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This document
Copyright 1997, i5ive communications inc.

June 27, 1997
The End of Live Music?

Lollapalooza, and R.O.A.R festivities having problems with ticket sales? Does this mark the coming end of live music? Or the rise of the artists like Future Sound of London who have toured completely via "cyberspace" in the past. Nope.

The antics behind Lollapalooza has been its biggest problem and considering I hadn't even heard of R.O.A.R before reading about their lack of ticket sales, I'd blame their troubles on lack of publicity. In the case of the "cybercast" and virtual tours these will simply enhance and expand our viewing opportunities; allowing the fan another avenue to enjoy his or her favorite artist.

Of course I'd much prefer to see a concert in a small informal venue where you might talk to the band following the show then watching them on Saturday Night Live. And I'm not sure a "cybercast" concert could be anything more than a glorified performance on Saturday Night Live.

Recently here in Central Iowa, where the scene is suposed to be non-existent, the local "Alternative" station 107.5 KKDM sponsored a festival that dispite its lack of a true headliner drew 16,000 plus fans. The key to this success was good promotion, reasonable price, a mix of local and national artists, and of course good music. The music industry in general can take a lesson from this and understand that to continue their sucess in the future they need to support more then the latest one hit wonder.

So skip on the huge commercial concerts and try something that is truely alternative by supporting your local music scene.

IndieCentre
Content, content and more content. Stop here for tips on how to break into the music business. Things like how to start your own label, where to press your CDs, and much more information invaluable to the independent artist.

Guide to Independent Labels
The Partial Guide to Independent Labels: If content minus the fluff is what you're looking for then this is the place. It contains a list of almost every independent label in the modern world, and some information about each one.

Pillowfight RecordViews
Wow! The look and feel of this site is quite impressive. It's easy to use system allows the user to quickly lookup album reviews of numerous artists.

Little Town Crier mailorder & More
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181.4 Degrees from the Norm!
As my own site I'm clearly biased but what this site brings to the table is quite a bit. It contains a huge music industry contact database to help the indie artist as well as a music magazine that covers indie and commercial artists. The magazine also features monthly Brit-Pop and Hip-Hop columns.