This week, the company that owned music subscription service Columbia House — physical music, like, actual tape cassettes and CDs and stuff — filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
Before digital music services like Spotify, Pandora, iTunes and Napster became the dominant music distributors, you could sign up with Columbia House to receive 12 or so albums for a penny. Every additional album you wanted would be billed at an inflated price, but a difficult-to-break contract resulted in a lucrative business.
The collapse of the company inspired Soraya Nadia McDonald, writer on arts, entertainment and culture for the Washington Post, to share this story of music, adolescence and figuring out who you are.
Click play above to hear McDonald’s story, or read more at the Washington Post.
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