AGREEEEED!

>...was the downfall for me. The power of the curatorial
>filters disappeared, and with it the real financial incentive
>for a record store to stock good music that they can actually
>recommend and will actually sell.
>
>Now there is an infinite amount of music coming out, with the
>curatorial filters working within completely different market
>forces. They don't have to sell their product, they have to
>sell advertising, or they have to sell their writing to a
>magazine or website that has to sell advertising.
>
>I suppose maybe it's always been that way. It makes me sick
>to think that dude Tom Breihan (Formerly of PItchfork) was the
>most influential critic in hip hop for a year or two. I just
>picture a dude walking into a record store and checking out
>the hip hop section one day for the first time, and then soon
>enough, everyone is inexplicably crowding around him to hear
>what *he* has to say about a record that you probably wouldn't
>care about otherwise, and people are actually persuaded to
>care.
>
>I miss the routine of going to the record store a few times a
>week to discover and share new music.


lurkin since 1999. werd.