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the mp3 way: I'm a geriatric
When I started getting seriously interested in music, Mick Jagger (same age as me) was playing mainly at art school gigs and pubs in Putney, a London suburb. John Baldry, an extremely tall policeman's son, had yet to re-name Reginald Kenneth Dwight as Elton John. The Beatles were famous, but only in Germany. Nine-inch nails were hammered by carpenters, not music critics. And Madonna who?
I was also part of a rock band in England. We were called the Lonely Ones and we had quite a few gigs around the southeast, including several at a club called the Witch Doctor in Hastings, Kent, which featured bands such as Spencer Davis, Steve Marriott's Moments (as the Small Faces were known at the time), LJ Baldry, and so on. During the day, I worked as a newspaper reporter.
Our neurotically ambitious lead guitarist - who was always lusting Big Time for the Big Time, just couldn't stand it any longer and left the band for The Smoke (London) where he auditioned for Eric Burden's the Animals and, almost by default, tried out with a hot American guitar player.
Our former band member was Noel Redding and the hot guitar player was Jimi Hendrix.
Noel was replaced by a kid named Ian, who was much better than him. He, Andy (bass) and Nu-Nu (drums) eventually ended up in Switzerland. Or was it Germany? And I ended up on a paper in London.
Many moons have passed under the bridge since those days and there's only one real difference between then and now. But it's HUGE, like night and day. And it's called the Internet.
THEN AND NOW
Back then, it cost and arm and two legs to make a vinyl demo disc. You also had to promise your first-born to the studio. So, demo's were hard to come by. But unless a recording company suit turned up at a performance, which didn't happen too often, you had to have a demo disc to stand a chance of getting anywhere. And you still had to get air-time not just once or twice, but repeatedly. To achieve that, you either knew someone, knew someone who knew someone, or you fired your disc off to Radio Caroline, or something like it, and prayed.
And while you waited for your demo to make you famous on the air waves, you were either:
A) On the road, in which case you needed gear - amps, pa system, etc - and a vehicle large enough to carry it all. You also needed cash for gas and insurance and food. Of course, no one drank or used drugs so that wasn't an expense. A manager to look after all the boring details was optional; or, you were,
B) probably playing for free in the local church hall just before the bingo session.
Whichever, you were expending a lot of effort over and above finding and/or creating material, rehearsing, and so on.
Today, online music sites are all over the Net and it doesn't take a whole lot for a musician to make a recording. And with modern computer music cards, he/she doesn't even need a band!
Basically, all you have to do is record your tune (no sweat) and turn the results into a digital audio file - a .wav, say. Then, if you have a CD burner on your computer (or your friend does ; ) you make your own disc. And forget about a demo with only side A and side B. A CD-R will hold almost an hour-and-a-half of music - enough for at least 10 tunes.
Or maybe you turn your .wav's into mp3's and upload them to one of the free online storage sites where anyone with a Net connection and standard hardware and software can listen to and/or download your music. Then you email everyone and his brother connected to the music industry telling them where your stuff is.
In other words, whereas becoming famous USED to be a big deal, required a certain amount of musical ability and staying power and, consequently, was (with a few exceptions) within reach of only a select few, nowadays, just about anyone can produce and promote a recording for very little cost and with very little talent.
Then all they have to do is figure out a way to make their chart-topper stand out from the literally millions of other digital audio files.
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