In this day and
age, my hard copy music collection consists of hundreds of poorly tasted late 90s
and early 00s CDs, poor mix tapes (pre CD days), and an assortment of mixed CDs
for in car-listening!
I mix my own
CDs for the car in MP3 format for the following reasons:
1. I treasure
nothing in my car and the same CD has been in my car for at least the last 6
months to avoid the inevitable fate of being scratched to death!
2. MP3 format
is the only way you can fit 10 or so albums on one disc thus be able to pretend
I own a secret CD Changer. Bonus – I don’t actually have to change the CDs!
You may have
the impression I’m quite bone idle but it’s not that! I’m mainly too busy to
spare an hour or two trying to choose the best albums and fiddling to fit all
the ones I want on one disc!
I would change
the CD after 6 months of it being on repeat constantly however I’ve resorted to
listening to the Radio to catch up on the latest and up and coming music. Annie
Nightingale, Essential Mix and Collin Murray are the radio shows I mainly
listen to for new music.
I access music in various ways – file sharing, youtube, myspace, facebook and will buy the odd CD, usually online at play.com or on the amazon website. The music that I listen to nowadays are mainly digital and access it via my Music Player and/or Laptop! My friends and I have very similar music tastes therefore we all tend to share music with one another – either by digitally via music players or on CD. A couple of them are bedroom DJs so usually have a large music collection.
One of the DJs
we met up with recently couldn’t stop banging on about this minimal tribal
house music. He kept stating that it was the next new thing in house music and
to be honest it sounded quite boring – I think I needed to be in a club where
everyone was merry to actually appreciate what he was talking about. But I may
have been slightly reluctant as the next Warehouse Project night that I’m
attending was branded as “Out of Fashion”! The cheek! I’ve avoided even
googling the music he was referring to as I’m sticking to my “classic little
black dress” on this occasion.
Until recently,
I used to listen to music all day at work with everyone bringing in their IPODs
or equivalent music players and linking it into the office amp. I’ve recently
changed jobs which is probably not the best environment for background music.
(I’m now a Data Manager for a similar - bordering rival - company however there
is a Call Centre Team next to mine so no more music at work!). It was great
listening to other music tastes as it did open my mind and now I’m into
everything!
At the
Glastonbury festival this year, I was amazed at how many songs I knew the words
to – songs from obscure and commercial bands. If it wasn’t for the guys at
work, I don’t think I would have broadened my music taste – I think a lot of
the new and innovative music has grown on me as I am easily brainwashed to love
it.
This past year has seen me going to a lot more gigs to listen and watch live music. Before this, I tend to go to clubs and see DJ acts instead and I would listen to all the band type music in the car, at home or at friends. But now I would say it is more 50:50.
I spent a week
in Ibiza in September to catch the closing parties. We did have a blast out
there and tried to find out all the best nights to attend but ending up only
managing a couple of big club nights – I blame old age – and spent most of the
week in bars, listening to music of course. We did as much research beforehand
as we could. Research - in other words we visited the Space website religiously, rubbing
our hands in anticipation! We did find out from other friends which other
nights had the best line ups and we couldn’t stop talking about it for weeks –
before and after! It also turned out that half of
Brand
The most positive brand so far, I feel, for music is MySpace! MySpace is accessible to everyone in the online world! The music is instant - no need to wait to get the latest copy or download from a music site after entering your payment details. It also gives lesser known bands and artists a chance who would like to get their music out there without having to pay for extortionate production costs. It also gives the music fan a more intimate relationship with the fave artist than buying a CD from a middle man ever would.
The ability to
share the music with other friends instantly means friends know exactly which
song or band you are talking rather than trying to sing or describe the genre.
I love it when discussing new music and the question, “So what is like?” pops
up! No matter how many genre types like indie-rock-pop-bassy-hip-hoppy-tribal
house-breaks, you throw in you wouldn’t know until you’ve heard it which my
strong case for the instant sharing of music!
The Future
If it was up to
me, I would clone the bands that I used to love but have become too big to even
think about getting gig tickets for a venue smaller than the MEN! Or possibly
create venues across the country where there would be a huge 3D projection screen
so the band would seem like they were on the stage in front of you but really
they were playing 300 miles away on a live stage somewhere! The virtual ticket
prices would need to be maximum 10% of the live act price. It would mean I
could see top bands without any of the frustration caused by tickets selling
out within the hour and hopefully having a more intimate and cosy environment!
I would rather see the band “up close” on a virtual stage than see miniature
figures, who could be Doris from the apartment below for all I know, in an
arena type venue. The visual and sounds of real act would need to be streamed
live and the venue would need to be real enough to feel as though you are there
before it would work! In case you think, “Never in a million years”. It is
taking the “Virtual Pint” or “Cyber Sex” (neither of which I’m into by the way)
to the next level where you’re not sat at home on your own but with other gig
goers, drinking, head bopping and singing along as you would at any other gig!
I would ban people from throwing their warm pee into the crowds though! I think
we should replace the Movie Cinema with my Virtual Gig idea as I’ve been hearing that
the Cinema will eventually die out anyway so I’m thinking of it from a business
strategy point of view! 
Comments