How the Internet Changed Music Part 4: New Artists

In his book, Outliers: The Story of Success, Malcolm Gladwell makes reference to what he calls the ‘10,000 hour rule.’ That is, to truly succeed in your chosen field, at least 10,000 hours of practice are required. Gladwell mentions The Beatles in his argument, citing their residences in both Liverpool and Hamburg as the period during which they perfected their craft. Although less well-trodden, the path to the top was much more rigid in The Beatles’ day: relentless touring and a canny choice of cover versions would build you a fan base, then release records as often as possible and tour some more. Of course, The Beatles broke the glass ceiling that had restricted all those that came before, and ended up re-writing the popular music rulebook, but their initial route to fame was still fairly conventional.

Nowadays, there are numerous ways of making it big, from televised talent shows to bedroom experimentalism. What all breaking acts will have in common though, is that the Internet will have somehow shaped their ascent to fame. Any artist worth their salt will now have, as a bare minimum, a MySpace page, and on top of that, depending on their tech-savvy, any or all of a blog, Facebook fan page, Twitter account, YouTube channel and dedicated website. Plus, thanks to sites such as SoundCloud and Divshare, it’s never been easier to share and distribute your music. Add to this the fact that sound creation and manipulation software is now readily available to all and we’re back to the common theme: the Internet has levelled the playing field and given everyone the same opportunities. Music Week writer and industry commentator Eamonn Forde has his reservations: “There’s just so much stuff out there, it’s impossible to actually hear all that because it used to be limited by resources. People had to find time to go to the studio or press up a demo CD, the cost barrier automatically weeded out the number of acts but now with GarageBand and ProTools and whatever else, people can record pretty decent sounding music for next to no money and distribute it free through SoundCloud or through MySpace or whatever else, so the overall amount of new music out there is doubling or tripling every year”.

All this must simply make it more difficult to stand out from the crowd. A few months back, I shared a lunchtime drink with rising London folk duo, The Momeraths. Comprised of friends Claire Heywood and Paolo Ruiu who met at Kingston University, The Momeraths have released EPs on indie labels, toured throughout England and seen some of their contemporaries go on to record full-length albums, but they’re finding out that the industry isn’t exactly forgiving. The pressures and commitments of band life mean they recently downsized from a quintet to the two-piece they are today, as Claire explains: “It’s easy for me and Paolo because of the way we live - we have very cheap rent. I work two days and Paolo does some teaching, and that leaves us the whole week to do whatever: rehearse, or record, or more band stuff. They were working full-time and had girlfriends so if they want to, say, go out for the evening and we have rehearsals it pulls on that as well. It’s just people wanting different things - you’re not the same at 25 as you are at 21.”

It sounds as though if you’re really committed to being an artist, sacrifices have to be made and you have to go the extra mile to set yourself apart from everyone else out there. The Momeraths are acutely aware of this, going so far as to hand-knit individual covers for the release of their first single, Crayon Colours. The recent boom in reissues has shown that there is a market for high-end physical products, normally purchased by die-hard fans of an established artist, but it’s a bold move for an up-and-coming artist. “[Because] you can hear music without buying it, you want to make that product special - like a knitted cover - hopefully that’ll be that extra little thing that makes it special to have that record. Whenever I buy a record, I like the personalisation of it,” explains Paolo.

So where does the Internet fit into all of this? In the 90s, it seemed you couldn’t buy a CD that didn’t contain a cardboard insert with pre-paid postage and a PO Box number promising regular updates about the act in question. For bigger artists, there may have even been a fan club and you could potentially meet other people who liked the band - imagine that! In 2011, any self-respecting artist is just the click of a button away. The Momeraths are regular users of the Internet: “[After] we do the busking, it’s the next port of call for people if they see you in the street”, explains Claire. “The next thing is to go on the website, download things, go onto MySpace and find out more. I used to blog a lot and then I didn’t for around five months and soon as I wrote one again, you see the stats of who’s looking at it, and on the first day there were around 90 people looking at it; you realise how important it is.”

In an age where we’re hungry for information on-demand, we expect our favourite bands to update us, to let us know when and where they’re touring, and give us previews of upcoming releases. The Internet can be a blessing and a curse for artists; it’s a fantastic way to interact with fans but those same fans have come to expect more. The artist who gives away the most for free in an attempt to connect is the winner in the short-term, but converting that into money in the bank down the road is still the principal aim. While services such as Spotify may extend an artist’s reach, the rates paid for a stream are minimal.

Whether it’s magazines, writing, listening or creating, it seems the Internet has changed the world of music completely. Its ethos means that the consumer is put first, and that’s a welcome shift in power after decades of the industry being in charge. But, as the saying goes, with great power comes great responsibility, and there is a danger that we, the public, are gorging ourselves silly without stopping to consider the long-term consequences. What’s simultaneously thrilling and terrifying is that no-one knows what’s going to happen and nobody has the answers. It’s likely that more magazines will fold, most blogs will come to nothing, physical music sales will dwindle and countless bands will toil to no avail. Those aren’t bold predictions, just a continuation of current trends, but as we head into 2011, the world of music is buzzing with possibility. The only thing we can be sure of is that whatever happens, good or bad, the Internet will be at the heart of it.

The Momeraths' new EP, Your Winter Bones, is available now at www.themomeraths.co.uk.