#music-ownership

#music-ownership

When I was 18, I bought a heavily reduced MiniDisc player. This wasn't even what you could charitably call fashionably late, given the format was already on its last legs, but I loved it, and because nobody else was interested, blank discs were dirt cheap. I have a vague recollection of grabbing packs at Poundland, allowing me to create a glorious self-curated library of cheap music, five years before the birth of Spotify.

The reasons are, essentially, threefold. First, there's the pleasure of using something tangible: a nostalgia for devices with a single purpose, devoid of notifications and apps. More importantly, though, there's a desire to have a music collection again something led by the music-loving algorithm in your brain, rather than one outsourced to technology. It's their collection, rather than a playlist they've subscribed to, says Laidler, and they own the music and aren't simply leasing it from Spotify.