vinylgirl's Diaryland Diary

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January crisis

I am having a January crisis. My alarm kept getting pushed back this morning from 9:30 to 10:00 to 10:30 to 11:00 a.m. I remember hearing somewhere that the desire to sleep for extended periods of time is a mark of depression. This has not been a trend for me though. I think it had more to do with the tremendous blizzard raging outside my apartment - it was enough to drive anyone back under the covers. After the false spring London is coated in fluffy new snow again dragging me kicking and screaming back into winter. And especially the winter blahs. Everything feels so futile in winter.

I cannot really complain though since everything is going fairly well. I love my job and my co-workers are truly exceptional people. Even on the tightest deadline we manage to laugh. Of course it is up and down. There are days where I can really picture myself as a journalist for the rest of my life and others when I want to put it all behind me. The bad days are pretty bad; deadlines loom over my head and I feel I am going to buckle under the pressure. I imagine a job without deadlines and then I imagine a job that will never drive me. It occurred to me today when I was braving the winds to return home that I will not truly know what I want to do until next year. I certainly have vague ideas about what my ideal job would entail: travel, a humanitarian element, a constant challenge, and enough to sustain me.

There is one ray of sun peaking out from behind the clouds: the imminent visit of my very dear friend Maggie.

I think right now we really need each other to lean on, so the visit is wholly appropriate. It is always the little things you miss first like all of our incessant quoting of Almost Famous, Zoolander, and Napoleon Dynamite or our constant trips to Value Village. She is one of the only people I can shop with because we have the same philosophy and methodolgy: browse through everything and take your time. She has always been my rock.

Speaking of rock and perhaps even, rock 'n roll. I was reading on Chromewaves about how downloading music can impact on a person's connection to music. It is based on a University of Leicster UK study. He argues in agreement with the study:

"It can't be any surprise that the ease with which people can constantly access and download new music without any real effort has devalued, at least for many, music. If something doesn't cost you anything, be it money or energy, why should you ascribe any real value to it?"

I wholeheartedly disagree and have had this debate with several people in the past. I think there used to be a false sense of loyalty between music fans and artists before the "digital music revolution." Fans would eagerly go out and purchase the latest album having their ears coaxed by a single or sometimes rumor alone. Often said fan will listen to the album completely disappointed when there are realistically only two or three great songs and a ton of filler. Of course, the record companies are laughing at this point because they already made their money. I don't deny for a minute that the digital music revolution has hurt the music industry and artists, but it has also helped numerous artists launch their careers. It is the democratization of the recording industry; artists can design their own webpage and post mp3s to expose potential fans to their music without having a recording contract. Bands like Broken Social Scene, Metric, or really any of the major indie bands owe a great deal of their success to digital music. It was the indie fans trading mp3s and burned CDs who built them up. Although many people can download the entire album many still go and purchase the physical album of a favourite band in order to support them.

It is also aiding the battle of substance over image. The majority of bands I truly adore are bands I heard first and saw second (and sometimes much later). I did not have to buy into an image to fall in love with Rilo Kiley or to dance to The Rapture. It is just good music. Period. Music should be able to stand alone without a well-constructed image of cool surrounding it. I hope and think the digital music revolution is making artists more accountable; CD sales are naturally not as high as they used to be so artists must produce quality music in order to convince people to buy their albums. It has to be quality too because I know I am not interested in DVDs or other "goodies." I am looking for music that I can feel resonating through my entire body.

The music industry needs to acceptance the shifting of music from CD format to digital or risk death. They should be embracing the digital music revolution by releasing more singles online to hook fans and moving more albums to digital format. The prices need to be reasonable too - hopefully some sort of standard can be set. Only then will they curb the "rampant" illegal downloading going on. Otherwise they are just yelling at a brick wall.

A personal resolution: I want to be chased this time and I want to be the one asked out. I am allowed to flirt, but I refuse to wear the pants for a while.

Allison xo

10:38 p.m. - 01/25/2006

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