Now I know Why People Don't Buy CD's Anymore!

I love my music. In fact, it's the reason I got into radio. Not to be famous or because I enjoy the sound of my own voice - I love music and the idea of playing music on the radio and actually getting paid for doing it seemed too good to be true when I was growing up but apparently it was possible and here I am. Living proof that in these recession (allegedly) hit times that there's still a market for a music playing monkey on commercial radio:-)

I've never been one to get bogged down by labels or specific music genres, I genuinely love all types of music. It began in the early 80's with Depeche Mode, Human League, New Order and all those 'new romantic' bands, but I also liked rock like U2 and Queen. I couldn't understand why if you liked pop music you weren't credible or cool! In the late 80's when I progressed to secondary school the 'rockers' and 'cure heads' used to call me a 'queer' because I liked all the Stock Aiken And Waterman stuff i.e Rick Astley, Kylie and Mel & Kim. But I also liked The Cure and Iron Maiden and I was the first in school to discover bands like The Stone Roses and Happy Mondays. I just hated the fools that pretended to like the music just to fit in with the cool kids!

So, it's time I explained myself.... And no, I'm not about to come out of the closet!!!:-)

I'm sure you are familiar with the band Alphabeat, the Danish pop band with the girl and boy up front on vocals who bare a scary resemblance to the infamous Moors Murderers Ian Brady and Myra Hindley. Has anybody noticed the likeness? Not the most desirable of people to be likened to I'll admit but I'm sure that's where the similarities end. My gripe is that I have gone to 6 music shops in the last few weeks and not one of them had Alphabeat's album in stock! And I'm extremely pissed off! I hear so much whingeing and moaning from record companies of how their profits are down because of illegal downloading and here's me with cash in my pocket wanting to buy a cd and I can't get it!! WTF???

So download it I hear you say. Well call me old fashioned if you like but I prefer cd's to downloading. As a working club dj I find downloading very handy for picking up whatever tunes I need but when it comes to music that I like to listen to, I like to have the cd. I still love the thrill of going into a music shop, picking out a few albums and popping them into the car cd player or the sound system at home when I have the house to myself. I get cd's from some of the record companies but I firmly believe that you don't appreciate a cd unless you've physically handed over money for it and made the decision on your own to buy it, so as long as cd's are commercially available, I'll buy them.

So why is this happening? Why can you not got into your local music store and buy the latest releases anymore? In a year or two or even sooner will you be able to buy cd's at all from your local HMV or Golden Discs? I don't know about you but I would find that very sad indeed. I'm not being over dramatic here but I really think that an important part of music will die if that happens. And it's becoming increasingly likely if companies like EMI are putting their entire cd production future on one band - Coldplay. Depending on how well the latest Coldplay album does sales wise will determine whether or not EMI will continue to issue their artists music on cd - scary!

But, like me, if you can't physically buy the cd you want, you're going to get tired of constantly being told that it's not in stock, you're going to head straight home and log on to i.tunes or worse still one of those virus rampant illegal sites that the record companies and the agencies that collect royalties on behalf of artists demonize! So from where I'm sitting it would appear that the recorc companies are to blame for pushing consumers away from the conventional cd and into downloading. Perhaps their intention, I guess downloads cost them even less than it costs to produce a cd. No packaging or delivery costs for one and less tax to the government. In the same way that they weakened the quality of vinyl in the late 80's in order to push everybody into buying a cd player, it would appear that they are again manipulating the public. Isn't it ironic that the same record companies that tried to destroy vinyl are now trying to bring it back by issuing some of the top titles on vynl again! Too little too late guys!

I'm certainly not mourning the losses of the fatcat record companies! At one pointI was spending over a hundred pounds a week on music during the 90's! Nope, that wasn't a misprint! During the dance music boom of the 90's myself and many others spent our lives in a certain record shop called Abbey Discs on Liffey Street spending our hard earned money on vinyl and cd's - and we spent a lot! Now I'm not bitter, I really miss those days of getting in behind the counter and rummaging for tunes in the hope that I would pick up an exclusive that nobody else had. And because I spent so much Billy Murray, the shops proprietor, always looked after me. But if I sat down and totted up all the money I have spent on music since I started buying records at the age of 7, I'm pretty sure if I had the money in my hand now it would pay off my mortgage! Still, I couldn't put a price on the pleasure I have derived from building up a huge collection of music over the years. I just hope that my two sons get the same amount of joy from it as I have when I'm gone.

Anyway, the point is I still don't have a copy of Alphabeat's album! Perhaps a music shop worker will read this and get some copies in and save the day? I'll try once more this week and let you know how I get on.

It better be the best bloody album of the year after all this effort!:-)

Andy