Water, Water Everywhere, and all the Music Sucks

It occurred to me this morning on my drive into work that there are two albums that I have possession of that have been released in the past couple of months by two of my favorite artists: Richard Thompson and Ryan Adams, that I have not yet listened to all of the way through. These are two decent albums that are quite listenable (at least the parts that I've listened to) and that have gotten very good reviews. I really don't have any excuse for not having listened to them.

Truth be told, I've been busy and I haven't been keeping up with either musician - both releases surprised me as I didn't know they were coming out. So it's not like I was itching with anticipation for either one, but still, I'm surprised that I haven't really delved into either album yet.

This never would have happened when I was 16. I can remember waiting, and waiting, and reading, and waiting some more for Eric Clapton to release 'Pilgrim' in or '98, rushing out to Blockbuster of all places to spend $16.99 to get it, and then listening to it all the way through at least 3 or 4 times even though it was an incredibly terrible album (and I knew it then, too). Same thing for the Rolling Stones' 'No Security' (also a terrible album), and Dave Matthews Band's 'Before These Crowded Streets' (not a terrible album). Back then, an album was a tangible thing, something worth waiting for and planning your trip out to Sam Goodie to buy it, bringing it home, reading all the liner notes, and playing it until you're sick of it.

Part of that whole equation was the fact that all of the other albums that were in your collection you were already sick of for the same reason - you had truly consumed them and taken them all in. All of which brings me to my theory on why I haven't listened to my Ryan Adams and Richard Thompson albums all the way through, and why I wasn't even excited to purchase them: Media Overload.

We are completely overwhelmed with media these days. Not only is it possible to listen to your music at home, at work, in your car, on the street, in the shower, wherever you want, it is entirely possible to listen to practically any music on the market at any time, as long as you have an Internet connection. Let me take a moment and list all of the potential sources of music I have at my disposal on a given day:

1. My CD library

2. My vinyl library

3. My iTunes library, which can be played on my computer, my iPhone, my iPod, or my home entertainment system through my PS3

4. Pandora

5. My MOG account, which for $9.99/mon allows me to either stream or download 90% of the music that is available on the market

You could make the argument that anytime I'm within range of a 3G or WiFi signal, I have basically 95% of the music that has been made in the last 60 years at my immediate access.

That's a lot of choices.

That also doesn't take into account other forms of media, like YouTube, RSS feeds, Facebook posts, DVD's, etc. I think the reason I haven't delved into those albums I mentioned is simply because there's so much more out there for me to delve into. It's not all great - in fact, the more I see the more I'm reminded of why I like the artists I do - but there's just such a wealth of stuff out there that it's frankly overwhelming to take it all in.

Should I be complaining? Am I complaining? I'm not sure. I certainly don't think it's a bad idea to have access to whatever you want, whenever you want. But increased supply means decreased demand, and that equals me being a little bit disappointed when I'm not directing all of my listening energy to devouring two new releases by two of my favorite artists. There was a certain responsibility you had to yourself after you spent $17 of your hard-earned lawnmowing money to really make your investment worth it. The two albums that I downloaded only cost me a fraction of the $9.99 that I pay each month for the MOG service, and I'm just not sure that that kind of ease and cheapness create the same type of commitment, if you will, to a piece of work.

I think that the record industry is going to need to come up with a way to recreate that link between the album buyer and the album - I mean, I care deeply about music and the music industry and I feel this way. How much devotion do you think a 16 year old girl downloading an album for free off of BitTorrent feels towards her Taylor Swift album? If the physical or emotional link to an album isn't there, nowadays it just ends up being a mislabeled .mp3 file shoved in the back of an external hard drive. And that is sad.