A Music Lover's Guide to the Internet

by Greg Knollenberg

The Internet contains a staggering amount of information about the music industry for both music professionals and music fans. Online music content comes in a variety of forms including: band websites, record label websites, music reviews, live music events, concert information, audio sites, online music stores, fan sites, music ezines, music clubs, radio websites and music-related organizations. Those who have not yet explored what the Web has to offer in the realm of music will be surprised to find they can hear previews of upcoming music, find the latest music news from a large number of resources, search for upcoming events in their vicinity, find information on specific music genres of music and keep up to date on the music industry. This article will provide a general overview of the types of music resources available on the Web, and demonstrate how to find them.

Finding Music Sites

The most common method used to find online music content is to use one of the major search engines. More information on using search engines can be found in the article, "Effective Use of Search Engines." In addition to typing in your keywords in the search engine and hoping an excellent music site or an exact article that matches your keywords turns up in your results, you can also access the special sections of reviewed or recommended music sites which most search engines provide. In addition to the search engines, you might also try some of the music meta-sites as a starting point in your search for the music information you are seeking. Music meta-sites are sites that aim to point you in the direction of music content available online and contain databases of thousands of music-related websites. Some excellent music meta-sites include AllMusic and Discogs. You can find links to more music databases here.

Artists and Bands

Finding information on an artist or band is very easy with the Internet. Most popular commercial artists have their own websites and there are plenty of articles about musicians that can be found online in entertainment and music sites. Examples of some artists who own websites include Bob Marley, Vince Gill, Matchbox Twenty and Hootie and the Blowfish. Smaller bands can also be found online and usually have a website which they use to help sell their music, advertise their tour dates and spread their message. The Rolling Stone Network has an extensive artists section with in-depth information on hundreds of artists, including the artist's biography, discography, audio previews, and other pertinent information.

There are also many fan sites for bands. These sites may contain information you can't find elsewhere, such as gossip, local appearances and unique experiences from a fan's point of view. They are frequently set up on a social network or free service. Some of them may include information that is difficult to validate.

Record Labels

A majority of the record labels have their own websites. These sites contain content on what the label publishes, information about the artists and the music, contact information and online ordering. Some larger record labels have a large amount of content on their site. Some even run contests, special sales and audio previews to increase traffic and music sales. Examples of record label websites include Atlantic Records and Virgin Records. You can find links to more record label websites on Writers Write^® Songwriting.

Sites with Reviews, New Releases and Interviews

Nearly every music magazine in print also has an online counterpart, which often contains more content than can be found in the print version of the publication. Large online sites with interviews, news and reviews include those of Rolling Stone Network, All-Music Guide, MTV, and CMJ Music Magazine. Other magazines with high-content websites include Billboard Online, Entertainment Weekly, E Online and Vibe Online.

Internet users can find scores of sites in addition to these covering all kinds of music genres such as jazz, reggae, rap, alternative and heavy metal. For classical music try the Classical Net website; for country music visit the sites CMT.com and The Boot; for rock music look at Loudwire, and for Blues visit Blues Access Online and Bluesfest Central. Other music sites offering a variety of music content include: City Cabaret, Emusician.com, Harmony Central, Latin Music Online, Musicians Network, NME and Only New Age Music. This just grazes the surface of the music magazines and ezines that can be found on the Internet. To find more music publications use the search engines and meta-music searches.

Finding Live Events Offline and Online

The Internet is a great resource for finding information on upcoming concerts and it is fast becoming a resource for live events, including concerts. Pollstar, a concert database, is a valuable online reference for upcoming concerts, as is Live Nation, which provides listings of upcoming concerts and sells tickets. If you are looking to purchase your concert tickets online you can also visit Ticketmaster.com, which also provides a searchable directory of upcoming performances. In addition to providing databases and schedules of live appearances offline, the Web is also great place to attend live interviews with artists and bands. An Artist's or Band's own website will likely provide details on tour dates and live appearances.

Songwriting

There are not nearly as many songwriting sites out there as writing sites, but there are several good ones. Sites such as The Muse's Muse and our songwriting section are targeted solely at songwriters. Songwriting sites provide songwriters with information, articles, links to web resources, newsletters and interactive discussion boards. More information for songwriters can be found on sites of popular songwriting organizations such as BMI, SESAC and ASCAP. In addition to these resources, more songwriting links can be found at Writers Write^® Songwriting and on Yahoo's songwriting section.

Audio Online

The amount of music and audio content online is rapidly expanding. For starters, Broadcast.com can direct you to online audio broadcasts and Internet Radio provides a comprehensive guide to Internet Radio Stations. A unique site, Pandora, lets you listen to music online and offers many channels of different types of music. Another great audio site is SoundCloud, where you can listen to songs and upload your own.

The Music Business

In addition to the sites mentioned above there are numerous sites devoted to the business end of music which help keep those in the music business up to speed. The Hollywood Reporter provides music-related business news; however, a fee is charged to access the complete articles. The TAXI website provides business-to-business industry classifieds. Another resource for music business information is Music Connection Magazine. ASCAP, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, has a large website with details on the music business, as well as links to other resources. The Music Publishers Associations (MPA) website provides resources for music publishers. You can also keep track of the bestselling albums and singles online with Charts All Over the World, and Billboard.com. Some good music business resources are the National Endowment for the Arts website, the National Music Foundation, the Recording Academy and the Recording Industry Association of America.

Shopping

Online shopping holds several advantages over the traditional music shopping experience, by providing the consumer with options typically unavailable in the physical shopping environment. Some of these new options include previewing the music on your computer, reading reviews of the albums and songs, looking through the bestselling albums in each genre and receiving email notification when new music by your favorite artists is available. Some of the major online stores include eMusic, iTunes, Google Play and Amazon.com. In addition to the online retailers, many of the record companies and labels also sell music online.

Future Development

Recent developments in music online may ultimately change the way music is bought and sold. Music lovers will eventually be able to purchase and download individual tracks and save them on a special player; we may very well see the end of CDs as they are currently marketed and purchased. However, this may take several years. One thing that has changed is the power the consumer has. Most online music stores and music sites allow you to preview an album in real audio or at least certain portions of certain tracks on the album. At a minimum, this has increased the importance of the Internet to the music industry and has dramatically increased the level of Internet spending and development that is taking place in the music business. If you are seeking to stay current with the music industry, the Web will definitely need to say high on your checklist. And if you are a music fan there is no easier or faster way to access music information; it's all right there at your fingertips.

**Greg Knollenberg is the CEO of Writers Write, Inc.

Return to the November 1998 issue of The IWJ.