation of that work.
I recently acquired some vinyl decks as a Christmas present from a friend - she was moving to London and had no room for them so let me keep them as a permanent loan. Vinyl is beautiful. It is warmer sounding (the physical process of needle on wax vinyl has a wider frequency range than the digital reproduction of music) and is a great object to handle. The art work is larger and there something ceremonial about the increased delicacy of handling vinyl, removing the sleeve and placing the needle on the record. Although vinyl has, to an extent, financially ruined me, - it has also served to reinforce completely my feelings around owning music physically.
It is a slightly ridiculous statement but I definitely own the vinyl in my room - no hard drive crash or corruption will take this away from me. I have to find the time to go to my room and listen to the records I bought directly from another person. I love the music I hear all the more so for those reasons. There is a distance created when music is owned digitally; perhaps a symptom of the general unreality associated with digital phenomenon. This can extend to how we communicate with, view and absorb people as well as art. This distance can only serve to devalue what has been produced - it makes it disposable and it speeds up our consumption of it.
The convenience of digital music clearly suits a lot people but in this case and with almost all things in life, it is important to maintain a balance in order to preserve that which is of value. An entirely digital collection is a poor, fragile reflection of a completely physical collection.
This is not an argument against digital music. As I previously stated I download and purchase music digitally. Yet it is a worrying prediction of the direction that purchased musical culture is moving in. Our continuous technological advancement is powerful and fast - and sometimes risks forgetting what we've learned and gained from our current progress.
A few days back digital sales of music surpassed physical sales and the Wright Stuff did an article on whether those growing up within the digital era will lose something by not owning music on physical formats.
Its difficult for me not to be biased. - At this very moment I"m trying to sell enough physical copies of my EP to break even and pay back a very generous friend who fronted the money for the production run. Of course, from this perspective, I agree that music should be purchased on in physical formats. However, - the physical edition of Carry On! was not something I or Bit-Phalanx had to do. It was something we chose to do knowing we'd probably only just break even….eventually.
We did this because we grew up with physical music and understand the importance of holding a tangible object in our hands: - the embodiment of a finished process or journey, complete with art work, sleeve design, notes and CD.
As someone on The Wright Stuff panel pointed out, - you can include almost all of the above in a digital release. This is true; However I'd much rather look at a painting in a gallery than an online photo of a painting. - The principle here is much the same. We now as a culture spend so much of our time looking at screens, and for me personally, there is a very real sense that this increased time with screens has devalued a lot of what I absorb in art, culture etc.
If I make the effort to walk to my local independent record store and purchase a CD or vinyl I'll be much more inclined to spend time with the physical object and absorb the art work the artist has chosen, think how it relates to the music and what might have informed the artists choices. I'll read the notes and see who played on the album, see who collaborated with the artist and how much this gives me an insight into how the artist was working. In short I will engage with the product as a whole thus developing a much richer and deeper relationship with the art. To just hear the music is not to absorb the entire experience - its a little like trying to understand a film with the just the sound track as a reference.
This extends to how I listen to the music as well. - If I download an album (which I do) then it will often sit in my iTunes or on my mp3 player only getting one or two complete plays before being consigned to the lottery of shuffle play. (There is a pleasure in discovering tracks through shuffle play and this inadvertently opening an album up, but that's a small aside). If I physically purchase the same album I will take the time to sit down with the record and listen to it from start to finish as the artist (hopefully) intended (there is an argument that the album format is dead and no longer valued by artists - I would wholly disagree with this). Again this leads to a richer understanding of the finished product. - By physically purchasing music I gain an in-depth, fuller enjoyment of a wider variety of music.
An important element of my preference for physical releases is that I've spent money on the CD or vinyl, and so I owe it to my bank balance to try and enjoy what I've purchased. Having said that when I digitally purchase music it still does not receive the same level of attention as a physical copy. Buying a physical copy of something feels more 'satisfying' in terms of supporting an artist especially if it is direct from the artist at a gig or live event. There is perhaps another wider argument here around digital sales and physical sales - I'm aware that systems like Spotify do not work for mid-level and smaller independent artists and labels. I'm also aware however that I have a certain level of naivety and a distinct lack of research in this area but I think this highlights an important point about financially supporting artists in the most effective way - again, I am biased - but in a culture deeply reliant on economy and commerce I have no issue with paying money to artists as a sign of respect for the time, energy and emotion that has gone into their work and as a way of facilitating the continuation of that work.
I recently acquired some vinyl decks as a Christmas present from a friend - she was moving to London and had no room for them so let me keep them as a permanent loan. Vinyl is beautiful. It is warmer sounding (the physical process of needle on wax vinyl has a wider frequency range than the digital reproduction of music) and is a great object to handle. The art work is larger and there something ceremonial about the increased delicacy of handling vinyl, removing the sleeve and placing the needle on the record. Although vinyl has, to an extent, financially ruined me, - it has also served to reinforce completely my feelings around owning music physically.
It is a slightly ridiculous statement but I definitely own the vinyl in my room - no hard drive crash or corruption will take this away from me. I have to find the time to go to my room and listen to the records I bought directly from another person. I love the music I hear all the more so for those reasons. There is a distance created when music is owned digitally; perhaps a symptom of the general unreality associated with digital phenomenon. This can extend to how we communicate with, view and absorb people as well as art. This distance can only serve to devalue what has been produced - it makes it disposable and it speeds up our consumption of it.
The convenience of digital music clearly suits a lot people but in this case and with almost all things in life, it is important to maintain a balance in order to preserve that which is of value. An entirely digital collection is a poor, fragile reflection of a completely physical collection.
This is not an argument against digital music. As I previously stated I download and purchase music digitally. Yet it is a worrying prediction of the direction that purchased musical culture is moving in. Our continuous technological advancement is powerful and fast - and sometimes risks forgetting what we've learned and gained from our current progress.
Carry On! is still available both digitally and physically from www.bit-phalanx.com
I (and my generous friend) would recommend the physical version ;-) x
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