On Music

Rollo Grady, the music-news blog, has recently posted some great interviews on the music business. First up Seth Godin, respected online marketing entrepreneur/guru, discusses his thoughts on the changes in how we discover and consume pop music, being a successful artist or music business and tribe building.

"...music labels used to be in the business of grabbing shelf space, on the radio and in the record store. Now, the music industry needs to realign and be in the business of finding and connecting and leading groups of people who want to follow a musician and connect with the other people who want to do the same."

The full interview with Seth Godin is on Rollo Grady and hes interviewed aboutthe ideas in his book Tribes in Wired Magazine.

Also on Rollo Grady is an interview with the former longtime presenter of KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic. Nick Harcourt discusses his new book Music Lust and how he was the first guy playing Coldplay in the USA. Ok, so don't hold that against him, its still an interesting chat.

"What I think is the album format is probably dead. People don’t listen to albums anymore. They just listen to songs and buy the songs they want. I think the world has to adapt to that because clearly that is how people are listening. The Internet had a lot to do with that. The iPod and MP3 players have an awful lot to do with the way people listen to music now."

Finally there's a really good chat with RCRD LBL's Peter Rojas, who I listen to every week presenting the GDGT podcast, which looks broadly at new technology and gadgets. Peter Rojas also started Gizmodo and Engadget. Yep, famous.

RCRD LBL itself is "a network of online record labels and blogs serving up fresh new music downloads and exclusive content." Its an incredible resource that is becoming an essential connection for people passionate about discovering new music. Peter Rojas talks to Rollo Grady about music blogs and the strategies that have made RCRL LBL such a success:

"You have to create something that people who really know what’s going on with music, those who are the most in touch and paying the most attention, are going to find credible and real. We can’t just throw a bunch of bands out there; its bands that we really believe in. The key is finding people with their ears to the ground, discovering great new music, kind of like A&R people."

And if you are interested in music criticism in Melbourne or Australia I'd suggest keeping an eye on Channel 31 in early March when Clem Bastow hosts Dancing About Architecture.