Mods: I believe this is the right forum for this post; please move it if necessary. To all: my apologies for the long post, and my thanks for your patience in reading it.
I remember clearly the moment I became my dad, and said to myself, “These kids and their music today!” Don’t remember what month or date it was, but I know the year and I remember where I was. Since that time, and it’s been a looooooong time, I haven’t made any real effort to keep up with what’s been happening in music. Any kind of music. Recently, however, I’ve been exposed to new(er) artists through forum posts, both here and on other forums I frequent, and my interest has been piqued. Thus, this post, which I’m dividing into roughly four categories, and in which I invite any and all information and discussion.
My musical tastes back then probably rotated around two or three major influences. I lived in the U.K. for a couple of years in the very early 80s; music trends, then and (I presume) now, varied greatly from the way they happen here in the States. I religiously read Creem magazine and followed up on lots of its “recommendations.” I came of age just as MTV was starting up, so maybe I’ve been forever imprinted with the idea that music videos are essential or at least valuable.
There isn’t, to the best of my knowledge, any music that I hate (despite my earlier “Get off my lawn!”-type statement; it was just a bad year for me in general. ). In every genre I’ve ever encountered, I’ve found something I liked and something I didn’t care for so much. Aside from the influences of the aforementioned Creem magazine, MTV, and local radio (pop, classic rock, oldies, R&B/hip-hop/rap, country, gospel - and usually only one of each, at least where I’ve lived), I mostly stuck to newer work of artists whose work I already liked. MTV videos were mainly the work of pop/radio darlings, but I also branched into what might have been called “alternative” or “adult alternative.” I also was influenced by what my friends were listening to, and the music being played in the clubs I spent far too many hours in.
I said all that to give you some background on where I’m coming from, musical-interest-wise. Now, on to my actual questions and topics of discussion. Since I can’t seem to stop the huge flow of words, I’ve tried to cut them up into digestable chunks, so as to better decipher them and actually find the questions and/or points of discussion.
1) Yeah, music videos on MTV, not so much anymore. Has YouTube “officially” taken MTV’s place, where musicians (that bother making videos for a given song) place their videos to be viewed?
a) If so, is it that I can subscribe to a given musical artist/band and maybe see all their videos, new and old, or is it just whatever I can find?
b) If not, well, I know that musicians are still making videos; I’ve seen recent ones done by new(er) bands. If YouTube isn’t the place to go, or the only place, are there other centralized places, or are we talking about visiting individual artist/band websites?
2) I am sick unto death of local radio, but there is a college station here that I tune into some of the time, and it has interesting music (I gather that’s true of most college stations, as long as one is open-minded or younger or both).
a) I’ve heard mention of online streaming radio. I have a fair idea of what that is, but what might be some good online radio stations to check out?
[INDENT]1)) My criteria here is that the station offers a variety of music (not just focusing on, say, speed metal - not that there’s anything wrong with that), that it’s a fairly well-run station (not just somebody playing his or her favorite songs haphazardly with no sense of how to “run a show”), and maybe that it’s well-established (the well-established stations, IMO, tend to be backed up by sponsorship money and thus tend to become calcified over time, turning into online versions of local radio).[/INDENT]
3) The purchasing of music these days is (or may be) largely by download, as I understand it. I don’t have an iPod (but am not averse to getting one), but I am interested in hearing what’s good and bad about them. Note that I’m mostly a homebody/hermit who’s at his computer most of his waking hours, so perhaps an iPod (or other such device) is unnecessary.
a) More importantly, what are good sources to find and purchase music (like, what’s it called, iTunes or something?)?
[INDENT]1)) I don’t mind a reasonable monthly subscription rate to have access to catalogs, but I believe when I purchase a musical download, it’s mine, to do with as I see fit forever, even when I stop paying that subscription. As you might imagine, I dislike DRM strong-arm methods quite a lot, actually.[/INDENT]
[INDENT]2)) When Napster first came on the scene, I dabbled in it, but I don’t do file-sharing any more. Live and let live is my policy, though, so if you do, more power to you; just don’t recommend such to me, please.[/INDENT]
b) While we’re on the subject of finding good sources from which to purchase music, do you know of any good sources of music recommendations?
4) Lastly, please don’t hesitate to recommend your favorites, regardless of genre or even when that music came out (if it’s 60s music I haven’t been exposed to, for instance, I’m willing to give it a fair shake). I won’t name the handful of bands I’ve recently become interested in, so as not to skew your answers. I want to come out of my self-imposed shell; thus, the exploration’s the thing. What do you like, and maybe why do you like it?
Thanks in advance to any and all responders. Know that I will value your input no matter what it is; when one is building a map, one needs to know everything.
Ready. Set. DISCUSS!