I believe that we need to reclaim our public airwaves and re-visit the mandate of "serving the public interest". This should include the discovery of new artists and new music. While we have made some head-way with exposing the payola practices - not enough is being done for independent artists access to the airwaves (on commercial radio).

The stumbling block is the radio ratings game and the inept way that ratings are generated (ie: Arbitron). I have proposed a better way to survey radio listeners (see my website). I realize that changing things may take an act of Congress - but I'm all for it!!

Of course - the internet is a valuable tool for hearing new music (but it really helps to have a high speed connection!). I also care about the poorer folks without computers.
Thanks for listening...
Gary D.
www.museament.com

I agree in part with what both Gary and Rusty have said. The airwaves do need to be reclaimed. I think te music discovery mediums online do exist i.e myspace, purevolume, last.fm, iLike, imeem, thesixtyone, blip.fm SUPERNOVA etc and people are in fact discovering new music but that interest and volume simply is not translating to the mainstream methods i.e. radio, video, tour, press etc. These mediums simply do not want to fully intersect with the pulse of the internet until they have beat the current business model to death and sucked every last penny of revenue out of the model. In my eyes change can come in two ways: More and more artists at the top who are successful start distributing on their own i.e. Radiohead, NIN and more independent artists need to stop seeking the attention of labels until they absolutely have no choice. These two things will pave the way for further breakdown of the traditional business model for music discovery on a mass scale and force the mainstream sources to rethink their methods and intertwine themselves with online discovery. The other way is the longhand way where the major labels, radio stations, video stations dictate how and when they will make the shift. At this point, unless a band is selling 500 CD's a week in a market, or you are involved in some sort of co-op advertising spot deal between a retailer and a publication that is tied into the purchase of a radio spot for a tour most stations/retailers won't pay attention to a struggling independent artist. I truly believe that there is a gap that needs to be filled that does away with the disconnect between internet popularity and radio play. Unfortunately everything from editorial reviews, to distribution, to touring, video and radio placement all comes down to 2 questions: How many albums are they selling? At some point the big stations, magazines, MTV, FUSE and all the big retail outlets really should take a chance and introduce good music because it is good music and help push the album sales without a buy in but I only think that can happen if more people make a mass exodus from these mediums and STOP PIRATING MUSIC! These artists deserve to eat and earn money from doing what they love. Music discovery used to start in the record shop, on the radio or on MTV. Now it is the opposite. No one turns to these places to discover new music. These places are where you go to pick up top 40. People turn to the internet to discover new music. Then they go and download it for free. They aren't saying damn the musicians when they do this either... they are saying damn radio, and damn MTV and damn the record shop... because those places are no longer hip and cool. Those places are for sellout artists cashing in and kids don't support sellouts. They don't see the value in buying an album that is going to make an already rich artist more rich (well established artists are all that's really in CD stores) and stealing an album won't really hurt those rich artists and while they are at it downloading the mainstream music why not download the rest of the music they listen to as well which in turn hurts those struggling artists. Not sure if this made any sense and this is about more than just music discovery. I really don;t believe there is a problem with music discovery. The problem is that the volume of music being discovered is not properly translating into success for artists. Thanks for the opportunity to discuss and really hope there is more room to discuss this topic at SXSW.

wow, this sounds really interesting...
can't wait to learn more on this topic at SXSW!

It used to be that the radio DJ was the person who told you what was cool and what was worth listening to. Good radio DJs and good radio stations still fulfill that function, but their numbers of dwindling. Besides, with 750,000 new releases being issued every year, there's no way that anyone on your favourite radio station can possibly tell you everything you might want to know.

Study after study indicates that people are increasingly turning to the Internet for music discovery. Sites like Pitchfork can be helpful, but are also very cooler-than-thou, which can be intimidating to newbes. Services like Pandora, iMeem, Muxtape and Last.fm are good, but there's no getting away from the automated, robotic, semi-A.I. feel to these sites.

So today's challenge is this: There's never been more interest in music than there is now. There's never been more music available. More people than ever before are making music. Music has never been more accessible. And it's never been cheaper. The supply is virtually infinite and getting more infinite-er every day. WHERE DOES SOMEONE START when it comes to discoverying all that's out there?

My guess is that the answer lies somewhere in a Wisdom of the Crowds approach curated by some kind of human presence. This entity is network agnostic (i.e. it's found online, on-air and on your mobile phone) and is infinitely scalable and searchable. It also offers plenty of opportunity for interaction and making connections with other like-minded fans.

(The reason I liked the original Napster so much was because it offered me an opportunitity to find others around the world who had musical tastes that were just like mine. I wasn't alone in liking, say, some obscure punk band. I could then extend a hand to the person who was allowing me to download this music to see what else they might like. I swear I bought MORE music after I started using Napster and began discovering more new bands than I ever dreamt possible.)

Whoever figures out how to make online music discovery work for the masses will not only be rich and famous but will earn the everlasting gratitude of musicians and music fans everywhere.

I agree with the previous posts!

The only radio that I've heard lately that seems to play new, different music that isn't mainstream is college radio. But on the other hand, some college radio stations also get pretty pretentious if they take themselves too seriously and try too hard to be "indie." Not that indie is a bad thing, but there's a difference between indie because that's what you like and indie because it makes you seem... cooler. Of course I do support artists who produce and release albums on their own without record labels (this is where music is headed, I swear!), but that's different.

Meanwhle, the internet has been growing in popularity for new music discovery, but I have yet to really get into any of those websites that suggest artists/songs based on current taste. I've tried it once and it didn't quite match up for me (is this the Algorithm-based stuff? Probably, but I'm not so up on what's what).

The way I have recently discovered new music is simply through word of mouth. No internet involved, except to hear the song samples... no unseen computer telling me what to like... no radio announcer forcing the latest Madonna single on me. I also don't believe that music discovery is at all threatened by ANY force, as there will always be the word of mouth method--i.e., a best friend who knows your taste telling you something that THEIR friend sent them. Of course, this runs a bit of risk if piracy, but my policy is that if I really like it, I'll end up buying the album or at least hitting up a gig when they're in town. And if all else fails, if the artist is accessible enough, I'll offer them a hand in promoting.

Technically, Human VS algorithm are the same thing. Many human decisions are based on Bayesian probability which are quasi-rational algorithms.

Okay, okay, nerd talk aside. I like the Amazon.com system. I has me down pretty good. Often I buy a new book at a book store and then a week later I see that Amazon is recommending the same book. Unless, of course, Amazon is tied in to the book store, the credit cards, and... THE WORLD BANK!

Oh no, gotta run - they own the internet too!

I think at the end hybrid approaches will win, so for me its not human VS algorithm but how both worlds can be combined. Recommendation systems and especially those based on alogrithms are still in their infancy, im really looking forward to some great discussion at SXSW about it.

All great points people, thanks for your interest. I am proud to announce that Alan Cross, Program Director of the legendary 102.1 The Edge (Toronto), and the host of the syndicated Ongoing History of New Music has agreed to join the panel. Having a strong radio perspective on this crucial topic should present some great (and perhaps divergent or not so divergent) insights against the backdrop of websites that claim to deliver "music discovery". More announcements on panelists to come. Thanks Alan!

I think that as users are allowed to push forth statistics from a variety of sources (iTunes statistics for example) we can determine and correlate based on mood (if entered) and their own desktop activities and lifestream (like a Friedfeed digestion) and a cross reference of those we find dear or worth of trust with FOAF.

So, if John likes Artist A track 6 of CD 13 on Monday when his calendar event shows he is at work and he has a browser open and cookies being set somewhere special as his player posts this to a cddb or sorts... -- perhaps this could bubble up via some mechanism as part of his general mood and music that he purposefully selected to hear at that moment. Now, anyone with John in their FOAF that wants to link up with John can find themselves in a similar alignment of planets and be delivered a derivative suggestion or the original Artist A track 6 of CD 13 of the moment.

Music to write email to when you are sluggish.
Music to have five different non-work website tabs open in Firefox to.
Music to idle to when you are hungry.

Hmm... strike the last one.

The issue of course would be that casual listening with no intended goals or activity or random play lists trash capturing a moment. Like, when people go to lunch and leave their Last.fm or iTunes going.

So, I'm curious to see what this panel will conjure. :)

Some excellent points have been made on this subject. There never has been a better time for music discovery than the present. The average music listener has so many available avenues. Looking forward to the great discussion this panel will bring about.

Like Alan, I too bought more music than ever thanks to Napster and all the offspring it spawned. I spent hours browsing the songs of users that I downloaded from. I would try dozens of bands just based on what the user had shared. Other than the odd indie newspaper article (ex. Exclaim, Now, Eye Weekly), the internet is my sole source of music both new and old. I'm a longtime music downloader (both illegal and legal) and I know where and how to find music online. I believe the problem with finding new music online is like Alan said, "where do I start?" Suggestions via iLike, iTunes, last.fm and the rest do work, but we need something that focuses more on the unheard, the unsigned and the blossoming.

Music discovery has never been so exciting and plentiful. I still discover new artists through traditional media but utilize online communities to explore their music. Technology and social networks need a more systematic approach to help me discover new artists. Algorithms alone will not bridge the gap.

The future is friendly for Music. On demand will spark a rise and ease of new artists to get their music "out there". Websites such as You Tube are just the start of the on demand revolution. We will soon be able to receive any media any time. the question is... does that mean that musicians will have to rely on fans and concert sales to put food on their tables? Or will a new realm open up that has not yet been tapped. Only time and innovative thinkers like supernova will be able to purge the gap we are currently seeing turn into a gorge.

I as well agree with Alan and Jeff, Napster ended up costing me a small fortune as I discovered artist after artist that I would otherwise never come across. I still feel the best way to discover new talent is to go out and check out the smaller clubs and actually see a band live, but until I become insanely wealthy, travelling the world to hit small clubs isn't in the budget and the internet is gonna be my best bet

Tremendous discussion. It is interesting to hear other people's views on the interaction of music and technology. I think that technology opens up a ton of doors in terms of musical discovery. In the past, I have gotten a lot of my musical education from listening to non-commercial radio and then sourcing new music at local record stores. It was an involved process, but often yielded fewer, but higher quality results in terms of new discoveries.
Now, through engines like last.fm and Pandora, music that I 'might be interested in' is fed to me. The process is much more passive, but tends to align better with my current lifestyle, specifically the amount of time I have to invest in new music discovery. I think that because there is so much more music available and with less effort, I pay less attention to the new because I haven't actively sought it out.
It's funny to say, but while I am in awe about the investigative potential that technology allows, I still preferred the old fashioned 'hunting' method that brought be closer to the music.

There have been a lot of great points made about this subject. Technology has impacted the way we discover new music. Its been interesting reading everyone's opinions.

I agree with Alan Cross that the original Napster had a revolutionary platform and changed the way music is appreciated today. A panel like this one should be considered a mainstay of the industry, in light of changing technology

I love music as much as my equally broke peers, and over the years, the best band I have ever heard usually are brought up in smoke filled rooms by kids who look at me with wide eyes and say, "You've never heard of (insert cleverly titled band name here)? Where have you been, man? They've already been through this city, like, twice!" And I still think that's the best way to find out about music. But generally, I've never actually sought out something to listen to, music generally just falls organically on my pretentious ears. If I hear a bands name enough times within a week or a month, maybe I'll go check out their myspace and listen to a few tracks, but I've very rarely found bands I like this way. Most of the music being promoted and hyped lately has not been appealing to me, so I've been sticking with the bands I know, and checking out who they are listening to, and who their label is signing. With all these new independent labels, they can be more selective in representing a certain type of music, and there is a good chance that if I like one band on said label, I will like more.
But I still think the best way to find new bands is in those smoke filled rooms, with someones itunes on shuffle, and to have the audacity to admit you've never heard of (insert cleverly titled band name here).

Technology-shmechnology.
I'm all for fancy recommender algorithms that tell me what other users have bought to match what's in my shopping cart - its a helpful way to find new music that matches my taste. Or tuning into some internet radio station of the genre i like and just leaving it on for the day - when i hear something good, i write down the title. Or like others have mentioned - DJs and labels. They put out compilation albums. So you check out the artists on the album, that leads to other albums, then other compilations, and on and on. Technology offers too many ways of browsing new and unheard of music.... HOWEVER...
Still my favorite way is to just throw myself into something new the old fashioned way - you go to a show where you wanna check out one artist, and you have a listen to what the others are playing. You'll be amazed how much good stuff is out there, and you didn't even know it existed. Or better yet, just go down to your local music store, pick up a record from a bin of the genre you like, and have a listen. Eventually you'll find at least one new thing that you'll dig.