Classic Rock Musings, Rants & Raves

The Electric Prunes (remember them?) circa 1960 something…

The more I read about the music biz, the more I realize its continued existence depends entirely on technology. Granted that’s a fairly general way of looking at it when you consider that virtually everything in music — from the instruments to the recording process to the pressing and playing of CDs — relies on technology; however, I’m talking about the “new” technology that is transforming the way consumers purchase, access, organize and listen to music. And it all starts on the Internet.

Good old classic rock is bobbing comfortably in the little river jetty that flows out onto the guteral folly of the web. Most classic rock artists have their own web sites, if there’s a need. There are tribute sites for bands left to history. The accoutrements are in and accounted for — the MySpace page, the YouTube videos, the iTune downloads. And sweeping up the mess is a vast range of classic-rock-themed web sites, reviewing releases and concerts, and even snagging interviews with guys who only talked to Circus, Creem and Rolling Stone during their prime. This is what happened to me when I wrote to About.com, and it continues today with Vintage Rock.

But classic rock sites are no match for some of the other music sites making waves and generating profits. Most of those sites are not only writing and reporting about music; they’re distributing it in one form or another. Go to pitchfork, and you get about zillion reviews of independent bands and a bunch of videos to go along with them. Seems the Internet is becoming more like TV with each passing fad. Who knows, you might see your television set on the scrap heap alongside the compact disc en route to Obsolete Island.