The New Muse
By Paul Pennelli
I was hooked in 1994. Though I did not know it at the time, an innocent trip
to the record store, and a purchase of Dave Matthews Band's Under the Table
and Dreaming, would alter my perception of music for the rest of my life. I
soon knew that I could never be a mere "radio listener" again, and yet I had
no experience living within the circles that other jamband fans lived. I was
a "newbie" in the truest sense of the word. The Internet gave me a chance,
for the first time in my life, to truly learn about music, and to learn about
what it is to be a fan. Through the online community that I encountered, my
musical interests expanded to other bands, and I found myself loving music
that I normally would have had no exposure to. Indeed, my trip to the record
store was my first step, but it has been the Internet that has kept me walking
on this road for the past four years.
The Internet supplements all kinds of musical interests, but it has especially
insured that bands which do not get radio or television air play, such as
jambands, develop into successful enterprises. Of course, the fan's point of
view has been drastically altered by these new opportunities; being a fan in
the midst of this musical revolution extends further than a mere love of the
music. A family atmosphere is created online, e-mail discussion groups
becoming places for friendships to be made, and music to be loved. Music
becomes the linking force between the thousands of people who gather online to
discuss and share issues and ideas that sometimes diverge far from the music
itself. From the bands' point of view, the Internet truly provides amazing
opportunities for increased exposure.
Bands that encourage taping at their shows, such as Burlington Vermont-based
Strangefolk, have seen dramatic rises in popularity as a result of the
Internet. This medium gets the word out on the streets, and news of bands
travels faster than ever. "The Internet is the best catalyst for information
since the fax machine or the telephone," says Strangefolk Online's Steve
Seremeth. "Back in the days before the Internet, tape traders had to bring
physical copies of their printed tapelists and copies of tapes to shows, and
then eventually arrange a trade via postal mail. The Internet had made this
process about a thousand times faster." Taping creates a buzz around a band
that can be intense, and its importance cannot be emphasized enough. To
Strangefolk's lead guitarist Jon Trafton, an end to concert taping would be
like "cutting one of our lifelines." If a jamband has a presence on the
Internet, then it will undoubtedly increase the proliferation of its concert
recordings, and today's jambands aren't complaining about this benefit.
"Strangefolk, and other jambands out there, are primarily built on word-of-
mouth publicity, which is the best kind . . . The slightly more hidden or
unquantifiable treasure of the Internet is this increased word of mouth and
the inexpensive publicity."
The amount of information on jambands that can be found online is staggering.
Not only do bands have their own official websites, but fans also create their
own websites, dedicated to their favorite band. Pete Mocker, designer of the
popular Dave Matthews Band Mailing List site, is one of these fans. "I try to
think of what I do as supplying information to supplement the band's music,"
says Mocker. "If someone with an Internet connection is interested in DMB's
music, maybe they'd also be interested in the info as well . . . The band Dave
Matthews Band has a culture which requires something like the Internet to stay
alive." Sites such as Mocker's can be found all over the Internet, and truly
make a band's fan base more knowledgeable. After an hour at Mocker's site,
someone who does not know about DMB can gain a basic working knowledge of its
music and history. There is no other free and easily accessible resource in
the word that can claim this, and there are sites like Mocker's strewn about
the online world.
Andy Gadiel, whose Phish website is one of the most extensive on the Internet,
is an Internet professional who, like Mocker, runs his site without official
aid from its subject band. Gadiel has a great perspective on the service he
provides. "[I] Give them [the fans] a chance to post their thoughts and let
out whatever it is they need to get out of them. [The site is] a place to
connect, to regroup, to come back home to. Hopefully when they [the fans]
leave, they'll feel better about the band they love, or learn something about
a band they didn't know." Fans need an outlet like Gadiel's, because for most
of them, listening to a CD is not enough. In my experiences, the true lovers
of Phish, for instance, have a passion for collecting tapes, for reading the
latest setlist, and for risking their jobs and grades to get up to Maine in
the summertime. These fans need a place to be amongst others who are like
them, and Gadiel gives them an opportunity that liner notes and sparse
magazine interviews can't, as the Internet can talk back to them.
Without a doubt, the Internet has made life easier and happier for all parties
associated with jambands. The forum for live music lovers that the Internet
provides is truly a luxury for all that access it. This "culture" that Pete
Mocker speaks of could not be more accurately described. All fans of all
jambands do indeed exist in a culture to their own, but they communicate with
the help of something that superficially seems very different from music.
After a closer examination, the Internet does resemble music in many ways.
Just as when a band forges ahead into a jam late at night, the Internet forges
ahead into regions of technology that mankind has never been. Perhaps it is
this similarity that draws jambands and its fans to this fledgling medium:
both foster the unknown and innovation.
A Special Thanks to Steve Seremeth for helping this feature grow . . .
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