Why Britons Still Prefer to Buy Tangible Physical Music Products
In an age where the phone or MP3 handheld device is king, it is interesting to hear that apparently the majority of British music listeners still prefer to purchase physical music products such as CD and vinyl. And listen to it on a proper stereo system with hi-fi speakers. This is a reassuring turn up for the books as an independent creative music producer and recording engineer.
Recent research carried out for the massive music download site eMusic and AIM (Association of Independent Music) has claimed that most UK music listeners and consumers do actually like to buy musical products such as CDs rather than just download MP3’s and stick the tracks on their MP3 player, phone or computer. CD standard of audio files is superior to compressed MP3 formats that take up much less storage space on digital devices. And so it seems that for the sake of convenience and being able to consume more music, audio quality is compromised and this is accepted by the consumer.
The downloaded music is usually then listened to through inferior speaker systems with limited frequency range response and with a minimum resonance chamber. But apparently these majority of UK music consumers are even listening to their physical musical products on good quality stereo systems. Although I am sceptical that this is really the predominant trend today, it is reassuring that listeners do still want quality not just quantity. As a recording engineer and producer of creative music and experimental electronic music, I was getting quite downhearted that the work that goes into producing the best possible sound and mix was being somewhat wasted on the majority of listeners who will not be able to appreciate the full resolution outcome.
This may not, in fact, be all about audio. Buying an album means you also get the artwork, lyrics and perhaps even sleeve notes personal to that artist or band. And so the artist consolidates their relationship with their audience and potential fans. By expressing their personality and creativity through written and visual form, the listener gets an enriched experience. In my own creative music experience this has occurred. found it very interesting that when a limited edition CD product of my latest experimental music album was offered, sales of the CD greatly exceeded the number of download only purchases. This surprised me as it was assumed people would be interested in the more convenient and cheaper option. But luckily for artists this does not seem to be the case. And long may it be so, so we can continue to flourish in our creativity and offer a more interesting and valuable listening product.
