Music for free and the death of the album

I recently got two new albums for (next to) nothing – In Rainbows by Radiohead and Ray Davies’ new album Working Man’s Cafe. They’re both very good in different ways. But the way I’ve acquired the albums makes them seem inessential, and I haven’t revisited them much.

This time ten years ago it took me a few weeks to save up the money to buy the album Urban Hymns by The Verve. Back in those days(!) you bought the single(s) first and then waited for the album to follow. It was all very exciting. I can still remember heading round to Music World in Newtownards straight after school (parting with £13.99!!) to buy it – getting the last copy he had in stock.

Due to more disposable income I’ve bought a lot of albums since then, nearly half of them online, and any new stuff I can download in advance of the release date to hear what they’re like before I buy. Only now its just not as exciting. The expectation of waiting for a new piece of music has been watered down by convenience. Radiohead’s album was news for a few days now it’s dropped off the radar.

New albums have been released this year by some of my favourite bands – Wilco, Crowded House, Bruce Springsteen, to name a few. But I’m bombarded by so much music all the time that I don’t get to appreciate new music properly. At times I’m a victim of my own greed for possessing the latest album. I’ve started selling off some albums I bought simply because I haven;t had the time to listen and appreciate them properly - what a waste.

I can remember queuing for tickets to concerts as well – the nervous excitement, the bleary-eyed album track discussions with fellow fans in the early-morning queue as the time crawled by out in the cold. Now the die-hards are overtaken by casual fans with high speed internet bandwidths. Queuing is now a waste of time. Buying tickets is like booking a flight, or ordering your shopping. Maybe I’m being over-sentimental – but everytime I queued for a ticket I always got one.

I re-lived the Monday release day experience in July when the new Crowded House album came out. I deliberately didn’t order it online – and I have actually listened to it more than a lot of other albums I’ve bought since. Maybe it’s coincidence.