week 122 / postmodern internet music

Went to a Monthly Music Hack Day, reinstalled Ubuntu, worked on The Future of Music.  Also learned about Hip Hop Transcriptions, which made my day.

I’ve been thinking about music on the internet, which is sort of the area where I’ve made my living.  It feel like the high wave that began in 1999 when Napster became the killer app for the internet has finally* broken and rolled back.  We still, in 2015, have record labels.  Everyone thought that they were dead – and then they invested in Spotify, and Jimmy Iovine is fronting Apple Music, and somehow nothing has changed.

In music, the workers have long since controlled the means of production.  But distribution on The Internet requires that you own your hosting**, which is a pain even for nerds.

Is there a way to elide the hosting process (maybe through AWS?), allow people to upload their music, give them a gorgeous player, and make it embedable?  If I am paying for my hosting, no one can tell me to take it down….and AWS offers a year free, as I recall.

* Yes, I am fully aware that I’m an old and nostalgic person.

** Bandcamp may save us all. Or Drip, for that matter.