Music delivery evolution in the digital age"> Music delivery evolution in the digital age

Note that the headline is a link. It will send you over to Livedigitally.com where new writer, Pauric, takes a shot at describing the way things have been, are, will be, and maybe should be in music distribution.

I have a minor problem with it. That’s probably because Pauric is most likely a younger guy and I’m a Lieutenant in the Legion of Cranky Old Men. Here’s the problem: “People who started listening to music in pre-Internet times became used to the concept that you buy before you listen.”

In my world, that a wrong-headed implied assumption. Back in the day, we bought music “sound unheard” because we trusted that the artists we were buying wrote good music. Even the “B” stuff. (Name me one bad track on Abbey Road. And no, let’s not talk about Mr. Spock’s Music from Outer Space.) That changed as the quality of musicians and song writers diminished over time such that Pauric is now correct, you can no longer buy before you try if you actually want somthing to listen to for roughly the same length of time as the CD runs.

So, once Pauric gets beyond tripping over himself while he’s trying to set up what he’s about to say next (it happens with new writers; they think thay have to explain themselves; Ha!), he actually makes some reasonable, if possibly good, points. Worth a read.