Internet Music & minusoneraver
With the advent of file sharing and the ease of putting MP3 music files on the Internet, the opportunities for unsigned bands to reach a global market have never been greater. And you won't find a better example than minusoneraver. minusoneraver is based in Withington but has already managed to gain fans in Ireland, Romania, Germany, Brazil and even Japan.
Comments Lee, drummer for minusoneraver: “The response has been fantastic from all the sites we are featured on. Since being featured on Radio 1's Onemusic site, MP3.com, Liverpool-based venture Glasswerk.co.uk, and our own site minusoneraver.com, we have been receiving emails from fans around the globe. I'm not exactly sure what it is about minusoneraver that attracts them to download our material, but that's exactly what they have been doing in a staggering number. It's fantastic to read all the supportive comments and to know that our music is being appreciated and supported so extensively, that so many people have taken the time to write encouraging emails.”
And it's not only fan mail that has sprung up from minusoneraver's Glasswerk web presence; they have also had offers of airplay from “Fun Radio” in Romania, and a group of Japanese promoters have started to include the group in their DJ sets and are to run a feature in their magazine.
Is this more evidence of the death of the record shop as we know it? “I don't think so,” argues Lee. “I think people are always going to want to go and browse buy CD's from a record shop. What the Internet does offer is the opportunity to tap into other markets that are normally inaccessible, and it also means that unsigned bands can get their music out to people at a very small cost.
Hopefully this will be the perfect pin to pop the 'manufactured-on-TV bands' bubble, and open up more kinds of original and innovative music to a wider audience.