Hi all: Let me apologize a bit for the length of this post, but I'm constantly fascinated by the impact the PC and the Internet has had on music publishing.
The Science Channel (available in the United States on cable systems), had a history on the Internet which was really fascinating. One common theme throughout so many of the developments that drove innovation was the idea of allowing people the ability to enrich their lives the way they wanted to. The founder of eBay believed that buyers and sellers should determine the market and set the rules, Amazon wanted to make the experience of buying books much easier and allow greater access to many hard to find titles. Craig's List developer Craig Newmark wanted to simply allow buyers/sellers to have a free way to connect and bypass expensive newspaper classified ads, Shawn Fanning developed Napster to let his friends find an easier way to connect and download music from each other and create "networks." Facebook, myspace, et all are user defined models for creating new media outlets (users are able to share music, photos, movies etc). Youtube allows anyone with a video camera to make a movie and share it instantly with whoever wants to watch it, by passing the need for an expensive television network or tv station. Want to share your opinions? Before the Intenet, you could maybe hope for a few lines in the "letters to the editor" section of the paper, but that was it. The founder of Wikipedia wanted an online community for creating a forum for knowledge that would be essentially self policing, and content determined by the users. While the special was lengthy, and it covered a lot of turf in 2 hours, it was essentially showing how the notion of democratization in our daily lives are now because of the Internet. I've written about this before, and I'm curious about any opinions and thoughts about this process. I find it amazing that anyone with a computer, music notation program can essentially publish music at will, and give the "big boys" a run for their money. For my part, I safely assume none of the main publishers would have *any* interest in my editions. That's not to say there is a lack of interest, I get a lot of inquires about what I'm working on-- but like most huge media moguls, they're not interested in anything that doesn't reach a certain level of money. I think it's very exciting to be able to do all this, and while I'm not sure where the dust will settle on all this (distribution seems to be a big issue still for independent publishers), I'm very curious for other thoughts on this entire process. I know many here have been in music and publishing since before the advent of the Internet and PC. These developments have to be fascinating to participate in. Thanks so much Kim -- Kim Patrick Clow "Early Music enthusiasts think outside the Bachs!" _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [email protected] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
