Kansas State Collegian
Manhattan, KS
August 27, 2003

Downloading...
San Francisco-based band rides file-sharing tide
by Matthew Webber

" See Ten Mile Tide begin its national tour at O'Malley's Alley on Wednesday for $5 -- but download its music beforehand for free.

Although the Recording Industry Association of America has recently launched lawsuits against those who share music illegally, Ten Mile Tide guitarist Jason Munning has no complaints as far as his band is concerned.

Munning attributes much of the independent band's success to file sharing. He said he believes online song swapping can help musicians attract fans. After all, he said, people have always shared music.

"The culture of music has always been about sharing with people, whether sharing tapes or file-sharing," he said. "File-sharing has taken it to another level, but it's the same principle, now through the Internet."

He said the band began in San Francisco "during the Napster situation" and that the members liked the idea of giving away their music. He said he believed that making the music available for download was a way to "reach a national audience that wasn't possible before."

The idea worked. Whereas many unsigned bands struggle to develop a fan base, users of Kazaa.com have downloaded around ten million of Ten Mile Tide's songs, and the band appeared on CNN earlier this year to discuss its stance on file sharing.

"We put our music out, and it snowballed," Munning said. "If you look at our Web site, it's an exponential curve."

Making its music available for download helped Ten Mile Tide achieve its goals.

"Our goal is where we're at right now," he said. "To do this as a full-time thing, have fans and have a following. This is our first nationwide tour, and we're excited by the response we've been getting."

Munning said the band members have been able to quit their day jobs.

Manhattan Musicians

Local musicians are well aware of the difficulties of getting their music heard. Many of them play open mics for free -- or for the price of a drink or two. Some even agree with Munning that file sharing can have benefits.

At Gumby's Pizza and Pub's open mic Aug. 21, singer/songwriter Dan Bergen, graduate student in English, said he recently started his own Web site, www.danbergen.com. Although he hasn't yet put his music online, he said he believes file sharing could help him expand his audience.

"Sharing music online is a good way to give my fans what they want," he said. "Music. As an artist, a fan base is the reason I succeed, so I say, 'Share away.'"

Also at Gumby's, Ben Schardein, senior in marketing and a self-described "local music follower," said that file sharing can help bands get their music heard, but that they still have to play shows. He said the best way to get your music heard is to play a lot.

"You can get your music heard in two ways," he said, "Share and get lucky or gig the hell out of places."

Some local musicians have had success posting their songs online.

Will Dinkel, bassist and Web master for The Band That Saved the World, advocates file-sharing to increase a band's exposure. The band posts its songs on www.RockKansas.com and doesn't share the RIAA's concern about losing profit from CD sales. He said enough bands have made their music available for download so people have begun to expect it.

"If a listener knows what band they're looking for, they'll go to a file-sharing service such as Kazaa and expect to be able to download songs," he said. "That's just the way it is these days, so why disappoint them? Don't worry about lost CD sales, because the vast majority of an unsigned band's sales will be at shows, not online."

"Samples of your music better be only a few clicks away, or you've lost them. For unsigned bands this is the game. Every little bit of exposure counts."

Dave Studnicka, trombonist for Ruskabank, said his band posts music on www.MP3.com, RockKansas.com and their record label's Web page, www.noisome.com. He said he wants people to have access to his band's music.

"As independent musicians, most of us don't have access to nationwide distribution for our CDs," he said.

He said Ruskabank has found international success because of file-sharing.

"(We) use the Internet to spread (our music) to people not only in the United States, but all over the world. Personally, Mp3 sharing has gotten us on two compilations, one of those being in Germany," Studnicka said.

"I chatted with a kid in Spain who was sharing some Ruskabank stuff as well as looking for more," he said. "We would have never gotten that kind of exposure/fan base without the Internet."


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