Talking Point: Is the Digital Age Lowering the Cultural Value of Music?

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An mp3 player.

The digital revolution of the Noughties has brought about a musical monsoon. These days there's free music literally oozing out of the Internet - be it from file sharing networks such as Limewire or Soulseek, social networking sites a la MySpace and Virb, or from forums, podcasts, netlabels, online radio shows, mp3 blogs... the list goes on. Many up-and-coming musicians are now giving away entire albums - and Radiohead have just upped the ante among the industry's big players by allowing fans to pay what they wish to download their latest longplayer (with offers ranging from 1p to £40).

But while it all seems like good news for music enthusiasts and those who don't have money or access to buy the latest releases, there's growing consensus among artists and music collectors that, by opening the floodgates, the cultural value of music is actually being lowered. Sure, you can now download someone's entire discography at the click of a mouse, but there are only so many hours in the day - and there's little point in having a terabyte of mp3s at home that you'll never get around to listening to. In any case, many downloaders tend to skip through their recently nabbed acquisitions, archiving only what instantly grabs their attention and dumping the rest in the virtual bin.

Are you a serial downloader? Or have you shunned the digital music revolution in favour of your crackly vinyl 45s? We'd love to hear your thoughts:

  • Do you regularly download music? If so, from where - and do you ever pay for it?

  • Would you agree that music is starting to lose its cultural worth?

  • How has the internet changed your musical listening habits?

  • Are you one the few people left who doesn't own an iPod?

  • Do you think that download culture is damaging the 'cult of the album', in that people now just buy individual tracks rather than listening to songs in the context in which they were made to be listened to? Is it better that the consumer now has choice?

  • What do you think the future holds for the music industry?

  • How much would you be willing to pay for the new Radiohead album?


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