Music lovers go online

The internet is turning into a great address for musicians as well as music lovers. TOI goes online
The New Age of music is here. Forget tapes or even CDs, music on the net is a great boon for listeners and bands alike. The net is also allowing fans to interact with their favourite bands, taking the experience of listening to music to an entirely different level.
Many artistes are using the internet to its fullest potential. Gavin Harrison, drummer of Porcupine Tree met singer and bass player O5ric on a social networking website. They recorded an online album titled Drop, which was a massive hit in 2007. Gavin has also written two drumming instructional DVDs, which have been well received. Jalebee Cartel was one of the first Indian bands to stream a live concert on the internet in 2009.
The website that showcased the concert received at least 10,000 hits. Sarod player Bhargav Mistry, recently, recorded a lounge music album with Italian pianist Corrado Rossi. Guitarist Sanjay Joseph of Slumdog Millionaire fame has been putting up all his work online and interacting with his fans. New Delhi based band Them Clones offered fans a chance to choose the best songs for their album in 2009. The fans could go online to the website, listen to two minute clips of each song and vote for their favourites.
The fact of the matter is: everything is online now. And musician Randhir Dange agrees, adding that both musicians and listeners are getting to communicate using this medium. “The variety of music available online gives listeners a number of genres to listen to. Musicians are creating recordings and putting up their music online. People are even enrolling in virtual schools, where they can learn different instruments like the drums, guitar and piano, to name only a few.”
Designer and musician Bhargav Mistry feels the internet is no longer the means to an end. “The internet has now become a base for musicians to interact with each other. It has contributed immensely to the coming together of talented artistes.” Mistry, a sarod player, made an album with Italian pianist Corrado Rossi. “We sent our music to each other online. We ended up making an entire album of lounge music combined with Indian classical and sarod.” Mistry is already in talks with an American musician to create similar singular pieces.
Rock band Agnee has been releasing its songs online, so that fans have a chance to listen to the music and interact with the band. Mohan, lead singer of the band, tells us, “It’s a great way to get people involved in our music. We launched an application on our website where people can send in lyrics, songs that we can add to our repertoire. We are also using it to find singers who can perform with us onstage. So far, we have more than 500 entries and some of the participants are singing the songs better than me.”
Dev Bhatia, Manager of Indian electronic group Jalebee Cartel, says online music is the future for all artistes. “A lot of Indian bands have realised the potential that the internet offers and are using it to their advantage. A lot of Indian websites are selling and streaming music of Indian bands online. Even music companies have started converting their music catalogue to the online format.” Sounds good, especially for music lovers who want to hear the best of music every minute of their lives.
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