Man, I wish I had a tape recorder last night since it was at about midnight that I lucidly strung together all of my objections about record store day and succinctly summed up the problems, and extreme dangers, of sentimentalizing the experience. I know one point I made had to do with the "holiday" being cheerled by older music writers like me that remember a dead experience and new music writers that feel cheated by missing out on "the early days." Something like that. I also kinda wish GalPal had written up her thoughts immediately after our record store adventures last Saturday, since her notes carried some of the hopelessness of the whole endeavor as far as appealing to anyone under the age of 30 (and, honestly, the core target for Record Store Day should be anyone under 22 since they're the ones who most need reeducation* when it comes to how they acquire music.I got really worked up about all of this last night and really wish I had taken notes while ranting! I think I'm upset by the idea of a trumped up holiday and I'm saddened at how much the way people experience music has changed. Once upon a time you needed record stores and The Trouser Press Guide and xeroxed fanzines and mixtapes and college radio and a whole bunch of other things*** in order to form your musical education.
Now it's all just piped in to your monitor. Is that bad?
Honestly? At this point? I really don't know anymore.
*I'm using that word totally tongue in cheek. Times change. Aside from the lack of a sustainable business model I see nothing wrong** with how people acquire music now.
**O.K., I could go on for hours about things I find "wrong" with how people acquire music now, but Record Store Day isn't going to address any of those issues.
***Seriously, an interest in music literally used to mean hours upon hours of self education through any number of arcane sources that were often next to impossible to hunt down.
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