Erin Liebl
Lora Strey
Composition 101-12
Blog Post 1
9/22/14
“Conspicuous
Consumption” About Music
“The
Powerful Theory of Conspicuous Consumption” is a short article written by
Thorstein Veblem about how a person’s social status is based on their material
items. Paying a lot of money for something that doesn’t have much value was
something he could never wrap his head around (Veblem). He feels that now people
only purchase something because it is out there, not because they need it
(Veblem). He goes into depth that our lawns are simply just cow pastures
without a cow to keep it trimmed. Although he doesn’t flat out say it, its
visible that Veblem wants us to try and get away from buying things that we
don’t need. He himself does not know why we have increasingly been buying
things compulsively.
Reading
this article brought up a few questions about how this relates to todays music
world. It has changed dramatically because of the advancements in technology.
So I researched: How many people buy an
album for an expensive price right away when it is released? How many people
wait to hear a song on Spotify or YouTube? I feel that what I find will
give me a sense of why we have been buying things compulsively.
A
group member found an article from The Austin Chronicle by Luke Winkie
discussing the sales of a record store. He says in this article “More than 4.6
million records were sold in 2012. And vinyl sales increased from $15 million in
2005 to $162 million in 2012” (Winkie). Vinyls have seemed to make a comeback
in the world, and as a result that is now causing people to pay more for
something they don’t need. A digital download is around $10 and a vinyl goes
from $12 to $40 (Winkie). To me that is paying a high price for something that
is unneeded.
Spotify
and YouTube are making digital music sales drop dramatically. The number of
songs that people streaming on Spotify, YouTube, and Rhapsody have risen to
118.1 billion (Luckerson). Now, even Pandora and Itunes Radio are having an
effect on digital music sales. These electronic services though are our future
(Luckerson).
One
article led to us to believe that in our future we will be spending our money
on foolish things that are unneeded. And the other article led us to believe
that we are getting rid of vinyl’s and digital music downloads by streaming
songs online for free. Personally I think that streaming the songs for free is
a better way to go. It is saving us from consuming things that we don’t need
for a high price.
Works Cited
Luckerson,
Victor. "Spotify and YouTube Are Just Killing Digital Music Sales | TIME.com." Business Money Spotify
and YouTube Are Just Killing Digital Music Sales
Comments. N.p., 03 Jan. 2014. Web. 23 Sept. 2014.
Veblen,
Thorstein. Conspicuous Consumption. New York: Penguin, 2006. N. pag.
Print.
Winkie,
Luke. "The Price You Pay." : At What Cost Does the Vinyl
Revolution Come? N.p., 10 Jan. 2014. Web. 23 Sept. 2014.
I really like how you used quotes to support your ideas early on in the introduction. It is a really clear and concise about its relationship to music. It made it easy to follow along but still get the full meaning of the reading
ReplyDeleteThe post makes valid points. It is clear as to what the post is about. It gives statistics to back up its points. However, I am a little confused on how this relates to random spending. Many people buy these and use them as a hobby, music analysts buy vinyl because of increased sound quality and rich tone. It seems to make a jump from the statistics to the interpretation, and doesn't explain the interpretation, and then goes to give evidence that people are actually buying less, and that conspicuous consumption is actually fading.
ReplyDelete-Charles Bassett
this was a really well put together blog, it shows 2 clear points of how music is in people's lives and how they spend their money on it. I agree with you that streaming free music is the better and faster way to get songs. although I agree with Veblem about how stupid people look when they buy things that are unneeded, I can have impulse buys every now and then.
ReplyDeleteI like that you point out that paying for vinyl records is a waste of money, which is true. But I think that some people just like the authenticity of a vintage vinyl and are willing to pay the unnecessary money to make themselves happy.
ReplyDelete