The Arctic Monkeys release their second album this may, just came to know that. Now it’s not that I really like their music or anything, because of which I’m saying this. Well, yes, I do like some of their songs like I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor, but the reason why I mention them now is totally different.
It’s to demonstrate the power of the Internet as far as music is concerned in the present times. It’s no secret that P2P, and even legal download services like iTunes have revolutionized the music business. That, coming on the heels of a major announcement from EMI saying they’re ready to release DRM-free music online. As Steve Jobs said, it makes sense because the CDs don’t have DRM anyway (Sony’s attempt at it was blasted when it turned out to be malware).
It’s not even about that really. It’s about the increasing power of social networking sites like MySpace, where some Monkey fans created a MySpace page for the Arctic Monkeys, and shot them to fame. A band, which never had a deal with a record company, took the charts by storm simply because some fans uploaded the music from their concerts. And now, they’ve been signed up by a label, and are releasing their second album.
Theirs is not the only case. Lily Allen (heard Smile?), too launched her career with the help of MySpace. Yet, there are some things which still languish in the dark ages. For example, even though EMI will be releasing non-protected songs, that doesn’t apply to their Beatles catalog, all because of that stupid trademark dispute between Apple Inc and Beatle’s Apple Records. I wonder though, how long will that be. Recently, UK charts were updated to include results from online downloads, unlike the earlier system in which only physical CDs were considered. Imagine the change which may see in our music landscape, if that happens everywhere. Online music IS the future, and it’s coming…