The One About Music (aka - How Can I Get Sued?)

Savannah Morning News
April 12th, 2006

This week, lets talk music. The information revolution has come and gone so you ask yourself, why am I still sitting at home listening to my lp of the Allman Brothers? (It still rocks, turn it up!) Thats fine and all, however if you find your self filled with aural wander lust and are wondering how to get a piece of the musical pie, read on.

15 yr. old kids are sued by the Recording Industry Association of America, why not me? How do I get free music from the internet?

Im not going to answer this question. The online music revolution is not about scoring free music. The innovation the internet brought to the people is allowing any artist, big or small, access to the world. Suddenly, without big name label, fancy schmancy studio or concert arena your everyday mac-n-cheese-eating independent artist can be heard. In my opinion, this indie uprising is the most important musical function parked in the information superdriveway. To those that want to download music for free I say - Dont do it. You wouldnt take a sandwich from a stranger on a street corner, why would you trust your computer with them? There is no way of verifying a song is what the title claims until its on your machine. Not only is it illegal, its irresponsible and puts your computer at risk.

Alas, today is not my day for lecturing, so let us get on to some of the cooler places around the internet to seek sounds.

Pandora.com Pandora offers a free service that allows users to enter their favorite artist and discover more music in a similar vein. The Music Genome Project made this all possible by gathering a group of musicians who reviewed 10,000 artists and attributed each song with a different set of genes. These genes included: melody, harmony, rhythm, orchestration, arrangement, lyrics, etc. The results are not predictable, but they are almost always interesting. A musical adventure to say the least!

Pitchforkmedia.com - Pitchfork continues to teeter on the edge of the new music scene. The site is great resource for reviews and weekly free mp3 downloads.

Youtube.com Do not expect to find all the latest music on this site. However, you will find rare footage of your favorite band that you only dreamed about attending in person. For example: Funkadelic in 69, Dylan in 75, Tom Waits on SNL, Miles Davis and John Coltrane, Patti Smith 76, Van Halen 81, Chili Peppers, Howling Wolf. The list goes on. Youtube was created by the creators of Paypal as a way for people to watch and share original videos world wide. Great idea and a great way to spend your day:ahem: when at home and definitely not while at work! (Many thanks to the man with the night vision eyewear for turning me on to this site.)

Streaming Radio If the internet has truly shaken one industry, it is radio. Suddenly regardless of location, any station is available to you via your cable line. After moving to Savannah I sorely missed my local radio station. Luckily, they’re online and I can stay in the loop. My husband is a big fan of contemporary classical and world music, which (surprise) is not a commercial radio mainstay. Fortunately, he can listen to John Schaefers New Sounds off the NPR website or download it to his ipod. For the funk at heart, try wefunkradio or Last.Fm which will allow you to create your own profile for customized radio. Lastly, lets not forget our own local online radio station - scadradio.org. Aside from playing music all the kids are listening to, they have an array of different shows including old time and rural blues. The station also makes a point to give air time to local bands and host a series to highlight these artists. Scadradio - its not just for students anymore.

Speaking of our local scene, Savannah is also a good place to find new music that were lucky enough to see in person. My favorite website to find out who is playing where and when is the savannahunderground.com. Its a super handy quick glance at whats going on around town. As a bonus, it is chock full of information on local bands and venues. You can also peruse the local studios and independent labels in Savannah area that are making sound waves daily, such as:

DM Studios
www.myspace.com/dmstudios

Sofro
www.sofro.com

Elevated Basement studio
www.elevatedbasement.com

Dadds Production
www.daddsproduction.com

Godson Music
www.godsonrecords.com

(I missed somebody, you need to get your stylin’ self online and Googleable).

If you look closely on those sites you may find mp3s available for free download.

That, my Savannahian friends, is safe downloading.

Heather Hamilton can not actually pronounce Googleable, but you know what she means. Email her your big words at primadata@savannahnow.com.