Out of the Cave

I'm an old-fashioned chap. I drive a beat up American car, I keep all my notes and daily reminders hand-written on a legal pad, it took me until my second year of college to get a cell phone and the only reason I got one then was because my dorm didn't offer phone service to individual rooms. I don't trust technology further than I can throw a full sized Apple II. If I had been around in the days of the cavemen, I would have been watching the others make fire, going "What if it burns down our caves and huts?"
Despite my technofobia, there is one realm of my life where I fully embrace technology: Music. I have plugged my soul deeply into the USB port of the music industry and downloaded the universe to my various devices. I have mined the data caverns and unearthed a few diamonds. I have read the writing on the walls and interpreted the cave drawings and have come out wiser.
Barely. When I first started out, I was alone in this carbon fiber jungle with nary a high powered combination flashlight/PDA/Phone/Camera/Waffle Iron to guide me. But now that I have embraced these technological advances, I can begin to see the digital forest for the digital trees (I am of course describing my digital screensaver that has both a forest and trees).
Technology, dear readers, is changing the music industry! Shocker! Yes, its true. But which technologies are truly revolutionary and which are going, going, gone? Well I am not sure. But I can tell you which seem to be changing things tremendously. So, submitted for your approval, here are the Top 5 Technological Advances Changing The Music Industry.



1. The iPod: My father misses record stores. He lies awake at night, pining for the days when he would find a formidable mind for music behind the counter, waiting to engage in a battle of wits while unearthing the most recent Dixie Chicks release from the depths of the Pop/Rock/Country section. My father longs for a record store experience that probably never existed. Because like every other wholesome, nostalgic concept in America, chains took that wholesome experience and watered it down until it was unrecognizable. Do I really need a prepubescent bass player arguing with me over which Stones album rocked the hardest? Well all I can say is back off Bill or Ted or whatever it says on your Sam Goody lanyard. I can do your job from home.
The iTunes music store has almost single-handedly made the common record store obsolete. But it is more than just the digital experience of a once analog exercize that makes this service so omnipresent. Its some damn good marketing. Apple did it right. They used their commercials as yet another gateway into the world of music, which is essentially what they are selling. Those silohouetted dancers reminded people how great discovering new music is.
Not only the TV ads, the basic product itself is an advertisement. When the iPod was first released, Apple outfitted each new iPod with a pair of white ear buds. WHITE!? But monochromatic black rubber wiring is all I have ever known. And ear buds? The black headband style is so stylish. But headphone purists be damned, Apple went ahead anyway and immediately achieved brand recognition off of every unit sold. Now no matter where you are, if you have white headphones, everyone knows you have an iPod.
And just as an aside, I love the diversity this machine grants me. I would like to issue a challenge to anyone out there who reads this blog (all 9 of you). I contend that I have the most diverse selection of music on any iPod in the universe. There is something for everyone and, perhaps more importantly, something everyone can puzzle over ("why do you have so much Linda Ronstadt?", "Who is Habib Koite and Bamada?"). What can I say, there is something about knowing that I can listen to the Alvin and the Chipmunks Christmas album any time I want that gives me a sense of pride.
Because of this diversity, I happen to enjoy the shuffle function a great deal because I never know what I am going to get. Picture this: I can get from 3 Inches Of Blood to A Flock Of Seagulls in just four turns of the click wheel. I never hear three consecutive like songs. This is not me bragging about my musical knowledge. This is a planned, orchestrated feel that I want in a portable jukebox. Don't get me wrong, I love all these songs. But the diversity is really important to me.
According to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), internet downloads and online music sales have increased from 2.9% to 14.2% since the release of the iPod in 2001. Apple has watched its stock price climb from $9.50 in 2001 to $59.95 in 2005. These numbers have high powered music execs seeing red. In the same year as Apple reported its highest jump in profit, New York-based Warner Music, which employs Madonna and rapper Mike Jones, reported third-quarter losses totaling $179 million, causing Warner CEO Edgar Bronfman Jr. to call for a raise in the per-song price of digital downloading at a Goldman Sachs conference in New York. The Seattle P-I Business Times quoted Bronfman, saying “"The market ought to be able to decide, not a single retailer." Apple CEO and founder Steve Jobs chocks this reaction up to greed and said that attitudes like those expressed by Mr. Bronfman will only lead to increased piracy, as he said in a Paris news conference in early 2005.
Apple now reports more than 600 million songs sold since their launch in 2003. These rates are reportedly on the rise as the site currently reports sales of 1.8 million songs a day worldwide. As big-label execs refuse to adapt, the people have spoken and continue to have their voices heard. Tired of paying $16 a disc, music fans will continue to rally against the man and get what they want. Can you get more Rock & Roll than that?

2. MySpace.com
MySpace is another technology I was slow to embrace. But now that I have, I see it is a wonderful tool for getting recognition as a musician or creative person. With just a few clicks, you can be inside someone's entire world and that is wonderful...if you are into that sort of thing. Personally, when I first started on MySpace, I thought it was a lot more effective as a mailman for spam and shitty webcams than for intellectual and creative networking. But once I began searching, I found a lot of new music to listen to and a lot of new ideas being shared and it has really changed how I find and listen to new music. File sharing and illegal download sites, while drastically hurting the income of major labels, have helped indie artists gain exposure. Now MySpace stands to be the go-to source for independent music. But just how far will the site be able to go?
MySpace plans to sell the music of 3 Million independent artists on their hugely successful friend-file data bank. Bloggers all over the web have been putting their two cents in on this issue. Blogger Mark Evans sites MP3.com, a website boasting all independent music that has been a dismal failure. But with MySpace’s network of over 100 Million members, finding a viable market strategy is a must.
The site has proven its worth as a barometer for bands looking to test the strength of their fan base. Listeners can send comments and messages directly to their favorite musicians, get concert updates and even preview upcoming album tracks before they are released. And this service is completely free. Some bands even have links to download their music. It remains to be seen how far music fans will follow MySpace and if the indie web giant can put a dent in the iTunes internet-music monopoly.

3. PitchforkMedia.com
Quite possibly the most well-written, consistently clever and decidedly in-depth music journalism site on the internet to date, Pitchfork Media has made a career out of exhaustive discussion. While traditional journalists and editors may cringe at a standard album critique stretching well beyond 800 words, Pitchfork Media’s tagline touts the site as “The Home of the Gratuitously In-Depth Record Review.” And nerds like me eat it up with a spoon.
The site was started in late 1995 in Minneapolis, Minnesota by a young high-school kid named Ryan Schreiber. Influenced by local college radio, Schreiber wanted to create a new way for fans to hear local music. Schreiber started locally, in the blossoming Minnesota music scene. By 1999, he had enough clout to publish 4 reviews a day, along with a cadre of columnists and reporters adding articles. The site is now headquartered out of Chicago and publishes daily, giving the most lengthy and meticulous analysis currently available in a music publication.
Pitchfork does not stop at record reviews. The site interviews artists from all music genres from soul to hip-hop to folk to electronica. Columnists, blogs, download links and new featured artists are also available every day. The site even has single track reviews.
Where some sites will publish 200-400 words on an entire album, the writers at Pitchfork can write about one track from an artist. Where else can an independent artist get this kind of publicity?
The site currently boasts 170,000 readers a day and has been cited by publications like the Washington Post and The New York Times as being a barometer for the independent music scene. Bands such as The Arcade Fire, Clap Your Hands, Say Yeah! and Tapes n’ Tapes have all commented on Pitchfork’s involvement in their success.
So stay abreast to the newest indie music with the most nerdy, most amazingly passionate, most strikingly meticulous music site out there. Who knows, you just might learn something.

4. YouTube.com
By now, everyone has seen the OKGO! video on YouTube. We are all familiar with the pitch-perfect choreography of Damien Kulash and company jumping over, under and around six moving treadmills. As of October 16th, the video has been viewed over 7 million times, making it the 9th most viewed video in the history of YouTube.com.
What has this video popularity done for the band? The unconventional and extremely low-budget videos left the band with a huge publicity budget. The video’s underground popularity has led to appearances on the Colbert Report and the MTV Video Music Awards, where the band performed the full treadmill dance. Since the MTV performance, OKGO’s album, Oh No has reached as high as #2 on the Billboard album charts.
Not bad, considering Capitol Records contributed no money and had no knowledge of the production of the video. The choreography was done by Kulash’s sister and the video reportedly cost less than $20 to make.
YouTube has allowed many artists to distribute videos who otherwise would not have the chance. Bands like The Black Keys, the Raconteurs, and various lesser known acts have produced videos of a more artistic, creative caliber than those you might see on MTV. But this is not the only way YouTube is seeking to supplant the Music Television giant.



In an interview with Reuters, YouTube co-founder Steve Chen expressed his vision to collect the rights to “every music video ever made.” His target is 12-18 months and his progress has not been as lacking as some may suspect. YouTube’s popularity and market viability would lead many to ask where the lawsuits are. Surprisingly though, record labels have turned a blind eye to the numerous copyright laws broken by the site on a daily basis. But as the site gears up for its biggest project ever, they will have to deal with the labels they have been able to exploit.
Think about the possibilities of this though. How many scorned music fans have bemoaned the loss of MTV as a source of music, watching the channel instead become a melting pot of reality TV banality? How many have turned over to MTV 2 hoping to find musical solace, only to find the newest reruns of Pimp My Ride and Laguna Beach? YouTube seeks to provide a home for all those music fans who miss seeing their favorite stars express themselves visually. All videos past and present, there for the taking.
If successful, YouTube could reopen an entirely new source for music. And allow you to watch Lionel Richie’s Hello video whenever you want. What more could you ask for?

5. Nugs.net
While many fans may see the live music streaming site Nugs.net as a haven for hippie jam-heads, the ability to hear a band’s live performance before you buy tickets is a huge resource. And since the site’s facelift in late 2004, the artist list has expanded to include many different types of music.
Nugs.net started out as a tape-trading site for Grateful Dead and Phish fans to share concert recordings and musical tidbits. The site then became a stash of free concert downloads and short concert stories. And while the site still has a link to many of the free concert streams, they have updated the scope of their news and links, they have added a streaming radio station and they have begun offering new concert streams and downloads for a small fee.
Nugs.net brings the concert experience to the listener. This has many implications for both casual musical observers and die-hard fans. If you are interested in a band, for example, and you know a few songs and a friend invites you to their concert, you may want to check out a live stream before you shell out $30 for a ticket. And for a die-hard fan, you can leave behind the days of posting on message boards and tape-trading sites to find concert recordings. Nugs.net has it all laid out for you.



These musical breakthroughs are a positive for my generation. It shows our ingenuity and refusal to conform to unfair industry regulation. It shows our creativity to invent despite the censorship of corporate record labels. And it allows us to get music for free! So surf on, web crawlers, surf on.