Wednesday, August 6, 2003

As the college season approaches this may be important news for all universities concerned with music pirating. Lawsuits against individuals are everywhere; don't get caught in the trap.

Every day seems like some large money is being put on a bet that people on the Internet will plunk down a buck or so to download what is for the most part old popular music. With the initial success of iTunes there was a wave of enthusiasm when they sold 1 million songs in short order. The pent-up demand caused by the lack of file trading on Macs was not even a consideration.

The drop off in their pay-per-download services is due in part to their early success in making people aware of the availability of free music everywhere on the net. The introduction of similar PC services such as buymusic.com is also making more and more mainstream computer users aware of the vast network of free and legal downloads available from literally hundreds of thousands of independent musicians and bands on various OMDs (online music distribution).

The idea that these artists are not as good as the ones chosen by "The Big 5" labels is preposterous. Everyday there is a new way to listen to music from these very talented but unsigned bands. The Internet-only classic rock station 9412.com now has a 3-hour show once a week (8 p.m. CDT) to spotlight high quality indie rock music.

DJ Jeff Straub, who cut his teeth as an Internet-only DJ at Ampcast.com's relatively small radio broadcast is a great personality with extensive knowledge of both classic rock and independent musicians. Visiting the Jerk Free chat room is a howl and very educational at times. This is truly a breakthrough time for independent musicians. While small compared to many broadcast radio stations, the show has a worldwide audience that grows weekly.

I believe shows like this are emerging for every genre of music basically giving listeners of fine music a chance to decide who they like for themselves rather than having the "Big 5" labels decide for them what to listen to.

The OMD music world is growing and changing fast with millions of free and legal downloads daily. The number of sites offering these free services is growing daily. While many have failed due to lack of resources there always seems to be someone to replace them. Mp3.com reports 250,000 artists and over 750,000 songs on their site available to stream or download as well as offering CDs for sale from these "unknowns."

Pop music played by the old technology broadcast radio is basically a small part of what the music world is made up of. Independent artists are legion and many are extremely high quality, something those five guys making "stars" don't want you to know about.

Don Campbell

Peachtree City, Ga.