An interesting and extensive article (via hwfm) on music as object, with some curious points of view:
It helps that vinyl is not just the hipster format of choice at the moment, but a shorthand signifier for a cultural sensibility so pervasive it’s even found its way into hideous dating website ads. Constellation Records co-founder Ian Ilavsky has a passing concern that there could be “any number of people buying the vinyl now because it’s the cool thing to do and may never even unwrap it, or they’re buying it as a testament to their fandom and putting it on the shelf without listening to it.”
Obviously the difference between “hipster format of choice” and “shorthand signifier for a cultural sensibility” is in degree rather than kind - i.e., in how pervasive it is. I’ve heard of the unplayed - or unplayable - vinyl thing before, and it always strikes me as extremely odd. But then it would - I have a turntable. From a strictly utilitarian perspective, insofar as one can be applied to culture, it doesn’t make sense to buy something that is unusable in its prime aspect. But then what actually is a (vinyl) record’s prime aspect? Do we consider it:
- the music? - yet the music invariably also exists in a more accessible and virtually identical digital form, rendering its acquisition on physical vinyl a superfluous luxury caught up with the other aspects of its use. Serious audiophiles will likely disagree but among vinyl users they probably remain a minority of a minority - likewise, I use the word ‘virtually’ advisedly,
- the artwork? - this is where the anecdotal evidence leads, which as a turntable user seems bizarre: I very much like the vinyl artwork, whether it be the size, texture and design of the sleeves, or the look of the record itself (especially coloured ones), but I find it difficult to imagine it being the main or only reason to purchase a grooved slab of vinyl with another, obvious function. I read an interesting response today by James Brooks of Elite Gymnastics to a question about buying music, in which he says:
“when me and josh were doing the artwork for the ruin record, my main concern was wanting to try to create an object that seemed like it would be a reasonable and cool thing for someone to own even if they were like me and weren’t really interested in owning records or cultivating a record collection”
It’s not explicitly stating that he doesn’t expect people to listen to the record, but it does seem to come second to the value of the artwork (here’s my attempt to do it some justice in a single photograph).
- its intrinsic/monetary value? - which is what all the above also leads to, whereby people seek an object to purchase to support the artist, or perform some kind of acquisitive action beyond the click of the download. Initially it makes me despair about the distribution of disposable income, where some have the money to spend on an increasingly pricey and, to them, functionally useless object. But that plays on prejudices about the next generation of consumers, who are exploring the unknown desires and pushes of capitalism just as we did before them; and anyway, perverse as it maybe seems, there is both a value and a function to that unwrapped or unused record: it expresses an intent, whether on behalf of the self or the artist, to buy in to the hierarchy of meaning given to objects of art, which technology has broken up and scattered into the free corners of the web.
A final curious thought:
But the last word goes to Ian from Constellation, who thinks that maybe physical albums don’t have to be for everyone: “There are lots of ‘indie artists’ whose music exists almost as a way to brand themselves on YouTube or through other avenues. Lots of music is disposable, singles-driven and all about engaging through video and image. These people should just be making their money from YouTube or other ways of monetising their music. More power to them for not using up valuable physical resources: Please stay on the internet and make the internet your entire cultural sphere. Do us all a favour and don’t clutter up the physical album marketplace with your stuff.”
