Why I Owe Vampire Weekend Money, and Other Thoughts
The new Vampire Weekend album, Contra, came out a few weeks ago. As a fan, I did what I always do… I downloaded it illegally. I didn’t even think twice.
Then a curious thing happened. One of my coworkers rushed to the record store to buy the very same album. Huh? He enthusiastically explained the beauty of having something tangible, described pouring over the inset, the liner notes, the bonus poster that came in the sleeve. Having the album ensures that you listen to the tracks in the order the artist intended, he said, the time and energy involved in tracking down the record made it that much better. It all sounded very transcendental – something Penny Lane would wax poetic about in Almost Famous.
I can’t relate. At 22, I don’t think I’ve ever purchased an album. I got onboard the Napster train early on and haven’t looked back since.
All legal issues aside, is it possible that I’m missing something fundamental by skipping the pomp and fanfare of the record store? By downloading an artist’s tracks individually online, am I reducing the integrity of the music to a 99 cent commodity?
PS. Vampire Weekend, it you’re reading this – I’m very sorry. I owe you 12 dollars.
Tags: music, Technology, Trends
This entry was posted on Thursday, February 4th, 2010 at 3:41 pm and is filed under New Media, Random, Technology, Trends. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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February 4th, 2010 at 3:56 pm
Not even iTunes’ latest digital LP format comes close to this experience: http://bit.ly/afTmMM
February 4th, 2010 at 8:15 pm
You really only owe them a small percentage of that $12. It’s really the record company who would get most of that, and they should never be apologized to.
February 5th, 2010 at 12:02 pm
Laura, I feel your pain. I recently felt a surge of guilt after illegally downloading songs from my favorite artists, even though I have been doing it for years! And so, to get the full experience, I went to Best Buy to revel in my newly discovered concience and I bought 2 CD’s, including the John mayer CD. It felt great, but along with another album I bought, it was over $25 for 2 CD’s. So I felt better about making the purchase, but not so great about spending so much.
So, I thought, I should try itunes, but that was pretty much the same price as the physical CD. Then, I found out about Digital Downloads on Amazon.com, and it’s actually wayyy cheaper. For example, @ Best Buy or itunes, it is an estimated $12 for the Vampire Weekend album, but its only 5 bucks on amazon, and it downloads straight to your itunes. By purchasing the album on amazon, you are contributing to the artist, alleviating your guilt, saving $$, and you don’t have to feel like you are stealing! I’m proud to say that I haven’t used my limewire ever since I found out about Amazon’s digital downloads, and I feel much better about my music.