The changing industry... shall we cry?

Author

Claudio Constantini
June 03, 2023

Yesterday I got an e-mail. But first, a bit of back story:

I vividly remember the first cassette tape I bought.

Yes, cassette (I hope you know what that is…).

I consider myself very young, born in the early 80´s.

But anyone who was born back then or earlier knows how humongous the changes in technology and lifestyle have been since then.

I left home, took the 40-minute bus route to reach the store, and heavily scrutinized all the tapes… as if I hadn´t been there already 30 times before.

I knew exactly which album I was going to buy, and I knew the exact cost. I´d saved the money for the occasion.

I´ve probably bought hundreds of albums (mostly cd´s) since then.

So, yesterday´s e-mail went like this:

“Hello Mr. Constantini. I´d like to buy my father an album of your latest Bach recording, but I can´t find it in any store. I´ve been to 10 record stores already, and nobody even knows about it! Could you please let me know how I can purchase one of your cd´s?”

Honestly, I didn´t even know there were so many record stores nowadays…

Of course, this person doesn´t know that Warner Classics, the label I´m signed to, doesn´t produce physical albums anymore because of infimum low sales.

I explained to him the procedure to listen to my album online by streaming on Spotify, Itunes, or any other platform. He didn´t seem to understan, but promised to look into it and thanked me for the answer.

For an instant, I was a bit nostalgic.

BUT…

I have to admit that I´m one of those that has eagerly switched to exclusively listening to music on streaming media. In my opinion, it´s one of the greatest tools the internet has provided to us.

It will probably horrify any of you who seriously takes hi-quality audio into consideration, but I care about the quality difference between a cd and a digital audio file exactly this: zero.

To me, the decisive factor is: Portability.

I can take my music with me anywhere.

Sure, I love the ceremonial of grabbing a cd or vinyl, putting it to play, sitting back and concentrate on the music.

But, honestly, since my daughter was born 5 years ago, that simply isn´t possible anymore… my cd player broke exactly 5 years ago, and I haven´t bought one since.

For now, I exclusively release digitally. You can listen to my Bach album anywhere online, or you can also listen to my latest piece which I released just yesterday. Brand new.

Its´ a piano piece called Smiling Backwards, and you can listen to it here: Listen to Smiling Backwards Here.

I hope you enjoy a beautiful weekend, listening to whichever music you like, on your preferred digital or physical platform :)

Best,

Claudio.