How+The+Internet+Changed+Music

by James Martin
//Ever since I got my first guitar at the tender age of 13, I've been in and out of bands. A wonderful and life-changing event for me was in 1998, five years before the launch of MySpace, which would go on to change everything.//

[[image:t38900182_627077789310_2777.jpg width="272" height="153" align="left" caption="Youngster: The Senator"]]
Hannah Night Pt.2 [HD]Length:2:15

Throughout high school my band mates and I dreamed of the same thing any band before before us did - getting on the radio. We took our hard earned money from working odd jobs, me at Boston Market, and invested $1,200 dollars in a weekend recording session. By the age of 16 we had written and produced our own full length album called "Kids, it's Not Cool to be Out on Parole."

At that time, none of this seemed that crazy; what else was a band to do if they wanted to "make it". It was only 9 years ago, but the sea change in how baby bands now market themselves is mind blowing. No upstart high school band thee days would ever dream of sinking over a grand in a recording session. Instead, they record a handful of songs with Garage Band, which came on the Apple computer their daddy got them for Christmas, then post it to MySpace.

Some of you might be thinking 'yeah, so what?'

Recall my old band's goal: get on the radio, specifically rock radio? Why? So people who like rock music can hear our music. Then, if they like it, (assuming they were in their car) //and// they still remember the name of our band by the time they get home, //and// they look up our website and hopefully become fans ... pipedream.

__Now__ if you want people who like music similar to yours to hear it, you just become friends with other bands on MySpace, put up an ad and let the page views start coming. Those of you not up on the current music scene might think this sounds pretty hopeless, so allow me to enlighten you: Owl City.

Once there was a kid who couldn't sleep so he recorded some music on the computer in his parent's basement. Three years later, his MySpace page has millions of views and he's selling out shows all over the country. This isn't a rare occurrence, pop sensations like Katy Perry and Lily Allen have similar stories: internet sensations create buzz, attract attention from record labels, and boom - stardom.

media type="youtube" key="ud07NoWAG2E" height="204" width="336" align="right" Ten years ago having a great pop song meant nothing if you couldn't get the music industry's support either through airplay or touring. These days with one hit and a touch of luck you can be catapulted into the stratosphere, ready or not. I'm not about to say if I think this is a good thing or not; but man oh man is it different from the "old days" when I was a kid ... in 1998.

(PS - in honor of pipedreams, please be sure to make mine come true by checking out my most recent music project on Facebook or MySpace)