The Death of the Record Album · by Jon Paul

Why are Record Labels fuming over the lax laws of downloading in Canada? We have every right to download as we please, as long as your throwing money around here and there. Labels are continuously complaining that record sales are down, yet iTunes sales are continuously rising simply because iTunes has discovered that most of the tracks on an album suck!. Think back to when you first started buying albums, whether on vinyl, 8-track, cassette or CD, we buy the album for particular songs. Very rarely do you love every song on an album.

First off, record labels are all about money, and control over the artist. They say what is released and how to release it and at what cost. Album prices are decreasing because people are becoming very picky when it comes to what they want to listen to. Why spend $17.99 on an album to listen to 3 or 4 songs when you can pick and choose each track for $0.99 a song and save ¾ of the selling price in the store. Even if we do not have laws concerning downloading, one must remember that artists do need to make money as well, so if you truly appreciate music please pay for it.
Technology is easily accessible and very affordable these days. Downloading saves so much time and requires such little effort. At a click of a button, you can have any song you wish for just $0.99 - yes I am adamant about paying only a dollar for great sounds.

But today, it’s no longer just music attracting our wallets and impulse purchases. There are so many more options to choose from in terms of entertainment. DVD’s, video games, satellite radio, flat screen televisions, etc., are all so tempting to through money at. Cd’s are not at the forefront of entertainment the way vinyl’s were in the 60’s and 70’s where anytime you had a few bucks you would drive down to the record store to pick up the album of your choice. Today, we visit stores like Future Shop and Bust Buy where infinite possibilities await to fulfill our entertainment urges no matter which direction we face. As much as we hate them for pushing out the little music guy, we continue to through our plastic at them because theses corporate big wigs know exactly what kind of consumers we have become - The kind that likes everything sleek, flashy, loud and big.

Yes, as sad as it is, the compact disc has a great deal of competition presently and we continue to push it away while everything else is pushed our way. The problem is not that our laws are flaccid when it comes to downloading - there are just other, more affordable ways to get the music we want at the price that seems much more reasonable.

We still want our music, but we want to save our money in order to listen to our music to its’ full potential through the mind-blowing sound systems of tomorrow.