Article:
Radio, the Culprit
RADIO and the MAJORS A nice commercial marriage
We can't do anything about radio. It's locked in
to a formula and will not change. What we can do
with the Internet medium is not make it what radio and
cable are, a tool of the majors.
The MARKET circle includes us. Only we can create
our own circle: Artists, netbroadcast promotion,
sales. Unlimited genres of music supporting itself
because if we build it they will come.
The majors with their big bucks to promote the
products they're selling is not a bad thing. There
just isn't enough airtime or radio stations to
fit it all in. One tune out of 100 CDs makes it to
the air, just a guess.
So what's happening on the Net? Tons of garbage
Independent music that takes forever to sift
through. Everybody's got a tune. Everybody thinks
NOW they can put out what radio never gave them
a chance to. WELL, for good reason. The amount of
crap out here totally drowns out the high quality
stuff that should be heard. WELL, we're back to
square one.
The bad stuff will never go away because you don't
have to make a profit anymore to stay alive. You
just pay your Internet access bill and do what you
want. So it's no longer competition among the best
it's a free-for-all. The people with the bucks will
again prevail.
The days of the fireside sing-a-longs have been
replaced. We have been trained to expect a level
of production.
My challenge to those retailers of Independent
music on the Net is to improve the quality of the
artists you're selling. Make your sites EASY to
get to the music FAST. Take out the long BIOs of
the artists, who cares! Let the market direct you.
Keep it simple. It's the music not the grapics. Create
a radio station of continuous music.
You be the judge of my standards. Look at my retail
website and see if your experience isn't better.
You may not like all the music but you will think
the caliber of songs, arrangements and production
set an example.
Look at what I can do with the technology.
http://musicall.com/realaudio/tdifd.ram
http://musicall.com/realaudio/17rw.lookforyou.ram
http://musicall.com/themix.htm
http://musicall.com
You can too. Let's raise the bar while we still can.
Ken Darling
MUSICALL.COM
Portland, Oregon
-- Ken Darling MUSICALL.COM web.radio.cd.store
posted 11/24/98
