Myspace: the new record store?

Back in the day, when people wanted to buy music, they went to actual physical stores (the kind that are in buildings) like Tower Records. Record companies made tons of money off of charging you an extra $10 for the packaging on your CDs, and life was great-but not for long...

Apple came along with its iPod and changed the face of the music industry. Music became the first of the information commodities, signaling a global economic change- the move towards virtual over physical (Facebook gifts, anybody?). Music became more affordable and available. And, with the ability to purchase individual songs, your music collection reached new heights in personalization- something that my generation is all about. No longer did you have to buy a whole CD to get one good song; you could just get one and forget about the rest.

Now, I have to admit- I find this system preferable to the old one, but there's something about it that's lacking: browsing.

I get that you can look at different songs and artists on iTunes, but it's not the same as looking through stacks of CDs and pulling out something that looks interesting. iTunes was made so that you could avoid that whole ordeal and get specifically what you want. It's more convenient. Unfortunately, with convenience comes the loss of exposure to new artists and ideas. With iTunes, it's easy to restrict yourself to one genre that you think "fits you".

But have no fear. As always, some new technological innovation has come about that makes it all better.

Well, Myspace isn't exactly new, but it certainly is more popular than ever- and if you use it right, it can be the digital equivalent to the old-time record store. It's the perfect venue for new artists who have no label, an indie label, or who just aren't famous yet.

Today I spent my limited spare time on Myspace- not checking out my friends' Top 8- but instead browsing the ever-popular music section (yet another way to waste time! see previous posts...)

And guess what I found? A good 15 or so up-and-coming artists that, when they hit it big, I can say I liked first. All I had to do was go to the top artists page and click on links. A page would pop up, a song would start playing, and if I liked it, I stayed. If it involved loud thrashing, screaming, or unintelligible gibberish, I could steer away in the blink of an eye. You can search bands by location, by name, or (my personal favorite) by a general genre- and since most artists identify across genres, you still get a lot of variety.

So, check out Myspace Music- you never know what you'll find.

Some fruits of my labor:

Ingrid Michaelson
The Scene Aesthetic
Michelle Featherstone
Sea Wolf
Gary Jules
Five Times August
Derek Webb
Laura Marling
A Rocket to the Moon
Jason Reeves
Daphne Loves Derby
Seriously
and of course Anna Bikales

And yes, I realize that the choices are very random and all over the place style-wise. That's the beauty of Myspace Music.