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The New York Music & Internet Expo 2000

© Janie Ross Coulter

The New York Music and Internet Expo 2000 took place for three full days, March 3rd through March 5th, and your personal reporter was there soaking it in everyday. In many ways the expo seemed to be a physical representation of the Internet, because it had a pioneering, grass roots, democratic feel, if a bit disorganized. (For example, during the seminars, I sat on the floor most of the time due to a distinct dearth of chairs. Ow! And the seminar trains were not exactly running on time...)

It was in large part a tradeshow, so there was a lot of selling going on. Lots of Web-based companies were hawking their music wares with great enthusiasm and music competing for attention. This part of the expo was, obviously, highly consumer-oriented and fairly cutting-edge. At the same time, continuous panel discussions were taking place in a separate room, marked with much diverse opinion. (Although I must comment that many of the panel members were execs of the exhibitors at the show, and their points of view usually demonstrated this.) The people attending ran the gamut. There were a great many artists and musicians, of course, as well as businesspeople, press, music fans, and techies.

The tradeshow was a bit overwhelming, as tradeshows tend to be. Looking through my take-home bag of assorted goodies presents a good cross-section of the vendors who were there. Publications like a Shout, Good Times, Shift, and New York Press were on hand with sample issues for the taking; artist sites such as Jazz Corner were there; cutting edge Internet radio, music download, and player sites like PCDJ, Media Viewer, Tucows, ZapStation, SpinRecords, and MusicMatch were all over the place; and audio and video design and promotion companies proliferated as well, offering everything from business software to CD labels and photos to Lava!'s new personalized 3D music videos.

There was much food for thought. Panels covered topics such as marketing and promotion (How does one really establish a presence on the web?), copyright protection, the future of MP3, the future of labels, creative positioning, creative content, self-defined success for artists, and establishing a creative network. There did seem to be somewhat of a consensus that in the foreseeable future, the major labels will still control star power, but that the Internet provides openings for new, burgeoning artists, including (perhaps especially) those who desire to blaze a do-it-yourself path outside the established realms. (One artist commented: "I'm tired of being labeled as an 'unsigned artist.' Who said I want to be signed?") Issues involving the availability of free music on the net were hotly debated, and for good reason. This entire subject is ripe with opportunities and caveats where artists and writers are concerned. There are key issues for writers regarding copyrights, royalties, and the rapidly evolving legal area of intellectual property. (As in, how am I going to get paid if my work is out there for free?) There is this new Web-wide world of opportunities for artists and songwriters. (Or is there? How does one take advantage of it? Make a living? The term "ancillary" income was bandied about quite a bit.) And then there is the ongoing, technologically confusing war of the formats. (As in, huh?) I will be closely examining these three areas as they pertain to songwriters in upcoming articles. Stay tuned.