If you click the link they also have a list of the Top 30 downloads:

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/webguide/m ... ebox_x.htm

Posted 3/9/2005 9:15 PM Updated 3/9/2005 11:23 PM


Music fans reach for the stars

By Edna Gundersen, USA TODAY


At first glance, it's a small world. The same ubiquitous hits that define pop radio also top the rankings of online tracks purchased at legitimate networks and those downloaded from unauthorized sites.

But peer into the depths of cyberspace and a big-bang picture unfolds. The stockpile is boundless, a boom in availability that could change buyer habits. Fan forums are spontaneously sprouting around artists and trends, from teen girls touting Incubus, Green Day and little-known emo heartthrobs at Xanga.com to hip-hop buffs advocating regional acts at Down-South.com.

It's a phenomenon the music business has yet to capitalize on, though some legitimate services are starting to court these cyber junkies.

Most of the action, however, remains outside industry confines. While paid downloads skyrocketed to 140.9 million tracks in 2004 from 19.2 million in the last half of 2003 (no earlier figures are available), unauthorized file-sharing dwarfs purchases. Since mid-2003, 19 billion peer-to-peer transactions have occurred, predominantly current hits.

But new sounds and new bands are emerging from Web cabals, a blow to radio and labels used to setting the agenda.

According to Big Champagne Media Measurement, a technology and market research company specializing in online media and peer-to-peer (P2P) networks in particular, countless computer users are stalking the unknown, downloading, congregating, critiquing, trading and ultimately playing a role in what penetrates the mainstream.

"We're seeing a clear and consistent pattern of some acts being championed by online communities and later embraced by traditional media outlets," says Big Champagne co-founder and CEO Eric Garland.

"Nothing works like word of mouth, and online word of mouth is a great big megaphone," Garland says.

"Instead of being able to tell two or three friends, you have entire Web rings of like-minded people quick to pass along recommendations."

Stars bubble up

That's causing a democratic shift, as more phenomena filter up and fans elect their own stars rather than accept the dictates of radio or MTV.

John Mayer's rise benefited from feverish swapping of mp3 files, the modern equivalent of tape-trading. Norah Jones reached Big Champagne's top 10 before she got significant airplay. The O Brother, Where Art Thou? and Garden State soundtracks popped at Champagne months before cracking Billboard.

Garland is convinced that every known piece of recorded music is available online, and that growing awareness of the inventory is gradually changing consumer habits.

"It's a celestial jukebox, a virtually limitless library," he says. "In one retail outlet, you have a few hundred titles at most. On the Internet, there are tens of millions."

And for every type of music in cyberspace, you're likely to find a fan base.

"The Web is a great breeder of music communities, which are exploding but are incredibly niched," says Big Champagne co-founder Joe Fleischer.

"You'll find aggressive polka communities and bluegrass trading communities, whatever interests you," he says. "Purevolume.com does a great job of nurturing a community that allows fans to communicate about underground punk, emo and hardcore that may one day be the mainstream."

Power to 'make and break'

Caleb Cattivera, 21, of Harrisburg, Ill., finds all the new music he craves on purevolume.com, where struggling bands post free files for sampling.

"The smallest band in the smallest town can put their music there," he says. "I'll browse that Web site all day looking for interesting bands to promote. There's a whole underground of great music, and 95% of it's better than what's on MTV, where bands play for money because they don't have anything left to prove. The kids underground or starting on indie labels are sleeping on floors, touring in vans and playing their butts off."

He's one of 24 reviewers for AbsolutePunk.net, which draws 6 million hits daily and more than casual glances from record companies. Cattivera, who helped St. Louis band SoTheySay get signed to Fearless Records, knows he has clout.

"A big record executive told me, 'You have the power to make and break bands on that site.' And I think it's true, because kids trust our opinions."

Rising acts Taking Back Sunday and My Chemical Romance started at purevolume, as did buzzed-about cult acts Brand New and Fall Out Boy. Cattivera also sees breakout potential in screamo band Saosin. Whether his personal favorites He Is Legend or I Can Make a Mess Like Nobody's Business ever make the chart isn't vital.

"It's just exciting to discover bands like that and spread the word," he says.

Unlike iTunes or Napster, enthusiast sites place community above commerce, earning credibility and loyalty that are crucial to luring youth dollars. That's one of the sticky challenges facing an industry that alienated downloaders with steep CD prices and piracy lawsuits.

The war against file-sharers continues. On March 29, the Supreme Court will hear the entertainment industry's appeal to overturn lower-court decisions that found file-sharing networks Grokster and Morpheus not liable for copyright infringement.

If the industry prevails, many users may opt to forsake file-sharing for legitimate download sites. Despite any chilling effect, the downloading revolution is unlikely to stall.

Users ahead of the game

"Certainly, copyright infringement and piracy are problems," Fleischer says. "But the very nature of computing is peer-to-peer, and no matter what happens, this type of activity will continue and grow. The lawsuits had an impact and made people aware that risk was involved. Now users are more secretive and 10 or 20 steps ahead (of the security measures)."

The industry's traditional structure has all but lost such consumers as Matt Brown, a Pasadena, Calif., ninth-grader who shuns the airwaves, seldom frequents record stores and distrusts directives from mainstream sources.

"I listen to friends," he says. "Or I pick up tips on the Internet. I go to purevolume.com and find out what other people listen to. I found a lot of cool bands that way. Then I list my favorites on MySpace.com."

Brown, 15, has an iPod with 2,777 songs, mostly indie rock, hardcore, emo and screamo, including tunes by Stutterfly, Armor for Sleep, Starlight Run and Avenged Sevenfold, hardly top 40 climbers.

A former Kazaa regular, he now pays for tracks, though he occasionally returns to illicit sites, "because iTunes doesn't always have the greatest selection and doesn't have all the best underground bands."

Ethan Mantel, 16, of Los Angeles, relies on friends and online forums for guidance on techno, rock and rap acts.

His favorites are Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jack Johnson, and Beastie Boys, but through the Net grapevine he has found Disney tunes and alt-popster Donavon Frankenreiter.

He sees little need to visit record stores except "to check out used CDs or if someone gives me a gift certificate," he says. "It's definitely easier to find music online."

Harnessing Web energy

"One of the major challenges the labels have now is trying to figure out how to expose people to new music," says Inside Digital Media president Phil Leigh.

"Obviously the Internet does that. The Internet is the most logical successor to support new music now that radio is losing clout," Leigh says. "The industry has to figure out how to harness it."

It's trying. Members of subscription service Rhapsody can now share playlists, enabling fans to spread fresh discoveries. Napster has a similar feature using e-mail and instant messages. Grouper, a new list-sharing service, taps into similar sources.

But supply hasn't matched demand. Label-backed sites have black holes (no Beatles for sale, for instance) and very little vintage or fringe fare available, in contrast to the file-sharing universe.

There, the rarest of the rare is a few mouse clicks away, with no need to exhume vinyl artifacts, troll used record shops or leaf through catalogs.

Skilled at reaching a wide audience, major labels haven't learned how to serve rabid niche fans, who learned to serve themselves, says Fleischer.

To live long and prosper, the digital galaxy may demand compromise from both users and the industry, says former Grokster CEO Wayne Rosso, who will introduce P2P system Mashboxx.com in April.

Music's thrill-seeking cybernauts, "all want something for nothing, and the free lunch is going to end someday," he says.

As for labels, "they're used to people adapting to them, and now they have to adjust to users' behavior. They just don't understand the user," Russo says. "The industry is fairly myopic and still thinks in terms of units. We look at traffic, and there's a big difference. Nothing is stopping the massive file-sharing that's going on. Let's face it. It's cool. It's fun. And everyone seems pretty fearless."

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