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CollegeMusicRadio.com is changing the way the music business is done. It is at its core a web-based entertainment center and marketplace where artist meets listener without interference or filters--no record companies, PR agents, critics, hype or bullshit--just music maker meeting music fan. Its revolutionary approach allows emerging artists to have full control of their music as they get national attention, and gives listeners full control of what they hear. What's more, it is entirely free to artists.
"We're partners in this,"says founder Michael Knox. "We don't make money unless they do."
CollegeMusicRadio.com is both a streaming radio programmed by listeners and a download music store in the hands of artists. As such, it represents an unparalleled medium for taking bands to the next career level. Artists upload material and build their own information pages, adding, editing, and deleting as they see fit. Music consumers drawn to the site by the next generation's best artists and the promotional power of a national site vote with their downloads, building both their own music collections and a national chart with real relevance. And it's all done without artificial genre barriers--it will be simply a matter of good music alongside good music.
By building national fan bases on line, bands will ultimately be able, if they choose, to approach traditional labels in a far stronger position than would be possible otherwise--traditionally, artists give up a portion of creative control and most of the money they generate when they sign record deals. CMR's promotional strength gives artists the tools they need to bring a national track record to the labels.
"If you’re getting 20, 30, or 40,000 downloads on our site," says Knox, "you're going to be able to cut a better deal." Knox is an industry veteran and marketing genius behind both country and pop smashes. His approach-- CMR builds synergistically, with everything from trade paper ads to campus visits, combined with CMR's marketing ability among the industry's power brokers.
The result throws open the doors for acts that might otherwise be marginalized.
"Independent music has nowhere to go," says Knox. "The music business is not set up to nurture and expose it, to give it a place of its own. That's what CollegeMusicRadio.com is designed to do--to create an avenue for new music."
CMR does not saddle new bands with critiques, turndowns, or onerous publishing deals. There is no A&R filter. It simply provides a marketplace and promotional clout--for free. Artists themselves decide what goes on the site.
The model came from Knox's experience with college life, where, he says, "There are no boundaries. You've got the classical musician eating with the rapper and both hanging out with the rocker or the blues guy, and they can be listening to anything from Maroon 5 to Kenny Chesney to Outkast. In the industry, on the other hand, I've seen too many bands feel like their careers have been ruined because they're sold as something they're not. At CMR, we don't tell them who they are. That's their job."
The result will make for the most open and exciting new music scene in a generation, with the chance for anyone, anywhere, to have an impact.
"I truly believe," says Knox, "that the best music out there is music that normally doesn't get heard. There's a generation of brilliant talent out there that's not sure yet where to go or where they fit. Those are the people we want to work with."
-Rob Simbeck
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