Consumption of music - Essay Example

Consumption of Music In response to this writing assignment, I would like to paraphrase the dialog from a scene in the movie “The Devil Wears Prada”. In the scene, Nigel tries to explain to Andy about how the purchasing of clothes happens, which, in my opinion is highly similar to the way that we consume music as a people. That is, the music that we consume is not something of our choosing, it was chosen by many people ahead of us, long before the music was actually released to the public.

It was chosen for us by the composer, the producer, the singer, and the record label, long before it hit the airwaves. Those are the people who have a talent for helping people define themselves through music. The music that I will choose to purchase has already been predetermined for me by the people involved in the creation of the music. So it is hard to say that I have the power to control the music that I purchase because I do not create the music myself. Rather, the music is created for me and marketed towards my particular group.

I dont control the purchase because even though there are many kinds of music available, each song I purchase has already been predetermined by the music bigwigs. I am swayed to purchase the music because of the constant promotion and airplay of the music. All of which are designed to encourage me to buy the music. And that is where things can go too far in the music purchasing business. Although the de-dacto format for music these days is digital, the record companies still do their best to sell the songs in hard copy or cd format alongside its digital counterpart.

Releasing 3 different versions of the same album just to bring in more sales. Forcing people to make multiple purchases of the same album because it is the “in” thing to do. So the music does define who I am based upon the kind I purchase because I have already been preselected for it.