Going Digital!

By: K. Cannick (Makin' It Magazine)

Not too long ago the only way an artist had a chance of reaching a national audience was to get signed to one of the four major record labels. Even though the development of affordable DAW (Digital Audio Workstations) such as ProTools, Sonar and CoolEdit Pro gave independents the power to produce their own music, the problem of fulfillment still remained. Without a major record label to press, promote and distribute your music, you were still dead in the water.

In 1999 the music industry would forever be rocked by the effects of Napster. This simple peer to peer file sharing network was the first glimpse into this digital age in which we now reside. Widespread media coverage further promoted the service while popularizing the little know MP3 file format with the general public. Though Napster was eventually thwarted by the RIAA, a slew of others would step up to take its place including, audiogalaxy, Morpheus and bit torrent.

Where you once had competing digital audio formats such as Real Audio, Liquid Audio and WMA, the MP3 now reigns supreme. The MP3 has since become a part of everyday life. You can now play MP3's on car stereos, iPods, DVD players, PDA's, cell phones and many other consumer electronics. The widespread use and compatibility of the MP3 format has made it a popular medium for pirated music and illegal file sharing.

Though this may spell big trouble for the major labels, it has broken down the final barriers that restrained the reach of independent artists. MP3 files are portable, widely compatible and deliver near CD quality audio at small sizes. For the savvy artists Pressing, Distribution and Promotion are still a factor, but no longer a problem. Since the music is in a digital form you can distribute it to millions of people around the world easily without incurring the cost of pressing up all those copies. Utilizing sites like MySpace, Youtube and Friendster, any artist can easily carve out a nice niche for his music in this global marketplace.