I started buying records in 1982. Sort of.

There was a store on Church Avenue in Brooklyn called Carl’s Records. I would go there with an aunt or uncle every now and then, and the proprietor (Carl) would usually let me pick out one 45 I could have for free. When Carl sold the store a year or so later, I would sneak into my piggy bank and beg my uncle to take me to what was soon re-named Enterprise Records. This almost-weekly ritual set me on a path that would entail 12 years in music retail in a variety of positions, and almost another decade selling music to retail. I’ve been closely involved with record stores in some capacity for over half my life, and I’ve been going to them regularly for almost my entire life. I’ve lived for Tuesdays, the day music releases typically are released, for almost as long as I’ve been making my own money.

It hasn’t been uncommon over the past 20 years for me to close my shift (or in more recent times, come back to the office after lunch) with a shopping bag full of tapes and/or CDs. Even as I shifted from making purchases at record stores to utilizing e-commerce, Tuesday afternoons have been a highlight. I’ve waited for that thump that indicates the mail person dropping off my Amazon box of goodies. Lately, though, those Amazon packages have been coming less and less frequently.  I’ve found myself, as a general rule, not as quick to purchase new music as I used to be. Given the fact that sales of prerecorded music have dropped sharply over the past decade and a half (folks are buying about 50% as many albums as they were at the height of the music industry in the late ’90s/early ’00s) I’m definitely not the only one. But as someone who’s lived, eaten and breathed music for the overwhelming majority of his life, it certainly surprises me.

There are a few reasons I’ve targeted for this drop in interest. One is convenience. Streaming music is a relatively recent occurrence, and Spotify and similar applications have definitely rid some folks of the need to own music. While I don’t see myself ever giving up physical media completely, I will say that Spotify, which I use as an enhancement to my music ownership, not as a substitute, has made me a significantly more discriminating music consumer. Let’s take a recent release-how about the new album from The Fray? I dig dug The Fray. I thought their first album was great. Their second album was OK. Their third album was…less OK than the second one. Pre-Spotify, I might have plunked down ten bucks for their newest effort without hearing a note, just on account of the brand loyalty. However, I gave it a listen on the day it came out and was so underwhelmed that I briefly considered trying to figure out how to delete the plays from my last.fm scrobbles so that The Fray wouldn’t have more plays than artists I enjoyed more. Hey, I never said I was the most rational guy in the world. The point I’m making, though, is that I can think of a number of artists I would’ve bought new music by blindly five or ten years ago (Madonna and Green Day to name two) that ended up getting no money from me (except whatever pittance Spotify offers them) because I got to listen to their albums before walking into a store and plunking down dough-and regretting the purchase within 24 hours only to sell the CDs back at 1/20 what I paid for them.

I don’t want to be the “new music doesn’t sound as good as the music I liked when I was young” guy. I mean, I’m not an old man by any stretch of the imagination. I’ve got a couple of years to go before I hit 40. Hell, Pharrell is the hottest cat going right now, and he’s a few years older than me. Robin Thicke had last year’s biggest hit and he’s only a year younger than me. Lots of popular acts are in my general age range (Kanye, John Mayer, etc.) That said, there seems to be a bit of a lull in interesting music these days. Maybe I’m not digging deeply enough, but can that really be the case if in previous years there’s been more than enough music made at the mainstream (and maybe a level or two below) threshold that’s been worth purchasing? We’re 90 days into 2014 and I’m not even sure if I’ve bought 9 albums (Pharrell, Talib Kweli, Foster The People, Neil Finn, Toni Braxton & Babyface, Broken Bells…that may be it.) In the entire month of April, the only release I’ve designated as a must-purchase is the 20th anniversary edition of Nas’s Illmatic, an album I’ve already purchased four times (twice on CD, once on cassette and once on vinyl.) Is it possible that someone with a fairly wide breadth of genres that I enjoy can’t find one new record to spend money on? I’ve often grumbled that the music industry seems to employ a feast or famine method when it comes to interesting releases, often putting out 3 or 4 interesting albums on the same day instead of spreading the wealth. Well, if there’s some holding out going on, I’m wondering when the deluge is gonna occur. In order to get me to catch up to previous years, there’s gonna have to be a couple of weeks with 10+ interesting albums coming out on the same day.

It’s not to say there haven’t been popular releases that are interesting to others. However, a look through the current Billboard Top 20 reveals only three albums I own (Pharrell, Beyonce and John Legend) and only one album among the rest that I was even remotely interested in (Aloe Blacc) before auditioning it and deciding it wasn’t worth my money.

(Of course, shortly after I typed this up-a May release schedule emerged with new albums from The Black Keys, Ray LaMontagne, Coldplay, Michael Jackson and more…)

Am I getting old? Is pop music just in a stage of extreme sucking? Will my music consumption be what it once was? How difficult are these questions to even answer?