Spreading the word online

American rockers Nine Inch Nails are currently streaming their new album online, ahead of the CD’s commercial release. The latest band to promote their new album with a free track are the Icelandic group Sigur Ros.
Current musical trends in the west point to artistes giving their music away for free, trading some record sales in the hope that they’ll get more exposure from offering downloads. Motorhead, 3 doors down, Radiohead — to name a few. Perhaps it’s their own take at declining music sales. It’s now beyond industry knowledge that legal, conventional music sales have been witnessing a tremendous slump. In their own partaking in this relentless fad fuelled by illegitimate downloads, Indian bands have taken to the internet with a vengeance.
While every major label is trying to get a revenue share from every conceivable source to compensate for declining sales revenue, musicians are taking to streaming options like MySpace as never before. “Traditional music labels held a virtual monopoly on music by controlling distribution channels. Artistes had little chance of ‘getting discovered’, who’d normally have edgier and funkier music to display. The whole online download and streaming portals have reshaped the music industry by enabling a free, direct-to-consumer solution for artistes and listeners,” says Randolph Correia, lead guitarist of Pentagram and Func of Shaair+Func. Pentagram streams songs from their albums on their website.
On the other hand, Delhi rockers Parikrama have been pioneers of sorts in the case of streaming music online, starting it up way back in 1997. “It’s evolved into such a form of media, part entertainment and part communications. So effective are websites at connecting with fans that it could change the dynamics of the music industry. With Parikrama, we do not want to restrict ourselves to releasing just CDs. No albums have been a hit for a long while now and knowing western music doesn’t entail much money, the Internet is a valuable marketing tool for musicians,” says Subir Malik of Parikrama.Check Junkyard Groove who opened for Megadeth in bangalore; Incubus and Robert Plant in Dubai; Themclones who featured in an interview on BBC Radio and the likes. All of these artists have gained a lot of exposure via the Internet (read: Myspace). With so many potential pairs of eyes and ears at your fingertips, it is becoming a necessity for any musical artiste — whether signed and selling or unsigned and hopeful — to get online.