Blogging from Joe Pool Lake-the Computer revolution

I am sitting outside on the lake at “The Oasis” Restaurant and Marina, having a beer and some chips and blogging via wireless internet. This is a trip! Technology has really revolutionized the field of communications and entertainment.

Today I had lunch with a friend, and when we got back in my car, I had one of my favorite XM sattelite radio stations on, Channel 77-Audio Visiions. Just having sattelite radio is a new fun thing for me. But today, I say my name flash across my navigation screen announcing that the station was playing “Music Box Lullaby”, a track from my CD, “Melodia”. We listened to it while drving across the city.

It is amazing what technology has allowed us to do. When I lived in Hartford, Ct. from1979-83, playing in the symphony and free lancing around the state, I didn’t have an answering machine, a fax, a computer, a microwave, or even a cash machine at the bank. The possibilites available to the average musician were limited to live gigs of some sort or another, and teaching. Now technology has allowed me to self produce CD’s, distribute my tracks online at sites like iTunes, plus market to and communicate easily and cheaply to the entire world.

Musicians often like to complain that the technological revolution has destroyed their jobs by replacing them with computers and machines. In some ways this is true. Las Vegas and Broadway shows now use taped orchestras or synthesizers in place of live musicians. These days musicians who make their own recordings can use computer technology to simulate the sound of full orchestra in their recordings. I did this to a great extent in my CD “Melodia”.

But without this technology, I would not have been able to make the CD to begin with. This type of production would have remained the exclusive province of the large record companies. Now, technological progress is gradually making CD’s obsolete, due to the ability to download your favorite tracks (for less than a buck a piece) from sites like iTunes. However, even though CD sales are down, the possibility for me to distribute and sell my music has increased exponentially. The online music distribution revolution means I can potentially sell my recordings a track at a time to people all over the world, without having to manufacture, or store, piles of CD’s. And they can listen to each track before they buy it, which means that relatively unknown artists like myself can get a hearing and possible sales from people who would not have bothered with me otherwise!

This technology has created many times more jobs than it has destroyed. Without it, I would be either be stuck with limited possibilties in music, or I would have had to leave the field. Without it, I would not have able to unleash my creativity and make the fruits of it available to the world. I am very grateful for that.

I’m especially grateful as I sit here, with beer and chips, typing away at a laptop outside while enjoying the sights, sounds, and smells of Joe Pool Lake.