Killed the Radio Star

I mentioned briefly in my last post how the social network MySpace has played a huge role in connecting people to their favorite indie bands. By now I’m sure everyone knows about MySpace. Launched in 1998, MySpace music helped hundreds of artists get their start. Today most recording artists have their own page, and people are being “discovered” for many different reasons. My recent favorites are long-time MySpace celebrity Tila Tequila being picked up by VH1 for a reality show (Shot at Love) and amateur video maker Paul Brogan whose Super Bowl Rap was shown during the big game at no cost to him. Overridden with already popular musicians (current top indie artists being the Ying Yang Twins, explain that one to me), the original hope of having your music site discovered on MySpace is one in a few million, literally. Another complaint I have of MySpace music is to find a band, the exact name needs to be known, making it difficult to come across something new.

     A different way to discover new music is here. Many new sites are being made to find music not by only by popularity or genre, but by learning the user’s music styles and moods. Pandora.com, “the most comprehensive analysis of music ever”, allows me to discover new bands (or at least new to me) by listening to what I like, and letting the site do the rest.  Here I am able to bookmark my favorite artists and songs and taken from these are the individual beats, harmonies, lyrics and rhythms that can be analyzed as to pick a similar song with potential for my liking. I can rate the songs presented to me in play list form and with continued use the system “knows” what I will enjoy. Like MySpace, each featured artist has a profile page so I can learn more about who I am listening to.

     Musicovery.com works similarly to Pandora.com in that it will create a play list for you, but can be organized in a couple different ways. First you can select the genre, a feature I am not too found of because I have difficulties classifying my music that way. From there, the listener can use their mood, energy level (tempo), or previously stored selections for the system to choose to play. It can be a little difficult to determine what your mood is from the four choices (energetic, dark, calm, and positive) thought you have grey area between to guess by. Also, there are settings for “hits, nonhits, and discovery”, another organization of music I have trouble determining for each song. Different colors are used to indicated moods and the weblike structure makes the site visually appealing.

            These are just two examples of many sites helping people discover music in new ways. Technology that is able to learn and relate to the user is making it easier to experience all that today’s artist have to offer.

“Can we please take this hourand talk about me/ and my hatred for corporate magazines/ you know they don’t speak to me/ The irony is they won’t speak with me”            -The Format “I’m Actual”            Indie Band from Phoenix, AZ 

Music is one of the biggest hobbies and passions for millions. Though I wouldn’t say I am musically talented — I played the cello throughout middle school and can rock expert on Guitar Hero are the extent of my abilities – music seems to be the most powerful element in my life that can evoke emotions, memories, and thought.  

The purpose I hope to convey through this blog is the development of indie music as a genre, how its perceived by the public, and its use in the media. Hopefully once I become a problogger I can add songs that correspond with my posts. I use the genre title of “indie”, short for independent, but I believe that there are no black and whites when it comes to classification of music, that “alternative” and, yes, even “emo” (emotional) will be up for evaluation.

By definition, “indie music” is music that is independent of main stream ideals and commercial record labels. Traditionally, musicians hope to sign with large record labels to get the most possible exposure. Indie artists feel that many of these artist sell out and refuse these labels as to stay true to their music. According to Wikipedia, indie artist choose alternative “do-it-yourself” ways to record and publish their music. My blog will focus on the most recent ways these artists promote their music, which seems to be covering every aspect of the media except mainstream radio and music television.

In today’s information super highway, its can be pretty hard to be unknown. Sites like Facebook and MySpace make it possible for any average joe to find someone who sat behind them in their high school’s homeroom 12 years prior. In a later blog I will discuss how MySpace has played an extremely large role in the growth of indie music. Ironically, commercials (not related to labels) have been a popular place for these otherwise unknown artists to be heard. Rather than sell out, indie has redesigned how music is presented to the public, and what used to be considered unconventional methods are now exceptional.

Wow, my very first blog. How do I start? Dear Diary…no, I suppose it would be Dear Laptop. I’m ready to let it all hang out on the information super highway. Now all my adoring fans can get my innermost thoughts at their fingertips. Perez Hilton, eat your heart out.

I’m sitting in my final, longest class of the week and I can smell the sweet nectar that is the weekend approaching. I swear the clock just ticked backwards. I think my brains already packed up and gone home as I havn’t a single thought to write about. This isn’t a personal blog, though. This is a journalistic blog. Can’t you tell?