When you buy music, you are directly supporting the work of artists you enjoy. It sends the right message to the independent labels, distribution channels, local record stores, and independent concert promoters: there is a desire and market (yes, we live in a capitalist system) for my art. This in turn hopefully will assure we are able to record/release another album or play a show in your town.

There is no substitute for holding something in your hands, seeing and appreciating the nice artwork, opening a package, putting it on a record player and listening to the real thing. Unlike (poorly-encoded may I add) digital files, physical medium creates an emblem in your living space: it reflects your taste and personality, just like pieces of furniture and art contribute to the interior design aesthetic of your home. Every time you walk by your record collection, it brings back memories of what you were doing (and perhaps who were you with) when you acquired your albums. It also reminds you to listen to them. How many digital files are buried on your hard drive, never to be played more than once?

If convenience is important to you, then getting a hi-quality digital version (wav/aiff/flac/lossless) copies of an album is the way to go. Those kind of files tend to be hard to find among the P2P communities or locker sites. Hell, I’ve seen my work file-shared at 128kbs (seriously??). That’s not even suitable for human consumption! 

After spending so much time/energy/money to craft an album, I believe you and I both deserve better.

That leaves us all these streaming services like Spotify, and their ilk. Those are no substitute to curating and owning your private collection of music. One thing I really appreciated while growing up and discovering music was the fact that I had only so many records. I didn’t have much money, so my collection was fairly small (but potent). I would hang on to an album for a very long time and listen more frequently, as opposed to jumping from one track to the next track or randomly letting an algorithm dictate what I’m supposed to listen to next. Because of these limitations (and lack of access to immediate information like we do today), I developed fond memories of music I listened to and how it related to events in my own life. Having limited access to music made albums really special to me.

After all, what’s the point of subscribing to a service and have access to millions of songs but only listen to a very small percentage of those on a regular basis?

During my record buying lifetime, I have gone thru several copies of My Bloody Valentine’s “Loveless” for example - the original cassette version I bought got played until it was literally EATEN by the tape deck. I’ve had some CD’s played so many times, the coating material pealed off (maybe this is how Oval got their original prepared CD idea, who knows!). All these examples tend to create fond memories (at least to me) of music I love. Now, can you say the same streaming services? 

Simply put: when you buy music and you own your collection, you appreciate it much more!

MP3 blog sites: I’m flattered you like my works and want to talk about it and share the knowledge with the world. But PLEASE, do us both a favor: don’t post links to locker sites with the entire release. If all you want is people to listen to it for the sake of ‘trying-before-buying” in reference to a review you posted, please link to my Bandcamp store instead. You can listen to all songs for free there. This may even encourage listeners/followers to get a copy - some people might even buy a track or an album and in turn support my works!

I do not believe we need draconian new laws or even outright censorship. All we need as artists creating content is listeners that support what we do by buying our music, going to our shows, and telling their friends/peers to do the same. We do this already with other things we enjoy: we buy books, films, coffee, alcohol, hell we even fork 99 cents for that extra side guacamole at a restaurant, so why not pay for the music that serves, in most cases, as a soundtrack to your own life?

I don’t really want to be part of a world in which the only music we will listen to are the one made to support corporate advertising campaigns, or where every time we listen to a record, that album gets continuously interrupted by "sponsored content,“ ruining our immerse listening experience.

To all of my regular listeners who have bought an album at a gig, at a record store, or directly here: Thanks for supporting my lifestyle choice, it is not an easy one, but it is sure fulfilling.

Let’s continue on this path, I can’t wait to see what comes next!