Digital medium phobia?

Boudisque in Amsterdam is closing... A successful store, selling music for over 35 years and known for its diverse range of music, is throwing in the towel. That, to tell you the truth, was basically what set this whole thing off.

The very first thing most people think of, when looking for something to blame here, is probably the commodified WWW, and above all the MP3. Not so strange, but after some serious thinking, undeserved.

What seems to go without saying, is the fact that it is youth, causing this evolution if not keeping it in tact. By downloading music to their i-pods and simply passing by the stores that actually sell music in tangible form, they seem to waltz right over the nostalgia experienced by their parents. This is the message the media tend to send to us and I must say, if it wasn’t for me being a teenager myself, I would have taken their word for it. However, I am a teenager. Therefore I believe it is my duty to protest this social stigma and defend my generation.

Returning to what might seem a slow suffocative death of vinyl, it can be meaningful to think of how even the record was once considered a new medium. Was it not youth who adopted vinyl as their medium decades ago? Was it not youth that sent stars like for instance Johnny Cash, Ray Charles and Elvis to the top? And to stay somewhat between EM borders here: it was probably not your parents that introduced you to let’s say Tangerine Dream, Jarre and Schulze, was it?

My point is, that even though youth of back in the days has now reached his fourties/fifties (and technically is not regarded youth anymore), the great group of youngsters in our society today still has the same power as it had then- that is, to set the musical trend and maybe more importantly, popularise the medium to play it with. This is interesting, because if they have that power, the success of a medium simply depends on the choice that this section of the population makes. Is it really that simple? I think it is.

About mid twentieth century it was the ‘long playing vinyl record’ that stole the show, and gave the rebellious young generation the first taste of independence concerning radio programming. Now it is the internet, making mp3’s available, especially to the crowd that is not familiar with other ways to get music in their teenage room.

The same development was seen when the CD was first introduced, but with one crucial difference. The absence of the ‘infamous’ internet. MP3 generation therefore has what CD generation did not: total access to whatever medium they wish to find. Which actually goes far beyond the digital. The teenage layer of society, young as they are, already have the possibility to track down almost all the music in the world. They can hear entire albums to see if they are worth buying. They can get cd’s, but vinyl also, sent over without even having to leave their home. The latter being a facility teenagers in let’s say the sixties/seventies, living in a super small town without any record store at all, would probably have appreciated as well.

If they want to find real life stores? Not to worry. They simply google them online and stop by in the ‘real world’. Internet is also the instrument that got me in touch with the ‘record fair’ in Utrecht, where record enthusiasts from all over Europe can sell their stuff. In addition to that I figured that after some serious research and mp3 listening online, I could navigate way more successful through dozens of stands, otherwise overwhelming.

Digital media? Why waste time fighting them, if (used in the proper way) they can also enrich us? I mean, vinyl-industry is not dying. On the contrary! Although the smell of fresh pressed vinyl -which my dad told me all about- will probably never return as you all know it, time did in a way prevent musical culture from becoming monotonous right? With all the musical sources available today, ‘appreciating music’ has been taken to a different level and the possibilities of devotees unlimited. Instead of one or two media, we now have numerous available to everyone. Don’t worry about the internet or mp3 overdose. Trust youth to handle them with care and above all with love for music.