I found, after a few years of Spotify, that I don’t have a real investment in the music I listen to anymore. I’m more likely to put on a playlist or “radio” channel based on an artist I like than to seek out new records. Inevitably, these playlists become background noise. Occasionally I glance up when a song catches my ear and I’ll note the artist, fully intending to look them up later, but I never do. Like everything else, Spotify focuses on offering limitless access to music. But, when your choices are limitless and the barrier to access is zero, it also feels a bit less meaningful.
It wasn’t that long ago when I would work my weekend job and, after receiving a paycheck, go to a music store and browse used CDs. The particular shop I’d go to had extremely high quality standards, so you weren’t going to get a CD that skipped, and the lower price meant my money would go further. After an extended period browsing and chatting with the store owner, I would settle on a few CDs, usually three or four, and I’d listen to them all week. Out of the three or four, at least one or two were bound to really excite me. Those would stick with me forever.
This process was incredibly inefficient compared to streaming, but it made me work for new music. I had to do my research. I would take a note down if an interesting band appeared on a VH1 documentary (VH1 documentaries were the best!) and I’d keep my eye out for their music next time I went to the shop. I would check out the band’s discography on wikipedia, read reviews, and see if I could find liner notes online. All of this investment really prepared me to listen, actually listen, to the music that I owned.
Recently, I’ve contemplated how to approach music with intentionality again. The renewed popularity of vinyl certainly helps, especially at good shops where the owners know their stuff. But physical media isn’t without drawbacks, namely, taking up space. I’ve got a modest record collection and a reasonably good system. But these days, going record shopping is more of an event than the used CD store that I used to visit. I’m not sure the solution, exactly, but I do know that, at least for me, the amount of enjoyment I get out of an album usually corresponds to the amount of effort and care I put into acquiring it.
Jacob N. Given 