Song, by Toad

Playlists are a big thing in digital music, but I am not sure how far I think their influence extends.  This is not least because playlists existed well before the mp3, in the form of mix tapes and their ilk.  Actually, I think the random function has had a bigger impact.

Basically, I have virtually no playlists.  My music collection is just too big to even begin, and now it seems too late.  Instead, I either listen to whole albums or, when feeling friskier, I stick the entire bloody thing on random.  Sites like Last FM and Pandora allow you to do something very similar – essentially we seem to be turning our music collections into our own radio stations.  In other words, as we have less pressure on physical space and almost unlimited opportunity to fill our boots with gigabytes of music files, we have expanded our definition of music that we actively want to own. Collections contain much more stuff we ‘like’, compared to the stuff we genuinely ‘love’.

It appears that collectors amass piles of music, and then purchase hard copies of the things they love the most.  For people not keen enough to make this distinction, I doubt they loved music oh so very much in the first place.  We are finding a significant disparity becoming evident between the value we place on different parts of our music collections.

Some we hoard and love – listening to it is something we do as an activity in itself, be it on vinyl or CD or even mp3 for some people.  You sit down and make time to listen to some particular record that you love.  The value of this music has not gone away, and I would be amazed to see any evidence of this sort of market suffering in the slightest on the back of the digital revolution.  Hard data to support this theory?  None of course, but it sounds sensible to me.  I would wager that even the people who are using the internets to obsessively track down obscure b-sides and live recordings would actually pay for these if there was any reasonable mechanism to actually do so.

The other sort of music is the ersatz radio we have all started accumulating.  Gigabytes of data of music we really quite like, but love?  Probably not.  Even as I consider buying my first record player in fifteen years do I worry about trying to replicate my entire mp3 collection on vinyl?  Of course not – I’ll start with Tom Waits and Nick Cave and work my way out from there.  We accumulate the other stuff precisely because we can.  It genuinely does have less value to us.  We play it while we’re drinking with friends or doing the washing up, which is just one of the reasons people feel so guilt-free in pilfering it.

Imagine, if you disagree, which you might well of course, the impact on you if you were to lose this music.  I would replace Nick Cave, Bob Dylan and Tom Waits without hesitation.  I have to have access to that music.  U2?  Well perhaps not.  Boy probably, but that might be about it, although I genuinely like hearing lots of their other stuff when it comes on.

Artists perhaps have to start accepting that a lot of the music they will sell in future, or give away, has scant value to the person consuming it.  This isn’t a bad thing.  Commercial radio is so mind-numbingly worthless at the moment that people are using this as a replacement.  Fire on the whole bloody collection on ‘random’ and music I love and plenty that I like, but would never describe myself as loving, fills the air.  This latter kind of music has a value to me, but it is not huge.  A speculative digital download of a new album actually should be offered up for no more than a couple of quid because that is about what it is worth to the purchaser.

I would even speculate, perhaps a little tenuously, that the random function has actually created markets for music where none existed before.  I emphatically would not put on or buy many Elvis Costello albums, but many of them contain songs I really enjoy when they randomly appear in the middle of an afternoon’s play on random.

As long as there is something of real value – artwork, personal communication, in-depth informations, videos, extras, bonuses and god knows what else – for the real enthusiasts and your real fans to buy should they decide that they love you, then you are faithfully representing the actual value of your work.  Downloaded files are like blog hits – there may be hundreds of them, but that doesn’t mean you have any more than a handful of dedicated fans.

All this came about because this week’s Contrast Podcast is titled ‘Random’.  You are supposed to post the first song your randomiser plays you, and it got me to thinking, which is where this post came from.

A snapshot from the Song, by Toad music collection radio station this afternoon?  Well the thing was in bloody good form actually, although only one song by a small group you may not have heard of.  Call myself a fan of obscure indie?  I should be ashamed!

Ryan Adams – New York, New York
The Wedding Present – Dare
Half Man Half Biscuit – I Hate Nerys Hughes (Yes!  Get in, randomiser!)
Down the Tiny Steps – Dinosaur Bones
Supergrass – Sometimes I Make You Sad