Aspiring musicians have found any number of opportunities in the likes of iTunes, a digital media player created by Apple Incorporated, now in its eighth phase. While known best as a source of music, the iTunes program offers a wide variety of media to explore, allowing users to watch movies, listen to audio books, and even conduct their own podcasts.
Austin Lite, a 19-year-old sophomore attending
“I googled how to do it.” Lite said, having gone through the digital music distribution web site TuneCore to make his iTunes debut possible. “You just upload [your songs] and they listen to it to make sure it’s music. It was really easy.”
Lite makes 99 cents for every song downloaded, which is not uncommon. The iTunes store offers its songs at prices of 69 cents, 99 cents, or $1.29 per track.
Lite isn’t alone in embracing new media to spread the word about his music.
Elijah Cross, 28, has taken advantage of social networking and file streaming sites like Facebook and ReverbNation, respectively, for the sake of promoting his music. Cross acts as the lead vocalist and main promoter of Christian rock band His Reunited, which he co-founded with guitarist Jimmy Parr.
“I had dealings with booking agents and managers,” Cross said. “It isn’t always easy finding someone who has your best interests at heart.”
Cross embraced the possibilities of an online promotional campaign four years ago, after leaving a previous band.
“You can spend more time creating.” Cross said of the Internet approach. “The more time you put into it, the more response you get. You’ve got to invite 1,000 people to a show to get 100.”
However, the digital age has not been entirely beneficial to the musicians of
The relationship between the recording industry and the file sharing community grew heated in 2000 with highly publicized legal troubles of Napster, an online file sharing community that offered its services free of charge. The US Court of Appeals upheld a decision by a lower court ordering that Napster be shut down after legal battles with artists like Metallica, Madonna, and Dr Dre.
“People perceive music as being free,” said Bruce Burch, 56, who is the Director of the
The system’s capacity for abuse isn’t the only thing that troubles Burch about the proliferation of online music distribution.
“With technology being what it is, it doesn’t cost as much to make a record. Anyone can make a record.” Burch said. “It’s hard to find the good stuff when you have to sift through the bad stuff.”
However, features like iTunes may have taken steps to move away from promoting the less talented with offers like iTunes Originals, albums and tracks exclusive to the iTunes family. Many of the Originals consist of live performances and interviews with some of the most popular and frequently downloaded artists.
“I think you’ve got to be able to perform live.” Burch said of anyone looking for success in the world of music. “That’s how Mozart did it.”
Patrick's writing stlye is to take a lot of notes, but usually use less than half of them to make sure he has a good idea of the story. The use of quotes comes easily while the transitions are sometimes more difficult to create.
ReplyDeleteWe discussed that Patrick might interview someone who actively decides to not use iTunes as a forum for promoting thier music and how that works for them, as well as someone who enjoys the fact that he or she can easily download the music of a friend or a relatively unknown artist.