The music industry has suffered one of the biggest disruptions caused by the internet. To be fair, they were among the first and hardest hit businesses whose revenues and revenue model were undercut by the profound and historical human desire to share the things they love. In this case, music.
So I like pointing out how the new rules are working, you know, to shed some good vibes on the topic, to start whistling a new tune you might say.
With the advent of podcasting in late 2004, coincided the “need” for music to accompany those podcasts. Music even more so than GE, brings good things to life, and adding music to the soundtrack of one’s audio and video podcasts adds a powerful third dimension. People really want to use the music that is already in their heads, but that is illegal, assuming it is a mainstream song – which is how it got inside someone’s head. Independent artists are creating kick ass songs, but have a hard time finding fans.
So the Podsafe Music Network was born. Here’s how it works: musicians upload the songs they want to share. When a podcaster finds a song s/he uses, she provides a link on the podcast page and reports it back on the site, which automatically notifies the artist.
The Result?
Podcast quality goes up. Artists get free exposure to whole new markets. Some podcasters and listeners even buy the music. No laws are broken. As the saying goes, “How cool is that?” In fact, some podcasters have built a career for themselves simply by featuring podsafe artists, who in turn have built successful careers for themselves too. Check out Dave’s Lounge and Matthew Ebel.
I recently used a song for my Dad’s funeral video. Here is what I heard back from the musician, Ken Kurland:
I am very touched that you used my song “Goodbye” in the beautiful video of your father’s funeral service. When I saw the picture of your father at the end of the video, I felt very moved. I named the song “Goodbye” because it reminded me of my feelings towards my own father when he passed away. I’m honored that my music, in its small way, has became a part of your own family history. Thank you. – Ken Kurland
And here’s what I heard back from the Shanghai Restoration Project after I used one of their songs in a Beach Walks with Rox episode:
Hi Rox, Dave Liang, producer of the Shanghai Restoration Project here. Just wanted to say thanks so much for featuring the song “Preface” in Beach Walk #598. It was really neat seeing the song set to your video (your dog is an incredible swimmer). Anyway, both Di and I are glad that you were touched by the music and are now hooked on your video blog (congrats on the three Vloggies). Thanks so much for the kind words and support, and keep up the great work. All the best, Dave
This is the way the internet works now. You share what you have with others. They tell their friends about you. Eventually, people do buy things, and, they form relationships that have all kinds of lasting value. You can also check these other sites for podsafe or Creative Commons-licensed music:
Ioda Promonet
Ariel Publicity
Jamendo
Do follow the funeral link to listen to Ken’s beautiful music. Then watch this unplanned, unscripted, accidental video from our Beach Walks program that has become one of my favorites.
Beach Walk 598 – Come Join with Me
You can follow and connect with Roxanne on 
You can follow and connect with Shane on 
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
I’ve received similar reactions from artists whose music I used in my videos. The nice this is that some of them in turn embedded the video on their site or blog, thereby completing a little circle of cross-promotion. I guess just like music can give an extra dimension to video, the artist who wrote the song probably sees their own music in a new (unexpected?) light when used as a soundtrack.
Podcasts have also completely changed the way I listen to music. There’s so much great fresh music out there that I mostly listen to podcasts now and don’t often feel the need to actually purchase and own a song. It’s more like a continuous stream of new music. Our old music collection – ripped from CDs to an iPod a few years ago – suddenly seems kind of stale. The only question is how artists are going to earn some revenue in this model.
I dig the PMN, but we really need to tell Adam Curry—he still owns that site, right?—that it’s in desperate need of a redesign, especially the search engine. Surely, Mevio hasn’t fired all its webmonkeys yet…
@Dave – I agree. The PMN was thrown together so quickly several years ago, and wasn’t well designed from the beginning.
I believe that’s one of the reasons why it seems to suffer from lack of use and attention. It is such a great idea and could grow into something so much bigger and brighter than it is if it was re-designed and re-built from scratch by a talented designer and development team that really understands Social Networks and Media.
@Shane – Sounds like a job for Bare Feet Studios
Update from the beach: we ran into friends from Minneapolis today who are visiting Hawaii; one of the things they shared was having purchased the Shanghai Preservation Project music (see post above) which they were listening to on the iPod. Another circular transaction via the social web!