As MTV and cable TV ride off into the sunset, the internet is quickly taking over. Yes TV will still hold a grip on people, but for the first 30 years television was around, radio still had a firm grip on listeners. Now, more than half a century later, AM/FM radio is finally dying, in a more obvious way than ever before. My point is that, in retrospect, the internet is obviously the new medium for music, but TV will still have influence, until it too, dies, probably around the time we do.
Tons of websites have popped up in the past few years, that have transformed the internet into a music powerhouse. The beginning of Web 2.0 saw the introduction of Napster and MP3.com, and more recently, Myspace.com, YouTube, iTunes, Rhapsody and Amazon MP3. But now, with internet radio websites like Pandora, Last.fm, Yahoo! Music, Jango and music on demand websites such as Seeqpod and Songza, the internet yearns for the masses to listen up. And that’s only half of it, other sites such as Musicovery, Songness, and Garageband.com allow users to rate other users music and search different genres. Music-map.com allows you to see what bands are similar to a band you may like. eJamming.com even offers real-time, online band rehearsals via telecommunication. You don’t even half to lug your band equipment to friends’ houses anymore. Oh then of course there is ohmyrockness.com for shows, pitchforkmedia and nahright for music reviews, and purevolume for uploading music for your friends to hear. Going.com will tell you about bands you like in your area and when they are playing a show near you and of course there are all sorts of blogs about how to record and write songs, like hometracked.com and songwriters’ tip jar on wordpress.
In addition, torrents have soared to the top in terms of getting a free download for music that you want. iPods have allowed Americans to listen to whatever they want, whenever. So with all this in mind, I think that it’s important for musicians to give away their music for free and reap the rewards of quickly becoming someone heard. Because once you are being talked about, you can use this to get plenty of advertising jobs. At the same time, people should start donating money to musicians they admire, rather than worrying about whether or not to download or buy the new album they like. Legal music online sorta just isn’t happening, so why fight it? Why not just be nice and donate to the bands you like with something like PayPal.com?
Keeping all this in mind, now is a great time to be in music, although it’s not like the epic awesomeness of the vinyl record and the 1960’s. And I do miss the release date for the album and rushing to the store to buy a CD and coming home with it and listening to it from start to finish, but that time is over now. Now it’s all about the album leak download date. It’s about what you overheard on some blog about Beck releasing Modern Guilt and finding 3 singles for the new album on YouTube.
Radiohead set the precedent for the new way of doing music by letting fans decide for themselves how much to pay for the 2007 release of In Rainbows. It was a smart move that paid off well. More people should look at this business model as a viable option.
Less recently, Beck’s 2006 release of “The Information” saw a $16.99 CD release that included a sheet of album inspired stickers and a DVD with all twelve tracks as music videos. Amazing! The CD was gift, but it’s TOTALLY worth buying. Such a good album.
Two versions of cellphone’s dead:
Cellphone’s Dead (Album Version of Music Video)
Cellphone’s Dead (Michel Gondry’s Music Video)
Best Regards,
- Chris S.
PS: I’ll upload those tracks soon. Definitely by Friday.
