Did you bum rush the charts? I was going to, but I forgot. The idea was that last Thursday everybody who supports podsafe music was supposed to buy this certain song off of Itunes so that it would move up the charts and prove the power of podcasting. I don't if it proved anything, but it did get the song into the top 100.
Like I said, I was going to do my part, but it slipped my mind. Sorry about that. Anyways, at this point in time I don't know if podcasting or podsafe musicians have anything left to prove. Podcasting has established itself as a viable alternative to traditional radio, and music sites like Garageband.com and Podshow have proven that they can help independent artists find their audience. Of course there's still plenty of room to grow, but the model is working, albeit on a small scale.
"Bum rush the charts", however successful or unsuccessful it may have turned out to be, did point out a couple of things. First, the hegemony of the traditional music industries over the music market is gone. Declining CD sales show that, if nothing else, and if you consider all the choices we consumers now have in the music marketplace it's clear that there's nowhere for the old business models to go but down.
Just think of it. We can still buy CD's and listen to over-the-air radio as we've done in the past, but we can also stream internet radio, or subscribe to services like Napster or Rhapsody, or listen to satellite radio, or download podcasts, or purchase digital downloads from online stores like Itunes, or download from various BitTorrent sites, or download from social networking sites, or download podsafe music from independent artist sites, or just trade songs with our friends. There's no need to listen to traditional radio or buy CD's from the record store anymore, and now whole new generations are coming along who think it's kind of weird to actually pay for music. That can't be work very well for the old business models either.
Which is just to say that podsafe or non-podsafe, indie or big label - it doesn't make any difference to me. The consumer is holding all the cards now, and that's just fine as far as I'm concerned. If I was a working musician I might be a little confused, though. Used to be that you got discovered and signed a big record company contract, and they made you a big star, and if you were a big enough star you might even make some coin out of the whole deal. Now that's all changed, and a musician's gonna need to be a little more creative to make it in this environment. Ah well, so be it.
On the other hand, what scares me a little about "Bum rush the charts" is the kind of power that Apple now has over the music market. I mean, they don't have a monopoly or anything even close, but as CD's sales continue to decline and digital downloads continue to increase, their power just grows and grows. That will make it a little easier for the record labels, I suppose. When Apple finally does own the entire music franchise then the labels won't have to travel the country dishing out payola and greasing the palms of every program director between Miami and Seattle anymore. They'll just have to grease the palm of the guy who runs Itunes, whoever that may turn out to be. Now that will be a position of power. Just imagine having the final say over what artists make the front page of Itunes - you could write your own ticket. Hmmm, I wonder where you send your resume?
Anyways, I'm slowly coming to the opinion that with the arrival of the digital age we don't need to buy music anymore. Why should we when we have all these tools to make our own music with? I've been surfing a lot of musician sites lately, and I know I've said this before but it's true: there's never been a better time to learn music or at least learn a musical instrument than right now. It's incredible what you can buy these days for very little money.
You want to put together your own recording studio? You can do it. Everything you need is out there and available - from mixer/recorders to audio interfaces to preamps to microphones to acoustic tiling to studio monitors to...well, doodads that I don't even know what they do. Guitars, synthesizers, drum machines, modeling amps (with built-in DSP's), pedal effects, software...it just goes on and on and on. So what I say is "who needs to buy music, just make your own." Check out a magazine like Electronic Musician or Recording if you don't believe me. I read both of them, and I didn't understand what the hell they were talking about.
But it was fascinating.
I'd like to put together a little recording studio myself. Nothing fancy or expensive, but just something to fool around with. As you know I've been trying to get back into music, and I'm pleased to say that my guitar muscle-memory is starting to come back. I still can't remember any songs, but with what I'm learning I think I should be able to pick up the songs again pretty easy. In fact I need to go practice now, but I'll just mention a couple of sites before I go.
The first is Break Down Way. If you're old enough to remember The Jefferson Airplane then you probably remember a guy named Jorma Kaukonen. Turns out that he's still around and teaching a little guitar on the side, and if you go to this site and pay the $19/mo subscription fee you can get some online lessons from him. They're not really lessons but he does show you how to play a few tunes. Probably not for the beginner, but if you're interested in fingerpicking it might be a site you want to check out.
The second is Guitarschool.net, a site run by Guitar Center stores. I don't know if it's the best online guitar tutor out there (probably not), but it's free and they do show you some licks. It's good for the beginning guitarist as well.
Anyways, time to get back to my scales.
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