Banging Drum – Power to the People

As the January editions of most music magazines decreed, 2008 saw a great crop of talented new break-through acts gain the mainstream coverage they deserve. But who’s gonna be big in 2009? The BBC’s Sound of 2009, widely respected as the what’s hot barometer in the music world, announced it’s top ten list earlier this month, and already those lucky enough to gain a spot in the much-coveted top ten are reaping the benefits.

On the surface, The Sound of 2009 seems like a great way to discover new bands, and it’s certainly no worse than flicking through the NME or listening to XFM. But the fact still remains that the vast majority of the music press covers only signed acts, largely because it still revolves around reviews of CD/MP3s available on general release.

So how do you find your own sound of 2009? Most people would probably agree that the best tips come courtesy of friends; friends who understand what you’re into and perhaps more importantly, what you’re not. And it is with this in mind that London-based Jon Wordsworth created Banging Drum, a new website aiming to bring music that may otherwise remain unheard to a huge audience, using personalised, human recommendations.

He explains how Banging Drum was borne out of frustration at what was currently available: ‘I used to spend hours looking at forums and checking out artists’ MySpace pages, but it took up so much time and I had to listen to lots of music I didn’t like. Then I found a number of sites that gave me automated recommendations. But these didn’t work for me either because they were so impersonal. The human element is crucial when people recommend music to each other.’ And this is exactly what happens at Banging Drum: you simply sign up, fill in a few details about your musical tastes, and tailored recommendations made by people (not computers) will soon be winging their way to your inbox. Fabulous.

Ultimately, the site’s noble aim is help revolutionise the music industry, allowing non-mainstream or unsigned artists to hit the masses, and to make the music they want to make without interference from record labels. It’s a pretty huge aim, but Banging Drum has certainly tapped into something; more and more artists, such as critically acclaimed South Londoner Patrick Wolf, have in recent times revolted against the major labels in the search for creative control over their own music. Wolf was quoted in a recent interview with the site as saying: ‘…I think everyone should stick independent. Especially because I think we’re going to see a very big change in the music industry in the next five years or so. I think we’ll see a flip side. All the major labels will lose their power, and the power will go back to the people. Where it belongs.’

All sounds rather lovely, doesn’t it? But in all seriousness, big changes are definitely-a-coming in the music industry, and if sites like Banging Drum and Bandstocks (Wolf’s means of funding his label-less album) continue to grow, very exciting things are going happen.

Check it out for yourself at www.bangingdrum.com