Being, as we all are, a massive consumer of everything, from food (obviously) to music, video games, collectibles, weirdly shaped mugs and the like. As I was making my lunch today I wondered if it would be interesting to have a look at how I consume music, and the ways we today as a society seem to find to get our hands, or ears I guess, on our favourite tunes in 2024 and some of the pro's and cons, as well as my own personal beliefs and experiences when it comes to how I listen to my music. Just remember this is all my opinion, but it also includes some research in terms of numbers and stats that are all correct at the time of release.
Digital Streaming
Yep - no one is surprised about this one. Everyone - literally everyone, is on Spotify, Apple Music or other music streaming services. Since the release of Spotify in 2008, we've seen a real change in our music habits. We went from the old days of physical music (which we'll talk about in a second) to the worlds most convenient online record store - pretty much for free. You cannot flaw these services in terms of convenience, and with a market of people who more and more value convenience over all else (yes I'm looking at all of you mining dopamine on TikTok - and I'm one of them so I can say that). We want things, in the words of Fat Boy Slim 'right here, right now' so when Spotify came onto the scene there was a seismic shift in the streaming industry. It contains, as of now more than 100 million songs AND around 5 million podcasts. Those numbers are absolutely insane. To collect that amount of CD's or Vinyl would probably cost you (if an average CD is around £10 and a record is around £30) a whopping £1Bn in CD's and an eyewatering £3Bn in Vinyl, and I'm 99.9% sure that no one has that sort of spare change laying about for an insane collection.
Furthermore, Spotify pushes you to explore your tastes, making you refreshing playlists of music for you to have a listen to that is from genres you like, but completely new. It tailors itself to you, and both incentivises you to have favourites, but also push the boat out. It also has Wrapped, which is something that's become pretty engrained in our collective culture, as something to look forward to every year to see how our listening habits have changed since the last one.
But, like with all things we think are perfect, behind the wizards curtain, there are a few things that aren't so lovely about digital streaming platforms like Spotify. For one, if you want an uninterrupted experience, you've got to pay a monthly sum to keep you free from a slurry of Ads and self publicising - plus Spotify gives you a limited number of skips. If you don't have premium and hate a song that's blaring, you may not be able to move it along as easily as you may at first think. Monthly plans are decently priced, but are always subject to change, and recently keep hiking themselves up. I'm lucky enough to be on a family plan with, well, my family, so it's not something I have to worry about - but the tales are the same with Apple music subscriptions too. You're paying a premium for the real experience, and that's a bit of a shame, but sort of inevitable in the world of today.
Plus, Spotify and Apple Music are known in the industry for giving miniscule amounts of money to their artists. We're talking $0.003 per stream. Although Spotify boast that this split is 70/30 towards those putting out their music, it only really rewards big names who get thousands upon thousands of streams, and by no means gives anything back to smaller bands or musicians only just getting a foot in the door. Apple Music are slightly better, paying around $0.006 per stream, but again this only lets heavy hitters profit off of their service. And I know what you're probably saying, it's all relational and yeah your right. Big musicians deserve to make money off their streams, of course. They've made a name for themselves, sure, and deserve to reap the big benefits when streaming with titans of the industry. All I'm saying is that in the streaming climate of today, those bands who are perhaps not as huge as Taylor Swift or Drake are welcomed with some pretty unhappy numbers - and when sometimes getting a song on a platform is the be all and end all of getting your music out there, you just have to take the risk, and a lot of the time, the losses.
Physical Music
Physical music originated in the 1860's believe it or not - obviously not in the forms we all know and love. Imagine a piece of paper blackened by smoke with etched on soundwaves spinning on a very odd looking machine. I'm fully not bullshitting, google the 'phonautograph' when you have a moment, its wild. But you're not here for a history lesson - just thought it was pretty cool, and a fun fact to have in your back pocket. Vinyl records came about in 1930, and instantly revolutionised how we listen to music. From blackened paper to beautiful black records, we upgraded to Phonographs and eventually to the record players and turntables we know and love today. Record shops became a place to go to preview music before you bought it home, and were often hang out spots for young people bonding over their shared love for vinyl and music of all genres. You still get those vibes in old record stores now, the classic ones in the backstreets where you find some real gems among a million records you've never heard of. From the regular 12' records then came the 7' single, which were just two tracks, one popular A side, and then a less well known B side, often with awesome graphic art. This way you could get all your favourite songs off the radio without buying a whole album, and spin them on your turntable all the same, just at a different speed. Obviously today, the vinyl record industry is a little different, but has really boomed in recent years. Most albums nowadays get a pressing on vinyl, usually in an awesome colour or combination of them, and usually get more than one pressing, allowing you to collect not just the standard black vinyl. It's so wonderful, as a Vinyl fan since my early teens, to see this emerge it's head again. People are buying turntables and stereo speakers, and filling boxes with their record store hauls just like our parents did. In my head, its an amazing way to have one foot in the door of something new, with insane splatter variants, zoetropes and quad colour combinations, whilst also having its foot planted in the dust covered past of our parents favourite record stores.
Then in 1979 the CD, or Compact Disk came on the scene, and became the go to for music storage and sales. People physically threw out their record collections (thanks Dad) when the CD came onto the scene. Seen as the brand new, high tech alternative to vinyl without the need for the technical and manual aspects, CD's stormed to the forefront of music distribution. And you can understand why. Cheaper, smaller, easy to bring around, and when the CD player was installed in almost every car at the time, it really was a no brainer (I get it Dad). It's estimated to this day that about 2Bn CD's have been sold since it's first commercial release, and this number continues to climb. Like vinyl, CD's are coming back slowly, but never really went away. I remember my parents collection of CD's in the car, my own ones of audio books and albums I was enjoying, and as that same nostalgia that ushered in a new age of vinyl records slammed its way into our collective consciousness, people started to get starry eyed thinking about their CD-Walkman's and bulky boom boxes that carried and played the music they loved. Even I have a CD-Walkman, and absolutely adore it. It's my own little throwback, even if it's playing a record released in 2023....
And the same can be said for the brilliant, ever enduring cassette tape. Oh the cassette, the ugly duckling of physical music. Released commercially in the early 1960's as the first step between the vinyl and the soon to be CD, this offered some personalisation with tape recorders and cassette Walkman's. People recorded mixtapes for their friends or lovers, painstakingly recording tracks they loved to share with the ones they cared about. Mega-mixes and went as far as being used to record studio records. In terms of music tech, the cassette tape was revolutionary, and showed people a new cutting edge to how the personal life and musical enjoyment could mingle beautifully. These days they're still sold to those devoted few who still run cassette players or original Walkman's, and I respect it. If you need something mega compact that you can still get new music on, that also come in a range of funky plastic colours, a cassette is really the way to go.
Downsides? Price. No matter how you like your physical music, both the things themselves and the hardware you need to play it is expensive. Record players start at some lofty prices, along with then the required speakers to hear anything out of them. CD players are cheaper, but again, speakers. Original Walkman's are hard to find, even harder to find ones that work, and will cost you a pretty penny on Ebay or any other similar service. Plus, you have to physically buy these things. Sure, Amazon it, but sometimes you need to get up and head down to your local HMV, and in an age where we sometimes want stuff at a click of our fingers, it's really not all to viable. Plus a lot of it isn't as portable as we want it to be. Sure a Walkman can fit on a belt or in a pocket, with a few extra tapes or CD's in your bag, but there's no such thing as a portable record player. And even the things themselves are pricey. Vinyl these days runs you anywhere between £25-50 brand new, and with older variants and pressings being harder to come by, the supply and demand is pretty insane. New CD's run you around £10-15, and cassettes around the same, so building a decent collection will cost a pretty penny. It's a harsh reality, because as much as we all want overflowing vinyl boxes and CD's primed and ready to go, it's going to take a bit to get yourself in a decent spot.
Live Music
Gigs are a beautiful, beautiful thing. We've been going to concerts since the 1600's, and that culture has not once shifted or changed - bar perhaps the odd public execution being taken off the warm up bill. The vibes at gigs are always top notch, and consist of a devoted and electric fanbase wanting to experience the music of the people they love a matter of meters away. You meet new people at gigs, make friends from all across the world, and experience a collective experience so beautifully vivid and tangible that you walk away forever changed by the moments you've just witnessed, nine times out of ten for the better. With new strides in technology came more spectacles coming to the stage. From the intense political storytelling found at a 1975 gig to the towering 7 feet tall Eddies that clamber onstage at an Iron Maiden concert, these days a gig is a guarantee of something unforgettable. The venues are always a major plus too, some small and intimate, creating a real feeling of togetherness and closeness, or the more immense and spanning making that spectacle all the more intense over thousands of screaming voices.
Negatives? A few. One being that yes, going to concerts these days is also expensive. It can be anywhere form £20 at a smaller venue for a smaller band to the hundreds and sometimes even thousands (if you're talking the Taylor Swifts of this world). Plus, you almost always have to travel, and that's also an expense, as well as merchandising. Plus, you're at full mercy to the power of the general public. That one dodgy bloke in the pit can sometimes make or break your next concert experience, and although there's usually top notch security at these venues, sadly some things do, much to my disgust, go unnoticed. Plus, sometimes these experiences can make or break your passion for a band. Spellbound by a performance? Perfect. Realise Mariah Carey is just lip-syncing to your favourite song, or Mick Jagger stumble out a little too drunk? Faith in the things you loved absolutely, irrefutably crushed. A lot is on the line at a live concert, and sometimes that's a little too much for some - and that's totally ok.
What about Me?
I do a little bit of all three if I'm honest. Spotify is my go to at the minute. Between being a student and needing some background noise, it's really a no-brainer. It's easy to use, quick to get a grip of, and is such a useful tool when your on a premium package (which is a privilege I'm more than aware of). I get involved in the Spotify Wrapped event, and often trawl X to see what people are getting, and what they're wishing wasn't exposed to the world - I know it's all theatrics and a bit of humble bragging, but it's usually a good time.
I collect vinyl's and CD's respectively. After my brother bought an old Crosley record player, a classic case style player in garish orange leather, I took some serious interest. Soon, I was also being given records, with my first being A Head Full of Dreams by Coldplay given to me by my Grandparents. My brother's interest waned, and mine continued to burn, culminating in now a full vinyl set up. I relish in the mechanical and physical side of vinyl, being able to hold my music, place it down, set it spinning, watch the needle drop and hear those pops and crackles as it glides its way into place. It's a grounding and healing ritual that I find myself undertaking whenever I need an injection of control in my life. I have a beautiful Sony PS-LX310BT 2, which was not only a serious level up, but also has Bluetooth capability, so is perfect at Uni in both my old dorm rooms and now in my student house. At home, I've got a pair of studio speakers that pack a serious punch, and I'm very lucky to be able to facilitate my love for vinyl. I have around 50 or so records in a slowly growing collection, spanning from original Iron Maiden records, to outrageous colour variants of my favourite Slipknot records, to some true grails that are rarer than I can even fathom. To say I'm a lucky person when it comes to diving into old record stores and charity shops would be a serious understatement, and I feel very blessed to love something so dearly and still find enjoyment in it to this day.
Ever since I was given a CD Walkman by my partner as a present, my CD collection has also grown. It's portable, easy to use, and flawlessly cool. Although I don't have as many CD's as I do records, I still cherish those moments of hearing the CD spin up inside the little oyster shell of the player, and hearing my favourite albums over and over again. Plus, it's plug and play. Just two AA batteries and you're off to the races. Plus, those wired headphones will never not be comfy, and remind me of a simpler time when IPods were still a thing. (Mine was hot rod orange and the coolest thing ever back in the early 2000's).
And gigs? If i can, trust me, I will. I'm so lucky to not only be able to go to gigs across the UK but also work in a live music venue and sometimes see new artists emerge. It's so humbling to watch new bands come to my work and grace the stage, and discover new music alongside my fellow concert goers. I have lots of gigs scheduled in for this year, ranging from Boston Manor, to Sleep Token, Slipknot and the Isle of Wight Festival in June, so I'm very excited to get there, and then write you the reviews.
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I hope you found this little deep dive as interesting to read as I found it interesting and enjoyable to write about. I think I'll do more of these every now and again, little op ed's to just chat about music and culture, and all things in-between. All I'll say as I sign this off is remember to cherish your music, no matter how you play it. If you have records, cherish them to pieces, same with CD's or cassettes, cherish how it all makes you feel, how amazing it is to find that one you were searching for or found after loosing it. And hold on to them - your kids might want them later on. And if you just stream, enjoy those tunes. Enjoy how easy it is to play and chop and change. To build a playlist and then start a new one, shedding your proverbial skin and trying something different. And if you're at a gig (and if your reading this at a gig for some goddamn reason stop. This article isn't going anywhere) relish that collective experience. Milk it for all it's got. Sing along, dance like a nutter, buy a t-shirt and that £8 pint. I mean it when I say you will NEVER experience anything like that again, for better or for worse, so make the most of everything you can, and if you can't, there's always an exit close by.
Keep loving, keep listening, and I'll see you all on the 29th, when the new Twenty One Pilots track releases.
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