Upon starting
my research, my topic had already flailed wildly around from various points of
interest from psychological, sociological, musical, and idolization of Trent
Reznor. Having set my current topic in a shallow pool of water, I treaded
forward, uncaring of how much of a diversion this initial search of “music and
the internet” would be from my final decision on my topic. I needed somewhere
to start. Once I started my search, Google brought up scholarly sources as the
first result, leading me to a new section of Google with only peer-reviewed
sources to choose from. Naturally, I was inclined to choose this topic, and I
did so at speeds faster than the Blue Angels.
As the gods
would have it, though, “music and the internet” is far too large an issue to
discuss, as everything can be broken down into far simpler subjects. There is
the issue of piracy, which could fill an entire library with its inherent
complexity; the issue of DRM-locked media, which thankfully has ended (in the
case of mainstream online music providers such as iTunes at least); the issue
of copyrighted material on YouTube and similar video hosting sites, and far, far
more issues. Having only realized this post-initial research, I bashed my head
into my desk for a few minutes before having a novel idea; I should probably
stop doing that.
After a few
minutes of not bashing my head into objects harder than it, the topic seemed
clear; being a musician myself, I know how great the internet can be for helping
people find unknown bands. Or I would if I had the equipment to record at a
decent quality, but that’s not relevant. My focus would have to be on a group I
consider myself a part of; the indie music scene. At this stage I still have
yet to develop my topic past that, but where I am now is definitely farther
ahead than where I was when I was bashing my head against a desk.
