#644 Vinyl Demise

I both love and hate the digital revolution. I love the fact that you can download a whole movie’s worth of data with a single keystroke.
I hate the way it’s degraded music quality.
The record companies are suffering because of illegal downloads but they’re also suffering because many folks just don’t plain care about sound quality.
Face it. An Mp3 is not a complete song. It’s like eating a grape peel. Some of the flavor remains but the juicy pulp is gone.
All the richness, all the variation, all the hours producers put into creating delicate tonal nuance. Gone and compressed, the living breathing body of the music gutted into a soulless corpse of beat and melody.
Yesterday I was at a rehearsal for a gig I’m emceeing with an 18-piece Big Band. The music I was listening to came from the 30s and the 40s but what really struck me was how complex and enjoyable an 18-piece band could be.
How rich and variable and satisfying to the ear. The subtle differences between clarinet and saxophone. How even when the various instruments played the same note the notes had a different texture.
And most importantly, how the ear can pick up those subtle differences.
Then my cellphone rang. And I was reminded of an article I read about digital music, the music industry, and the ubiquity of Mp3s.
As even further proof that most people don’t care about sound quality, one interesting side note in the article was that the biggest growth in music industry revenue is from ringtones.
One executive, when he’s suggesting a record deal, first asks himself if it can sell as a ringtone.
Wow... No wonder the LP has met its vinyl demise.
From Vinyl Album to CD to Mp3 to ringtone. From a fresh homemade burger to a super-sized flavorless value meal.
The tune we dance to in the 21st Century is: We’ll all accept less if we can get more of it.
Why fill your Ipod with rich, textured, full versions of your music?
A pod is, after all, an empty husk.
America, ya gotta love it