Technology in music series; (part 7) the internet – friend, foe or just a tool? (II)

Todd Rundgren is another very technical fellow, an early adapter of most things technological. In the early 1990s, he presaged the way the music business would shake out a decade later:

There will be a lot of hidden channels for people who aren’t traditionally musicians, or haven’t signed a record deal with somebody – in other words, they don’t have a company bankrolling the record. The cost of equipment is coming down further and further. You get yourself an ADAT and a couple of synthesizers around the record companies. You could go to some kind of equivalent of public access on the data lines.

This revelation came about as Rundgren began to seriously reevaluate his career. In 1992, after 19 years with Warner Bros. (through Bearsville Record), a half dozen or so moderate hits, a gold record early on, and a reputation as both an innovator and a pain in the ass to deal with professionally, the label and Rundgren came to a parting of the ways. Ever the fan of technology, he had been actively involved in the internet as early as 1985. He saw it as a way to disseminate his information, and anticipated the concept of a FAQ site: “I’d rather have someone dial up my computer terminal, punch in the questions, and the answers would all be online.”

His adventures in technology took him to an experiment with interactive music on the abortive CD-I format and pioneering work in desktop video, and finally led him back to the internet. During spring 1997, he opened up a website that, for an annual subscription, made his music available as he made it, and offered access to online chats and e-mail messages. He found a lot of things attractive about the idea. “I can write music all the time, because I have the assurance that it will get distributed and heard,” he said. “I also show up in the chat room just to see how everyone’s experience of the site is going and what it is they’d like to have happen.”

Rundgren’s idea became a recurring theme in the late 1990s and the early years of the 21st century, at the height of internet giddiness, when investors would throw money at anything that required a modem and had dot com in the name, and web music companies had public capital to burn. “I’m leaving the major label system and there are hundreds of artists who are going to follow me,” said Courtney Love.

There’s an unbelievable opportunity for new companies that dare to get it right… . Since I’ve basically been giving my music away for free under the old system. I’m not afraid of wireless, MP3 files, or any other threats to my copyrights. Anything that makes my music more available to people is great.

Prince changed his name to a glyph and the Artist Formerly Known as Prince set up a website, the NPG Music Club. There, members could download unreleased songs and videos. He also sold his album Crystal Ball to a quarter of a million fans, more than half of them directly to the public through his website. “People are under the collective hallucination that you have to sell X amounts of records to be a success,” he said, noting that he made more money selling 25 percent of the volume of a major label and keeping all of the profits than he had under the record company’s system.

“The exciting part of music on the internet is the impact it could have on delivery systems,” added David Bowie, another early adapter via BowieNet and several other multifaceted and multifarious web presences. “Record companies may resist the web until the last minute before being forced into action. My record company isn’t exactly jumping on board, but I’m indifferent to it. You don’t have to stay with a record company forever.”

Younger bands started discovering this in a big way. “Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, the Arcade Fire, and Sufjan Stevens – not to mention Arctic Monkeys in the United Kingdom – all can thank this grassroots community for the fact that they are selling hundreds of thousands of albums, noted Nettwork Records president Terry McBride.