Internet the ultimate resource for music lovers

Digirama's Shaun (front) and Garth Davis. Picture / Fotopress

The internet has been a boon for music lovers and musicians.

Fans now have a worldwide resource to track down recordings by their favourite artists and to discover new artists. And as the major recording conglomerates have cut down on the number of bands they are prepared to promote, artists are using the web to connect directly with fans.

There are also various legal and contested download sites.

Auckland new media firm Satellite Interactive has teamed up with Seattle-based digital media specialist Loudeye to create CokeTunes, a Coca Cola-branded music download site for New Zealand consumers.

Problem is, the site uses Windows Media Player format, so is only accessible to those with Windows PCs. Mac users are also barred from the other large local download site, Digirama.

That makes things tricky for all those who bought Apple's iPod, the most popular MP3 player. Apple's iTunes music store, which has sold more than 500 million tunes since its launch, is not available for customers in New Zealand.

The fight between Microsoft, which wants to impose its standard on the world, and Apple, which has its own formats, is about digital media rights. The recording industry wants to make sure it gets paid when a track is sold, which requires finding ways to limit the potential of digital transmission.

It has little to do with the needs of artists, many of whom have embraced the internet as a way to keep old fans happy, and make new ones.

When its Yankee Hotel Foxtrot album was rejected by Reprise as "uncommercial", American alt-country band Wilco posted the whole thing for free download on its site.

The positive response helped it get a deal with new label Nonesuch, and the album confounded industry wisdom by outselling the band's previous releases.

The band still makes a wide variety of tracks available for download at wilcoworld.com.

Apart from going direct to artist sites to see what samples or tracks are available, people can use peer-to-peer services like Bittorent.

Or they could try radio.

Thousands of listeners around New Zealand and the world now tune in to Auckland student radio station 95bFM through its website. Station manager Aaron Carson says usage of the site has increased dramatically since it offered selective content for podcasting - recording as a bulk file for playing back later on a computer or MP3 player.

"We are mainly doing interviews from our On the Wire and breakfast shows, and we are also moving to do the music we broadcast locally," Carson says.

bFM was one of the first stations anywhere to stream a live feed across the internet.

"It has had an amazing uptake around the world. We get a huge number of emails saying there is nothing like it anywhere else in the world," he says.

He says bFM has always tried to offer any advances in technology to its audience.

If you want to make your own music the old-fashioned way, the web is a rich resource of training and advice.

Grey Lynn musician Taura Eruera, for example, dispenses advice on scales, rhythm and other musical fundamentals on his website, Inner Scales.