circumjacence

I made two updates to the blogroll today.

The first is a link to the Hungarian netlabel: Soundpill.  I’ve been enjoying a number of their releases this week and look forward to more!

The second is a link to INQ Mag, a blog and podcast with news and reviews from the Netlabel world (not unlike this site, but with a bit more panache).

Over the past six months or so that this site has been up in its current form, my plans and goals for it have drifted around (”just CC-music”, “CC-music and photography”, “CC-music, my music, and my photography”, etc.). There have also been a few times that I’ve wanted to write about things outside of the creative realm entirely (intellectual property issues, interesting technology, etc.). I considered posting those items under a new category “off-topic” (in a typical display of self deprecating humor). But ultimately I’ve always decided to try to “stay focused” and keep the content centered primarily on music (Netlabels’ and my own), with little bit of my photography as a side item.

One of the reasons I’ve stayed focused on the Netlabel community is that find it to be a consistent source of inspiration and wonder. For me personally, the Netlabel idea takes the age old concept of the “bedroom musician” out of the context of the “hit system” of record labels and traditional music marketing, and places it into a new context. It seems to me that in many cases the motivation of an artist who releases the product of his or her labor out into the aether (or at least onto archive.org) is different than that of the artist who sets out to find an audience and / or a market. I make no argument that one is somehow “better” than the other, but rather simply that the motivation is different, and that I personally find that difference inspiring.

Well, as of tonight I pledge to expand the breadth of topics covered on this site to include to include items from other spheres where I (and hopefully others) find inspiration: the visual arts, literature, technology, philosophy, education, etc. — wherever inspiration and wonder is to be found.

I still want to have a significant focus on Netlabel reviews (with a new review every week or so and a podcast-like feed of Netlabel releases users can subscribe to), but to begin to include inspiration and wonder from other sources as well.

Or to put it more succinctly, the new tagline for the site is: “a finite trace amidst immeasurable wonder“.