Wow.

I am thinking of all of the amazing albums that he’s missed. So many great bands broke up before their third album. (Lone Justice, for example.)

Sometimes, visionary artists have such high standards that they rarely release anything. If he had this standard for novels, then he’d have missed out on Marilynne Robinson (until this month, when the third novel of her multi-decade arrived).

On the other hand… I do think there’s something to be said for longevity, especially when it comes to bands. Bob Dylan’s recent albums are masterpieces, but his achievement there is even more impressive when you take into account how those albums “talk with ” his previous work. He’s changed a lot, and covered so much musical territory. His albums are like encyclopedias, full of references to art and history and his own life in the lyrics and in the music.

He was talking about completely abandoning buying CD’s and movies and only purchasing them on iTunes. I agreed that this would be much simpler, but that the DRM bothers me: If I buy the cd I have a limited amount of times I can burn it for a friend to check out the artist. If I buy a movie I cant take the disc to a friends house for movie night.

DRM focuses on one idea: do we pay for the intellectual property (the songs), just like we would buy normal property, or a house, or a car, or do we just purchase the right to listen to it when we want– This is so vital for artists, because I think that buying music creates a connection (like the paintings) between artist and fan. I like to think that, when I buy the new Ryan Adams CD, I am supporting his creation of art. I own the song, and it’s a part of my life. I dont want to believe that I’m simply paying to listen to it.

I guess this isn’t as related as I thought.