Over time I have justified my logic behind not buying albums down to a science – or so I thought. I feel that the only time I am truly willing to buy an album is if, and only if: it is a new artist I believe in and want to see succeed, an artist I have listened to for years and do not need to sample it for free or if I am able to make the drive to pick the album from the store. All three of the options are dependent solely on the latter, but viable deductions nonetheless as to why I am not jumping for joy to buy anyone’s album, especially if I know they do not need my money.

The reality is there was a time where the internet was not something that we could depend on for downloading albums. Two decades ago, getting albums was nearly only possible if you made the obligatory trip to your nearest record shop or Best Buy and stood in line, album in hand, to purchase this release from your beloved artist.

I remember how crisp new albums sounded through my father’s speakers. Their voices were so chiseled, clean and piercing, but it never sounded the same after the first listen. After purchasing a car for the first time, I had to go back to this archaic age, burning CD’s from my iTunes library and scavenging all of the nine physical copies of albums I have so that I can blast them in my car. Even though I have a dock that allows me to channel my music from my phone through a radio station, nothing sounds better than the CD, quality-wise. This unhealthy dependence on technology has not only taken a toll on the music industry, but has eradicated an experience for generations of new listeners to take part in listening to music in a way that cannot be heard effectively through headphones. But we all have justified this “small” sacrifice with the excuse of not being able to know whether an artist is worth investing in unless we hear it for free first.

This excuse reeks of an entitlement that has plagued our generation in every avenue imaginable. Who are we to deem an artist “listenable” only if they risk their well-being on people who are not even willing to meet them halfway? I understand if we decide after paying the money for the album, hearing that its trash and then not listening to them live. But to say that listening to an album – not a mixtape – an album that takes an unparalleled amount of money to produce from start to finish, is something you must do free of charge? Come on now. Would you ask Christian Louboutin to walk out of the store with their shoes, free of charge, first before you decide to invest in the designer’s product again? Not only would they ask you to leave, with security within peripheral in case you do not oblige, but the suggestion would not even be considered.

While I would love to turn to the excuse of being a college student that cannot afford the 10 dollars, if not less, toward an artist of my choosing the reality is that it simply is not a viable excuse – it never was. I spend hundreds of dollars investing in my wardrobe and food I can’t finish, but 10 dollars is too much to put toward an artist that has, at the very least, peaked my interest?  It sounds so silly, because it is.

It is hard to buy albums because we are lazy and frugal in an area of our lives that we all need just to function. I cannot imagine what life would be like if the music industry decided one day to make albums only accessible through stores, an unable to play in anything but a car or speaker system not attached to a computer. Life would be very hard for the entitled, talentless, priority confused music listener and it should because it isn’t fair.

I am slowly but surely buying albums from all artists that peak my interest. Not just because I drive a 1999 Volvo S70 that doesn’t give me any better option, but because I belong to industry that is being plagued with the same rumors of becoming obsolete because people would rather read online than engage in the experience of holding a newspaper or magazine in your hand. No matter how archaic these methods may seem, you can only appreciate art physically and separating yourself from that one-on-one experience eradicates quality.