Page 74 - Blues Festival Guide Magazine 2013

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TECHNOLOGYECHNOLOGYECHNOLOGYECHNOLOGYECHNOLOGYECHNOLOGY

BYTESYTESYTESYTESYTESYTES
B B B B B

By John “Blueshammer” Hammer

© Ikonstudio | Dreamstime.com
Yes, music is still music – however, the standard operating
rules have changed in the music business. On the musician/artist Consuming
side, creativity is sometimes assisted thru the miracles of Auto-Tune,
Pro-Tools and a myriad of instrument synthesizer programs. On the Our focus group was reasonable and not too unhinged,
consumer/fan side, the changes in how we get our blues fi x can (this was as close to “Fair and Balanced” as we could get with
only be described as life changing. blues fans). These were folks who listen all the time, whether
How we discover, listen and share music just keeps evolving at relaxing or working. Beyond catching the stream of Internet
the speed of tomorrows’ technology squared by the trigonometric radio, they all had music sharing service favorites like Napster,
exponentiation of our desire for instant gratifi cation. To avoid a long Rhapsody, Slacker and Spotify. All allowed them to create a
discussion on just how we came up with that precise formula, let’s personal play list keeping their favorites handy no matter where
break it down into three basic consumer centric needs: Discovery, they log in. This is saved on the provider’s server and does not
Consuming and Sharing. take up memory space on their device of choice. Consider it
an extended test drive that can be shared with friends. Yep,
everyone is a closet DJ, and this lets ‘em dazzle friends on
Discovery the cheap. Whether free or subscription driven, there is an
unending number of choices like iTunes, Grooveshark or
The blues and other genres not high on the Grammy Radical.fm. In checking out some of these services I learned
radar, have most certainly benefi ted from the invention of the a term called “Jailbroken” which is a way to free your iPhone
Internet. You know there are a limited number of broadcast from the shackles of Apple, opening up a whole ‘nother world
commercial blues stations on the radio, but there are countless of available Apps.
numbers, really, we actually tried to count, of Internet blues Now there were also folks who still felt the need to own
stations available at your fi ngertips – some for free and others the music. They download directly to their electronic jukebox,
at a modest subscription. They stream 24-7, 365 days a year whether on a computer, smartphone or iPod-like device. In the
playing any and all kinds of blues. Bill Gates’ dream of every interest of full disclosure, I will admit more than one member of
home having a computer has come true. We all have access the group shared the melancholy tale of entire music libraries
to a library that seems infi nite. Also, with over 100 million disappearing due to memory failure. To clarify, that’s electronic
smartphone owners and 4G coverage, we possess a reliable memory, not the actual music lover’s. Now there’s the option to
and portable smorgasbord that is pretty overwhelming. There rent space to store all your favorites; services like mSpot.com
are satellite radio providers like Sirius XM that require special or Maestro.fm. Music is safely stored for as long as it tickles
equipment and an annual contract. These boast a fabulous your fancy. Other folks said that once they discovered new
selection of slickly produced syndicated shows and different music, they still preferred to go out and purchase a CD. As
levels of advertising buffering. The programmed song selection older members of the group, it was suggested that they were
in both these mediums introduces you to more music than you still clinging to that archaic tactile and visual experience of vinyl
could play in a lifetime on your old hand-crank Victrola. As sure LP shopping and simply needed to let it go. However, in their
as death and taxes, you will fi nd just what you are looking for. defense, vinyl has made a bit of a comeback.

72 Blues Festival Guide 2013