i heart pop

Alright, so while I’m on the subject of Juliana Hatfield (see book review below), let’s talk about the Honor System.  It’s not everyday that a quality musician makes close to forty unreleased and rare tracks available on her website and simply asks for a donation in return.  However, at www.julianahatfield.com, it’s called the Honor System and also an “experiment”, but for die hards, this really is a treasure trove of great material and a completist’s wet dream.

It’s interesting, too, because just last week I was reading on the popjustice forums a long post about how the distribution of music is changing the way people listen to it.  Oddly enough I would have thought the opposite:  that the way people listen to music is changing the way it is distributed.  It’s really a chicken/egg question, but an important one.  While I truly morn the death of the physical CD and CD single, regardless of it’s material existence or not, I DO NOT GET EXCITED WHEN NEW MUSIC IS RELEASED EVERY TUESDAY.

I’m kinda torn up inside about this, because five years ago, I’d rush out of work every Tuesday and stop at Tower Records and run down the aisles collecting the new releases:  songs I hadn’t heard, booklets I hadn’t seen photos of, lyrics I had yet to memorize.  These days, I’ve pretty much heard all the tracks on a CD before it’s released and the big decision to ponder is:  do I purchase a CD on itunes and get the extra song/s or do I buy the physical CD and enjoy the packaging.  One would think the music lover would prefer the physical release with both the booklet and extra songs, but no, this is NEVER an option unless you shell out an extra five bucks for the deluxe 2 disc edition with videos and interviews and cross marketing (mind you, the deluxe version is only on option with major artists).  Don’t even get me started on the Japanese and UK version with their own bonus tracks and singles with B-Sides.  If you’re still purchasing music in 2009 the old fashioned way, your wallet is fucked.

The other problem is that most retail outlets don’t cultivate music but rather see it as inventory.  With the exception of Barnes and Noble (for which I flat out refuse to purchase music from since they jack up their prices and since I can’t go in there without ordering some $5.o0 coffee to go with my $18.00 CD), and the death of Tower of Records, there isn’t really anywhere to go to be around and discover new music.  And while it’s so much easier to listen and purchase at home online, there really should be another route.  Tower Records was so do it yourself.  It was hallowed ground:  you could listen to music, browse the singles and used racks, the people watching was also unparalleled, but that’s another blog entry in itself.  Those days are gone.  Look at Target and Best Buy, sure their prices are low, but so are their choices.

Pardon the long lead in, but I really want to express my dissatisfaction with “The System”.  I shouldn’t have to special order releases by Haley Bonar or Matthew Barber from Amazon.com.  But, since it’s not U2 or Britney, I’m forced to…and I don’t like the feeling that Americans, or anyone, for that matter, have to actively seek out good new music.  So, when someone who flies under the radar in the same way as Haley Bonar or Matthew Barber or Matt Alber (lately I’m really liking the Matts) releases a staggering 38 tracks on her website, how can I not click my mouse on the donate button and offer up my soul?

True, Radiohead did it first, fine, you win, you got me.  But this is so much different than that.  That was radical and newsworthy and something put together by an A&R team to spread the word.  This is much more simple.  There’s nothing getting inbetween Juliana Hatfield’s songs and us, the public.  There was no side meeting about logos, and singles and accessability.  Everything that makes the industry seem like a cookie cutter money obsessed world is out the window.  Juliana had some songs, she’s handing them out, and we give what we can.  In terms of Radiohead, the money went the Rock Gods.  In this case, it goes to Juliana Hatfield.  In my head, she’s not leading a lavish lifestyle.  She’s paying a mortgage, not prancing around with an entourage.  She’s upgrading her guitar, not paying for studio time with Timbaland.  She’s tuning up the van for a van tour, not putting down a sizeable payment on an Italian sports car.

And this is why finding new outlets to get music out is so important.  It separates the great artists from the pop tarts.  There’s 38 consistently good songs here that could easily be broken down into three seperate albums, which, at roughly $10 bucks a piece, is a lot of music to put into someone’s hands in good faith.  She’s not pushing the envelope, but that’s not what her sound is about.  It’s literate, refreshing, and honest pop rock songs sung by someone, who, over the past twenty years I’ve come to find is a refreshingly literate and honest musician.  And at the end of the day, that’s where I want my money going.