So, admittedly, I'm behind the times. I have no problem copping to the fact that I've been spending
way more time writing and recording music than figuring out how to distribute it. But now that two album projects are nearing completion, the challenge is figuring out how to get my music into the hands (and heads) of "the people."
Lizard McGee, of Columbus, OH band
Earwig (check them out, they're freaking stellar), turned me on to the beauty of podcasting. Yeah, I know
what they are and
generally how they work, but until I started clicking through the wond'rous maze that is pod-dom, I was living in a dark age.
This is the shit.
I'm always lamenting the fact that there is soooooo much music out there and no way for me to possibly wade through it all to sift the diamonds from the slop. Well, turns out the trick is to let somebody else to it for you.
There are literally thousands of people out there yearning to play DJ. All you have to do is find someone you generally trust --musically--, subscribe to their podcast (which involves all the vast complications of
clicking a button), and wait each week for them to feed your iPod (though any device or even just a computer with speakers is really all that's necessary).
Some of these podcasters will simply string a bunch of songs together (saving you the trouble of looking for new tunes on the web), but some of these cats spend a
lot of time putting a program together, complete with program notes, sound effects, links to artists and websites, interviews, etc... It's like timeporting back to the early days of radio when DJ's actually picked their own music and put some effort into producing a show.
This week while working the design angle and paying the bills, I have been enjoying new music that I would have
never heard otherwise (courtesy of
Contrast's
Tim Young in the UK), and without having to "waste" any of my precious time searching the web, looking for something that doesn't suck.
Thanks, interweb! Maybe you are worthwhile afterall.
(keep checking the
MySpace site, as I will try and keep the list of podcasts including Dan Beahm and The Invisible Three music up to date)