Those of us that live for The New face a challenge that never changes: When is it the right time? I’m a fan of all things technological and it’s difficult- sometimes outright painful -to come to terms with a new development while the majority of the population still doesn’t “get it”. The trick is to equip your Robot Army with the Cutting Edge, then implement it when the rest of the world is ready.

Example 1: Virtual Reality

Remember Virtual Reality? If you weren’t around to witness the 90′s, just read the Wikipedia article. Otherwise, you’re well aware of the big hype that kinda went nowhere. VR hit pop culture like the Hula Hoop, from Nintendo’s migraine-seeding Virtual Boy to Stephen King’s The Lawnmower Man to the thank-God-it-was-never-widely-adopted Quicktime VR. All this at a time when the hottest Power Mac sported a whopping 110 MHz processor and could hold up to 264 MB of RAM.

Here we are in 2011. High-resolution LCD screens are so ubiquitous we’re turning iPods into digital watches with them, yet you can’t find VR goggles in the gaming peripherals at Best Buy. CPU’s, memory, and graphics technology have improved to the point where fully-rendered 3D games exist on your iPhone. Broadband internet now makes it possible for dizzyingly complex render files to travel across the world in milliseconds.

Shit, we actually invented Virtual Reality the way it was hyped up 20 years ago. For real. Virtual people, virtual objects, virtual sex, prims, and rock and roll. And the majority of the public couldn’t give a shit. Why? Because the hype happened 20 years too early. We saw the potential on the horizon and had our party before the birthday boy actually arrived. Now that he’s here, we’re all sick of cake and booze. Virtual Reality happened at the wrong time and now it’s merely a toy that lonely geeks and marketers play with.

And most of the marketers have already left.

Example 2: Podcasting

If only there was a way to listen to new music, talk shows, fiction, and all that cool radio stuff without having to schedule a time to sit in front of the magical talking antenna-box. Imagine it’s 2005 and Apple’s iPod has been out for 4 years. Everyone had one by 2003. Yes, everyone. Don’t argue with me, Steve is watching.

More importantly, blogs existed and circulated via something called RSS. By 2005 RSS had been around for six years and most people today still don’t even know what it is. Then someone (maybe Adam Curry) decided to test if an audio file could ride on that RSS feed. MP3′s started floating around college campuses five or ten years before iPods did. All three of these technologies had been invented, circulated, and field-tested for years. Unlike VR, they had no sex appeal. Stephen King didn’t write any short stories of crazed men killing people through blog feeds (at least, not that I know of anyway). Duke Nukem wasn’t reprogrammed and brought to video arcades as an XML stream.

I won’t say Apple started it (hi, Steve, I love you), but it certainly hit the public consciousness when iTunes added a little extra icon on the left side of the screen. Suddenly there’s a feeding frenzy: Podcasting companies open, rise, fall, and dissolve faster than sand castles. Companies throw marketing budgets at podcasting with a fervor rivaling a squid orgy. The RIAA sends out CDL’s to anyone who even thinks about the possibility of maybe considering the merits of planning to play big-label music on their own little show.

And because of that last part, guys like me suddenly have a career. Thank you.

Now it’s six years later and anyone with an iPod knows what a podcast is. NPR re-broadcasts all their content this way, formerly unknown authors are now well-known among the podcast-listening public. Some of us musicians are earning most of our living through podcasting. And we didn’t even need Pierce Brosnan and Jeff Fahey in rubber suits to pull it off.

Is It The Right Time?

I’ve ditched cable TV and watch all the same programming I used to via HD broadcast, iTunes, and web streams. I only torrent shows when their producers are too stupid to give me a legitimate means of buying them directly- but I still get the shows I want. Is it the right time for everyone to do this? Maybe, I’d give it another 2 years before everyone’s got a Mac Mini replacing their cable box.

I’ve stopped listening to commercial radio and find much better quality music with far fewer commercials via Pandora Radio and, of course, Podcasting. Is it the right time for everyone else to get their music digitally? Absolutely. The variety is much wider, the barrier to entry much lower. Services like Pandora and some podcasts ensure that musicians get paid every time their songs are played. Radio doesn’t do that, yet they run 1 minute of commercials for every 2 minutes of music.

I live on a spaceship somewhere just outside the Earth’s atmosphere and live on a diet of squid meat and quinoa. Is it time for everyone else to follow me? Hell no, will someone please send up a steak and some ice cream? It’s definitely the right time for that.

I don’t know why I didn’t start doing this from day one, but I’m doin’ it now! If all you’ve heard from my new subscription service at Matthew Ebel dot net is the song Lost on Block Island, you’re in luck.

We’re now posting samples of all the tunes I’ve been releasing to the subscribers.

There’s a sample playlist right on the front page at www.matthewebel.net and a constantly-updated sample list here.

Of course, if you want the full versions of all my new tunes, you’ll need to grab an All-Access or VIP Pass. Check out the subscription options over at www.matthewebel.net/subscribe. In the mean time, here’s a sample you might not have heard yet… It’s from a song called They Got The Money:
Download MP3

If you remember Beer & Coffee‘s release, you’re probably as surprised as I am that Goodbye Planet Earth made it to the Music Store in less than a month.

Well, it’s there! And it’s only $9.99 for the whole album. Granted, if you want high-quality DRM-Free tracks, you’ll need to get it from CD Baby or MySpace, and that’s only $12.99. But if you’re dying to get your copy of the new album from iTunes, it’s there!

And please leave a review on iTunes if you’ve already heard the album! Just CLICK HERE to go straight to the iTunes Music Store.

[tags]Matthew Ebel, piano rock, Goodbye Planet Earth, iTunes, iTMS, iTunes Music Store, DRM, MP3[/tags]

I’m sitting in the Nashville International Airport waiting for a giant metal bird to take me home for Christmas. In the mean time, I caught this gem of a post by my friend Chris Penn. Here’s a clip:

Music industry – the lesson is not that free will always win. EASY will always win. I could rip this track for free by breaking the DRM and converting to an MP3, but that’s 10 minutes of my day I can spend doing something else (like blogging about it). That would be free, but I want easy. I value my time more than my money, because I can always make money, but my lifespan is finite and irreplaceable.
-It’s Not Easy Being Legal

The larger implications of his post are debated on his site (which I recommend you check out, it’s a good read), but that paragraph in particular really resonated. I’m the kind of guy who will look on iTunes for a track, then go steal it if it ain’t there. I don’t buy CD’s unless I’m at a live concert, and if a label is too stupid to get their music on iTunes (especially here in the US), they’ve told me that they don’t want my money.

I also try and live this philosophy- I’ve got all my selling albums on (even though Goodbye Planet Earth isn’t listed yet), on CD Baby as both a disc and MP3 download, and on MySpace. I want to make it as easy as possible for people to buy my music legitimately.

To be honest, I’m kind of glad the major labels aren’t jumping on this with both feet. It puts us independents a step ahead.

[tags]Matthew Ebel, piano rock, Christopher Penn, music industry, iTunes, iTMS, MP3, MySpace, major labels[/tags]

A few quick news flashes for you on a Friday…

First of all, Goodbye Planet Earth is now available for direct purchase via CD Baby. You can grab a copy either as a round piece of plastic or save some packaging and get it as an MP3 album for the same price. No DRM, no trash.

If you’re the MySpacing type, you can also grab DRM-free MP3′s from http://myspace.com/matthewebelmusic as well. It’s all the same price, so just pick your favorite store.

Also, I’ll be giving away one free song to anyone who can get a friend to sign up for the email list. If you can convince someone to sign up and list your email as a referral, I’ll send both of you an exclusive track I’ll be recording in January. If you’re not already signed up for the mailing list, just visit http://matthewebel.com/signup or hit the signup forms all over this blog.

[tags]Matthew Ebel, piano rock, Goodbye Planet Earth, CD Baby, DRM, MP3, free music[/tags]

In case you hadn’t heard already, I’ve got a brand new song available for [tag]podcasters[/tag]. It’s not available on any album yet, but it’s ready to spin right now from the [tag]Podsafe Music Network[/tag]

[tag]Every Color[/tag]

Get it for your [tag]podcast[/tag] or just hear it now at:

www.matthewebel.com/pmn

Please give it a listen! If you play you the song on your podcast, please toss a link back to www.matthewebel.com. I really appreciate it!

[tags]Rock, Music, MP3[/tags]