I just added Mothership, the Best of Led Zepellin to my Amazon wish list.
I am a little schizophrenic when it comes to these greatest hits type compilations. On the one hand I feel like they don't really have a place in today's consumer driven, web-augmented digital music marketplace. On the other I end up buying quite a few (especially for 'classic' bands like Zep).
So, why do I think they're outmoded? Well it's not the format. I think the compilation is a great way to discover the music of a band especially if it's designed in a way to lead you from the hits to the hidden gems. I mainly object because I feel like my best of Led Zep should be somewhat different from yours. I love Kashmir, you love Whole Lotta Love. I love The National, you prefer Arctic Monkeys. This information and a lot more besides should shape the experience that Led Zepellin want to give us; the particular avenues of their rich musical history down which they want to lead us.
It seems as though this should be the bread and butter of last.fm or pandora, but for some reason it ain't. They tell me who's popular, which of their songs are the most popular and they even recommend generically songs I might like. But they won't tell me which Led Zep songs are just right for me...puzzling.
What I'd love to see is a band launch its 'best of' exclusively in conjunction with one of these services. You have to log in to get it and each user's compilation is automatically tailored to their specific musical tastes. Imagine t how much better an experience that would be. Imagine the PR a band would get. Imagine the follow on sales from listeners that understood the exact portion of their back catalogue to dive into.
Seems like a no-brainer to me.
0 comments: