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" Some of the best work being done on the Internet is coming from individuals plugging away on their home computers. "
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By Norm Shaw
Some people are comparing the Internet to CB radios, just another fad that will be gone tomorrow. Others are comparing it to the invention of movable type, something that will revolutionize communications. If you are in the music business, though, you pretty much have to fall in the latter category. You have to take the Internet seriously. Record labels, radio stations, bands and artists, promoters, venues, studios and other associated fields are queueing up on the World Wide Web. To get a feel for the reach, all you have to do is spend a little time using an Internet "search engine." Search engines are like electronic Yellow Page directories. They list Web sites by category. Consider some of the following numbers, taken from Web Crawler searches: - A search on the word "music" brought back 14,316 "hits." Each hit represents a Web site on the Internet. - Asking for information on record labels brought back 917 hits. - There were 1,921 radio station Web sites listed. - A search for blues listed 1,515 Web sites. - Under separate music genres, there were 26 klezmer sites; 51 polka pages; 282 reggae listings; 317 ska sites; 133 bluegrass listings; 77 flamenco pages; and 233 rap listings. Isaac Tigrett, considered a visionary by some for his forethought in founding the Hard Rock Cafe and House of Blues, is a convert. "You can`t ignore the Internet," Tigrett told attendees of the Memphis/Delta Music Heritage Conference in September. "It is phenomenal how technology is changing the industry." The House of Blues has been on the Internet for several months. On the site is a schedule of who is playing at the various clubs; a weekly newsletter; an opportunity to buy the club`s Essential Blues CD compilation; and more. "There are so many people talking on the Internet, it is amazing," Tigrett said. "The sales of our CD have been great. The interest is amazing." Jon Hornyak, director of the local chapter of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, agrees with Tigrett. NARAS will be jumping on the Internet very soon, according to Hornyak. "We (the national chapter of NARAS) have something in the works, but I`m not really at liberty to talk about it now," Hornyak said. "The local chapters will be tied in in some way. It should be within the next month or two." Hornyak said the Grammy Awards have been on the Internet since the last awards show. That was NARAS`s first step. Hornyak believes it is the first step on a journey that will eventually alter how the music business works. "I think it will totally change music, the same way MTV changed music, in my personal opinion. It`s had that kind of impact on music, especially alternative music. It gives bands a chance to get out there. It`s going to be huge in the future. That might be two days from now, two months, or who knows," he added with a laugh. But the Internet is not just the haven of the music business. It is as much the land for fans as labels and companies. Some of the best work being done on the Internet is coming from individuals plugging away on their home computers. Gary Joneson of Qualicum Beach, British Columbia, in Canada is one such person. He has a blues site (http://www.island.net/~blues) that includes sound bites that can be downloaded, articles and biographies. It started as a labor of love and has grown to be a popular location. "The response to the page has been good. It started life four years ago as a section on a small (two line) BBS (bulletin board service) that I used to have, it had good response so I kept adding, deleting ect.," Joneson said via e-mail. "When I went to an Internet hookup about a year ago I just basically moved everything over." He has his own agenda for the page, but that doesn`t include making money off of it. "The page is totally a non-profit, for educational purposes only and to promote the blues," he wrote. "I pay for my site access time and ask for nothing in return and it will stay that way. "I have a bias toward harp, piano and older blues (but am not a purist) and try to promote and give expose to the blues musicians who have been around for a while and don`t get the recognition they deserve. Exposure for blues women is something I want to do, and I will be doing a piece on Miranda Louise Johnson and Sista Monica coming up next." Joneson updates the page regularly, adding copy and changing images and backgrounds. He said the page averages 295 hits a day. And while he`s sold on the power of the Internet, he`s not sure what impact it will have on the music. "As for the Internet there can be no doubt the medium is powerful, reaching almost everywhere. It has many good points but like life itself there are some `low lifes` around however, they are far and few between," he wrote. "Will it convert new blues fans, that is hard to tell, but I can say this I have gotten e-mail from every corner of the earth." It is that very feature that makes the Internet so enticing to the music industry - worldwide reach from each and every computer hooked to the network. After all, 26 klezmer fans can`t be wrong.
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