BY TAMARA KOHLER
I recently sold my Panasonic RX-ES30 Power Blaster on eBay; a cherished eighth birthday gift and the vestibule for all of my radio-grabbed mixtapes and early purchases of singles. The original eBay listing had 24 views and one watcher, however was unsuccessful. The sale took three attempts, and after an original $45 starting bid, I sold it for $20.
When I sold the machine, I asked the buyer why he would want such an old system. His reply: “I have a bunch of old CDs that I haven’t listened to in ages, because I don’t have a way to listen to them”.
The last consistent use for the ‘Boombox’ was servicing my ex-boyfriend’s extensive CD collection. This collection stood in all its glory at the opening of our house, presented like a shrine to various mediums of Western art music. Visitors would inevitably spend hours gawking at the collection, while my ex would bounce around insisting they listen to a particular recording of Ravel’s ‘La Valse’ or Britten’s ‘Les Illuminations’.
I have now completely dissipated my CD collection. After moving house at least five times over the past seven years, repacking those CDs every move, and then reattempting the quest to find their ultimate new home became a complete drag. As a regular traveller, I found myself resorting more to the on-demand convenience of mp3s online. Long gone are the days of dragging around my Discman and favourite cracked CD cases.
Listening options are endless these days: iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, Bandcamp, Soundcloud, Naxos, digital concert halls, etc.. You can buy single tracks, hear samples, watch artist interviews and video-clips, so I often wonder whether there is still value in releasing a physical compact disc within the classical industry? The truth is, the only time I remember buying a CD in the last 10 years was a gift, and it was for my CD collecting ex-boyfriend. Long gone are the days when I used to go into HMV or Sanity for an advanced listen to the latest CD releases on their in-store headphones before making my purchase.
To clarify, I am specifically talking classical music CDs. The hipster revolution has totally revived the popularity of vinyl, not only as an organic way to listen to music, but also as a decorative collectors’ item, and this seems to be helping many stores stay alive.
I don’t necessarily see the classical music CD as a worthy investment anymore. Perhaps as touring revenue, there may still be some value in having a physical item to offer audiences. Selling a CD at a concert acts as an equivalent to a band t-shirt at a gig: an excellent way to send your fans home with a memento of you as an artist. But do these CDs actually produce an income? Because unless Janine Jansen or Daniel Baremboim are offering a post-concert scribble on that newly acquired plastic, you probably aren’t likely to make many sales, and the few sales made definitely won’t come close to matching the thousands of dollars spent producing that piece of plastic.
Artists should definitely be putting their work out there, whether it is a new interpretation of a classic or original material. But in the wake of the recent government funding cuts to ABC and Australia Council funding, I think the relevance of money spent within the industry has become more important than ever, especially as independent artists.
So, vale an old friend, who saw me through many an episode of teen angst, enabled vital career development and basically began my now permanent love affair with music.
Image via Flickr: Eirik Solheim.
