The Things You Carry

And what of music?

 Holy crap. I thought I lost this.

This was one of my favorite blog posts, but my computer frazzed in the middle of me working on it. I didn’t realize that it saved a draft. I just noticed when I got on the site to promote my friend Brad’s Lollapalooza scoop (http://www.windycitizen.com/blogs/lollapalooza-blog/2008/08/02/lollapalooza-2008-slash-joins-perry-farrell-samantha-ronson-for-i).

 Anyway, the entry is about a month old and I got tired of putting links in about halfway through, but enjoy.

-Paul

…

OK, so apparently I’m blogging again. Some demanding schedules and, once again, some serious life changes have kept me from keeping up on this. I suck.

Whatever. It’s the Internet. You’re getting this all for free.

Which is my not-so-clever segue into the topic. Music.

I love music. Fiery passion love. Rob from “High Fidelity” love. Had a discussion earlier tonight about why I don’t like The Shins, which led to the playing of The Eels, My Morning Jacket and currently The Pixies. Just comment and I’ll reply with my explanation of why I don’t like The Shins. Other music played tonight: Gogol Bordello, Husker Du and Hum.

But I’m down with the not buying of stuff. So what of music? Should I buy albums when I can get the songs for free off the Internet? I have a Pandora account and I’m also fine with getting all I can off the free trial period of sites like eMusic and then not buying anything. I got the full Herman Dune, Art Brut and Los Campesinos! albums that way.

I could come up with all sorts of B.S. justifications about doing this (the artists make the most money from tours, record companies are evil, blah blah blah), but the truth is simpler: I never paid for music.

I still have the Spin Doctors and Violent Femmes CDs I just plain stole off my sister. I recently went through a pile of old cassettes (remember them?) and found a dubbed copy of 19 Naughty III I got off this guy Nathan in middle school.

That’s not my good friend Nathan. It was this little white kid who kept talking about how his rap name was Ice-One.

MC5 is on now.

Anyway, there’s a moral line few people are willing to question in terms of the Internet. Aside from some vague notion that artists should get $17.95 for 12 songs of their worth, why should people buy albums when they can get them for free?

In one way, I understand. I worked for a daily newspaper. People should pay their subscription fees for the pablum we shove. That’s how I made my living.

In another way, I know that I didn’t have a newspaper subscription. Like most people, I went on the Internet for my news.

In a third way, I also have an extensive LP collection. My most recent acquisitions were a Pogues import and Scientist Rids the World of the Evil Curse of the Vampires. That last sentence added nothing to the blog. I just wanted to brag about my awesome musical taste. But I do buy this stuff and buy it gleefully.

Fourth and final way, the world is changing. I couldn’t hold on to a life in paid journalism when people got things for free. Why should Metallica? I’m sure scriveners and barber-dentists felt the same way when their careers went to shit. I mean, who needs a cooper? People always piss and moan about change, but I wouldn’t know about bands like Egan’s Rats, Emily Hurd and even Art Brut without the Internet and some college radio (although the latter applies mostly to Art Brut).

It’s a free world. Anticonsumerists rejoice, but bands, well, figure out some way to make some money doing this. Either way, I’m not worried about musicians going the way of parchment-makers.