Last one

A couple months ago the local radio station played the new strokes album in its entirety. I happened to catch the single as well as a song called 15 minutes which I think is one of the worst songs ever. If you can even call it a song. There isn't any direction and by the time you hit 2 minutes you actually feel like you have been listening for 15 minutes. Images of sitting through a drunken distant cousin who isn't really involved in the family singing bad karaoke at a wedding spring into my head no matter how hard I try to beat them out. This had a lot to do with why I downloaded the album and it is why I think radio stations do a disservice to bands by "breaking" albums early. The station played the album 2 months before it was released. This does help build excitement but it also lets downloaders know that it is available to be downloaded. I am sure that the amount of people who download an album, decide they like it, and go buy are a minuscule percentage of the total amount of those who download it. If I had never heard that horrible song I would have just gone out and picked up the CD on the day of its release as I did with the previous album. In truth I wouldn't have because I felt the single from this album was much weaker than 12:51 and we aren't in a financial position to buy Cd's every week but that is what my normal behavior would have been. Overall I like this album but I doubt I will ever buy it. Why? Because I have it. Because i don't like it as much as the last one. Because I have already listened to it and passed on it. Even before I downloaded it I think I have subconsciously passed. Getting stuff for free cheapens it. You may use a stolen hammer as much as a purchased one but media is consumed and thrown aside for the next new thing. When you go out and buy a game, CD, or movie you want it to be good. No one wants to spend $15-20 on a CD that will become a coaster. When I buy an album off the strength of a single I will give the entire album a couple listens before I admit that I picked up a bomb. I can honestly say that I only have one or two albums in my library of over 300(an embarrassing waste of money I know) purchased albums that I have never been able to get into. Most of the time when the single is significantly better than the rest of the album I am still able to enjoy the album as a whole because I am willing to give the songs time to grow. I give the artist a piece of my soul and a bit of my time and they touch me in a way that a cursory listen can't . Hum is a great example. Stars is still one of my favorite songs ever but the album as a whole is much weaker than the song. If you are willing to listen to it a couple times you will realize that a lot of layers exist on that album and that it really is pretty deep. When I download something I haven't invested anything in the artist. If it isn't what I want, which is usually just the single, then I can pass on it with no loss.

I should point out that I also got my hands on the Stubbs soundtrack. I did this because I looked around and didn't see a way to get it without laying down 60 for a special edition of stubbs. The album is a cool idea but not as fun or interesting as I had hoped. If I had bought either of these maybe I would feel different.

One final note as I bring this whole downloading thing to a close. Movie studios are freaking out because people are going to the movies less and less these days. 2006 will probably be weak as well and the ticket sales will continue to dwindle. The primary market which is noticeably shrinking the most is young males. I'll bet this is the demographic which makes up the largest portion of movie downloaders. Interesting. On the upside studios are aiming more films at couples out on dates and families. Two groups I find myself in more and more these days.