In 1973, Todd Rundgren released a double album with an oddly prophetic title: A WIZARD, A TRUE STAR.
Well, it was at least partially portentous. Although Rundgren would carve out a highly respected career -- with hits including "Hello It's Me," "I Saw the Light," and "Bang the Drum All Day" -- he would never attain true stardom.
The wizardry half of the equation, however, might be an understatement. Rundgren's genius has been in his creative and technical innovations, whether through production (for albums by Meatloaf, XTC and Patti Smith) or invention. He was a video pioneer in the days before MTV, and Rundgren also created the first digital paint program for PCs, which was licensed to Apple in 1981.
But Rundgren's latest venture may be truly revolutionary. PatroNet, an Internet-based subscription service, may eventually change the way record companies do business.
It works this way: For a fee, Rundgren creates a song when the muse strikes him, then delivers it in a file via the Internet, or on a CD by way of the U.S. Postal Service. Then, at the end of the year after accumulating 12-15 songs, they are compiled and released to subscribers and the public at large through the traditional method of releasing a new album through a distributor.
"Instead of the way I used to make music -- I'd go into a studio and woodshed for a month to six weeks -- now I write music whenever I have an idea, " Rundgren said from New York City. "If I have a musical idea, I don't have to wait two or three years. Now, it's more about making music all the time."
In its early stages, PatroNet has already garnered 1,500 subscribers through his website, tr-i.com. And although record companies aren't quite ready to throw in the towel, Rundgren envisions a time (sooner than later) when the Internet becomes the main vehicle through which musicians release their music. Perhaps not for Garth Brooks, Michael Jackson and other superstars, but for everyone else.
"The music business is blockbuster oriented," Rundgren said. "They never did figure out a way to manage artists who had musical validity in the late `70s and early `80s, when artists like Van Morrison were getting dropped by their labels.
"It started to appear to me then that the record companies were paying a lot of lip service to artists, but really looked at them as cheap labor."
Rundgren cites the grunge move in the early `90s as the start of the music business revolution.
"It was music that was driven by independent record makers, people who would form their own labels and sell their catalog by mail order," he said. "Then they worked their way up from purely regional labels to the point where something like Sub Pop became appealing to the rest of the record industry."
This do-it-yourself attitude, Rundgren feels, was a precursor to the current Internet revolution. You want to make a record? Go ahead, then sell it through your web site. With a little marketing and business savvy, who needs a record company?
But Rundgren sees the Internet as dissembling more than just the long-standing music monoliths. In time, radio may follow suit.
"It doesn't matter what the format is because music is the experience of listening to music, not a shelf full of discs," he said. "Eventually this model will prevail because of the ubiquitousness of the Internet. Radio as we know it will go the way of records and the record buying experience, and be replaced by cable."
A Utopian dream? Perhaps, but Rundgren's vision merits consideration. He foresees a service where cable and the Internet provide subscription service to users so they can order blocks of music - just like ordering a cable television package. Just like Rundgren's PatroNet, but on a much broader scale.
"You'll be able to use as much or as little of it as you want, just like cable television," he said. "There's no meter on it. I'd just as soon pay somebody 15 bucks and be able to pick any song I want to listen to."
If you're having trouble visualizing this system, remember this: When Rundgren began making music videos in the mid-1970s, no one ever thought there would be an outlet such as MTV. Rundgren seems to be ahead of the curve once again.
"Well, I'm usually out of sync," he said. "But the music business has been somewhat cyclical. I think I'm actually about right in time now."
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