The Human Genome Project was a scientific breakthrough that worked to identify all of the approximate 20,000-25,000 genes within human DNA. From this, scientists hoped to identify certa
in genes and their expression qualities. Pandora, shown by a screenshot to the left, essentially accomplished the same thing with music back in 2000. As described on Pandora’s website, “A group of musicians…set out to capture the essence of music at the most fundamental level… by assembling literally hundreds of musical attributes or "genes" into a very large Music Genome. Taken together these genes capture the unique and magical musical identity of a song.” These dedicated listeners focused on every part of the song ranging from the melody, to instrumentation, orchestration, along with many others. Pandora emphasizes that its not about what the band looks like or genre they are put in by somebody else’s standards, its about the actual sound of the music you are listening to. With this new technology listeners can create a free account, accessible from any computer, which stores customizable, specific “stations” to each listener’s personal taste. For instance, by creating a Norah Jones Station, listeners are now streamed endless music that has similar “musical genomic makeup” playing artists such as Dave Matthew’s Band, Alanis Morrisette, and smaller, lesser known artist, Corinne Bailey Rae. Not only are listeners introduced to a variety of music, but the artist name, song title, and album name are displayed as well. I have found Pandora to have replaced the FM radio technology within my home that I traditionally used, but I am also able to use Pandora via my Blackberry. It is just as free as FM radio, without any commercials or annoying disc jockeys, and best of all, it has an endless catalogue extending past your repetitive weekly Top 20.In addition to the revolutionary Music Genome Project, another popular online destination, MySpace.com, has been making waves within the industry regarding the way music is being heard and seen by consumers. Globally popular social networking giant, MySpace.com announced the launch of “MySpace Transmissions, a program [designed to] empower top recording artists with a new platform to create and distribute exclusive video content available for viral distribution and audio tracks available for purchase in the U.S.” Essentially, the millions of MySpace community members are now able to appreciate a band or artist differently by having pay-per-view access to behind the scenes in recording studio sessions or exclusive video Q&A’s with the artist. Already becoming one of the dominant communication mediums of today’s youth, MySpace has now created an intimacy level that was non-existent before.
I am greatly moved when introduced to the chemistry of a band, their life stories, and other intimate facets of artists that may not otherwise be available via compac
t disc or just listening to their music elsewhere. The band pictured to the right, Sublime, released a video/DVD called, “Stories, Lies, Tales & Exaggerations” which is a documentary comprised of hours of home footage and personal testimonials from each of the band members describing their strife and struggles as well as their career development. This new found personal intimacy created a lifelong Sublime fan out of me and has given me a greater understanding and appreciation for their music. This is what MySpace Transmissions is attempting to capture from their enormous, online community. In fact, recording artist James Blunt, who was one of the first artists to be featured by MySpace Transmissions said, “[It] allows me the great opportunity to connect directly with my fans. Playing my new songs with the guys in the band and having fans able to hear them in a new and unique way is always what I am looking for. I am excited to be the first to launch this with MySpace.” All and all, Transmissions represents a new medium for music to be seen and heard, but above all, it is using “Unique music programming [combined with] new business models that benefit labels, bands, and fans.”Only a mere seven years ago, the revolutionary iPod was introduced from Apple which changed the way we all will store and listen to our music forever. Within those seven years however, musical mediums such as Pandora and MySpace Transmissions have surfaced and opened up the industry’s ears allowing us to hear and see our favorite artists, past and present a little differently. As an avid musical enthusiast, I am getting chills down my back writing this looking forward to the next seven years to come and the exciting technologies that will emerge.
1 comment:
Well done. I'd never even heard of Pandora radio before reading this post. I'm not sure how well it will work for me if I can only pick one artist at a time to base my listening off. But, still, it seems like a definite step in the right direction. It's almost incredible to think of the progress made in the music industry over the past seven years. I still remember getting a Sony MP3 player back in middle school. It held around one hundred songs, which at the time seemed ridiculous. Now, anything that holds less than a thousand songs seems like a waste of money.
If nothing else, Pandora offers the opportunity for a listener, like myself, to avoid the incessant trash that plagues the FM airways. We can actually listen to the music we want, rather than what the station wants us to listen to.
The other half of your post, devoted to myspace transmissions, is also very informative. In the past, we had to purchase full DVD sets to get the kind of experience that myspace is now offering for what I presume is free.
Obviously you don't need me to regurgitate the content of your post to you any further, and I'm sure you understand the vast potential for both of these mediums. I honestly had never heard of either program before reading this post. I'm always looking for new music (within my realm of taste) to listen to, so I think that I will at least use Pandora sometime in the near future.
The only issue I have with your post is with the final paragraph. The whole post is very well done up to the end, but the final paragraph fails as any sort of conclusion. I think the idea of what you want to say is there, but it feels rushed in its current form, almost like you were just trying to find a way to wrap the esasy up. I think you should go back and try to say something more in the ending. I can't tell you what you should say specifically, but perhaps a little bit more of reflection, as well as a more solid prediction for what you think the outcome of the new technologies will be.
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