The Washington Post has a website to provide free downloads of music, created by managing editor Howard Parnell, who used to work at the Boston Globe, which offers a similar service. The artists who are featured on these websites are thrilled with the exposure they receive via these sites.
A quote from the article: We all know the current “major label” record industry, with its chronic emphasis on a few pop groups and near-exclusion of all other music, its archaic distribution structure, and its resistance to technological innovations, is on the way out. The real question has become, “What will replace it?” Could newspaper Web sites, combined with musicians’ own sites, be part of the answer?
- NewsForge article: Can newspapers help make record companies obsolete?
- Slashdot discussion: Can Newspapers Save Local Music?
