Editorial

The internet, to some, is considered to be on the best and worst things to happen to music. Musicians are now able to put their music out and create a small fanbase based solely off of MP3 downloads and utilizing resources like Blogspot, Facebook and Myspace. However, the music industry has seen better days. Record sales have hit all time lows, and your favorite rappers album remains on the shelf when it is gaining thousands of downloads on a hip-hop blog. The fans may enjoy a little free music here and there, but where does supporting the artist start and supporting the music end?
It's the early 1990s, and your a young rapper trying to get his name out. Lets say you just battled some kid named Nas and destroyed his career in sixteen bars. However, this happened in a New York basement...the kid in Wyoming who is bumping Illmatic everyday will never know that there is a skilled rapper who trumped Nas. Lets say you have a mixtape ready with multi-syllabic rhyme schemes and mind-blowingly abstract concepts that would completely change the shape of hip-hop. Every record label has turned it down, and you resort to illegal activities. Fast forward to 2009, you are a young rapper who battled another skillful emcee, and have the same brilliant mixtape. Yeah, the record labels turned it down, but you post it on your blog. The downloads and word of mouth spread, and it sparks the music industry's interest. Boom, you're signed to a full-fledged record label.
There's a double-edged sword, however. Album sales are tanking, and people have lost interest in actually buying music. A society devoted to convenience, many have compromised for the internet's easy way of accessing music. As shameful as it is to illegally download music, many artists are now putting their work out for free, just because of the sheer word of mouth it can gather, and the wonders it can do for ones career. Charles Hamilton, an up and coming rapper, built his career on the internet. He released a mixtape every week in a campaign called "Hamiltonization". He is now one of the more exciting new acts in hip-hop. Wale, Kid Cudi and Drake have used the same method, only to a lesser extent.
So should artists focus on making good music and forget about the money aspect? There are so many options for promoting, downloading and listening to music on the internet, that even the artists themselves have put the ethics argument aside. This may be the next revolution in the artform, but the end of the consumer side of it.