Just One Song?

Most of us if not all of us have downloaded music off the internet. There are plenty of options to do this itunes or free sites such as kazaa. It is a very convenient way to get to the music you enjoy. Even better finding music that you have never heard. This is just one of the many things that social networking has done through the internet by sharing files whatever format they may be. However it tends to make people download only certain songs that appeal to them. On many occasions in the past I would just download one or two songs from an artist. I have stopped this for the most part. Although there are always exceptions. There are sometimes songs in genres or by artists that I don’t normally listen to that appeal to me.
One of my friends said (weather he read it or was his on statement I can’t be sure) that we are taking a small piece of what the musician wants us to hear. To elaborate its somewhat like watching one scene from a movie. If you like that scene the way it was shot, the acting and other elements. There is a decent chance that you would like the rest of the movie. Aside from the fact that the ending my ruin or leave a sour taste in your mouth. Your not just going to be content and press stop or change the channel after seeing the scene. The scene is a piece of the whole body of work. The track which you have picked is a piece of the whole album. The album could be telling a story or experience so why "read one chapter".
One might say that you can’t compare the two. A movie is telling a story and the scene might not make sense without the rest of the movie. While on the other hand a song can stand alone without the entire album. But do songs on albums not follow a similar narrative? You can tell they are from the same musician. They tend to follow the same mood and feel. The instruments usually remain the same. So why cherry pick which songs you want. Give the musician the attention it deserves and purchase, download, or listen to the whole album not just certain songs. Surely if the musician didn’t think they were as good as the other tracks they wouldn’t have put them on the album.
One might also think that if the artist felt that way why would they allow the option to purchase single tracks on sites such as itunes music store. The answer is simple they want people to listen to their music. If you have to buy the whole album to listen to one track this will discourage many buyers from buying. Which means no money.
So lets do them and ourselves a favor and start listening to what was meant to be listened to and that’s the entire piece of work.