The devaluation in instant availability

Bill Drummond being interviewed about recorded music:

There was one occasion where I went to HMV to buy a CD. Standing outside the doors, I could see aisle upon aisle, rack upon rack – every CD known to mankind is there for me to buy. Over the decades my taste in music has broadened; I like all sorts of things. There was just this knowledge that whatever I buy, I’ll get it home, I’ll put it on and I’ll be disappointed. Later that night, I got home, got the children to bed, started doing my emails. I’d read about Napster, but I hadn’t actually used it. I started imagining that every piece of recorded music is out there – I could click on my computer and have it in my hand. I knew that whatever I got on to the hard drive, when I listened to it, it wouldn’t be what I wanted. From that point, I started seeing recorded music as a kind of genre in itself. Somehow, all recorded music, no matter where it is in the world, even if it’s from the pre-recorded music era, once it had been sucked into being recorded music and you’re listening to a two-dimensional thing, that can be listened to anywhere any time while you’re doing almost anything. In my head it’s all become this one thing that’s fast draining of meaning. Once an artform loses its meaning, it no longer has any real value.

Noticing a theme emerging?