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As I evaluated what the article might really be saying about our culture, I came to realize that it was only a matter of time for this strange thing to happen.

Remember that sack? Go on and get it.

That band’s front man was caught off guard the night we spoke because I had evidently gone against conventional wisdom by going to hear music without comfortably stumbling upon a few samples first. Here we are, in a golden age of Bandcamp and Soundcloud and Grooveshark and Pandora and Hype Machine and Spotify and many other wonderful tools to stream and download music, and in one swoop I’d denied their existences entirely by not utilizing any of them before my show.

To my credit, I admit the episode happened as I was just getting acclimated to Chicago and its music scene. And what does a boy without friends and an interest in understanding a city’s music scene do but
go out and see some bands?

Today, my approach to music has changed quite a bit. I now have many favorites I’ll actively go out and see, and I’ll use Bandcamp and the stuff emailed into me through my music blog to figure out who might be worth featuring.

The Times story, however, didn’t resonate with me merely because of what I do with music. Instead, it exposed a truth about how a lot of us go on and sample something before we go out and do it.

Movie trailers, of course, are hardly new. But how often do you see one because you intentionally found it? I’d think that happens a whole lot more than running across one on, say, television. Because of that, an advertiser's work is cut out for them indeed. All they need do is post videos to YouTube, and little Chris Nolanites, little Nic Cagians, whatever the persuasion might be, check it out, and if they love it they’ll want to make sure their friends know about it, too.

Television has gotten into the game, too, and I’m not just signaling Super Bowl ads. Of the broadcast networks, Fox seems to embrace the model of pumping out content before its premiere most. Three years ago, the net broadcasted Glee’s “Pilot” episode - and only its “Pilot” episode - four months before its fall debut to a) have its first episode air post-Idol and b) to build up anticipation over the summer. And in the current television season, Fox released the “Pilot” episode of New Girl, in its entirety, to iTunes, Hulu and others.

What’s needed in all this, though - to dabble and sample - is interest. I could get invited to a production of live theater, for instance, and though I like theater and can appreciate it, I don’t actively track it. As such, I wouldn’t need to see a clip of the show - if one does exists - or read a synopsis even. I’d go as a lot of us used to. I’d just go.

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