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Is the Net an Independent Artist's New Radio?

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the get-a-leg-up dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Richard Menta from MP3 Newswire recently posted an article that describes how the Net has shifted his tastes from main stream radio artists to indie acts he discovered online. Slashdot has run a number of articles dealing with the struggles of independent artists and how the net is helping them. Between the recent payola scandal and the incursion of Big Radio into podcasting the major labels are pushing hard to monopolize what they can. The good news is that Big Music is much slower adjusting to the changes brought about by technology than Little Music and the sky is looking rosier for the independent artist. In a July article, CNET also discussed how things are looking much better for the independents."

2 of 139 comments (clear)

  1. Last FM by CowboyBob500 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Last FM is a great concept. Basically it uses a system similar to Amazon's recommended links. You download their player (don't worry, open source, BSD license, Mac/Linux/Windows) and you type the name of a band in the box. It then streams music the database thinks is similar. You can vote to skip, ban, or love a track.

    When you've done it for a while you'll have your own profile. You can then go and listen to music that your "musical neighbours" are listening to.

    Lots of indie music on there. Lots of everything on there.

    Bob

    (Not affiliated with them)

    --
    Listen to my latest album here
  2. Re:Missing Link? by rhandir · · Score: 5, Informative
    Gotcha right here: http://irate.sourceforge.net/

    Imagine listening to the radio and being able to influence what kind of stuff you hear. Imagine hearing all kinds of things that you've never heard of before. Imagine no "...buffering..."

    iRate does this.

    Oh, and:
    Open source? Check!
    Supports Creative Commons? Check!
    Legal Downloads? Check!
    Runs on Linux? Check!
    Free as in Beer? Check!
    Did I mention no streaming?

    More detail:
    Technical explanation with easy to understand diagram here:
    http://irate.sourceforge.net/
    Site you can send the non-technically inclined to here:
    http://www.irateradio.com/

    "Just click on the executable. No, really, it's safe this time."

    Oh and the guy's name is "ajones". He's a kiwi. Mad props to kiwis.