.Music

Most people are familiar with .com, .net, .org, or .gov basic suffixes for internet web pages. The nonprofit group Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann) has proposed to add new endings for webpages according to a NYtimes.com article.

These suffixes give more incite on what the website contains, unlike the mysterious .com. Examples listed in the article are .movie, .tickets, .multifuctional; and of course, .music.

To put it simply, this just means that instead of your favorite artist’s page ending in .com, it would end in .music. It makes sense and seems easy, but it could go a bit too far.

The article brings up a few issues with this new .music suffix. One, and the main focus of the article, is who will own this title. Another is the so-called “land grab” this will bring. My own is how much is too much?

The article says that there are eight different companies bidding to own the .music suffix. Among them are a group backed by the RIAA and many other big names in the music industry; a company, oddly enough, named .MUSIC; Google; and Amazon. Naturally, it would make sense for something of this nature to go to a company related to the RIAA. It only makes sense.

With the “land grab” in effect, it may be possible for bands to lose their ideal domain name due to someone buying them all up. Some people may try to secure the domain name and sell it to the artist it would belong to for more money. Something to this tune has already happened in the Internet world. Since then laws have been made to protect companies from this.

Now, how far is too far? The article says that a great number of these suffix ideas are being proposed. The .multifuctional suffix mentioned leads me to think that these may become too detailed and become more complicated than need be.

Overall, I think it could be a good idea if used sparingly. It could possibly open up the same domain name with different suffixes for different types of media. An example would me a movie and a band with the same name. One would be .music and the other .movie.  

Reference:

Sisario, B. (2012, June 13). Digital notes: Plans for a new music suffix, but who will own it?. Retrieved from http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/13/digital-notes-plans-for-a-new-music-suffix-but-who-will-own-it/?ref=recordingindustryassociationofamerica

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Tucker Martine

In the music industry, it is always good and inspiring to have a lot of passion. Tucker Martine, a well-known producer and audio engineer, has been in music for most of his life.

Like a lot of young and aspiring engineers of today, Martine started as a musician. As the article and interview in Mix magazine says, he started playing the drums at a young age. From there he progressed to both the music side and the sound side. He started recording the bands that he played in as well as other bands. This is very similar to how young aspiring engineers (high school and college-aged, mostly) begin their climb through the industry.

Of course it was a lot of work to get to the point he is at now. It took him fifteen years to become well known in the industry. As the interview goes through, Martine worked very hard just to start his own studio. He started saving everything he could, just working as a bartender. From his savings, Martine would buy small pieces: a microphone here, one there, and another small piece of equipment.

At the same time, he was making connections. Of course connections are always important in any part of the entertainment business. As he says in the interview, Martine was basically working for free. He was gaining experience and learning techniques.

His first studios were only basement studios. At the start of his studios, he only asked for $5 to $7. Of course, this is nowhere near the amounts that big studios and big name producers ask for.

The way he started was very smart. He knew who is target audience was and how to reach them. He knew how to price his service and make his service absolutely necessary to the bands.

Overall, I find Tucker Martine’s rise in the industry rather inspiring. He worked very hard to get to where he is now. It takes a lot of passion and dedication to work as he did. Your average person would not work for free to learn and get connections in the industry. They also wouldn’t dedicate all their savings to starting up a studio.

Reference:

Jackson, B. (2012, June 01). Producer's desk: Tucker martine. Retrieved from http://mixonline.com/recording/tracking/producers_desk_tucker_martine//index.html

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