2004-02-06 A BLESSING AND A CURSE "Damn this computer technology. It's changing what we do, how we do it, it's even changing the way we think." "Yeah, but... think about all the cool things we can do now, and all the things we have access to..." From the first day music found its way onto the internet, the music lovers of the world have begun discovering more unique artists, artists whose music falls outside the selective range of most record companies. There are vast new quantities of music available on the web, a good portion of it creatively superb and well-recorded. And yes, because of the relative ease of creating music with the new technology, coupled with the latest computerized audio toys, there are emerging new genres of music and sound that are yet to be defined. Whether the overall quality of all this new independent music is as high comparatively as the record company's product was is anyone's guess... but boy, do we have a choice of artists and styles now, in numbers we wouldn't have dreamed of ten years ago. And I think it's great. The Blessing I think it's great for a lot of reasons. Here are just a couple I'd like to share with you. First off, there are few thrills in life for a serious musician that can compare to holding the first CD of your own music in your hand. It's satisfying, exciting, inspiring. For most of us it's proof that dreams can come true, that we can make them come true. And for us that realization is very powerful and motivating. Nearly all of us composers and performers have wanted to share our musical ideas and feelings with the rest of the world, but lacked the resources to make it happen. (More on that in the next journal entry) Now, just the thought that we have the means to bring our music dreams into the tangible world is enough to send us racing to our project studios to begin a new assault of the elusive "next great song." Another benefit of the new technology is the freedom it gives us. With the computer we now have the means to record and produce the music exactly as we conceive it. No record company exec telling us this idea won't work, no heavy-handed audio engineer twisting the final mix of our baby into something we barely recognize. None of that. What you, the listener, get now, in nearly every case, is music which sounds exactly the way we heard it in our heads... no corporate finger prints on it, no "hit" mentality at work here. It's finally all about expression. And freedom. The Curse These are only two of the many blessings. But where are the curses here? Are there any? Oh yeah. Several. But I think they pale in comparison to the blessings. One of the curses is the amount of competition we now have as independent music producers. There are thousands of musicians out there now, doing exactly what I'm doing. Some of them are better marketers. Bummer. Another curse - music is so much easier to create on the computer, sometimes we don't think our ideas through, but just wander off aimlessly, forgetting where we started and what our original intent was. A definite curse. Another curse is the one on you, the consumer, a curse for which you have all my sympathy. There is an enormous amount of music out there now. How you guys pick your way through the hundreds of key words to find what you're looking for that has the quality you deserve is beyond me. How you stumbled onto my site is beyond me. But I'm glad you did. And I'm glad you're willing to work your way through the legions of independent product to find what you want... because it's out there, waiting for you. And it'll be fresh, new and wonderful. You can put yourselves on the artist's mailing list, and email or even chat on the phone with the artist if you're so inclined. Then you can have his or her music delivered right to your door. Now that's a blessing. But first you have to find them. Heh heh... That's the curse. But you found me, didn't you? Steve P.S. A million thanks to cdbaby.com for all they do for the independent composer and musician. Visit their site often, it's a great place for music of all kinds.