The importance of owning your music - part 2

Greeting my music-loving and music owning friends,

In my previous blog, I shared my thoughts and a YouTube video from 'SoundMatters' about the social, psychological, economic, and emotional importance of purchasing and owning the physical medium of the music you listen to. I also asked for your thoughts, opinions, and experiences. I further said that I would choose the best response to post in my following newsletter and offer them a free CD and T-Shirt. Well, my peeps, we have a winner. 

Below is an excellent short editorial on the importance of owning your music by Mr. Paul Leslie. Please enjoy his words of wisdom and check him out at www.thepaulleslie.com. He is a very fascinating and intelligent man who is worth your time. A huge thanks to everyone who submitted a response. Happy record collecting!

Happy Record Collecting, 
        Jeff

Streaming music is everywhere, and because of that it can be started and stopped in an instant. It's so effortless that you sometimes don't realize what you have at your fingertips.

There is an art to listening, and one of the keys is to reduce the distractions and really absorb the music. For me, playing a CD or vinyl record is an experience meant to be enjoyed completely. This means from the silence before the first track starts, all the way to the very last note gradually fades away back into silence. 

It also ideally means staying away from screens, which is harder to do with the streaming services. You may find that the more simple your environment is, the more you can enjoy the music. That's not always easy to do with your phone beeping every other minute from texts and one notification or another.

Streaming on Spotify or Apple Music can be convenient at times, but they can deprive you of a quite different experience. For me, frequently some of the music I enjoy the most is perhaps a bit rarer to find. There are some real gems out there. Some of them used to be on Apple Music and Spotify, but guess what. They no longer are. Others never were there! 

I'm always thankful in those cases that I have the CD or record. Sometimes it's really the only way you can hear that particular recording. 

There's also the visual element. Some of the cover art and booklets are really beautiful, truly creative works in their own right. Reducing some of the stunning album jackets out there to a small glowing cluster of pixels feels like a crime.

Furthermore, I can think of liner notes that have essays, excerpts from literature or even a word from the artist that have inspired a greater thought, or a different way of looking at the music I heard. Sometimes it's an indelible part of the whole experience.

Most of the time, the great album you just heard was not the work of only the primary artist with their name emblazoned on the cover. That's almost never the case. Frequently there were other songwriters, a record producer, audio engineers, and session musicians. Their names deserve to be known or at the very least accessible. It's another reason that truly owning your music is important.

For anyone who is in doubt about what they may be missing, I offer this easy to do idea. Instead of listening on a streaming service like you normally do, get an album. It really helps to have quality speakers or decent headphones. Put on a CD or vinyl you really like, but close the door and turn off the lights. Consider closing your eyes. Stay as far away from an open laptop or your mobile device as you can. They should be in another room.
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Listen to your album, from your library from beginning to end.
Now tell me. Do you feel any differently?

Paul Leslie
​The Paul Leslie Hour