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e.g.

Some friends and I sent the MoneyPenny CD to friends living in Egypt:

http://www.myspace.com/moneypennyrock (see profile photo)

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And while I waxed nostalgic about the good old days of record stores, I can’t tell you how many times as a teenager (1970′s) I’d rush home to listen to the new album I saved up to buy only to discover that only one or two songs on the whole album were worth my hard-earned lawn mowing money. That never happens now with online listening.

Although (here comes the soapbox), I am adamant about not downloading or burning anything for which I didn’t pay. It’s hypocritical to profess a love of music and then rip off the artists. Plus, with all the lip service paid to “sustainability” by younger generations, ripping off artists and then expecting good music to continue is loony. It’s not a sustainable arrangement to expect artists to create without any way to feed themselves.

Sorry to sound like a fuddy duddy. But if I told you I love the new Animal Collective or that I was faculty advisor for Macrock restore my threadbare coolness?

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A lot of music listeners who participate in forums and blogs are as well educated about music, if not more so, than the average record store employee (or are record store employees!) and usually happy to provide recommendations, suggestions, or new directions. The conversations often lead to the discovery of new bands, even before the music reviewing sites pick them up. My favorite forum is hosted on metacritic.com, but there are plenty of others.

But as I said, I do love the physical record store. I went to Plan 9 for the final time last week – bought two CDs, plus I found a used DVD set of Planet Earth for only $28! I will miss great finds like that…

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I do blame a lot of the closing due to how people listen to music these days. Top 40 pop has really taken over and it seems that people buy singles a lot more than they used to (digital or hard copy). Most people that I have talked to about this agree that they like one or two songs and don’t want to buy an entire album. They would prefer to just download a single song. A lot of pop artists these days also tend to put out albums quickly (sometimes multiple ones in a single year) and I have heard people say that they have only liked a couple of songs on the entire album.

Most of the music that I like will never be heard on the radio and albums will not be sold at Target or Wal-Mart. It is sad that we are now being forced to buy online. I always enjoyed the variety of music you could find at Plan 9. You could always browse through a lot of different music and I always discovered things I didn’t know were released. Yes, I do still love having the CD in hand, I read the liner notes and lyrics, and alphabetize my CDs on a rack. I feel many people like the fast-food service of a quick download, but they don’t form a relationship with the music like we all did through the vinyl/cassette/CD days.

People that are into blues, jazz, bluegrass, most alternative rock, local bands, and classical music will be hard-pressed to find anything in Target or Wal-Mart to buy.

I wish Plan 9 could have waited a little longer to see how the closing of Circuit City could have helped their sales.

To comment on the staff, I do see some people’s points. I always found that Amy seemed to be “inconvenienced” to help customers, but I found most of the other staff very helpful and would often give me suggestions of other things to consider based on what I was purchasing. It was also nice to be browsing through the store and to be exposed to music other than Britney Spears or Justin Timberlake.

I do hope something eventually opens up in its place in the future.

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