Commentary - Digital technology can help music

Let me explain. Because my band isn’t well-known, we rely on creative and innovative ways to get people to listen to our sound. Affordable, off-the-shelf recording equipment gives us the ability to create and mix our own tracks without having to schedule expensive studio time at professional facilities.

But more important, the Internet has given us a unique opportunity to reach out to an infinite number of potential fans and labels. Web sites such as MySpace and YouTube give us the chance to upload our music and even videos. Every day, tens of thousands of people go to these sites and others like them, looking for the next hot band.

Internet word-of-mouth and viral marketing have the ability to drive new fans to a group’s Web site where songs can be legally downloaded and CDs purchased directly. For bands such as mine that are starting out and trying to rise above the fray, this is the only way to grow a fan base quickly and even make a living.

We don’t even need a contract with a major recording label. Sounds great, right? But these new digital possibilities are also the root of the problem, because major record labels feel threatened by them. So they’re trying to get their friends in Congress to limit and restrict these new technologies.

The labels like the way things have always been, where only a small fraction of the very talented groups performing professionally ever get a recording deal and access to a broad audience. Even though this model limits the variety of music and art that can be out there, the record labels want to keep it this way, because they make a killing on theses contracts. The independent music model, using new digital technologies, doesn’t compute with their antiquated business model.

But what they don’t understand is that their business can only flourish with our success. The greater variety of up-and-coming artists there are out there, the more they benefit from helping them get to the next level. For example, in the 1980s the only way many artists could be heard was to record mix tapes and distribute them to friends. Many artists in hip-hop made a name for themselves before they were even signed through their success on the street.

The labels should recognize that we’re at a similar point in music history. Digital technology can help their businesses — not hurt them.

Satellite radio is a great example of how new technologies have opened people — and even business — to more possibility and opportunity. Subscribe, and listen commercial-free to hundreds of bands, DJs and others that would otherwise never be heard from. Just because it’s not played by your favorite FM station or on MTV, doesn’t mean that there isn’t talent out there worth hearing. The best part is satellite radio lets us test our sound on air virtually free of charge.

This is a stark contrast to the large majority of those bands that are lucky enough to land a recording contract, yet are paid a modest advance against sales, and never actually sell enough CDs to recoup the label’s investment. These groups often quickly fade from sight. New technologies offer hope and huge opportunity for new artists.

I hope a label picks us up and signs us to a deal. I hope we get booked on more and more tours across the country. I hope we make a name for ourselves and our music is heard by our fans everywhere. I worry, though, that our dreams will never be realized because along with the financial burdens of starting up a band, we’re fighting a lobbying campaign from the record labels.

Artistic freedom is at risk and it needs to be protected.

Johnnie Colleton is a singer, guitarist and songwriter for the San Francisco-based band The Bonedrivers and member of the Digital Freedom Campaign.