Buy a Copy…Before They’re Gone

In the past 5 years, the amount of people who obtain their music from online sources instead of physical albums has dramatically increased. Studies show that iTunes has a 25% market share in digital music sales. This is unfortunate for many reasons. For one, I enjoy owning a physical copy of an artist’s work–something that I can hold, read and actually put into a stereo system and play. Whether it be CD, cassette or vinyl, it just seems like it sounds better. Don’t get me wrong, the convenience of being able to download and store all of your music on your computer is very nice, not to mention streaming sites like Pandora and Napster, both of which have a wide variety of artists and genres that you can easily stumble upon.

When you purchase a CD, you not only get the music, but also a second piece of art that someone put time into designing and creating. The cover and case. It’s not the same looking at a digital copy of the album cover. Can you physically flip through the pages? No.

A well designed cover alone can be a huge factor in the sales of an album. Have you ever looked at a CD you liked that was burned from a friend and wished that it was complete with book and case? I enjoy owning an iPod, it’s convenient and can fit a lot of my music. It even organizes it alphabetically for me! Maybe I’m old fashioned, but every time I look at a large music collection overflowing from shelves, cd racks, or boxes, it makes me happy. Is it true that we are slowly witnessing the demise of albums to downloads? Will CD’s soon be like vinyl or VHS, harder to obtain and in questionable condition? Will they become only collectors items that you pay an arm and a leg for? Something you wouldn’t dare to play for the fear of damaging it? I for one hope not. Any thoughts?

By Kai Dadian