Let's face it, today we live our lives much differently than we did 30 years ago. Our daily activities can be determined based simply on what's in our hand (which is usually a smart phone of some form). I'm speaking solely based off observation here, since I don't have a one myself.
My point being, most of our daily activity can be viewed online on some social media source. When it comes to listening and buying music the majority of people are doing it on an online source. So does this mean that there is no market for hard copy distribution anymore? Luckily this isn't the case.
One of my favorite places to look for tangible copies of music is the website Underground Hip-Hop Site or ughh.com. An example of their merchandise is an upcoming LP by Killer Mike & El-P. It has already been released other places as a digital download but ughh.com will be offering it in physical form as a vinyl and CD release September 17th. Here's a link to the page for better viewing:
"http://ughh.com/run-the-jewels-run-the-jewels/FGRRTJLP/"
And to get a sense of the style of music on this LP, here's one of my favorite tracks:
http://www.youtube.com/embed/nnXP1D1UGD8
Sadly the world is "Digital". I find myself using social media too much some times and have to back away for a while to regain my sanity (one can only look at so many pictures of someone else's food or read about how their cat is sick). Besides the website, Underground Hip-Hop, are there any record stores you like to visit that carry vinyl you like? I have a few record stores by me; they can be hit or miss. One of my favorite record stores is in Indianapolis. They always have some unique band on vinyl that I can't find anywhere else.
ReplyDeleteKyle Schroeder
tubesandtransistors.blogspot.com
I agree with you and Kyle, this is truly a sad thing. While I do love to have the convenience of the instant download; I too like to have a physical copy of my music. I feel like we miss out on a whole experience when we don't have a copy that we can touch and really take in the liner notes and artwork. I sometimes feel like I'm leasing the song instead of owning my own copy of the song. Especially with it being readily available to stream on the internet. I'm finding that in the electronic music world that I can't really find records, or CD's for that matter, in any local stores or U.S. online retailers. I'm having to order copies from http://www.chemical-records.co.uk/ in England.
ReplyDeleteJared Healy