The way individuals listen, understand, and interact with music has seen a massive shift in landscape over the years. That shift has evolved as technology has developed. Earlier in the course we looked at scholars such as Hosokawa and Bull which both emphasized devices which kicked started a digital music revolution in the iPod and the Walkman. Both forms of technology have the power to play music through headphones.
As a class we also have had discussions in lecture, through presentations and over the blog about potential benefits of these devices, such as the ability to listen to music anywhere at any time allowing your body to feel an inner body sensation from the music itself. As well as the concern that they create the ability for individuals to self-isolated from the world, formulating a world which doesn’t encourage interaction. Furthermore, Damon Krukowski goes into more detail about the Digital Music Revolution in his book “The New Analog: Listening and Reconnecting a Digital World”. He notions the shift from vinyl’s --> CD’s --> iPods/Smartphones steaming from being able to download music virtually eliminating the need to go to music stores, to purchase hard copies of music.
He states that, “once music was digitized it was only a matter of time before it became quick to access and cheap to get a hold of”. It diminished the nostalgic ambiance of going to music stores completely because everything become digitalized. However, to this date Vinyl records are still thriving. Even though music is easily accessible it begs the question why vinyls are still very popular. Nick Nurse the head coach of the Toronto Raptors seen in the article below is one individual who actively seeks vinyls. One of his Favourite stores is in Memphis, Tennessee called the “King of Blues”.
He currently has over 3500 Vinyls in his personal collection and his Nick Nurse Foundation is revolved around providing children the ability to learn instruments. His empathises a goal of his, which is to give out scholarships to kids through education and music in hopes of inspiring the next generation of musicians. This to me was very inspiring to learn about and also made me ponder if the digitalized of music itself has limited future musicians from fully being indulged in music culture.
Discussion Questions:
1. Do you believe the digitalization of music has limited the nostalgic nature of music culture and the way individuals prefer to listen, purchase and connect with music today? Why or why not?
2. Why do you believe Vinyls are still a popular way to listen to music even though we can all download the same songs online for free?
Hey Anthony, great post! I think the cultural impact of digitization itself has shown that it has limited the nostalgic nature of music culture, but not to the same degree. While it has limited us in our trips to the store, it has opened up things such as online forums which have their own unique values which leads to nostalgia in its own way. RateYourMusic for example has what is referred to as RYM-core which are some of the sites most beloved albums. The nostalgia and legacy the internet has provided has allowed for some records to breathe a new life due to the digital (Weezer's Pinkerton was a failure at first, gained a cult following online and went platinum a few years ago). Kurkowski brings up how Spotify gives less details about the artist themselves then the back of a vinyl sleeve. I think this is disingenuous because a Spotify user can just look them up and get even more info then the sleeve has (I for one do this with every artist I listen to).
ReplyDeleteTo answer your second question, my belief is that people like physical commodities and a piece of music that has been branded as "authentic" and "retro" has a lot of value for consumers. This may be a cynical take, but most people don't understand what makes vinyl better. A lot of vinyl users buy the records and then play them on a low quality system like a Crosley. On a personal note, my partner has a vinyl player and I listen to vinyl with that on occasion, but my DAC/AMP setup with nice headphones listening to FLAC audio files is going to be a better audio experience then what 99% of people are used to. That's not to say vinyl cannot be equal or better (this answer can vary) but there's a reason Crosley's are popular and audio-technica's are not. Ultimately it comes down to the commodification of music.
Hey Anthony! I really enjoyed reading your post and found your example and article of Nick Nurse and his vinyl collection quite interesting! What I also found interesting about your post was your thoughts at the end regarding if the digital era of music has limited future musicians from being indulged in music culture and I think in a way it has limited young musicians. For example, with editing technology like autotune it’s very easy to make someone, who may not necessarily be musically inclined, sound significantly better and create the sound music producers are looking for. Therefore, I think there could be an argument made that you no longer need genuine musical talent to make it in the music industry these days, you just need enough money to pay for a studio session and for someone to professionally edit your sound to something that will sound enjoyable. In the modern digital era of the music industry, I think it’s a lot less common for artists to be discovered organically, the way they were before the digitalization of sound where many upcoming artists preformed smaller gigs in local bars or concert halls, building a music following and reputation overtime and requiring genuine musical abilities. In this sense I think a lot of young and upcoming artists miss those experiences of becoming discovered and that side of music culture, instead relying on social media and the commercialization of the music industry to make it big instead. To answer your first discussion question, I think in this way the digitalization of music industry has limited the nostalgic nature of music culture as it takes away the requirement for genuine musical talent. Many listeners are less likely to seek out smaller gigs and spend time physically following upcoming musicians as many can either follow with a touch of a button on a screen, thus limiting this aspect of the music culture. Additionally, I think because of elements like autotune, the modern-day listener has become accustomed to that sound and expectation and as such, I think many listeners no longer distinguish or care about an artist having genuine music talent.
ReplyDeleteTo answer your second question and similar to Lucas’s respons, I believe vinyl is still popular the same way hard copy books and physical newspapers are still popular, people enjoy the organic and physical experience of holding a book or reading a newspaper and flipping through the physical pages. Similarly, as Nike Nurse expressed, people enjoy the experience of going to the store, flipping through the different records, bringing it home and manually playing it with their record player. The thing is that these days our lives are filled with screens and technology where you never fully get to interact with something physically. That’s what I think people love so much about vinyl and books and newspapers, it’s almost like an escape from the online world and allows you to physically hold the music in your hand, physically seeing and interacting with the album and have that genuine interaction and experience.
Hi Anthony,
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I found it quite interesting that you brought up Nick Nurse and his interest in vinyls as that is something I didn't know about. In regards to your first question, I think nostalgia is a really interesting thing to bring up when it comes to the topic of vinyls. I feel that its current rise of popularity has partly sprung out of this call to the nostalgic days of music and through this came the other part, the superior sound quality. I feel like they have especially made a comeback because of their aesthetic as well. I think that people had let go of vinyls for so long because digitization was making music more accessible and compact. Digital music provided an on-the-go experience of sound that was such a new concept. People left the bulky traditions of vinyl behind for the fast and compact experience of digital music. I feel that now, through nostalgia, we are coming back to this sense of sound appreciation where the vinyl record becomes an experience in itself. It is the experience of sitting down and listening to each element of the music, appreciating it for its rough edges and beautiful composition. In this sense, the vinyl experience is one of uniqueness. In terms of your question, I think nostalgia is pulling us away from the digital experience and back to a more tangible one. Even in terms of connection, the vinyl listening experience has become one that your share with others; one you invite our friends over to sit down and listen to collectively.
To address your second question, I think what I have outlined above is exactly the reason that we are now gravitating towards vinyl records. We want to have this experience with music now that goes beyond the digital experience of listening through a digital device. Listening to digital music now seems like something associated with going somewhere or doing something as it is often done through headphones. Listening to vinyl music seems like a relaxed experience that is one of enjoyment of sound. It almost acts as something that slows us down for a second from our rushed digital lives. It gives us a moment to think about what we're listening to, a moment to actually enjoy the various beats and frequencies. Vinyl gives us an opportunity to slow down our lives and appreciate the music around us.
-Anisha
DeleteHey Anthony, this was a really cool post! I'm happy to see that people are still so deeply connected to the vinyl experience. As I've mentioned a few times in class, I love vinyl not only for its sound quality that I personally think cannot be replicated on digital platforms like Spotify, but also the experience of picking out records in the store, physically holding the vinyl and setting it up on the record player. I'll start by answering your second question first because it ties into my personal experience with buying a record player last year and how it changed my music listening experience... I think in general, vinyl is still a popular way to listen to music regardless of contemporary digital music platforms because it's an entirely different listening experience altogether. Obviously one of the benefits of an iPod is that you can take your music with you wherever you go, however, vinyl creates a very specific, shared experience where listening to music is the event itself - not simply something playing in the background. For example, during the pandemic, my roommates and I would unwind after a long day of work and school by hanging out in our living room that had fairy lights , candles, and tapestries (very hippie), and we would each take turns choosing a different vinyl to play. Sometimes we wouldn't even talk - we would just lie back and stare at the ceiling while the music played. Each of us agreed that the sound filled the room in such a different way, and we truly felt like sonic bodies in a sense. The vibrations from the stereo system and the sound quality emitted from the vinyl made it feel like the music was a part of us - not just something playing from someone's phone. In this regard, I don't think vinyl will ever go away because it mirrors something closer to the sonic body experience of being at a concert rather than passively listening to music on Spotify or another digital platform.
ReplyDeleteThis links to the first question you asked about nostalgia (or lack thereof) as a result of digital music... I think in some sense our generation attaches a different type of nostalgia to the digital music listening experience. For example, ours is rooted in digital nostalgia like having to illegally download music off of Limewire when we were 13 years old (and completely frying our laptops in the process). We also become nostalgic about the different digital mediums we used like the evolution of the iPod (the Classic, the Shuffle, etc.). In this sense, we may find ourselves telling the next generation: "I remember back when I was a kid, we had to individually buy songs on iTunes and use wired headphones" in the same way that our parents say "we used to have to physically walk to the record store, clean the vinyls, etc." However, I do think there is a very specific nostalgia attached to vinyl for the reasons I listed above both with the listening experience itself and vinyl culture. Vinyl has really made a comeback with our generation... I wonder if this will continue into future generations as well or if at some point it will be too disconnected from the original generation who started it, and eventually become a moment in media history.