Could Radio Still Be The Key To Music Discovery & Community?

It’s easy to put down radio with their short homogenized playlists and too many commercials, but Washington Post writer Marc Fisher makes the argument that the internet has not yet done a good job of supplanting broadcasters when it comes to mass music discovery and creating a community beyond the music :

"…The digital world is theoretically the ultimate reservoir of new sounds…The old Robert Klein comedy bit…for "every record ever recorded — we drive a truck to your house" is no longer a joke; everything is out there somewhere, just waiting to be downloaded."

"Despite numerous attempts, no one online has found a way to turn the hat trick that sustained radio through six decades of dominance of the music industry…Various adventures in file-sharing have been a bonanza for music collectors, but have done little to advance the cause of sounds that weren’t already popular."

Fisher’s favorite online attempt at effective music discovery ? Mp3 blog aggregator The Hype Machine. Read the full article here.