I recently read an article questioning "Does The Digital Album Have A Future?". This is a great question and one which only time will tell... In this article the author was referencing the range of "immersive" (read "screen-based"...) technologies used to spread music these days, as physical music sales continue to decline from their former heights.
Within the comments I posted that I believe music listening needs to be increasingly separated from screen-based "immersion" on "devices". It's music after all. The enjoyment and immersion should come in via the ears.
In the same week I read the article "Young listeners opting to stream, not own music" on CNN. A notable comment in this article was from Sean Wilson, 21, of Atlanta, Georgia who is quoted as saying "Ninety percent of my friends stream music. To be honest, I haven't seen someone use iTunes in a really long time". The times sure are changing, and changing fast.
Of course, good music should be discovered via as broad a range of means as possible, something which I encourage and do myself. For more on this see my previous posts "Don't Let Inconvenience Stop Your Discovery of New Music" and "Listen All The Time, Not Just When You're Logged In".
I do lament however that there is an increasing lack of separation of music listening from a screen-based environment. It seems that music consumption is becoming increasingly secondary to visual stimulation. This is not a recent phenomenon of course - live performances are as old as performance itself is, and in more recent years the explosion of video clips in the 70s and 80s has just continued with increasing strength.
However the consumption of music from screen-based listening environments leads to a likely increase in distractions from the music also. The experience of listening to music becomes increasingly secondary to what is going on before the eyes.
What do you think - is music now just background for your eyes?
Within the comments I posted that I believe music listening needs to be increasingly separated from screen-based "immersion" on "devices". It's music after all. The enjoyment and immersion should come in via the ears.
In the same week I read the article "Young listeners opting to stream, not own music" on CNN. A notable comment in this article was from Sean Wilson, 21, of Atlanta, Georgia who is quoted as saying "Ninety percent of my friends stream music. To be honest, I haven't seen someone use iTunes in a really long time". The times sure are changing, and changing fast.
Of course, good music should be discovered via as broad a range of means as possible, something which I encourage and do myself. For more on this see my previous posts "Don't Let Inconvenience Stop Your Discovery of New Music" and "Listen All The Time, Not Just When You're Logged In".
I do lament however that there is an increasing lack of separation of music listening from a screen-based environment. It seems that music consumption is becoming increasingly secondary to visual stimulation. This is not a recent phenomenon of course - live performances are as old as performance itself is, and in more recent years the explosion of video clips in the 70s and 80s has just continued with increasing strength.
However the consumption of music from screen-based listening environments leads to a likely increase in distractions from the music also. The experience of listening to music becomes increasingly secondary to what is going on before the eyes.
What do you think - is music now just background for your eyes?
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