The Herald always has a Film of the Week. The casual reader might think that this makes it worth seeing, but this isn’t necessarily the case. All that Film of the Week means that it is, in the opinion of one person, better than the other films released in the same week. With 52 weeks in the year, this means that the film could conceivably be in the bottom 2% of films released in one year. One could argue that my Tracks of the Day are similarly affected by this problem. The difference is that I don’t have a Track of the Day every day, and I can list as many or as few as I want, when I want. Additionally, those tracks actually have to make it into my collection, which is, in my humble opinion, an extremely good filter of quality!

The Herald Saturday book reviews go on for pages. They have lots of people reviewing books because, obviously, they take time to read. Perhaps the reason for so many fairly detailed reviews is that the reviewers, editors or readers expect some reward for the effort taken to read a book.

The weekly music reviews are almost a footnote: a short biography and introduction, followed by a short summary of what the album contains and sounds like, concluded with a final summary. Around 100-200 words maximum. Why is music relegated and treated so poorly? I have this thought that the length of a review is in some way proportional to the time taken to view, read or listen to the particular item.

Do more people buy books than see films? Do more people see films than listen to music? Or is this all about availability and access? Traditionally, people have gone to cinemas to see films. It’s an occasion, and there aren’t that many films released per year compared to books or albums. We are already seeing a change with DVD releases becoming closer to cinema releases. With the advent of HD TV and HD DVD we will see release dates get closer, perhaps even becoming simultaneous. I guess books get the space because of the endless variety of content, and the fact it’s one of the earliest forms of mass entertainment.

And where is music in entertainment? Like film, music used to be something you had to go out to experience. Records and then radio changed this, and with it people’s expectation of what music provides. It ceased to become something special: books and film retain their status in society because there are few alternative ways of experiencing them. Music is, for most people, a casual accompaniment to their lives, rather than something crucial to the joy of their existence. Music shows me and tells me who I am, helps me with life, and reflects this to my friends more than any film or book could. I really couldn’t live without it.