When I was six or seven years old my parents bought me my first record (yes kids, I’m that old). It was a sountrack of songs from the first Batman movie back in 1966. The one with Adam West. Not too long after that they bought me the Fifth Dimension album with The Age of Aquarius on it. I still have both records.
As a teenager I started to buy a lot of records. While may favorite band was The Beach Boys, I also listened to everything from the Beatles to Genesis, from the Who to Black Sabbath, from Kiss to Heart, and so much more. I had thousands of records, which I have faithfully moved from house to house as I got older.
My mom used to say that I would grow out of my fascination with music, and eventually get rid of those records. Now my mom isn’t wrong very often. Except when she told me that if I didn’t put on a sweater I would get a cold anyway. As an aside, I’ve raised two sons who wear shorts year round even in sub-zero temperatures. But she was wrong about the music thing. Sorry Mom, but I never got over the music thing.
As I’ve gotten older I’ve switched from records to CDs, and then again to digital music and iPods. My kids have also accumulated their own collections, and they’ve exposed me to lots of new music which I now enjoy as well. For years I’ve tried to figure out a way that I could make music part of my career as well; some way to connect music and technology. And I’ve been successful.
I’m working with a company called MusicIP; I’ve mentioned them before. I’m working on tools that let you look at your music collection in new ways, and help you find new music that you might like. I love the tools and I use them everyday, and they’ve helped me to find music I didn’t even remember I had. I’m just starting to use the discovery stuff.
The cool thing is that I get to work with music and technology everyday. How many people can sit in their office with tunes pounding out, because that’s their job? I get to do that every day. And I get paid for it. And if we do a good job, millions of people will be able to enjoy their music more. And they’ll get to listen to thousands of artists they might never have heard of otherwise.
So sorry Mom. You might have been wrong on this one, but think of all the people that will be happier because I just couldn’t give up that record collection.