NOTE: I just finished writing a new song. I’d be recording it right now, but I have a sore throat and I lost my voice, which is why I’m writing this blog post instead.
Is it just me, or are songs starting to get crappier the easier it becomes to download music?
While there might be some truth to this (rap/hiphop IS starting to really suck — albums are more of the same uninspired shit, and rappers left and right are busy copying the next man’s sound) I think a lot of it has to do with how we’re listening to the music.
Here’s what I think: if you’re going to “steal” from the musician by illegally downloading their albums, at least enjoy their music by listening to it using the best quality speakers you can afford.
It’s no doubt that downloading the latest CD release is easy to do. Shit, I’m not even gonna front, I do it all the damn time. Mediafire and Rapidshare are my best friends.
No longer do we have to pay $10 (or P275 if you’re in the Philippines) for an album — it’s easy to find a .zip file floating around the Internet somewhere, or make a trip to a bootleg shop near you. YEEHH I PWN3333D T3H MAN!!!!!111
But back in the day when we bought CDs, we actually had to play them on a CD player. For many people, this meant a pretty high quality sound. More or less, we actually hear the music the way the artist meant for us to hear it.
Nowadays, we download MP3s and are forced to listen to them on our shitty laptop speakers. You don’t hear the bass, it’s all treble, and all the sounds are fighting each other to get heard.
In other words, the sound is fucking SHIT.
For me, this is a huge reason why music started to suck, and I’m sure it goes for many people as well.
This weekend, I completely transformed my music listening experience when I hooked up my latop to my stereo speakers. The kicks are thumping, the basslines are subtle yet audible, the snares are crisp, and the vocals are in your face.
It’s like I was blind for a moment, then given the gift of vision and was able to see color again.
You wouldn’t ever think about watching Avatar or Transformers in black and white, so why are most people listening to music using shitty ass lo-fi speakers?
No fucking wonder that even the shittiest songs (“Fly Like A G6″, “Crank Dat”, etc.) hella grew on me after hearing it at the club (of course, it helped that a chick was grinding her ass into my crotch those times, but that’s another topic for another day haha).
If you really consider yourself a fan of music and download a lot of MP3s, do yourself (and the artist) a favor and invest in the best quality speakers you could afford (or headphones, if you listen on a portable MP3 player).
My next few upcoming releases are going to be available for free download. Singles, EPs, whatever… So you might as well invest that money in something that will help you enjoy music even more 
If you’re going to download their music (considered to be stealing from the musician by many) you might as well enjoy it the way they wanted you to hear it.
I have more thoughts on this, but it’s getting late so I’ll save that for another blog post. Till then.. Peace!
