Syzygy and the Indie musician

Syzygy- people coming together for/with a common purpose.

The Internet age has blown open the doors of possibilities for the indie musician. Derek Sivers, founder of cdbaby.com, has made the otherwise unattainable global market for unsigned artists as close as your own computer. Brian Austn Whitney, founder of Just Plain Folks, has created a global forum and ocean of meaningful support for indie musicians to share their own work, links, success stories and critiques with fellow stalwartly independant artists. Both of these resources have become the model for all the others who have come after them; the watermark, the touch stone for what really good ".com" sites should be about. Community.

In June of 2008, I was introduced to another such resource, Ourstage.com. If you haven't heard of it, please go there. If you love music, you owe it to yourself! In a nutshell, indie artists can upload their music and or videos for judging BY THEIR PEERS! You log in, select the channel(s) of music you'd like to hear and you're presented with two songs/ videos to enjoy, then you get to vote for your favourite. How cool is that? Very. There's no elitism, no 'stacking the deck' nothing but a random selection of completely new-to-you material you can sit back and enjoy.

I uploaded two of my own songs "Trial By Style" and "Too Hot To Sleep" to Ourstage and I'm very proud to have Trial By Style currently ranked 3rd in the instrumental category. This is absolutely amazing to me! I live in rural northern Ontario, a village of maybe 300 people. No sidewalks, no streetlights, and only dial-up Internet service. My attic is my 'digital refuge' where my muse and I have our discussions on the course of my music. There's no place to play live here, no talent scouts checking out the buskers... sometimes it feels very much like a cultural 3rd world. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't trade country living for any other kind, but even just looking at the entertainment section of the Toronto Star gets my mind and ears eager to be able to walk down the street and go see Koto drummers, or a ballet, or the Brandenburg Concerti.

So from my attic studio, I have been able to reach out to the world, and they seem to like what I have to say! So go on over to Ourstage, pull up the intrumental channel maybe my song will come up, if it does I hope you'll send me your love, if it doesn't, then please let some other independant musician know that their work is being heard, enjoyed and supported.