Changes to the blog...

The world has changed in four years.  

I was going back through old posts and the vast majority of the links are dead.  Most are due to various file hosts (one in particular) being taken down or restricting access to I.P. addresses in the U.S. 

I've gone back through almost all posts and have placed them in draft status.  

I attribute the change to the world of blogging to a few things.

Obviously this is only scratching the surface.

People's tastes in music is evolving exponentially.  The classic rock of my youth is no longer required listening (and it is no longer relevant to me except as a time keeper of my past).  Albums such as The Dark Side of the Moon - an essential album, mind you - were basically issued at birth but cease to be as relevant as they were.  In fact, their relevance is often only in a re-interpretive sense (e.g. Dub Side of the Moon).

Genres have exploded and music has become as personal as it's ever been.  Artists and communities are continually creating and re-creating outside of the mainstream and the Web is the medium connecting everyone.  Shows such as The Voice and American Idol represent the last gasps of the "pop" artist and the big label.

Blogging has proliferated to the point that people no longer need a central resource such as a blog.  Links to albums are embedded in the Web and a simple search will reveal them.  

Other sites such as invite only sites, for those who are members, provide, quite literally, an unlimited medium in which to find any album.  This is community at its best.  

The efforts of the RIAA and the whole copyright mess has merely driven folks underground.  It has basically caused people to hate record labels even more and to avoid the artists represented on the majors.  Until the death of the independent artist and label (often by being consumed by a major label), this is the future.  

This may not be the big money future of, say, the 70s and 80s, but it may just be that middle ground that allows artists to subsist or even make a living doing music.  It also allows more intimate contact with music lovers and is more participatory in nature.  And who knows, as it evolves it may lead to an entirely different musical universe that we can not currently envision.

I have noticed dozens and dozens of blogs dropping over the past few months.  Perhaps they were shut down, perhaps the blog owners moved on to other things for whatever the reason.

As for this blog, it continues.  

Over four years there have been almost 1,500 posts (currently at under 150) and well over 300,000 hits on the blog.  Let's face it, anyone who blogs thrives on the hits whether out of vanity or from the practical reality of the need when it comes to running a blog.  

I intend, over time, to revisit the important posts and re-up them. I hated to put them in draft status because even in draft status they still show the depth of where this blog (and I) have been.

But I decided to take a bit more control of the blog and keep it personal.

For those who are here and for those who have been here throughout the four years, I thank you.