NB beat.

A11

Nelson Hansen

Stumble Upon

del.icio.us

Digg

Facebook

Print

Email

Speak Up

Like legions of other New Brunswickers, Joseph Nixon enjoys his music. The 26-year-old Saint John area musician has been writing his own songs since the age of 17 and likes to share his music with family and friends. And like so many other musicians, he'd like to share his music with an ever-widening audience.

Lucky for Nixon and any other musician, the digital age has overturned the manner in which music finds its way to listeners' ears.

"I've always had a desire to share my music with whoever would listen. When I play my songs for friends or at fundraisers and family events they've heard my songs before and request favourites."

Nixon explains that he's using the Internet and social networking sites to bring his music to the people foregoing traditional routes.

"I wasn't big on the idea of bouncing from bar to bar trying to have people actually listen to my music. Like a lot of people I don't have a full time band and it's difficult to get people in a bar to focus on a guy with an acoustic guitar. That's when I decided to start a Facebook group and YouTube channel and it's pretty neat what's happening there."

What's happening is that while Nixon invited immediate friends and family to visit his Facebook group (Joseph Nixon "" That Canadian Musician) it's beginning to grow to an ever-widening audience far beyond what he had intended or imagined.

"Maybe half the people that joined the group were the ones I'd invited. All of a sudden I see names of people I've never met and that's really exciting."

A talented musician, Nixon plays several instruments and does in fact write very well-crafted pop songs. Perhaps it's in the blood. Nixon's father and grandfather were members of the famous New Brunswick Old Tyme music group the Lamplighters. The Lamplighters played across the province and at one point had a popular N.B. based cable TV show. In those days finding an audience for your music meant playing by someone else's rules. If you wanted your music to be heard first and foremost, a record company would have to decide whether or not there was enough interest in your music to warrant making a record to make money off of (That's the record company making money, not the musician.) Then if you were deemed profitable the record company would hold 100 per cent control of all distribution and promotion channels and music fans heard the music that the record companies wanted you to hear. It was that way with musical TV shows as well. For your music to be heard or seen in the pre-digital days, someone had to be making money off of it.

So what about sharing your music just for the joy of sharing such a wonderful thing? Perhaps that's the greatest thing about the digital age. Music can be very democratic. If you don't like it go to another webpage or podcast. Or, make a suggestion.

"I think the feedback of having my music up there is the coolest thing." Nixon says. "It's like sitting around a campfire with friends and playing guitar and singing songs. Someone can say "Oh I like that song or maybe you should try this". People on Facebook can leave comments and suggestions. It's like a campfire but those comments can come from just about anywhere."

What's becoming ironic about the Facebook group is that the feedback he's receiving is giving Nixon plans to consider another look at the "traditional way" of sharing his music by performing in bars and coffee houses.

"When I see that more and more people joining the group and making comments perhaps someday I'll have the confidence that enough people want to hear my songs that maybe I will try to play a few bars. But the main thing is that I have a way to have people, even strangers hear my music and that's pretty fun."

Even if Nixon doesn't take his show on the proverbial road, he has the modern luxury of being able to do what musicians not 15 years before could do. Take control of his music and find an audience. In fact we can all share our music with the world and we don't need anybody's permission to do so.

Perhaps the most important point to remember is that music is far too important to be left in the hands of a big corporation.

Tune up. Log on and let it rip!

If your NB Based act or event would like to be featured in this column please contact oneyearofnbmusic@yahoo.com