Band Width

Local musicians air their views on the threat to Net radio

Ted Nesseth The Heavenly States (Oakland rock quartet since 2000)"I started listening after Napster went down, seeing who would pick up the torch and carry it. Every time the industry explodes the record companies try to scoop it back up and collect on it. The Net is the next explosion and this is their way of trying to maintain control. To me there's a direct effect of people listening during the day and planning what to do that night. People are so hooked in now and have the opportunity at every moment to have access. It's part of what is changing about music." Nesseth adds, "More of something is always good, unless it's VD."

Stephen Rodriguez The Otherside (S.F. indie band since 2004)

"I have friends in terrestrial radio who are supporters of the band. I think they are not only aware of us via the Web and podcasting, they're constantly listening to see what's bubbling up. Webcasters are the root. If you think Live 105's Aaron Axelsen is going to find out about you just because you're so damn cool, you need a reality check. These are the guys helping guys like Aaron Axelsen to find things."

Bryan Aubert Silversun Pickups (Honorary S.F. band from L.A.)"When we put out our EP we just expected to sort of put it out and share it with people who already knew us and we would be happy. And it was really weird because of certain online stations. Seattle's KEXP is big online, and when they started playing us it was just crazy. All at once, the amount of messages we were getting versus from other things was significantly higher. A lot of it was coming from Seattle, and then people from Honduras were like, 'We listen to KEXP.' Then we started getting spun on local big modern rock stations."