Today Denver...
Tomorrow, the World

by Jenelise Pulliam

So you wanna be a rock star? The success of online music sites and file-sharing communities has turned up the volume for new bands to get heard without the heartache, empty pockets, and foul-smelling road trips that were once commonly associated with D. I. Y. careers in music. Although this new school of self-promotion probably won't afford you the success or stardom of your image being marketed with a burger, fries, and a Coke, it will get you noticed. It may even get you signed.

There's no denying the recent explosion of web-based music sites in the media spotlight, and their adolescent defiance setting precedent for the future of the music industry. The Recording Industry Association of America filing suit against Napster for copyright infringement in December 1999 not only spurred several musicians and corporate record labels to call their lawyers, but increased Napster usership exponentially with every mention of its name. Napster-- a free program that enables users to swap MP3 files from their personal collections via direct download among their hard drives-- has enjoyed monumental success throughout the entire copyright controversy. The company shelled out nearly $2 million in March 2000 to sponsor a free concert tour for Limp Bizkit. In addition, according to Neilsen NetRatings, Napster's usage had jumped 71 percent in a matter of days following an emergency stay set by a panel of Federal Court appellate judges.

Napster is only one of many file-sharing communities and downloadable music sites to come under fire from the RIAA, a trade association representing the biggest record labels in the music industry, including Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Bros., Arista Records, Atlantic, and Capitol Records. MP3.com, another hugely successful music and media site, was ruled against in a May 2000 court dispute, citing MP3.com was guilty of violating United States copyright protections. Both Napster and MP3.com claim that they are in no way in violation of any copyright laws. Napster users are merely using a search engine with which to find MP3 files stored on other users' hard drives. MP3.com's procedures vary, depending on what the file is, how it got there, and who put it there.

"Regardless of the outcome of [these suits], the Internet is fundamentally transforming the music business," wrote Hane C. Lee and Michael Learmouth for www.TheStandard.com. "The Net's capacity for the free exchange of all kinds of data has whetted a voracious appetite for sharing music. And a whole generation of startups is finding ways to satisfy it." Opinions and stances on the controversy surrounding copyrights and the legality of free trade of music on the Internet have only compounded their popularity. The success of sites like Napster, MP3.com, and Listen. com have a stronghold on the once-troubled dot-com music sector. The fact remains that the accessibility it creates for music fans to get what they want regardless of availability, price, or popularity is something that the old boys network of music industry executives never considered.

SONGS HEARD ROUND THE WORLD

The corporate industry has been ripping off artists for years; it's about time that the corporate industry gets ripped off," said J. Frede, local ambient noise musician and founder of Ritual Document Release, a distributor of not-so-corporate ambient recordings. Correspondence and business transactions for RDR are exclusively web-based. Frede also has tracks featured on MP3.com and RDR's website, www.ritualdocument.com The esoteric nature of Frede's music makes having access to an international audience instrumental in generating the size of a fan base needed to support J. Frede on his two previous European tours. The appeal for Frede is the idea of cyclical preservation and impersonal exchange of audio, not knowing or being able to accurately gauge who is listening to your music. His aspirations of Ritual Document someday being able to pay for itself and having wider distribution in the United States are almost guaranteed with the implementation of the web promoting for him.

Another huge advantage web promotion offers to struggling musicians is low overhead. Fiction 8, a Denver-area band classifying themselves as "very, very DARK pop," values the inexpensive publicity. "We have the ability to send out information and sound files for nothing via e-mail, music sites, and our own website (www.fiction8.com) as opposed to having to send everything through the mail, which can add up quite quickly," said Paisli Salazar, one of the trio's multi-faceted players.

"Another advantage is the fact that many people come to you, rather than us having to seek out every avenue for exposure or listeners. It's been extremely beneficial to us," she added.

Michael Smith, Fiction 8's frontman, said, "A big benefit of online promotion is the potential to see where the interest is greatest. Imagine being able to track your downloads by geography. You don't have to know exactly who downloads what, but if you knew that 5,000 downloads came from say, the Boston area, then you'd make sure not to skip Boston on the next tour. And if you get most of your downloads from Australia, then suddenly securing a distribution deal down under becomes a big priority for you. Online promotion can give indie bands the tools to work smarter than their big label counterparts."

IS THERE ANYBODY LISTENING?

Since what major labels release is often composed of what they think the public wants to hear, countless genres of music are being sadly overlooked. It takes the base element of shock from bands like Marilyn Manson or Slipknot to give a subculture a voice, and often that voice is not an accurate representation of the whole. Internet music communities provide a dizzying array of selection, but will that in turn take the 'under' out of 'underground'?

"I think if the MP3 revolution changes anything, it will just be to broaden people's horizons," Smith surmised. "Someone will ask, 'Do you like Egyptian techno? ' and the answer will be either 'yes' or 'no' as opposed to 'what the hell is that? ' People get pretty conservative when they have to fork out $15 for new music, but if it doesn't take any money or effort, people will become more knowledgeable about what's out there."

Damien McCarron of the Indulgers, a Denver Celtic five-piece you've likely enjoyed at Fado's, boasts an average of 1,000 hits daily to its website, www.shamrocker.com McCarron attributes most of that 'net traffic to links from press articles, MP3 listings, and 'net awards, such as their release In Like Flynn being voted Ethnic CD of 2000 at JPFolks.com "The Internet and its capabilities in promotion have been part of the plan from the get-go. MP3.com, Riffage, and MP3site.com started our adaptation to the net. The ability to release Internationally through Amazon.com has been instrumental to the success to the band outside of Colorado."

McCarron and the Indulgers have enjoyed great success from its exposure on the net: its first song to MP3 secured a number one billing in the Celtic genre for 11 days, Riffage promoted a track from the group's CD for a compilation, and they earned the fourteenth spot on the Amazon. com Celtic chart for emerging artists. Web sales of the CDs have seen postmarks from Australia, Portugal, Russia, Brazil, Ireland, Scotland, Italy, and all over North America. "The 'net has allowed us to stay in touch with other bands throughout the country that are involved in our world, and share the hazards and happiness of the trade. Each morning the e-mail box and the website statistics are the first things checked. It's a ritual at this point."

ONE BIG GARAGE

Here are two excerpts from the news message board at The Railbenders' website, www.Railbenders.com: 7/15/2000-- So, just for the hell of it, we uploaded a really poor quality live recording of one of our songs, "Texas Sun," to garageband. com. When we first started, we were ranked something like 6,245 on the charts. Well, as of today we are number 75 in the country category! If you haven't checked out garageband.com, you should. It's a very cool site where you can hear new music from independent artists. All music is reviewed by music fans and other bands around the world. The winning band is given a $250,000 recording contract.

8/15/2000-- We are now #2 in Country category and #32 overall in the qualifying round for a $250,000.00 recording contract on www.garageband.com Check out the latest rankings.

Garageband.com caters specifically to bands like Denver's Railbenders, hosting since its inception over one million MP3s uploaded from fledgling musical acts all over the globe. Any unsigned band from anywhere in the world can upload a track of its original material É for free. In return they get viable feedback, innumerable exposure opportunities, access to advice from professionals (Sir George Martin is chairman and Brian Eno sits on Garageband. com's advisory board), free gig promotion, and, most importantly, a legitimate shot at that $250,000 record contract.

The legitimacy is in the rating system, the Lathroum Preference Engine, which members of Garageband.com utilize to rate randomly chosen tracks in context and without bias. The procedure is simple: reviewers pick a genre of music and listen to two anonymous tracks, then complete a questionnaire about each track. All songs receive the same number of reviews, from the same types of users. The LPE, a new method for quantitatively analyzing mass audience preferences on the Internet, determines a winner for the $250,000 contract every two months. Garageband. com's mission is simple: to "help musicians achieve their real goals."

The Railbenders were pleasantly surprised by their achievements at Garageband. com. "Last February, when we were just starting out, I wanted to get feedback from garageband. com members on one of our songs that was recorded live at Herman's Hideaway," said Railbender-in-chief James Dalton. "I figured it would be a good way to get objective feedback on our performance and songwriting. It wasn't anything fancy, just a live recording right out of the mixing board with no overdubs, remixing, or mastering. The song ended up making The Final Countdown in December. I would never have expected that."

The Railbenders play a blend of hi-powered, raucous, original country and rockabilly that is influenced by the likes of Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, and other non-conformist country artists who did things their way. Most of their songs are tales of boozing, womanizing, broken-hearts, and the wild west. Battling through a few inceptions, the current line-up of Gordon Beesley, Tyson Murray,

Chris Flynn, and James Dalton was cemented in May. Most bands could expect only moderate success in a seven month time period-- namely getting asked back for a repeat performance. The Railbenders' version of moderate success was being in contention for a $250,000 record deal, all thanks to a few minutes spent uploading some tracks to Garageband. com.

"As far as money goes, we're not getting rich, but we're starting to see some dollars from CD sales on MP3.com." Dalton added. "From MP3.com, we have heard from people from all over the world. We've heard from fans as far away as Turkey. We've also had gig offers from around the country from promoters and club owners."

WHAT'S THE REAL COST?

So what does someone with talent, potential, and tools to make it big think about the copyright warring Napster is involved in? "I struggle with the whole Napster controversy. It's a difficult topic for many musicians," Dalton said. "Artists should be compensated fairly for the music they make. It shouldn't be given away for free. I know, especially in this town, most bands don't make shit for gigs. When they have to rely on CD sales for compensation, Napster could undermine their ability to make money. Although, it probably doesn't impact lesser-known artists as it may some of the bigger names.

"On the other hand, I believe it brings light to a problem with the recording industry and the prices that consumers pay for CDs. CDs are pretty cheap to make, but you throw in all the marketing, record company executive salaries, etc., and you start to inflate the price of each CD beyond what it should be. Napster is forcing the recording industry to find a better way to make music available to fans at a reasonable price. It's time to cut the fat."

Dalton easily summarizes the genius of the process: "We don't have to pay for CD production costs. We simply upload the MP3 files and the artwork for the CD and they put it all together when someone orders it online. It's a very cheap way for musicians to get a CD out there. You just need to pay for your recording costs."

Does this dot-com version of being discovered simplify the process of rising to the heights of the musical elite? Or will the driving of cattle to Internet-based band promotion leave the stragglers with the same sense of hopelessness once felt by bands who watched record company reps walk out during their first song? It's too early to say exactly how much of a dent downloadable music-- legal or not-- has made in the record industry. Ask the Railbenders next time they're in contention for a quarter-million dollars.

Be sure to visit all of these local artists' websites: www.shamrocker.com, www.fiction8.com, and www.railbenders.com Also sign up at www.garageband.com, vote for the hometown boys, and earn credits towards CDs for reviewing. All artists have tracks available at www.MP3.com. (And if you've been inspired to check out www.napster.com, don't tell Metallica that we suggested it....)