On Monday, Swift reportedly withdrew her music from the site because she's sick and tired of giving her songs away for next to nothing.
"Piracy, file sharing and streaming have shrunk the number of paid sales dramatically," Swift said in an opinion column in The Wall Street Journal in July. "People are still buying albums, but now they're buying just a few of them."
This statement is surprising, given Swift's youth. Swift, 25, grew up in the digital age and would seem to be accustomed to how sites like Spotify work. It would seem that her generation, the millennial generation, knows nothing else but file sharing, streaming and outright digital piracy as a way of life.
Swift's argument sounds as though it came from a veteran artist like Prince or Madonna who rose to fame back in the analog days of the '80s, when artists earned way more money from vinyl, cassette and CD albums and singles, as compared to the pennies they now earn from digital downloads.
(The Atlantic magazine published an excellent piece about the problems with streaming sites like Spotify, which you can read at this link: http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/11/taylor-swift-reminds-everyone-how-broken-online-music-is-right-now/382303/.)
(The Atlantic magazine published an excellent piece about the problems with streaming sites like Spotify, which you can read at this link: http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/11/taylor-swift-reminds-everyone-how-broken-online-music-is-right-now/382303/.)
I'm a Generation Xer, and while discussing the Taylor Swift/Spotify conflict with a 20-something friend who is just old enough to remember the analog days, we had fun reminiscing about the different music formats we've seen in our lifetimes:
When songs used to be released as vinyl 12-inch "maxi-singles" and cassette singles - aka "cassingles" - and would often include several mixes of the song and sometimes an instrumental version. Sometimes I'd use the instrumental as background music when recording the outgoing message for my old answering machine. I once did this with the instrumental of Quincy Jones' "I'll Be Good to You."
When vinyl and cassette singles used to feature B-sides. I had to educate my young friend about what a B-side is: a song that was pressed on the flip side of a vinyl or cassette single to give fans a preview of the artist's album beyond the primary A-side song - like a bonus track.
Sometimes the B-side would be a rare outtake that didn't make the album. Prince was especially known for this and some of his greatest music was released as B-sides: "Erotic City," "Escape," "Power Fantastic," etc.
When the so-called "indestructible" CD was introduced to the market. Consumers quickly found out that CDs aren't so indestructible, as they can refuse to work properly when scratched or smudged. And it was a big deal when manufacturers released portable CD players that supposedly wouldn't skip while you were jogging or doing some other activity. But, of course, the CDs always skipped at your slightest movement.
And cassettes weren't always reliable, either. My friend says she remembers when tapes would spit out all their magnetic stuffing and you'd have to insert a pencil in one of the reels to wind the tape back into the cassette.
Going on road trips and lugging your whole music collection with you. Before the invention of MP3s, taking music with you on the road was cumbersome, to say the least. I used to pack up my car with a whole crate of CDs and several portable cassette cases. Inevitably, I'd forget one of my favorite CDs or tapes and, of course, that would be all I would think about as I cruised down the highway despite all the other music I'd crammed into my Ford Escort.
Nowadays, it's so convenient that all you have to take with you to be able to enjoy your all of your favorite music on a road trip is your MP3 player or phone. We've come a long way since the analog days...
When songs used to be released as vinyl 12-inch "maxi-singles" and cassette singles - aka "cassingles" - and would often include several mixes of the song and sometimes an instrumental version. Sometimes I'd use the instrumental as background music when recording the outgoing message for my old answering machine. I once did this with the instrumental of Quincy Jones' "I'll Be Good to You."
When vinyl and cassette singles used to feature B-sides. I had to educate my young friend about what a B-side is: a song that was pressed on the flip side of a vinyl or cassette single to give fans a preview of the artist's album beyond the primary A-side song - like a bonus track.
Sometimes the B-side would be a rare outtake that didn't make the album. Prince was especially known for this and some of his greatest music was released as B-sides: "Erotic City," "Escape," "Power Fantastic," etc.
When the so-called "indestructible" CD was introduced to the market. Consumers quickly found out that CDs aren't so indestructible, as they can refuse to work properly when scratched or smudged. And it was a big deal when manufacturers released portable CD players that supposedly wouldn't skip while you were jogging or doing some other activity. But, of course, the CDs always skipped at your slightest movement.
And cassettes weren't always reliable, either. My friend says she remembers when tapes would spit out all their magnetic stuffing and you'd have to insert a pencil in one of the reels to wind the tape back into the cassette.
Going on road trips and lugging your whole music collection with you. Before the invention of MP3s, taking music with you on the road was cumbersome, to say the least. I used to pack up my car with a whole crate of CDs and several portable cassette cases. Inevitably, I'd forget one of my favorite CDs or tapes and, of course, that would be all I would think about as I cruised down the highway despite all the other music I'd crammed into my Ford Escort.
Nowadays, it's so convenient that all you have to take with you to be able to enjoy your all of your favorite music on a road trip is your MP3 player or phone. We've come a long way since the analog days...
No comments:
Post a Comment