MOG

This is something that I have found really interesting recently and spent quite a lot of my time thinking about, but was helped by that post about the iPod generation [ HERE

The ways we are getting hold of our music are most definitely changing from both the advent of new technology and also the change in people listening habits. There are two things I want to look at here. One of these is the advent of 'illegal downloading' and another is the advent of the mp3 player.

Illegal downloading really has changed the face of the consumer market. Any device, most notably a torrent file, that gives you a chance to download on large scale gives you the chance to get things that normally you would not have. Previously you would have to decide whether or not to get an album by a review by a friend or a review in your favourite magazine. Now you can just download it and if you like what you hear go out and buy it. Most fans still like to support the artist in question if they know they like them, however the decision whether or not to buy has been made much easier. From this it is certain that less albums are being bought as people only buy ones they want. We are changing the face of the music industry.

As well as this there are other factors involved. The advent of the blog has meant internet users can very easily get get access to individual tracks - and bands are recommended purely buy these tracks. MP3 players are another major contributor to this track based culture. People leave them on shuffle and don't listen to LPs as a whole, just pick out the best tracks. Together these factors combine to bring about an interesting decline in the importance of how an album runs together in a traditional sense - it used to be that albums with lots of separated and jerky tracks could not get along but this is not as urgent any more.

A great example of an album whose stand-out tracks do not quite hold together is the new album by London band Good Shoes. All the same if they come up on my shuffle I am not going to skip them.

[I really wanted to post this amazing video too - pity they murdered this song on the new version]