The New New Age of Music
This is how I discovered a band called The Fratellis.I was watching the new iPod ad, which was back-dropped by one of the most catchiest songs I'd heard in a long time - "Flathead" by the Fratellis, an red-hot group from the UK. I did not know this song, but in two days, I would be singing along to Costello Music, the Fratellis' debut CD.
It was a website called The Hype Machine that further sparked my interest. The popular music hot spot has streamable songs that anyone can listen to. It's music library is made up of millions of audio files found on blogs across the Internet. One of the bands featured were the Fratellis. So when I was bored in a long lecture, I logged on to The Hype Machine, and started listening to music from a group I had heard about in a TV commercial.
Depending on who you ask, I then totally downloaded Costello Music legally. But my friends will tell you I just ripped a copy of the 'net. They're liars. I totally downloaded the album legally.)
But all in all, it doesn't really matter how I got the CD in my hands. All I knew is that I had another really cool band on my list of really cool bands. Another 13 tracks to listen to on the feels-like-two-hour long ride to colledge. And if the Fratellis ever tour in Toronto, you can bet your ass I'd be the fifth in line to get tickets.
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That is why a new trend happening on music scence is taking the industry to places it hasn't gone in a long while. The Internet has become a fresh medium for young musicians, allowing them to get their works from their basement studios to their listners. Web surfers are using websites such as Last.fm and online forums and tools to spread the world about favorait bands, tracks and records. People are starting to turn away from big record lables and look at independant releases to get their music fix. Big Brother is falling.
Sputnikmusic.com, an internet startup which allows users to post reviews about records and artists, hosts thousands of reviews, written by a userbase of over 110, 000 members. For every Foo Fighters review to enter the site, there are three reviews about independant, less known bands. Sputnikmusic is proof of how the Internet has turned into a viechle for small bands to connect with their audience. Even in our fast paced world today, listners are always waiting for that new sound, no matter how small the band which produces it.
. During the mid-to early nintees, befor the Internet boom, music sales were enough to satisfy the industry. This explained the emmergance of boy bands such as N'Sync and the Backstreet Boys, who lived off the big pockets of Eurpoean and North American spenders.
A report in Billboard PostPlay eZine in late June 2006 confirmes that the music landscape isn't like that anymore. During the Intneret age, people are less conserned about buying cd's than about enjoying them. The recorded music market has dramtically shrunk, but merchandise and concert markets have grown.
The Intneret makes choice happen. Web goers choose which music they want to listen to, and because the Intneret is such a varied place, even small bands get exposure. Last.fm is a website which tracks what songs users are listening to, by letting users download software that tracks tracks as users play them at home. Users can then ad their own tags to their music.
Users recomend tracks to other other users, and special software within the website rolls out automatic recomendations, expanding a user's music library ten fold within a matter of weeks.
Last.fm has -_____. The music industry is hardly in trouble when such websites host such figures. Last.fm does not distribute any music illigally, it only recomends, and then points users to the apporpriate places to buy.
Niruban Saverimuthu, a user who has been active for the past two years, feels that the Internet is just another way to show support for an independant group or artist..
"Attending shows, buying merchandise, spreading the word, or even contributing to the scene if they are local," are all ways to spread the word about an indendant group, according to the the 19 year old film maker from the University of Toronto.
The Interner allows Nirbun to spread the word to friends about a local talent. He is active in music forums, along with his Last.fm account. Being a film maker and a sinsere metal head, he's had his share of moments when the biggest band in his mind isn't on Billboard's chart. "Be a street teamer," he says. "Post up flyers, or film them."
Music isn't dying. It isn't even fading away. Not while there are groups such as the Lyricals, resources such as the Internet, and music lovers like Nirbun, who play well to said resources. The Internet is helping a generation get access to music, rather than make music obscure. Websites which allow users to target a music genre, and explore within it to extract aritss and friends with similar tastes, are helping mold a new way to appreciate music. And this one doesn't come at a cost.
- Ankur Taxali, pop/rock/features/live events
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