The other day while i was browsing through iTunes, getting completely immersed in the plethora of music and discovering new artists, something occurred to me: where is everybody? To clarify, i remembered that up until about 6 years ago my weekly ritual included a trip to my local record shop and making sure i budgeted enough for buying vinyl and still have money left for ramen noodles. Pretty much everything else, sans playing shows and making tunes, was secondary in a way. You see before the digital music revolution really took hold with all of the DJs here in Dallas, you could go to your local dance record shop and find 15 others like you wading through stacks of new releases before the owner could even put price stickers on them. For those of us that weren't lucky enough to receive promos in the mail, showing up early and knowing the owner, gave you a chance to buy the latest and greatest before anyone else. An ancillary benefit of going out to the store was also the fact that you got to socialize with other DJs and make connections, ergo get gigs in some cases or meet likeminded folks you may end up working on some music with to create something cool.
Of course there was a downside to the whole experience: money. On average, a Single would set you back $10 and usually only had 2 really great tracks out of 3 or 4. In some cases you only got one great track out of a double pack that cost $20 or more. You then really had to think about whether or not to shell out all that money or have enough left for food and gas. Don't ask me how many times i've seen people show up at the record store with their piggy banks, jars of change or their parents, just so they can get some new records that week.
When i worked for a record store in 2004, this was pretty much a daily occurrence. Back then i stubbornly stayed away from iTunes and Beatport, but once i realized that $20 bought me nearly 15 great tunes compared to one or two, i was hooked. That year it seemed that digital really exploded onto the scene, a fact that became evident when the store i worked for closed later that year due to sharply declining sales.
So am i complaining about digital music here? No, absolutely not. I just thought it was interesting that now i sit in front of my computer to shop for the latest music, rather than get in my car and drive out to a store. I guess the only thing i do miss a little is being able to hang out with some likeminded people and socializing. I wonder if someone will create a store where you can buy digital music the same way you do now, but have the added benefit of being there and enjoying some coffee and a chance to hang out with people and network? I would love to hear everybody's thoughts on this, so comment away.
It would be very cool wouldn’t it? I see Soundcloud getting music closer to the social experience it once was, but it isn’t quite there yet for stores in general. I loath beatport’s cumbersome interface but love what I can get from there (and what was once available..). Anyway, for now, the digital sacrifice is definitely social, in addition to physical. Good post Stefan.
Stefan, you say this because you live in a Real City, which I do not. In my metropolitan area, if you don’t listen to rock, punk, or hip hop, or a little metal, good luck finding anybody that likes your music.
I am particularly alienated because of my addictions to breakbeat and drum and bass, which are so ridiculously niche that anyone who has heard of either genre (well, new school breaks, anyway) live two hours away. I registered on a dating-type social networking site (meaning you can adjust your settings to only look for friends, which I did) just to look for someone, ANYONE, who also like breaks and d&b.
…I found one person. Or rather, that person found me. That one person, though fond of my top genres, does not listen to the same artists. So we’ve been undergoing some musical exchange to foster some overlap.
The other matches that closely mimic my musical taste are in England and Australia. Not shocking, considering I listen to BBC Radio 1, Kiss FM, Sunshine Live, Resident Advisor, JJJ MIxup, and the like.
So for someone like me, who gets nothing but blank looks, “Who?”s and “Huh?”s every time my music is brought up… what’s the difference? I have to get online to find anyone to talk to about the my music anyway!
Which is where social networking sites based entirely on musical taste come in. I recently found two guys who have staggeringly similiar taste in music to mine… and guess what. One is from a town in western Scotland. The other is from Manchester, England.
The only place I can hope to find some cameraderie in person is shows I attend. And then, I have the best luck at shows of breakbeat artists. If I go to, say, a trance show… usually those in attendance are trance heads, and won’t go near the rest of my music.
My only comfort is that breaks is a niche genre anywhere, quite frankly. So while living in Europe would increase the chances of me finding people with my taste, I couldn’t exactly throw a rock and hit a few of them on the street!
Emily,
Thanks for the great comment!! I completely agree with you that my post was biased towards someone living in a big city rather than a smaller town. Having grown up in Europe myself i understand your frustration completely.
I think that social networking sites like soundcloud.com are on the cutting edge of music sharing and discovery. The only i miss mainly is the ability to interact with people on a personal level where possible. I think that Skype may become a way for people to interact that way more, even if still in a virtual space (i.e. video conferencing and therelike).
Hi Stefan,
Been thinking a lot about this too. It’s easy enough to socialize in chat rooms and on social networking but making that whole record shop experience live is what i think Beatport et al are missing. It seems “simple” (sure it would be quite an investment) to make a pretty good virtual 3d store in Second Life or something? I would love to bump into you there and ask about your thoughts on the latest deep tunes.
Keep up the lovely productions and DJ sets, All the best, John
Well you do live in a big city, so I understand you feel that way. For people who lives in small towns, it’s sorta god sent. Still, I agree withcha though. I still prefer buying CD’s though, feels more sastifying and it’s always nice to have it on backup. The sort of bar you suggested is a good idea and could actually be really popular, but you’d need to do more than advertising, like exclusive rights to some tracks well ahead of their release on beatport and other digital distributers.
This article has just tickled me. I too used to work in a record shop and used to thrive on the networking side of things. I took a few years off from the dj-ing and jumped from djing on turntables to Traktor and Ableton…….. I too love the cheapness and only buying what I need. (Moving house is a lot easier too now).
The only way to network now is to go out clubbing and this is not the best place to chat etc……….
Bring on the cafe nero that offers beatport loyalty vouchers or vise versa!