The Ongoing History of New Music, Episode 724: 20-ish Years of Downloading

If you’re old enough, you’ll probably remember the thrill you felt the first time you used something like Napster. It was like a tear in the universe, a wormhole to not only more music than you could ever afford but to all kinds of music you never knew even existed.

There was also that moment when you found someone out there with musical tastes just like yours. Suddenly you weren’t alone anymore.

Napster wasn’t the first, but it was the one that got people excited about downloading. Then came Grokster, Gnutella, Kazaa, Bearshare, Audio-Galaxy, Limewire and a billion others. In the process, the old-school music industry was destroyed.

This week’s show digs deep into the history of downloading: who invented what and how these programs completely reshaped the 125 year-old musical landscape in less than a decade.

The Ongoing History of New Music can be heard on the following stations:

• 102.1 The Edge/Toronto – Sunday night at 7, Monday night at 11 with archives show Tuesday and Wednesday at midnight.
• Live 88-5/Ottawa
• 107.5 Dave-FM/Kitchener
• FM96/London – Sunday night at 7, Monday night at 11
• The Drive/Kingston
• 98.1 The Bridge/Lethbridge – Saturday night at 6, Sunday morning at 10am
• 92X/Calgary
• Sonic 102.9/Edmonton
• The Zone/Victoria
• Live 105/Halifax

And if things go well, the show will soon be heard on a few other stations. I’m also looking for outlets in Vancouver, Kamloops, Kelowna, Red Deer, Grand Prairie, Regina, Saskatoon, Brandon, Windsor,  Montreal, Charlottetown, Moncton, Fredericton, and St John’s and anywhere else with a transmitter. Anyone? Anyone want to start a campaign?

Meanwhile, if you want to go really deep into some of this stories, head to Flink.to, which is the official archive of all things Ongoing History. This is a place for super fans of alt-rock. Hope you can take a look and start contributing to the stories.

Finally, we have the new Ongoing History of New Music YouTube channel. Give it a look!