How it all began...

How music found its way online in the first place

Experts agree on the idea that music entered the cyber world with the convergence of several factors, mainly: digital music, personal computers, and faster Internet connections (3) (5).

Music became "digitized" with the advent of compact discs in the mid 80s; a term so ancient many young people would not know it is what CD stands for. This was the first step in music entering the cyber world, because "the music industry made it possible for just about anyone to make and infinite number of perfect copies of every song ever released on CD" (5). Commence the "burning" revolution; music was portable. More people had personal computers and were able to interact with their digital music collection. However, the files were large and working with them took time. Therefore, the introduction of compressed audio files in the mid 90s brought digital music online. We all know how file sharing erupted, but how were musicians beginning to use the Internet?

In his book Virtual Music: How the Web Got Wired for Sound, William Duckworth documents one of the first websites to give musicians webpages in order to promote their music (2). This was the Internet Underground Music Archives, or IUMA.com. It began in 1993 (long before Purevolume.com or MySpace Music) allowing artists "post tour dates, lyrics, and MP3 files; sell their CDs, records, and T-shirts; and make contact with their fans—all for no charge" (2). The pages were originally very limited, and artists were only able to post one 5 minute song and a 20 second excerpt, along with two pages of text, but with a limit of two images. These limitations were a clear reflection of Internet connection speeds. Even with compressed audio files, the Internet was still slow, and not quite ready music-friendly. However, IUMA was "the first successful attempt to promote and distribute music online, and the beginning of a seismic shift in music retailing" (2). Independent musicians had an outlet for their creativity, and this was IUMA's goal.

When connection speeds picked up, so did musicians. They were able to put more of their work online, and jumped at the opportunity. Soon, the Internet began to grow into the marketing tool it exists as today.

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For more information about how the Internet has aided unsigned and unknown musicians, see Emerging Musicians