I think the Arctic Monkeys are a 2005/2006 band vs. a 1995/1996 band. Good stuff, though.
Steve O'Hear (editor)
· 2 years ago
@ J. Kyle
Thanks. Corrected.
Ryan Jarrett
· 2 years ago
Apologies J Kyle - I can't believe I missed that!
Scott Clark
· 2 years ago
Um... you forgot Prince. He's been way ahead of the pack since we were using 14.4 modems.
Jay
· 2 years ago
I agree with Scott Clark - how could you possibly miss the major pioneer in music and the internet - PRINCE
He's been on the cutting edge of this technology since 1995!
Eva Tienes
· 2 years ago
Alright, How about:
Barenaked Ladies - Selling a recording of everynight on their tour on USB Sticks and available for download the next day? The ladies rule. Willie Nelson - Pioneered the download store at www.livewillie.com and sells a recording everynight on a USB wristband? (Drink that in, a 75 five year old artist at the forefront because he only wants to get the music to the fans!) Willie Rules. Big Head Todd and the Monsters - Their Annual concert at Red Rocks this year, 2007, available onsite on little thumb drives as everyone left the theater. Matchbox Twenty - New album in stores on flash drive with no DRM! (Wait a sec, major record label no DRM , WHAT?!)And every night on the tour in 2008 available to fans before they leave the venue on USB wristband. Rob and the boys rule. Kudos to all you have listed but there is a lot of cool stuff going on (ok, ok In rainbows kinda steals everyone's thunder...) but there is a lot of cool digital distro stuff going on that you have over looked for sure.
tompox
· 2 years ago
1) Check your title: it's "Digital", not "Digitial" 2) Don't forget Tompox and all the others musicians that published on http://GNUArt.net as soon as 2001 (which makes us appear before Creative Commons).
TheFreshpage
· 2 years ago
Very fascinating article....will be interesting to see how this translates with electronic music artists. We will do some research and see if we can post something about this in our music blog in the very near future.
Why is the Foreign Exchange album ‘Connected’ is not mentioned at all?
The first album ever to be created entirely online.... it should be #1 for on-line creativity
Brian E
· 2 years ago
You should look at two bands in particular that are outside the mainstream music scene.
Widespread Panic and Umphrey's Mcgee
These bands record their shows using high quality equipment and then sell the live recordings(which sound as good as studio quality) on their website for 10$ a show.
This practice not only drives straight profit for the band but also drives motivation for the band to play better and better and improve on their live performances, something that is disgustingly missing in the majority of mainstream music today.
Kman
· 2 years ago
also, Public Enemy were pioneers on the online front back in the 90's...one of the, if not the first group to go completely online...
hhhmmm... i guess research doesnt matter when ur just looking to get money from advertising for articles huh?
atomicleprechaun
· 2 years ago
Harvey Danger really should be on this list too. check this out...
Inarguably, any such list as this MUST include the incomparable Todd Rundgren. Always a leader in every area of popular music in one way or another, I think it reasonable to point to MANY of his achievements as qualification. Start with the first live concert broadcast by microwave in 1978 and move ahead to 1979 when he produced the first videodisc format demo for RCA. Later on, he produced the first interactive audio-only CD-ROM, No World Order, in 1993. In 1994, Todd’s No World Order won "Best Composition/Arrangement for from the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences' inaugural awards and the "Best Interactive Disc of the Year" Award from Video Magazine. In 1995 he had a website up supporting The Individualist, a recording which brought him to be named one of the Top 100 Multimedia Producers by Multimedia Producer Magazine in the November 1995 issue, and also won the Digital Hollywood Award in 1996 for Best Music CD-ROM.
That's just some of what he's done. You can't get much more digital than that, and you can't fault him for being cutting-edge digital before the Web was even a twinkle in Tim Lee-Berner's monitor.
Joey
· 2 years ago
How did Trent Reznor (NIN) not make this list? Update the list while its still popular.
Bargmann
· 2 years ago
Hmmm, it seems all of the comments are related to the distribution-side of things... If memory serves, I think Megadeth was actually one of the first to put out an album (Countdown to Extinction from '92), that was recorded/edited/mixed/mastered digitally, all the way through...
Rajhesh Panchanadhan
· 2 years ago
PHISH should have been in your list. This band had a fan following and had a dedicated usenet page which was converted to Internet (phish.net). This band pioneered the digital download concept in its livephish.com. This was further replicated as a dedicated site (nugs.net) for various bands including Widespread Panic, Umphreys Mcgee, even Metallica
Owen
· 2 years ago
Yea I agree. How did Reznor not make this list?
gRa
· 2 years ago
Yeah, the authors obviously ripped this from somwhere. Reznor should probably be first on the list.
dra
· 2 years ago
What about NIN?
Ryan Jarrett
· 2 years ago
This is all original work my friend (spelling mistakes and all I'm afraid). This was never meant to be an exhaustive list but just a handful of examples - as indicated in the intro this was hoped catalyse debate and conversation.
Marcelo
· 2 years ago
Yes, Prince is definitely missing in this list.
K
· 2 years ago
Trent Renzor should definetly be on this list. First, he leaked a majority of his songs from NIN's newest album, Year Zero, on flash drives dropped in bathrooms during his tour. Second, the remix of this album, Limitless Potential, was available to download legally through BitTorrent. And third, he and Saul Williams just released a new album online with a great philosophy; if you just want the songs and don't care about quality, you can get the album for free, but if you want a CD quality version of the album, you'll need to pay a small fee directly to the artist. This concept is how the music industry should evolve; if people just want the songs and not the quality, give it to them, if they're a big fan, they will pay for the album because the WANT to support the artist, and if they want CD quality, they'll have to pay for it.
Michael Gregoire
· 2 years ago
UM... Aerosmith! The corporate rockers to beat them all!??? Kylie Minogue? Bowie... kinda... Gabriel.... eh.... kinda.... Where the hell is Prince? Where the hell is Public Enemy? What a f'n biggoted article.
When I heard about Barenaked Ladies on USB thumb drives, that was probably the most awsome of them all.
DavidE
· 2 years ago
How about They Might Be Giants? They used to have exclusives available on eMusic. I believe that the Dickies also had a deal with eMusic back in 1999 to distribute their new stuff on eMusic first, and eMusic had their entire catalog available.
Also, people have mentioned Barenaked Ladies, but nobody has mentioned that they have made at least one of their albums available as a free download.
trey
· 2 years ago
Phish really should be up there, they invented the whole recording every show, putting it on a website, and selling them to fans for a nominal cost.
thewebgal
· 2 years ago
What about Robert Fripp (Ex King Crimson dude) ... the DGM website - his bootlegTV site had all kinds of videos from the live concerts of his band, etc ... see - http://www.dgmlive.com/about.htm
A (Very) Brief History of DGM
DGM began operating in 1992 as a response to the dishonest and exploitative practices of the EG Group of Companies. The EG Group collapsed in 1991, undermined by the EG partners' ambitious interests in property and the Lloyds' insurance market. During 1988-91 EG diverted artist income from the EG Music Group by "loans" to another of the partners' companies, Athol & Co. This led, in turn, to the sale of phonographic and publishing copyrights controlled by EG. The sale was contested, with resulting litigation ongoing during 1991-97 between EG, Virgin Records, BMG Music and myself. At the end of the litigation, the EG partners were no longer partners and EG, as a respected player in the music industry, mostly a bad memory to those whose interests EG had claimed to represent.
This was only the beginning of DGM.
The new DGM site is based on the insights of David Singleton and which led to the creation of BootlegTV (1999-2001), an online music distribution company based in Seattle. BTV closed during the Great Downturn but, even by then, the interests of VCs had already prejudiced the company's operation and direction. This parallels our experience within the music industry: the commercial interests of record companies, and other music suppliers, have an almost wholly negative effect on how music is served to open ears and hungry hearts.
More recently, the accounting practices of Virgin and BMG have not, in the licensing arrangements that followed litigation, been ideal. A current item of interest (March 2005) is that Virgin US has lost the entire King Crimson catalogue of master tapes. To misplace the masters of a large and established catalogue requires either talent or much practice, and these are not the only two possible explanations.
Alex
· 2 years ago
I'm missing Chris Huelsbeck
He composed and arranged many soundtracks for C64 and AMIGA games e.g. Turrican II (which is one of his greatest work in my opinion) - outstanding music on a device where anyone couldn't believe to be able to produce such sounds
Angry Dave
· 2 years ago
Obviously a list compiled by someone who doesn't know their arse from their elbow. How an earth did you neglect to include Trent Reznor on your 'list'?
my music blog
· 2 years ago
a very good article though there are many people have been missed out. maybe you should need to create another list..a comprehensive and detailed one. but really, this is a great read!
Patrick
· 2 years ago
New Orleans electro-rock group MUTEMATH has gained most of their popularity soley through internet buzz from MySpace and PureVolume and have now sold more than 70,000 copies of their debut album and 30,000 copies of their debut EP. The group spent their first three years together video blogging their shows and streaming their music on the web before their debut release was finally picked up by Warner Bros in a unique deal that allows the group to retain all publishing rights to their music.
monica
· 2 years ago
Trent Reznor is definetly my fave!
Gerard McGarry
· 2 years ago
Kylie Konnect? Are you serious? Dated naming conventions aside, I signed up for that service and it's nothing like a social networking site. All the standard features you'd expect to find are missing. The design is actually worse than MySpace and it's completely unintuitive.
I could launch a better social networking service with my eyes closed!
Brian Sexton
· 2 years ago
Where is Trent Reznor???? He made an online ARG to promote him album... He put USB's in the bathrooms at concerts... He came up with the Radiohead idea, but didn't have the album ready before Radiohead... He released the Saul Williams record online. He was one of the first major artists to split from his record label deliberately He deserves some credit, in my opinion he single-handedly started this new revolution.
All Comments
Thanks. Corrected.
He's been on the cutting edge of this technology since 1995!
Barenaked Ladies - Selling a recording of everynight on their tour on USB Sticks and available for download the next day? The ladies rule.
Willie Nelson - Pioneered the download store at www.livewillie.com and sells a recording everynight on a USB wristband? (Drink that in, a 75 five year old artist at the forefront because he only wants to get the music to the fans!) Willie Rules.
Big Head Todd and the Monsters - Their Annual concert at Red Rocks this year, 2007, available onsite on little thumb drives as everyone left the theater.
Matchbox Twenty - New album in stores on flash drive with no DRM! (Wait a sec, major record label no DRM , WHAT?!)And every night on the tour in 2008 available to fans before they leave the venue on USB wristband. Rob and the boys rule.
Kudos to all you have listed but there is a lot of cool stuff going on (ok, ok In rainbows kinda steals everyone's thunder...) but there is a lot of cool digital distro stuff going on that you have over looked for sure.
2) Don't forget Tompox and all the others musicians that published on http://GNUArt.net as soon as 2001 (which makes us appear before Creative Commons).
Cheers!
http://www.thefreshpage.com/blog
The first album ever to be created entirely online.... it should be #1 for on-line creativity
Widespread Panic and Umphrey's Mcgee
These bands record their shows using high quality equipment and then sell the live recordings(which sound as good as studio quality) on their website for 10$ a show.
This practice not only drives straight profit for the band but also drives motivation for the band to play better and better and improve on their live performances, something that is disgustingly missing in the majority of mainstream music today.
hhhmmm... i guess research doesnt matter when ur just looking to get money from advertising for articles huh?
http://www.harveydanger.com/press/why.php
http://www.harveydanger.com/downloads/
http://askaslacker.blogspot.com
That's just some of what he's done. You can't get much more digital than that, and you can't fault him for being cutting-edge digital before the Web was even a twinkle in Tim Lee-Berner's monitor.
If memory serves, I think Megadeth was actually one of the first to put out an album (Countdown to Extinction from '92), that was recorded/edited/mixed/mastered digitally, all the way through...
Prince and PE should be at the TOP of the list
When I heard about Barenaked Ladies on USB thumb drives, that was probably the most awsome of them all.
Also, people have mentioned Barenaked Ladies, but nobody has mentioned that they have made at least one of their albums available as a free download.
A (Very) Brief History of DGM
DGM began operating in 1992 as a response to the dishonest and exploitative practices of the EG Group of Companies. The EG Group collapsed in 1991, undermined by the EG partners' ambitious interests in property and the Lloyds' insurance market. During 1988-91 EG diverted artist income from the EG Music Group by "loans" to another of the partners' companies, Athol & Co. This led, in turn, to the sale of phonographic and publishing copyrights controlled by EG. The sale was contested, with resulting litigation ongoing during 1991-97 between EG, Virgin Records, BMG Music and myself. At the end of the litigation, the EG partners were no longer partners and EG, as a respected player in the music industry, mostly a bad memory to those whose interests EG had claimed to represent.
This was only the beginning of DGM.
The new DGM site is based on the insights of David Singleton and which led to the creation of BootlegTV (1999-2001), an online music distribution company based in Seattle. BTV closed during the Great Downturn but, even by then, the interests of VCs had already prejudiced the company's operation and direction. This parallels our experience within the music industry: the commercial interests of record companies, and other music suppliers, have an almost wholly negative effect on how music is served to open ears and hungry hearts.
More recently, the accounting practices of Virgin and BMG have not, in the licensing arrangements that followed litigation, been ideal. A current item of interest (March 2005) is that Virgin US has lost the entire King Crimson catalogue of master tapes. To misplace the masters of a large and established catalogue requires either talent or much practice, and these are not the only two possible explanations.
He composed and arranged many soundtracks for C64 and AMIGA games
e.g. Turrican II (which is one of his greatest work in my opinion) - outstanding music on a device where anyone couldn't believe to be able to produce such sounds
How an earth did you neglect to include Trent Reznor on your 'list'?
I could launch a better social networking service with my eyes closed!
He made an online ARG to promote him album...
He put USB's in the bathrooms at concerts...
He came up with the Radiohead idea, but didn't have the album ready before Radiohead...
He released the Saul Williams record online.
He was one of the first major artists to split from his record label deliberately
He deserves some credit, in my opinion he single-handedly started this new revolution.