Why Internet Radio & Downloadable Music is So Important to Folksingers

One of the things that drew me to folk music years ago was its accessibility. I've felt energized everywhere I've gone by communities of folksingers, and felt compelled to share with them what similar communities were doing in other cities. That's one reason I love this job—because I get to share with you, through the written word, what's going on over here on the West Coast; and I get to discover what's happening back in New York, Nashville, Boston and elsewhere, thanks to the numerous emails I get from artists and their representatives, looking to share their voices with the world.

Folk music is inherently something that takes place in communities, and, until the advent of the Internet, was largely a drive-around-and-share sort of field. Inflation and gas prices make it difficult to constantly tour these days unless you have someone sponsoring you, or unless you choose to live gig to gig, without health insurance or anything to fall back on if your car breaks down. It's not safe to hitchhike or sleep in your car anymore (though I'm sure I'm not the only one who's done it anyway).

The Internet gives us an awesome opportunity to share with each other without having to choose between making ends meet and making music. Thanks to services like Pandora.com, I and millions of other people have found out about artists we never would have heard of otherwise. This isn't just good for the listener; it's also beneficial to the songwriter.

iPods, Web sites, MP3s, and other technological advances have made the music world saturated with musicians. This isn't really anything new. There are always millions of song crafters and, until the Internet, those artists were impeded by the elite, trend- and profit-driven recording industry. For years, we've all known that some of the best artists in the world would never be “discovered” by Sony or Time-Warner. But now, those people can hop online and be heard.

And now, record companies and the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) are threatening to increase the price they charge music matching services for the songs they play. This price increase is only pennies, but for a site with the scope of Pandora.com, which includes innumerable songs, those pennies add up really quickly.

Don't get me wrong, I'm by no means anti-copyright laws. But what's at risk if sites like Pandora have to shut down or move to charging everyone who uses them, in order to survive? Artists in all genres will lose a powerful channel of communicating with the world. Listeners will lose their free access to so many great artists, and the recording industry will get the opportunity to remain an elite trend- and profit-driven industry. In other words, not a whole lot will change. But if sites like Pandora are afforded the opportunity to survive, they can revolutionize the way we access art, and the way artists communicate with the world.