A little while back, Culture System featured a story on how people search for music. It was about a survey of people meant to represent the whole population. In a bit of bad news for this blog, it found that the majority of people do not go online in search of new music.

The study did note, however, that music heads and the "Internet cognoscenti", as the report called the web savvy, search for music in a different manner.

And a couple of new studies might help to shed a little light on this part of the population.

A recent non-scientific survey of users of the blog aggregator Hype Machine found that, like the first report, friends still played a large role in discovering music for Hype Machine users. But friends were only the runner up as a source of music, not the prime source. Online editorials were the go-to place for Hype Machine users.

But one of the readers was a little peturbed that the study didn’t include radio as one of the multiple choice options for sources of new music. A total of 7.6 users wrote this alternative into the "other" category.

Entertainment Media Research also just recently published(pdf) a study of digital music consumption in the UK. (Net, Blogs and Rock’n'Roll caught this one.)

In this online study of 1,700 people, MySpace ranks as the most important web site for music, with YouTube coming in second. More importantly, perhaps, is that 10 percent of respondents said the social networking sites have led to purchases. This is surely to increase now that musicians are able to sell MP3’s directly through their MySpace profiles. And it’s just in time: nearly half said it needs to be easier to buy music from the sites.

Regardless of their popularity, two-fifths agree with the statement that the networking sites "are full of idiots nowadays". Yes, they really asked that question. So scientific.

Finding and spreading music hidden under the radar is a big reason Culture System exists. That’s probably why I was so excited to come across NozeBleed. If ever there were a sound that defined a genre, NozeBleed would do that for trip hop.

Homeboy’s album, Romantics of the Rhino, is probably equal to the overall body of work by RJD2, Shadow, or Prefuse - if not better. Problem is, it lacks any of the obvious hits or standout tracks that attributed to those artists. Not to be misunderstood: this album hits the spot, and I love to listen to it while I work. But it just never reaches that level of intricacy which would merit a long sit down where listening is the main activity.

Still, in a world where anybody can distribute their shit, and we’re not dependent on huge distribution systems, my man’s work should shine a little. When the dust from the digital revolution settles (as geeky as that sounds), hopefully dudes like this will be able to afford the entire alphabet for their soup. And maybe billion dollar, blockbusting, baby dropping Britneys wont exist either.

Anyway, I got a couple MP3’s here. These are two of the best songs off the Rhino joint.

Most discussions around music probably don’t involve some politician from Pittsburg, but a recent debate in Washington has interjected one into the conversation. And in a positive light, to boot.

It just so happens that the mashup artist Girl Talk lives in the district of a congressman who sits on the Committee that deals with the issues surrounding music copyright. The politico has been using Girl Talk’s music as an example of why using other people’s music to create your own should be considered a valid form of art in the eyes of the law.

Newsweek recently had the Congressman, Mike Doyle, sit down over lunch with the man who is Girl Talk, Gregg Gillis, and talk about what kind of laws could be passed that would allow artists like him to thrive. (Girl Talk’s music has been pulled from eMusic and iTunes over legal concerns.)

A Mash-Up Relief bill… classic.

When anybody with basic computer skills can download music, buying it online has almost become an altruistic act. If it’s free, why pay for it other than to support the artists they enjoy? (Well, there is the remote chance they are scared of getting sued.)

Some internet companies are taking a "glass is half full" approach to this situation. They are banking on the goodwill of people who already buy online, and hoping they would be willing to pay more for music if it were to benefit the artist.

The older of the two companies out there - that I know of, at least - is MagnaTune. The site allows listeners to hear the site’s catalog of artists for free. But to download songs, users have to pay. The site has a base charge, but a buyer can choose to pay more for a song if they like. All money is split with the artists 50/50.

And the new cat on the block is SongSlide. They start songs off at 59 cents, and allow buyers to slide a bar up to donate more money, with all of the extra profits going to the artist.

The catalog of these sites is very limited and makes them more of an interesting experiment with a good faith business model.

But can it pay off? The co-founder of SongSlide, Devin Brewer, tells Freakonomics that the average song sells for $2.08. But this may be due to the novelty of the site, and its limited audience. More telling may be the sale prices at the older MagnaTune. While the site doesn’t provide average sales data on their statistics page, their albums with the highest average sales prices are not that encouraging. Few sell for much more than the base rate of $8.00.

"Music Burgler"

Another telling anecdote may be the experience of Jane Siberry. At first, she allowed listeners to download her music free, but gave them the option to pay. The model was successful… only until she got some media coverage. She then got a swarm of new listeners - who decided to download and never pay.

Take from this what you will, but buy music. (How much have you spent on alcohol this month, hm?) 

iTunes is now the third largest music retailer in the country in terms of albums sold, according to NPD Group, a market research provider. iTunes lags behind only WalMart and Best Buy, and leads Amazon and Target.

(In order to compare iTunes to the more traditional outlets, NPD counted each 12 tracks sold on iTunes as the equivalent of an album sold elsewhere.)

With iTunes commanding so many sales, it may put more pressure on Apple to allow those songs to be played with competing technologies. European regulators are already trying to force the company to do so. The vast majority of iTunes music can only be played on the iPod or on iTunes. But Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple, recently blamed this on the technical difficulties of adding copyright protections to those songs, which most of the music labels demand.

The web has been encroaching on the role played by the local record shop for a while now. That’s not exactly news. But the shops are responding and adapting. And even NYC, a market where a small music stores can still survive, is no exception.

A quick review of some shops in the city that are evolving with the net.
Turntable Lab does it all… except sell digital music. Their web site has staff reviews of most of their music. They have an internet radio show on BrooklynRadio.net. And they have a blog where they post events, mixes, and other irrelevant stuff. Their website even offers super sperm from musical geniuses for demanding mothers!	One of those mixtapes fiends? Halcyon’s website has LOTS of podcasts from their in-house DJ’s, as well as from guests like Diplo. Jason Charles also rocks anything underground or electronic for Halcyon on his internet radio show at East Village Radio, the one time pirate radio station that got shut down by the FCC.
The long time Mecca for backpacking B Boys that is Fat Beats has also been steadily embracing the web. They have a blog, and an internet radio show on East Village Radio where Monster and Bill Sharp flip shit on that underground tip.	Other Music will soon offer a “curated selection” (which is what they consider their storefront) of MP3’s for sale that can be played on any MP3 player and copied as many times as you like. Click here for updates on that. Hopefully, they’ll dead their weird categories, like the In, Out, and Then sections.