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The Music World is Leading the Anti-Digital Backlash

Foo Fighters at Music Midtown

The internet and our new technologies are such a colossal part of our lives its hard to remember a time when we couldn’t punch in a message on our keyboards to send to a friend thousands of miles away, or tap away on the ubiquitous touch-screen to order our weekly shopping. It’s a change of lifestyle that has entered into almost every crevice and touched every square-inch of our existence.

But despite the innumerable benefits that the ‘digital age’ has given us, plenty of people in the western world are staging a fightback of-sorts, with the music world being at the vanguard of this anti-tech anger. The recent chief among these critics has been Dave Grohl who has said in an interview with Red Bull that “people have forgotten what it’s like to really rock out because they spend all day in front of a freakin’ computer, which they hail as the new god.” “And they seriously think technology can make them rich, if they stumble on something new. But I’m telling you: technology might make you rich, yet it will never make you happy.”

Expanding on his grand theory he later said, “They’re two different things light years apart. Happiness or luck or a good feeling – whatever you want to call it – is based on interaction among humans, on making other people happy, giving them something dear to their heart. Music is a perfect medium for that. What could be more human than writing a song with bass, drums and guitars? That’s as feel-based as it gets.”

Not all anti-digital crusaders are concerned with the spectral link between a lack of technology and happiness, others would simply like to see music as a paid-for, physical commodity again. Apparently there’s a lot of them too. In 2014, sales of vinyl records are up 38%, according to Digital Music News. And sales in 2013 were up over 30% from the last year. One of those making headlines in the new rush for old formats is Jack White whose new album sold 40,000 copies on vinyl in one week, the most for any vinyl record since 1991.

There’s an enduring appeal to these older formats too. Vinyl is the only format that is completely analogue and lossless. Containing more musical information than an MP3 file, listening to a record on a 7” should (in theory) provide a fuller experience that more closely resembles the original recording and how sound is actually produced — as a continuous wave and not a series of values like digital.

The cassette tape is also staging a comeback of sorts. The Disney subsidiary, Hollywood Records, has announced that the soundtrack for their $330 million-grossing film Guardians of the Galaxy will also be released on tape, alongside the usual formats. Powerhouse indie labels like Captured Records (home to DIIV, Beach Fossils and Wild Nothing et al.) are also choosing to widen their type of releases by including this once defunct form.

Vinyl and cassette tape both offer the prized analogue experience many audiophiles are hungry for, but for the latter, a similar sound can be achieved at the much-slashed price. Whilst a vinyl record will set you back at least $10, the same music on a tape might only cost your pocket a measly $2 or little more. They’re also a form of novelty; offering bands and artists a cutesy selling point, a useful promo tool and a physical copy all in one go.

“It’s a way of showing the people who’ll be listening to you that you appreciate music as a physical thing,” says Adam Clarke, an audio engineering student and musician from Southampton in the UK. “When you put your heart and soul into making some music, I totally understand the desire for it to be on something that’s tangible — a cassette, a vinyl, even a CD. I’m a huge fan of the cassette because it allows us to have that physical music experience without the huge production costs that comes with vinyl. Huge might not be the right word… but young, start-up musicians don’t have the liberty to expel large amounts of money on that sort of thing.”

“If somebody gives you a cassette – it could be brightly coloured, sparkly or hand-decorated – that’s a little bit of you going back to their home. If they don’t throw it away it’ll stick around their house, like a poster or another piece of merchandise, it won’t just sink into the deep, dark depths of the interwebs., forgotten about and never seen again.”

Dave Grohl’s insistence that a lack of live-recording and an over-reliance on computer technology are antithetical to music’s core essence is a stance from “a point of privilege”, says Clarke. “It’s all well and good saying that when you’ve millions to spend on time in a professional recording studio, or even if you’re using your own. But for someone like me that has to deal with the financial constraints that come with not being a multi-millionaire — thing’s are a little harder.”

“I’d love to be able to record live all the time, but I neither have the space nor the manpower to make that a rewarding and efficient process. I try and do things fresh, analogue and as true to the original sound as possible whenever I can. But sometimes digital technology can be a help, not a hindrance, in achieving that.”

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