The launch of Napster in June of 1999 ushered in a new era for the music industry. Music was pulled kicking and screaming into the digital era and the demise of the CD format was not long off. The subsequent collapse in revenues for music, caused the industry to reluctantly embrace streaming platforms like Spotify it also caused far reaching ripple effects we are still living with today in both music and culture at large.

Here to explain is Dr. Aram Sinnreich. Aram is a Professor and chair of the Communication Studies division at American University’s School of Communication. His work focuses on the intersection of culture, law and technology, with an emphasis on subjects such as surveillance, critical data studies, intellectual property, remix culture, and music. He is the author of three books: Mashed Up, The Piracy Crusade, and The Essential Guide to Intellectual Property and has written for publications including The New York Times, Billboard and Wired. He joins us from Washington, DC.

Find Aram’s writing and music at sinnreich.com.

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Beatseeker has been selected by Feedspot as one of the ⁠Top Music Technology Podcasts⁠ on the web: ⁠https://blog.feedspot.com/music_technology_podcasts/⁠

Learn more:⁠ beatseeker.fm⁠

Insta:⁠ @beatseekerpod⁠ Twitter:⁠ @beatseekerpod⁠  Facebook: ⁠facebook.com/beatseekerpod

The connection between music and human beings runs deeper than you might think. Humans are innately musical beings - and our relationship with music has been deeply intertwined since the homo sapiens first emerged. Our guest today is Michael Spitzer, who boldly makes the case that music is the most important thing we ever did; and is in fact a fundamental part of what makes us human.

Michael is a British musicologist and professor of Music at the University of Liverpool. He is the author of four books including his most recent, The Musical Human: A History of Life on Earth. The book is the first 'Big History' of music,  a colossal history spanning cultures, time, and space to explore the vibrant relationship between music and the human species. He joins us from Liverpool, England.

Learn more about Michael at https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/music/staff/michael-spitzer/ where you’ll find links to his research and publications. Look for his book The Musical Human: A History of Life on Earth from Bloomsbury wherever you buy your books, and listen to the serialised version on BBC Radio 4's Book of the Week, read by Simon McBurney.

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Beatseeker has been selected by Feedspot as one of the Top Music Technology Podcasts on the web: https://blog.feedspot.com/music_technology_podcasts/

Learn more: beatseeker.fm

Insta: @beatseekerpod Twitter: @beatseekerpod  Facebook: facebook.com/beatseekerpod

At Beatseeker, we’re constantly looking for new ways to discover good tunes. HotDrop is a new app that guides music lovers and discoverers through a feed of underground indie music. In their words, HotDrop “... keeps your music taste fresh with millions of new songs you've never heard before.”

Here to tell us how it all works is HotDrop’s CEO Max Goldberg. Max and his co-founder Steven Segel founded the company in their Indiana University dorm room. Max is a self-taught app developer and sold his first app venture when he was still in high school. He joins us from Portland, Maine.

Check out hotdrop at hotdropapp.com on Twitter & Instagram @officialhotdrop and at TikTok @hotdropmusic.

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Beatseeker has been selected by Feedspot as one of the Top Music Technology Podcasts on the web: https://blog.feedspot.com/music_technology_podcasts/

Learn more: beatseeker.fm

Insta: @beatseekerpod Twitter: @beatseekerpod  Facebook: facebook.com/beatseekerpod

Any concertgoer will tell you that good tickets are hard to come by, cost an arm and a leg and charge an obscene amount of service fees. Ticketmaster has a firm stranglehold on the business of concert ticketing and ever since merging with promoter and venue operator Live Nation in 2010, critics have pointed to an unfair marketplace for consumers. Here to break down the problem is Krista Brown, one of the people fighting to break up the monopoly in an effort to put an end to their unparalleled influence over the ticketing market.

Krista is a Senior Policy Analyst at the American Economic Liberties Project. Previously, Krista was a research associate at Open Markets Institute where she focused on concentration in the technology industry, wealth inequality, and the disproportionate effects of monopoly power on low income and minority populations. While there, she helped draft the amicus brief in support of the FTC’s anti-monopoly suit against Qualcomm. We reached her in Boston, MA.

Learn more about the coalition at breakupticketmaster.com and follow Krista on Twitter @KristaKBrown

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Beatseeker has been selected by Feedspot as one of the Top Music Technology Podcasts on the web: https://blog.feedspot.com/music_technology_podcasts/

Learn more: beatseeker.fm

Insta: @beatseekerpod Twitter: @beatseekerpod  Facebook: facebook.com/beatseekerpod

Classical music is making a big comeback. More and more people - including the younger generation - are enjoying music that was written hundreds of years ago. Do recent tech developments, like streaming and social media have something to do with reawakening these age-old works?

Here to help us understand the classical revival is Jess Gillam. Jess is the first ever saxophonist to be signed to Decca Classics and her debut album “Rise” shot to No.1 in the Official UK Classical Charts. She became the youngest ever presenter for BBC Radio 3 and hosts her own weekly show called “This Classical Life” in which she talks to musical friends and colleagues about the music that inspires them. She joins us from just outside of London, UK.

Learn more about This Classical Life and find the podcast at: bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00040ch.

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Beatseeker has been selected by Feedspot as one of the Top Music Technology Podcasts on the web: https://blog.feedspot.com/music_technology_podcasts/

Learn more: beatseeker.fm

Insta: @beatseekerpod Twitter: @beatseekerpod  Facebook: facebook.com/beatseekerpod 

Today’s episode is our year end wrap-up where we look at the biggest tech trends impacting music and we contemplate where things may be headed in 2023 and beyond. We wanted to discuss the music metaverse, the state of Web3, the increasing popularity of old material and ‘streaming fatigue’. We discuss these developments with legendary storyteller Alan Cross.

Alan is an internationally known broadcaster, interviewer, writer, consultant, blogger and speaker. Based in Toronto, he is best known nationally and internationally as host of the syndicated radio series The Ongoing History of New Music, The Secret History of Rock, and ExploreMusic. In his forty years in the broadcast and music business, he has interviewed the biggest names in rock, ranging from David Bowie and Ringo Starr to U2, Pearl Jam, Coldplay, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, AC/DC and the Foo Fighters. As avid listeners of Alan’s storytelling for decades, we are incredibly pumped to have him on the show today.

Learn more about Alan and catch up on the latest on his blog: ajournalofmusicalthings.com/ where you’ll find links to his various social channels.

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Beatseeker has been selected by Feedspot as one of the Top Music Technology Podcasts on the web: https://blog.feedspot.com/music_technology_podcasts/

Learn more: beatseeker.fm

Insta: @beatseekerpod Twitter: @beatseekerpod  Facebook: facebook.com/beatseekerpod Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/beatseeker

Beatseeker is sponsored by the Boombox Music League: boomboxsoftware.com

Can the music industry come together to lower our carbon footprint and save the planet? A unique organization is working to transform the music industry to address our climate emergency because in their words, there is #NoMusicOnaDeadPlanet”. Here to tell us about the initiative is Fay Milton.

Fay is co-founder of Music Declares Emergency, a group of artists, music industry professionals and organizations that stand together to declare a climate and ecological emergency and call for an immediate governmental response. She is a presenter of the music and climate podcast Sounds Like a Plan produced by New Allotment. Fay is also a drummer and music producer, having played in a Mercury-nominated apocalyptic post-punk band. She joins us from London, England.

Learn more about the cause at musicdeclares.net and follow on socials @musicdeclares.

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Beatseeker has been selected by Feedspot as one of the Top Music Technology Podcasts on the web: https://blog.feedspot.com/music_technology_podcasts/

Learn more: beatseeker.fm

Insta: @beatseekerpod Twitter: @beatseekerpod  Facebook: facebook.com/beatseekerpod Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/beatseeker

Beatseeker is sponsored by the Boombox Music League: boomboxsoftware.com

Nashville. Seattle. New Orleans. These are but a few examples of cities that have organically developed incredible music scenes. But in fact, any city can encourage their local music scene so residents can benefit culturally, economically and in a host of other ways. Today we speak with Shain Shapiro who helps cities understand these benefits and create the right policies to enable them.

Shain is the founder of Sound Diplomacy and a globally recognised thought leader at the convergence of music, culture and urban policy. He has influenced over 100 cities and places to invest in music and culture as part of their overall growth strategy. He is also the co-founder of Music Cities Convention, bringing together the music industry with city planners, developers, policy makers and executives.  His debut book, This Must Be The Place: How Music Can Make Your City Better, is due out on Repeater Books in September, 2023. We reached him in London, England.

Learn more about Shain’s work at sounddiplomacy.com & centerformusicecosystems.com and follow him on Twitter @shainshapiro

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Beatseeker has been selected by Feedspot as one of the Top Music Technology Podcasts on the web: https://blog.feedspot.com/music_technology_podcasts/

Learn more: beatseeker.fm

Insta: @beatseekerpod Twitter: @beatseekerpod  Facebook: facebook.com/beatseekerpod Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/beatseeker

Beatseeker is sponsored by the Boombox Music League: boomboxsoftware.com

Biology would teach us that animal noises are purely functional - the sounds animals make for attracting mates or warning of danger are evolutionary adaptations necessary for surviving in the wild but nothing more. Our guest today contends the story is more complex than what you learned in bio class. Animals can make music and it’s even possible to jam with them.

To help us sort out this musical jungle is David Rothenberg - a professor of philosophy and music at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, with a special interest in animal sounds as music. He is also a composer and jazz musician whose books and recordings reflect a longtime interest in understanding other species such as singing insects, birds and even whales. Through Rothenberg's study of animal song and his experimental interactions with animal music, he is often called an "interspecies musician". We reached him in Cold Spring, New York.

Learn more about David’s work and find his books and music at: davidrothenberg.net

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Beatseeker has been selected by Feedspot as one of the Top Music Technology Podcasts on the web: https://blog.feedspot.com/music_technology_podcasts/

Learn more: beatseeker.fm

Insta: @beatseekerpod Twitter: @beatseekerpod  Facebook: facebook.com/beatseekerpod Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/beatseeker

Beatseeker is sponsored by the Boombox Music League: boomboxsoftware.com

Heavy metal music might not conjure up images of positive mental health, but research shows that for some people, a little metal might be just what the doctor ordered. It’s time to challenge those negative stereotypes and learn about the health benefits of metal. While we’re at it, we’re going to find out why sharks love heavy metal too.

Joe Daly is an award-winning music journalist who joins us today to explain the healthy metal paradox. Joe regularly contributes to Metal Hammer, Classic Rock, Men’s Health and Bass Player Magazine among other outlets. We reached him in San Diego.

Learn more about Joe and read his work at joedaly.net and follow him on Twitter & Instagram @joedaly_ca

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Beatseeker has been selected by Feedspot as one of the Top Music Technology Podcasts on the web: https://blog.feedspot.com/music_technology_podcasts/

Learn more: beatseeker.fm

Insta: @beatseekerpod Twitter: @beatseekerpod  Facebook: facebook.com/beatseekerpod Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/beatseeker

Beatseeker is sponsored by the Boombox Music League: boomboxsoftware.com