The New Ground is the Underground

Just in case you've been locked in a cave for the last five years, here's a news flash for ya! The internet has changed the way we find, distribute, listen to, and discover music. With the constant emergence, and hype, of Web 2.0, music has now taken a different phase into the future...the community. Artists like Fink, Spoon, and The Strange Fruit Project, are ones I would have never have found if hadn't been for the online music community. Thanks to the people of VIRB, PureVolume, and PitchFork media, now the everyday cave dweller can be on the cutting-edge of what we call the "underground" of music. We can vote on songs, discover music, sign up for shows, and become not only our favorite group's real life street team, but their virtual one as well. Promotion has taken a whole new level! Artists have not only embraced Web 2.0, they have now included the everyday fan into renixing their art. It's what we call remixable media. On Beck's last album, he leaked tracks on the peer-to-peer networks and allowed his fans to not only download the his music, but remix it and re-upload it to the network for distribution. Now he's going to release the top remixes on an underground LP for everyone to enjoy. That's Web 2.0 at it's best! Not only does the music community win, but the artist does as well.