Listening to music is not what it used to be. Before the music age, curating a music library was a deliberate, thoughtful practice: one that was costly enough to require serious forethought; one that required maintenance and care; and one that commanded active attention to know when an LP needed to be flipped. This is in stark contrast with the streaming age, which has banished music curation to the back burner—libraries are now bloated, filled with half-finished and fully-shuffled playlists that ask of their listeners no more than the push of a button. There is no doubt that this new model of consumption has made music listening more accessible. But this convenience has diminished the music’s value in the process.
While price reduction and variety may be beneficial in the realms of food or fashion, these changes have an inverse effect on music. Music is an art form that thrives off of repetitive consumption, careful deliberation, and meditative analysis. Incentivizing listeners to disregard albums and instead consume an endless sludge of ear-wormy new singles disregards the care that goes into the music-making process. Playlists, especially AI-generated ones that draw from all pockets of the music world, have all but eliminated the possibility of forging meaningful connections with musicians and their music.
The same careful listening of vinyl can be emulated on streaming platforms by playing albums in full, going back to familiar favorites, and the like. But with a daily selection of fresh, digestible tracks delivered directly to your home screen, it is hard to maintain the discipline not to eat what you’re being fed, especially when that fodder is carefully designed to be addictive, catchy, and easy on the ears.
If you need proof of the power of instant gratification, look no further than Spotify’s newest feature: Spotify Clips. The app’s newest addition emulates the story features found in many social media platforms like Instagram and Snapchat. It allows users to discover new music through five-second snippets. With five-second pleasure-center bombs at the tips of their fingers, listeners are tempted to forgo the old-school process of finding new music in exchange for the pleasure of constant stimulation.
Without a doubt, vinyl is a more burdensome medium than digital streaming. But the care and devotion it requires ultimately ends up benefiting the listener. Ten dollars on Spotify gets you an overwhelmingly eclectic selection of music that values breadth over depth; ten dollars at a record store will get you an album to be pored over for a lifetime. In time, money and attention, vinyl asks far more of its listeners than digital music does. But in meaning, passion, and emotional resonance, the return is immeasurable.
