And, of course, I’m talking as much about The Bugcast as I am any other podcast that features independent, podsafe or Creative Commons music.
When The Bugcast was first created, back in March of 2008, there was no particular rhyme or reason to it. I did it because I could, nothing more, nothing less. But as time has gone on, and particularly so since the show became a member of the Association of Music Podcasting (AMP) in September of 2008, the music has become more and more important to the show’s existence.
As it stands now, we’ve played around 1,000 music tracks, representing only slightly fewer artists. These are 99% artists who would never have been exposed to the world of podcasts if it hadn’t been for shows like ours. These are artists who, for the most part, will never have been (and possibly never will be) featured on mainstream radio or television. Music podcasting is an important part of the resources available to independent musicians and bands, as we are in a position to reach audiences that they would otherwise not be able to tap into. If you think that there are 50 or so members of AMP at the current time, if one artist was featured by half of those members, you could be talking tens of thousands of listeners hearing this artist’s music within a week of them first getting in contact with the Association. Can’t you just feel that power? And it essentially costs the artist and podcaster nothing to expose this music to our listeners. A true win-win scenario.
So, right now, you’re probably thinking to yourself, “yeah, free music… it’s gonna be fairly dire, isn’t it?” Well, you’re wrong. You’re so wrong. In fact, you’re so wrong that you couldn’t be more wrong if there was a big sign above you head saying “You’re wrong”
For us as podcasters, we do what we do because we believe in the music. We believe in the artists that we promote. Whilst there will always be some mainstream artists that generate the kind of quality that will see them cemented in our hearts and ears for the rest of eternity… there aren’t that many of them. And yet, lying undiscovered in the world of independent music, there are hundreds of thousands of artists and bands who have not yet been heard by the masses, but are so much better than a lot of the mainstream music that is currently gracing our “pop” charts.
To say that this is a travesty is an understatement of immense proportions.
This is why you should be listening to independent podcasts like The Bugcast, other members of AMP (see the list on the lower right of any page on this site) and other independent music podcasts. I guarantee you that, on your first listen, we will introduce you to an artist that you’ve never heard before, and leave you wondering why.
If you’ve never listened to an independent music podcast before, give it a try – at least once – and marvel at the world of high quality independent music that you’re currently missing out on.
Go on.
