Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the golden age of music consumption. Assuming you own a computer, have an Internet connection, and know how to use Google correctly (that’s right, Google, not Kazaa, BitTorrent, or iTunes), you now have access to more recordings—and at lower prices—than any preceding music consumer in history. Even if you have limited hard drive space, if you don’t enjoy listening to entire albums—or if you simply fear the wrath of the RIAA—you have far more power to listen to what you want, when you want (and in completely legal ways!) than your parents or your parents’ parents, and so on ad infinitum. It may be an awful time to be an artist, an A&R rep, a big label executive, a venue owner, a music magazine publisher, a producer, a promoter, a radio DJ, or even a critic—but for the consumer, there has never been a better time to celebrate the status quo.
And your desktop is only the beginning. Cases in point: if you purchase a ticket online to see The Flaming Lips at Merriweather Post Pavilion this Friday ($30 for the lawn; $40 for the pavilion), you not only get to witness one of the zaniest live shows on the road today (the band is “born” out of a giant digital vagina at the onset of the set; frontman Wayne Coyne prances over the crowd in his signature plastic bubble, etc., etc.), you also receive a digital EP featuring three new tracks from the band’s forthcoming double-album Embryonic, and an audio recording of the show, as captured on a digital “bootleg.” All in all, a pretty solid value for a $30 concert ticket (ignoring outrageous Ticketmaster fees).
Or, if you didn’t want to pay for live music at all this weekend, you could have snagged a ticket to the Virgin Mobile FreeFest this Sunday, featuring acts from major pop-rockers like Blink-182 and Weezer, to the District’s up-and-coming rap rep WALE and indie-rock chanteuse St. Vincent. Hell, even if you didn’t manage to get one of the 35,000 free tickets to the show, you could have entered to win a “FREE.I.P.” pass, given out to youth in major cities who were willing to commit at least 13 hours of service to their communities (Virgin even covers travel costs if you’re coming from far away, including a ride aboard Virgin America’s FreeFest Express if you’re flying from California).
And why stop with concerts? Pick up a copy of the new CD from the experimental noise outfit HEALTH and you may discover a special “ticket” inside entitling you to a unique prize (a lot like Willy Wonka’s campaign, actually). Depending on the color of the ticket, your purchase could win you anything from one of the band members’ little league jackets, to a special video conference with the band’s manager (who will subsequently teach you a magic trick), or the grand prize: a three day, two night escapade with the band in L.A. that includes a jaunt to Six Flags Magic Mountain, the zoo, and even breakfast in bed.
You may be asking yourself: Is the music industry really this desperate? And the answer is complicated (though, generally, yes), and it varies from camp to camp. Over the past 10 years, as technology has outpaced regulation, and supply has outpaced demand, the consumer has ascended to a newfound position of influence, forcing the industry to inject more “value” into its products. “Desperation” may be one way of looking at all of the bonus deals, or you can think of it as growing pains—a chance for artists and labels to rethink their relationship with their benefactors. And until the industry figures out a new business model, destroys the Internet, or otherwise goes bankrupt, the game will continue to be rigged—the consumer will win again and again and again.
Welcome to the golden age of music consumption—enjoy it, embrace it, but don’t get used to it.
Enjoy, embrace, and get used to Daniel at dcook@georgetownvoice.com
