Tech Notes with Lee Duddell

Oct 11 2007 by Iain Laing, The Journal

IF you listen carefully, you will hear the sound of a bandwagon coming your way.

Oasis, Ash, Prince and the Charlatans have all now officially joined the 21st Century and discovered that the best way to talk with and sell to their fans is via the internet.

Just last week, Radiohead announced that their next album will only be available online, with fans choosing how much to pay. This is a classic case of what the internet is supposed to be good at – cutting out the middle man (in this case record labels).

Have bands finally realised that record company execs are really just used-car salesmen in slightly better suits? Unlike in the past, when these fat cats told us what was good, we now get to make up our own minds (online.) Clearly this has got them worried.

Last year, while at Forbes Meet, a leading media conference in LA, I witnessed the arrogance of this approach when a supposedly “switched-on” executive from a major label said: “Talent always has and always will boil to the top.”

And he said his role was to “apply a quality filter to the (add your own derogatory expletive) unsigned music you find on the internet”.

What’s really fascinating is that now we are seeing something never before seen in the music business. In the years BC (before computers), a “name” band would go on Top of the Pops (remember that?). Thousands of young people would then sit in their bedrooms, night after night, trying to sound like them and ultimately be like them. That’s how we got from The Beatles to Oasis, after all.

Now, Oasis and every other band trying to remain credible in the years AD (after downloads) are taking a lead from the thousands of fantastic, talented and previously undiscovered bands who are finding fans and selling music online.

Every day, I hear great music from the thousands of artists (many of them in the North-East like John Martindale, The Mosaics and Sweetchuck) on amazingtunes.com who already knew what Radiohead have just discovered.

I can listen to it, share it, buy it, talk with the artist and a hundred more things, all online.

Me and my friends are discovering and breaking new music (and we don’t even own any expensive suits).

So, the question I have for our friends at the record labels is: What have you done for me lately? You may have caught up with the bandwagon – but you’ve sure missed the boat.

Lee Duddell is development director of Amazing Media Group Ltd, of Newcastle.