Broken Frontier

The music industry had been in a state of stasis. Pop music churned out bands devoid of all artistic merit (and morals) faster then consumers could change the batteries in their Walkmen. Then out of nowhere the internet change the way music was distributed. While the screech of 57K modems could still be heard in homes around the world, people were beginning to pirate music thanks to sites like Napster. The music industry realized it needed to evolve or die.

Rather than handing out lawsuits to teenagers like PETA pamphlets at the circus, they decided to adopt a ‘can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em’ mentality and make their music available on the internet as well in a means that they could control. Napster sold out, and many other services such as iTunes and eMusic began to spring up. With the music’s digital revolution firmly taking hold in the world, and iPods and other MP3 playing devices showing up in homes everywhere, the industry was getting stronger by the download. However rebellion is the nature of the beast when it comes to music, and it was only a matter of time before someone started to utilize the potential of reach listeners in their homes.

There are several examples of this happening as the information age grew from a spoiled toddler to an angst ridden teen, but the most important and noteworthy was that of Radiohead. Late last year Radiohead announced they were going to release a new album, a week from the initial announcement, to the entire world at the same time via the internet. They also allowed fans to pay whatever they wanted for the music. All of this was done with the absence of a record label. This scared the crap out of anyone making money off of music.

Since then there have been a myriad of recording artists peddling in their wares in new and unique ways that no one ever dreamed of.

Nine Inch Nails frontman, Trent Reznor, now free of the confines of a record label, released an album to the public in early March. Similar to the Radiohead album, you could purchase it on-line in MP3 format for $5, or purchase the actual CD. The album, entitled Ghosts, is four parts, entirely instrumental, and utilizes the available technology like few albums before it. Each song has a different photo to correspond with it, the perfect piece for anyone with a video iPod.

The newest stunt that’s got my interest is being performed by The Raconteurs. The rock band, comprised of several musicians from other bands including Jack White from The White Stripes, recorded a new album earlier this month. You haven’t heard of it yet? That’s because they didn’t tell anyone until last Tuesday. However the wait won’t be long for it. You see, it comes out this Tuesday. The album was recorded and will be released in the very same month. On their site, The Raconteurs say they did this, "…to get the album out to the fans as soon as possible and as we promised. We wanted to get this record to the fans, the press, the radio, etc., all at the exact same time so no one has any upper hand on anyone else regarding its availability, reception, or perception." Sure, they’re not giving the music away like other bands have, and they’re not charging a small amount of money for it, but it’s still a step in keeping fans on their toes. Besides, have you seen the price of White Stripes tickets? Crazy!

Another recent attempt at attention is being pulled by Pennywise, one of my older favorites. The SoCal punk band has teamed up with MySpace to offer their album to fans for free. All you have to do is add a ringtone site to your friends list and it’s yours on March 25^th.

Needless to say it’s been an exciting couple of years for music fans. With the internet connecting everyone it keeps getting easier for bands to get their music to fans no matter where they are in the world. Just in researching material for this column (yes, a small amount of research was done) I found another instance of an artist offering their high quality goods for much less then they’re worth; Saul Williams put out a new album produced by the aforementioned Trent Reznor and you can download it from his site for a mere $5.

It’s safe to say that this is becoming a trend. With more bands offering more music and for less money, it’s anyone’s guess what will happen next. As long as there are electronic devices to put music on, there will be artists providing listeners with tunes to put on them. This hardly means the death or record labels as we know it, but as long as some power remains in the hands of the people who make the music rather then the people that sell it, there might be hope after all.