Digital Media, Sharing, and Music

Note: This was a message that I was sending to a few friends, if it seems more informal than normal. But I really felt good about what I said, so I wanted to share it here. I talked mainly about music, though I think it applies to literature as well to a lesser extent, and in some different directions with eBooks and the like.

A thought I had earlier today: digital music and media, particularly streaming services like Spotify and such, are really making me miss nostalgic for older days of mixtapes and CDs and physical things. Maybe it's unfounded, maybe it's just silly nostalgia because grass is greener and the past just seems better than the present, but there are pieces of things I think that have been lost somewhere along the line.

The specific thought that prompted this was the idea of sharing music. and I'm going to focus on music because I think that's the most extreme example of media affected by this, but other films and television and books are affected too. But I feel like it was once a bigger deal to go to a record store and DISCOVER new things, either alone or with others. and when you DISCOVERED these things, you placed value in them. Maybe you wouldn't like a particular CD or song, and if it was bad enough, you could sell it, but more likely than not it was yours. I've found most things like that that I listen to enough grow on me in time, though, and even become some of my favorites.

And that's the other thing. Nowadays, if you want to share music with people, there's word of mouth, or just playing it to them, or most common: sending a link to a song. It's easy. It's convenient. It should be excellent, yes? But no, I feel like with most way people share music now, it's more of a "lending" than a "gift", if that makes sense. You give people a link to a song, or play it for them once, and maybe they'll listen to it, but even if they do, there's just SO MUCH and it's SO EASY to listen to new (or more likely old comfortable) stuff people move on too soon. Sometimes, I really want to say "Here! Here are some really cool things! Treasure them, listen to them over and over and know them! Make this connection, share this passion for these songs with me!" But no, that's not something that happens anymore. It's weird even thinking about it.
And the reverse is true, back to DISCOVERY. I feel like I miss out on things other people are passionate about, because it seems people either don't share or they share constantly so that individual things have no meaning. It's impossible to filter.

Why do I care? I don't really know. I think I'm seeing music as a big part of my identity, or maybe it's that I want it to be more than it used to be. I'm certainly trying to make a conscious effort to explore more (like with the punk and post-punk stuff... I guess that was yesterday?) And that helps, but it also makes me realize and think about how things are different. That's kind of sad.