I am cheap, which is probably the motivating factor, but I think there is a real downside to infinitely available music.

Analogy: Attractive people dating online can have trouble starting a real relationship because they are always thinking, “Maybe I can do better.”

I think it can be the same with music. If all you are asking yourself is, “Does this music immediately trigger pleasure in me?” you are ultimately chasing shallow high after shallow high. And once you are in that state of mind, you have an insatiable demmand for more music, music all the time, different music.

But there is a deeper experience you can have, when you listen to a CD for a week because it’s in the CD player of your car and by the time you realize it, you’re already on the highway and can’t change it. You start to notice the little details, you start to appreciate the music even though it’s not what you’re into. And in doing so, you grow musically.

On the production side of it, I think there’s also kind of a severe rot that might settle in when you’re trying to chase people that will give you literally 3-seconds of their time before skipping, and that will change the music if they aren’t constantly being pleasured or if they hear anything the slightest bit unfamiliar.

Since nobody has made an investment in the music, nobody is willing to give anything different a chance, and it just drives musicians away from making music and into making muzak, music that is just engaging enough, but never takes risks.