Preamble
I recently discovered Massive Open Online Courses, or 'Moocs'. These are free online courses delivered by academic institutions and available for all to consume.
Over 7 weeks, I had the immense pleasure of watching Professor John Covach (University of Rochester) explore 'The History of Rock Music'. Part of the appeal for me was discovering all of these old rock n' roll bands that I might never have found out about.
Now, despite the canonised tour of rock music through the ages, copyright law meant that no music was played in the video lectures. John notes the ease of hunting down the music cited online as a viable substitute. This is what I want to talk about.
Firstly though, and importantly, I love making playlists and compilations. I have almost 400 playlists on my i-Tunes. Most are expanded versions of my favourite albums, with b-sides and live cuts, etc. I take immense pleasure in putting them together. It's one of my hobbies.
As the online course moved from Bing Crosby to The Beatles via BB King, etc., I pledged to put together some stellar playlists. And so I did. But, not without a little help from my friends...
Someone else, a chap called Rick Leanord who I will never meet or get to thank, took the liberty of putting together Spotify playlists of all of the songs mentioned in each video; week by week. I couldn't believe it. Now, I have recently moved from Spotify to Deezer to fulfil my music discovery needs and thought 'what now?'. Well..
A few clicks and I was stunned to learn how easily it was to copy playlists from Spotify to Deezer. As in, super simple stuff. And, with a premium Deezer account on my phone... I'm up and running with hundreds of songs spanning some 70 decades of rock music. On demand. Whenever I want. No big thing? Let's back track.
The Process
For free, I was treated to a distinguished Professor teaching me all about the History of Rock.
For free, a selfless Spotify user collated the music cited on the video lectures to playlists.
For free, I used software to copy the playlists to another subscription service.
For free, I can listen to these playlists on this service (Deezer).
The Outcome
I am now in a position where I have a staggering volume of recorded music at my fingertips. It not only cost me zero pence, but virtually no time at all. Along the way, an untold amount of people I don't know (and don't know me) made this possible. It's unbelievable.
Concluding remarks
Accessing music has never been easier, or cheaper. It's everywhere. You don't even need to be particularly savvy online to find it. People take it for granted, but remember, the internet is not some living organism but a tool which allows people to come together in creative ways. It's people who post that YouTube video about how to wire a plug.
People help other people, they always have; they are social creatures. People love music; it's a social phenomenon. The case study above is illustrative of the beauty of the internet when music and technology come together; and I am grateful to be a part of it.
I recently discovered Massive Open Online Courses, or 'Moocs'. These are free online courses delivered by academic institutions and available for all to consume.
Over 7 weeks, I had the immense pleasure of watching Professor John Covach (University of Rochester) explore 'The History of Rock Music'. Part of the appeal for me was discovering all of these old rock n' roll bands that I might never have found out about.
Now, despite the canonised tour of rock music through the ages, copyright law meant that no music was played in the video lectures. John notes the ease of hunting down the music cited online as a viable substitute. This is what I want to talk about.
Firstly though, and importantly, I love making playlists and compilations. I have almost 400 playlists on my i-Tunes. Most are expanded versions of my favourite albums, with b-sides and live cuts, etc. I take immense pleasure in putting them together. It's one of my hobbies.
As the online course moved from Bing Crosby to The Beatles via BB King, etc., I pledged to put together some stellar playlists. And so I did. But, not without a little help from my friends...
Someone else, a chap called Rick Leanord who I will never meet or get to thank, took the liberty of putting together Spotify playlists of all of the songs mentioned in each video; week by week. I couldn't believe it. Now, I have recently moved from Spotify to Deezer to fulfil my music discovery needs and thought 'what now?'. Well..
A few clicks and I was stunned to learn how easily it was to copy playlists from Spotify to Deezer. As in, super simple stuff. And, with a premium Deezer account on my phone... I'm up and running with hundreds of songs spanning some 70 decades of rock music. On demand. Whenever I want. No big thing? Let's back track.
The Process
For free, I was treated to a distinguished Professor teaching me all about the History of Rock.
For free, a selfless Spotify user collated the music cited on the video lectures to playlists.
For free, I used software to copy the playlists to another subscription service.
For free, I can listen to these playlists on this service (Deezer).
The Outcome
I am now in a position where I have a staggering volume of recorded music at my fingertips. It not only cost me zero pence, but virtually no time at all. Along the way, an untold amount of people I don't know (and don't know me) made this possible. It's unbelievable.
Concluding remarks
Accessing music has never been easier, or cheaper. It's everywhere. You don't even need to be particularly savvy online to find it. People take it for granted, but remember, the internet is not some living organism but a tool which allows people to come together in creative ways. It's people who post that YouTube video about how to wire a plug.
People help other people, they always have; they are social creatures. People love music; it's a social phenomenon. The case study above is illustrative of the beauty of the internet when music and technology come together; and I am grateful to be a part of it.
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