light music-related reading: http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.07/longtail.html

Ha. ...And no replies, how telling. Everyone's over at the "car crash" thread.

Pretty good article.

Radio was invented 100 years ago. The concept of stations only playing prerecorded hits didn't become prevalant until the 1930's. Until then, everything and the kitchen sink was on the radio, including much that was live. Radio formats didn't consume the airwaves until after television sucked up the audience for other entertainment forms. The idea that something that's "always been" is going away with the advent of more choice and new technologies is fallacious. "Always" has only been a half century.

Very telling. I wish I could make money in the radio market. I fear its days are numbered. Live DJs are almost all null and void. College radio is quickly dying and being swallowed by corporate markets. Some of my fondest memories of college is being the station manager and allowing DJs (myself included) to do freeform things, and express different interests.

Enter satelite radio.

From the article I loved the idea of niche consumerism coming back. One of my biggest fears of globalization was the interchangeable dredge it would inevitably cause of once distinctive areas. It seems that choice is causing the exact opposite to occur.