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IT may not be every musician's dream -- every musician's dream is to play a gig where they enter through the front door -- but it's certainly every songwriter's dream: Getting it out there, all over the world, the ultimate demo tape.
In the past year and a half, the online music-download site mp3.com has blossomed mightily, from an inside joke among deeply wired techheads to a mainstream marketing tool for musicians of all stripes. The Eagles are on mp3.com, for god's sake.
And there are Hawaii artists doing well -- very well -- on mp3.com. We'll get to them. First, see "Wading through mp3.com" below for some techno-babble for the uninitiated. Fast-forward if you're already wired ...
... You're back? OK, there are two Hawaii-related artists who are rising stars on mp3.com, and chances are you've never heard of them, unlike other local MP3 artists like Keali'i Reichel and Coconut Joe, who already have a following.
Heard of DJ Spyhunter or Dyonisos? Thought not. You can link to them at mp3.com, though.
DJ Spyhunter is the nom-de-tech of British ex-pat Kim Pimmel, now a Honolulu resident. Pimmel/Spyhunter is so popular he recently charted at No. 17 overall on mp3. Not bad, when you consider there are more than 250,000 original compositions to choose from on mp3 so far. On Friday, his "Glowsticks 101" continued to rule the Hawaii charts.
"I don't know why it climbed so high. It's strange," mused Pimmel. "There's a big community out there. It tapers off, and then it drops off."
MP3 artists are able to keep close tabs on how they're doing. They can access an "artist administration" page that provides blow-by-blow bar charts of how many people are accessing their songs, and for what reason.
Pimmel's style is categorized as "trance." He started out at "raves," playing electro-funk techno-rhythms, highly processed must-dance big beats that keeps kids a'jumping. "Kind of like Jennifer Lopez's music without the vocals," explained Pimmel, who's in his early 20s."I grew up in England," said Pimmel (who has a mid-Atlantic accent) "and raves there are second nature. Here, it's mostly underground."
It takes money to buy high-ticket equalizers, synthesizers and digital samplers, and Pimmel taught himself to make do with lesser technology.
But as a computer-systems major at the University of Hawaii, Pimmel found computerized music creation relatively easy.
In general, trance-music dominates the mp3.com charts, which probably says something about the demographics of the average MP3 listener.
"It's sort of OUR thing, and it took off," said Pimmel. "I've been on mp3 a year now and it's changed a lot already in that time. It's gone a long way.
"The biggest thing is the technology. You need a good sound card, that's the biggest hurdle, and a good studio recording to start with. For me, everything is computer-based already so it was easy to transfer it. The limitation is the sound quality isn't as high as recorded music, at least not yet."
What Pimmel likes best about MP3 is the way "it bypasses the red tape of recording labels. You're responsible for your own product. The key is self-marketing, to be web-savvy. I use portals like Yahoo! and add links to my site.
"There are CD burners everywhere. The coolest thing I've heard back is that people are burning my stuff on CD and playing it in clubs."
Pimmel's music has also been featured in RealAudio "webcasts" on online radio shows. "The technology is called shoutcast, streaming mp3. Very cool," said Pimmel.
The hobby has had an unexpected payoff.
"I sell (a DAM CD) like, every other day, and that plus the 'payback for playback' promotion (which pays a few cents every time a song is downloaded above a minimum requirement) have brought in a surprising amount of money. Not a huge amount, but enough to pay my rent and buy some equipment."
Dyonisos is the musical identity of Dan Cowan, a Radford High graduate relocated to Seattle. His DAM CD "Haiku" is a musical journey through the valley, complete with swishing grass and sighing breezes, Pink-Floydy raging guitars and booming, brooding, grand melodies. Listening to the DAM CD sounds every bit as good as a standard-issue CD, and the work is comparable musically to any professional artist out there.Cowan, on the shady side of 40, did it all himself, recording and mixing directly into a home computer. His track "Omega Moonlight" has had a lock at No. 1 in the "Experimental" section of mp3.com for several weeks. The track sounds like a movie score for a '50s science-fiction movie.
"I found out about MP3 from a musician friend I've known for years, guitarist Dave Weiss," said Cowan. "I'm glad I jumped on the MP3 bandwagon. I've sold DAM CDs as far away as Europe and India, which for me might not have been possible had it not been for mp3.com.
"The future looks bright for both musicians and consumers. The Internet is rapidly tearing down the barriers that used to make it so difficult for aspiring musicians to make their own lucky break.
"It's a new day! We can bypass the old bureaucracies and concentrate on creating the music, knowing we can go direct to an audience we've already established."
Cowan also buys quantities of his own DAM CDs for $5 for resale locally, knowing mp3.com will reimburse him $2.50. He can set his own wholesale or retail price for the $5 CDs.
"Until widespread Internet access became available, it was up to the big record companies to choose the music we listen to, and we had to accept THEIR choices, never really giving much thought to all the 'unknown' artists who poured heart and soul into creating music that many people might have enjoyed -- only to remain trapped behind an iron curtain of obscurity," said Cowan, breathlessly.
"The music industry is a brick wall, each brick is an 'official' artist. On one side of the wall are listeners. On the other side are the unknown musicians and composers. Along comes an earthquake called MP3, and the wall is down, forever."
More than a quarter-million songs are now on mp3.com, a clearinghouse and search engine for these musical files. Wading through mp3.com
Musicians can create a slot for themselves at mp3.com through easy-to-follow online forms, upload the musical files, then add photos, tour schedules, lyrics, crosslinks and fan information. It's like having an online demo tape.
Those browsing the site can search for songs by genre or region, or check the popular "top 40" songs (or the "bottom 40" as well).
MP3 offerings are limited by law. Because MP3 bypasses the traditional venues of music production and distribution, the selection is limited to original works by the performing artists, or material in the public domain.
This means "covers," or playing songs copyrighted by someone other than the performer, aren't available. This is the reason mp3.com isn't considered a threat by artists' rights organizations such as ASCAP, although they're watching online music developments closely. You can download performers playing their own compositions. That's why MP3 is a songwriters' dream. Maybe someone big will hear it and "cover" it, and real money will come their way.
One way to earn money is through Digital Audio Media or DAM compact discs burned at mp3.com and mailed to customers. The money is split with the artist. When DAM CDs are played back on computer, an onscreen "jukebox" containing information and photos of the artist appears. As a musical calling-card it can't be beat.
The payoff? It happens occasionally. Already, some WB teen-oriented shows are pulling their soundtracks tunes from mp3.com.
Now, back to D-1's artist story ...
Burl Burlingame, Star-Bulletin
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