From time to time we see the emergence of a scene. A group of bands coming out of a particular area of the county, all with the same sound. It is often cultivated in the under-ground club scene; more often than not making it's way to the fore front after one of it's acts gets signed with a major label. The glam scene was honed and perfected on Sunset; grunge in Seattle; punk in London. Where will the next scene be? If you ask me it is right where you are sitting. The computer.
 |
| create the scene |
It seems to me that music is not endemic to a particular area anymore. With the advent of technology we are all exposed to new sounds, and acts on a daily basis. 20 years ago living in NYC your exposure to glam rock would have been very limited; simply for the fact that the scene was out on the west coast. Now with tools like youtube, twitter, and facebook, bands have the ability to go far beyond their geographical reach; infecting us all one viral minute, after another.
I recently opened a twitter account (@vahlemusicrant), and I have been getting followers from all across the country (granted I don't have many). One of my followers is a band that I had never heard of until they started following me.
Digital Summer is a band that is using the internet for self promotion and exposure. 20 years ago I would have had a very rare chance of hearing these unsigned talents based out of AZ. Now they are one of my favorite acts; simply for clicking a button. CHECK THEM OUT!
More and more bands have the ability to do work from their home base, and get their music out there. Granted this opens the door for tons of untalented folks to get exposure, however it makes it all worthwhile when you come across a true gem like
Digital Summer. So sit back and wait for the next big music scene to hit your computer screen. Hell, you can even create your own.
We should also take into account that the internet has crippled the major labels because of their inability to A. anticipate the technology's impact and B. adapt to the changes that have occurred. The genie is out of the bottle and labels are not doing much any more to sign bands and take risks, which is why rock isn't getting any play, or marketing push. Let's face it, if it weren't for the labels pushing the glam/grunge bands, the bands would have never hit mainstream and paved the way for new alternative acts. There's also the fact that MTV is dead and the video is long gone. Videos gave us a chance to put faces to the sounds, David Lee Roth, Axel Rose, Kurt Cobain, etc. etc. had million dollar videos to further distribute their image.
ReplyDeleteThere are scenes out there, far more than we can imagine because its all fractured and in so many different places occurring at once. But the dream of being that stadium filling mega rock star died in the '90s.