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What price music?
I recently read an article in the Metro by Jayne Atherton about the amount of money us music fans (and even non music fans) spend on music in our lifetimes. It turns out that our music collections may actually be our biggest investment, apart from our houses (or mortgages for us unlucky ones). What an interesting read it turned out to be as it made me evaluate how much I have actually spent so far on music.
The research which contributed to that article in question suggested that the “average” music fan will spend around £21k on this hobby. This figure includes everything from CDs and vinyl to gigs and equipment. Now I class myself as a dedicated music fan and was surprised at how little I have spent so far.
My current JVC stereo is worth around 250 quid. Taking into account all the stereo equipment I have ever owned, starting with the modest “tape recorder” I had aged 11 which I used to hold up to my Mum and Dad’s stereo to record the top 40 of a Sunday evening, walkmans and everything in between, I’ve probably had less than £1000 worth of stereo equipment. I feel a bit of a cheapskate to be honest!
Now my extremely modest (and feeble, some people may say, but stuff them) CD collection currently stands at 120. Working on the full price, sale price and occasional charity shop gem prices, I’ll say that the average price per CD in my collection is around 8 quid. So my CD worth is also just under £1000. BUT, obviously I need to include all the vinyl and cassettes I’ve had in my past which have either been sold, sent to the charity shop, or are relegated to under my spare bed or the cellar. Add about another 600 quid there then.
So my running total so far is a very reasonable £2600 (nowt worth robbing so don’t even bother).
Finally, there’s the gigs and magazines. Now I go to around 6 or 7 gigs a year, with ticket prices ranging from £4 to £20, and I get a music mag now and again (why do I need one when I have TBS?). So about £100 a year then including drinks and transport to gigs …. perhaps £600 in total so far.
So at the end of my calculations I have spent the horrifyingly small amount of £3200 on music. I’m sure that really can’t be right and I’m missing something but never mind. It does actually mean that my music “investment” so far is worth around the same amount as my car, and is therefore, my joint second biggest investment.
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Add to favouritesBut now we shall go to the other extreme. Naming no names for fear of exposure and potential “great CD robbery” headlines in the local press, I know someone who’s CD and vinyl collection would put smaller outlets of HMV to shame. Never before have I stood in awe in front of someone’s CD collection – really a site to behold. This person also has scores of vinyl, music videos and dvds, up to the minute (how behind am I?) stereo equipment and decks, goes to more gigs than I’ve had hot dinners (can you guess who it is yit?) and has subscriptions to more magazines and fanzines than I knew existed.
I daren’t speculate on how much this person has spent so far, but I’ve done a rough calculation, based on what I know, and if you multiply my spends so far by 12, you’ll get the picture.
Now for the anal bit. Get it insured. No matter how much you have spent, £1000 or £50000, it’s priceless to you. Imagine your life without that music – crap isn’t it? Imagine having to build it up again from scratch. Music does actually mean more to us than I think we realise. A few weeks ago, I treated my 87 year old Grandad to his first CD player with speakers (he’d been using a CD walkman which my Grandma couldn’t listen to). As I watched him gaze at this small bit of equipment in awe, watching the disc whir continuously, gently mouthing the lyrics to a Perry Como song he’d sung to my Mum when she was a child, I couldn’t stop the tears coming to my eyes.
Music brings people together; makes us happy, makes us sad, enhances good times, helps us limp through bad times. Music makes us feel. How many times have you got home from a rubbish day at work/having had a row/having upset someone/having someone upset you/feeling happy and known exactly what music would match your mood? You’ll have gone to your CD collection, selected exactly the right track and immersed yourself in it. How many times have you made a tape or CD for someone, bought them a CD, hoping that they know what you’re thinking by what’s on it, hoping they’ll like it? How many times have you gone to a gig and felt every hair on your body stand to attention with raw emotion and left the gig floating on air?
Yes we spend a lot. But is it worth it?
Every last bloody penny.
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We waffle on enough without letting you lot do it too. Comments are limited to 300 characters.
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