Perhaps worth noting:
1. When it comes to my music, I am a terminal hoarder. Now, what enters my music library tends to be chosen with some care, but occasionally I am given to open my metaphorical arms wide to receive stones thrown from nearly any genre, in hopes that a jewel may hap to land atop the inevitable pile of debris. As one might imagine, this tendency often consumes a decent chunk of time in every instance it is indulged, without much to show for it minus the bruises from the stoning. *_*
2. The music-obsessor in me prefers to have hard copies of music CDs when possible, even if they may only ever be removed from their jewel cases once in their whole tenure on this Earth. I am very pro-“rot the planet via consumerism” that way. :sarcasm: There are certain exceptions, of course: in the matter of game soundtracks, specific titles can be numbingly difficult to locate (and, to be blunt, one is expected to be grateful for whatever one can get in the way of obscure goods in prairie Canada), and somewhat less than legal downloading is undoubtedly the best option, whenever a highspeed connection is available. Besides, the soundtrack to a game is merely a peripheral component of the creators’ revenue; I have no real compunctions about cheating Enix or Konami out of such things. That said, for mainstream music artists whose primary revenue comes from raw album sales, I make a point of supporting their work when it is in my power to do so (basic logic, really; if they are not fairly paid for the work they do, they will quit). Therefore, if I saw an unclaimed copy of Within Temptation’s most recent album, The Heart of Everything – even if I had already downloaded and listened to every track thereon – I would, funds permitting, purchase it, in the interest of the next album.
3. In a music store, I become helpless victim to those basest instincts of curiosity and hope. I “go shopping” extremely irregularly, and my purchases on these rare ventures almost invariably originate from book or music specialty stores, or the corresponding sections of larger malls. With some amount of diligence, I like to have some idea of what I might like to take home before entering the store in question, but once there, I (again, almost invariably) question this narrow-minded approach to music acquisition, and begin to rifle through the work of completely unfamiliar artists, seeking the power in the unknown, I suppose. As a result, my informal rule on the matter seems to lately have become this: buy one experimental album on the basis of an educated guess each time the urge hits to purchase some music. It is a habit that can backfire with considerable force. :laugh: In the moment, a mere $20 price tag will certainly not stand between me and musical potential, but this “potential” may in reality turn out to be nothing but bluster.
Most recent example occurred yesterday: after doing some minor research on artists that specialize in my “chosen genre” – symphonic metal – I determined that the band Apocalyptica, composed of a group of classically trained cellists inclined towards an energetic metal-orchestra synthesis, sounded rather promising. By the end of the day, I had not only acquired a two-disk, bargain-bin anthology of the group’s most prominent work, but also a copy of Within Temptation’s unsurpassed The Silent Force album (hopefully some of you will understand how much of an event this was; hard copies of it seem to be exceedingly rare :Eek:), and, as my experimental purchase, the album Viva La Vida by Coldplay. Just shy of a $60 spending, it was, and quite a mixed experience. :erm: Even if the other two happened to suck, however, The Silent Force was a sure bet; physical ownership of the album was most satisfying to trade for currency. ^_^
Apocalyptica had an excellent concept in theory, but blasting the hell out of the cello sound with electric guitar-style amplification leaves you with the sizable responsibility of proving that the modifications, however extensive, are an improvement. Granted, you achieve the driving force of an electric guitar sound with the fluidity of the cello’s playing method, but one must be careful not to pull a “DragonForce”, and have all your songs become minor variations on one superior achievement (in that case “Through The Fire And Flames”). That said, they did some interesting things with their remix of “Hall of the Mountain King”, “Heat” was intriguing, and “Deathzone” was by far the most enjoyable listen overall. Once they bring their death-metal vocalists into the fold on disk 2, however, they become embarrassing to listen to. :eep:
Coldplay was the real chance taken here, and it was rather a bomb. =\ In the end, “Viva La Vida” and the instrumental “Life In Technicolor” were really the only acquisitions of any lasting appeal, and the band’s sound became far too trancelike for my preferences, lacking the variation I had hoped for from such an acclaimed group. Shame, that. :(
Anyway, what are your views regarding the decay of the music business (free downloads cheating artists out of the ability to make a better go at an already cutthroat industry)? Are your music collections composed of a list of standby artists whose work you never tire of, or are they ever-expanding entities? In the case of the latter, how do you control this expansion (i.e. what has worked out, and what has not)? What is the best method to immerse oneself in new music -- sifting through an incomprehensibly vast wall of albums, all begging for your attention, or indiscriminate downloading? What are your experiences acquiring music, basically? :confused:
