Abundance is convenient but we crave scarcity.

My Spotify year in review said I listened to 1644 (!!) artists last year. How is that even possible? That’s over 4 artists per day.

Meantime, over the break I watched High Fidelity, about a record store in Chicago, in an era when ppl still visited record stores and bought vinyl records. I also watched Other Music, the documentary about the beloved and now closed record store in NYC’s East Village.

I couldn’t stop thinking about the contrast between how we consume music in today’s age of abundance and how we use to in the age of scarcity.

As a DJ, product person, voracious music consumer (aren’t we all I guess?), I think a lot about how we consume media.

When I lived in NYC, I would visit Other Music often to buy physical CDs and vinyls. I took them home and had something to look at while I listened. I still have many of them, and their cover art is etched in my visual memory.

I can’t say the same for any of the 1644 artists I listen to on Spotify last year.

We go through music (and other media) like water. It’s a background tapestry to our workouts, work routine, and dinner parties.

Endless streaming means it’s an all you can eat buffet, and auto recommendations means you don’t have to worry about what to play.

Abundance is so convenient. But I think it leaves us craving scarcity.

Physical media you can touch. Live performances that are ephemeral. Human curation