I was recently reading a short article by the founder of Pandora.com, Tim Westergren, in the Wall Street Journal Magazine, and I was struck by his observation that in an age of massive digital music libraries and personalized playlists online or within iTunes, live concerts are becoming more popular. Several months ago, I read an article that observed that more and more artists were looking to concerts to generate their revenue stream, a trend that aligns with Westergren's observation. Westergreen speculates, and I agree with him, that while many of our technologies promise us increased connection with one another, the frequent experience often seems to be more akin to isolation and a profound disconnect. In turn, we look to live music concerts as a way to reconnect with the physicality and culture surrounding any given piece of music.
I happen to love Josh Ritter's music, and enjoy listening to his albums on my computer. But I have now attended several of his concerts, and they truly are one of a kind. The energy he brings to the stage is palpable, and he inevitably offers the audience something new in his music that his recorded albums have not yet captured. It strikes me that it is concerts like these that inspire me to listen to his recorded albums, and continue listening to them. It is that amazing experience, afforded by a great concert, that sustains the listening experience. The act of attending a concert, being in physical proximity to the artist and other fans seems to be fundamental to the technologies of music, it props up something as remarkable a program like iTunes. Perhaps things have always been this way, perhaps this a growing symptom of the digital age, where we find ourselves yearning for a physicality that no amount of photographic or audio realism on our computers can offer. Either way, we would all do well to attend a few more concerts, and therein reconnect with why we listen to the music in the first place, a sense of shared human experience.
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