Wild (digital) West

When I came up with the name "Digital Victrola" I was thinking about that old wind up device that served as the first real iPod (I still have a wind-up Phonola brand suit case model). The Victrola was the way that large masses of people could experience music from across the country and globe without having to be there in person. Without it the 'music industry' could not have flourished as it did.

Fast forward to the 21st century - we've been through 45 and Long-Play vinyl, reel to reel, cassette, and 8-track tape formats. Then Compact Discs and finally digital downloads and the collapse of "record stores" (with the exception of local buy/sell places).

iTunes became the predominant way music was consumed, if at all. Even I found myself buying more and more from Apple's market dominating application. (I have some 35 days of continuous music on my hard drive at the time of writing this.) Hey, it's convenient. My family lives in a small apartment and there just isn't physical space for that much music, in any physical form. It seemed to me that iTunes was the new Victrola.

That's where "Digital Victrola" came from. Of course, as in the title of this post, it's the Wild West in the music biz right now and nobody knows how people will consume music next year... or month for that matter. So in the midst of this uncertainty I decided it was a good idea to start a record label <cue laughter>. Wish me luck, and if you believe that music IS worth a mere 1.99 per track, then please buy on iTunes, and I thank you for it. But if you believe that the thousands of man hours that go into a single project is worthy of respect, then please buy the physical product directly from me on this site. That way you can be sure that 100% of the money spent goes to the artists and the mission of bringing you music of interest from the many many talented musicians who call the San Francisco Bay Area home. Thank you.