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October 31, 2005
Revolution 3
By now, we've realized that the web has changed the topography of today's music scene. It's taken classical music and new music (the punk rockers of classical music) a little more time than the popular music industry to realize this, but I think most understand the importance of this movement in terms of getting your music heard whether you are a composer or performer, building a loyal fan base, and staying in touch. Some have chosen to harness this power and some have not. Lest those who haven't need any more convincing, here are a few quotes from an article about MySpace.com in this month's WIRED magazine:
"For this generation of musicians, the mass market and the hit-making apparatus it supports are relics of a bygone age. The new reality is that their audience isn't listening to radio or vegging out in front of MTV. The audience is online."
. . . the virtue of blogging:
"By frequently updating their blog and swapping in new songs on their page, the Hawthorne Heights guys were able to give fans a reason to return [italics mine]. That increased the online buzz, and the fan club grew fast, eventually, topping 200,000--a direct marketing list that any major-lavel act would kill for."
. . . the impact:
"But whether MySpace ultimately succeeds or fails is beside the point. Its dramatic emergence is the first conclusive evidence of a new era in which the distance between audience and artist is greatly diminished."
I don't have any illusions. Classical and new music will never rise to the popularity of indie rock or popular music. That's not to say that these strategies won't help us reach a wider audience online. MySpace might not be the answer for us--a lot of the pages look very cookie-cutter, and now that it's emerging from the underground, the culturati may deem it passé (especially since Rupert Murdoch owns it now). No matter, take the idea of MySpace--delivering all the stuff that's cool to do online on one site (Friendster, Blogger, MP3, craigslist)--and do your own thing with it. But while I'm working on those changes to my site, I set up a page on MySpace.
Originally posted by Brian Sacawa from Brian Sacawa: Sounds Like Now, ReBlogged by jeff on Oct 31, 2005 at 01:46 PM
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