In an industry where things can seem so fleeting, it's worth taking notice when a part-time project created to help out the music scene celebrates its 10th birthday.
In its 10 years, Musicscene.org has become a local music bulletin board, database and all-around music resource.
Take a closer look at the bulletin board alone and you'll find bands promoting their shows, people selling instruments and other people bitching about clubs, politics, bands, sometimes just life in general.
Conal (Gonzo/Metalhead) Garrity started the site's framework in late 1994 while working on the Web site for St. Cloud's publicly run radio station, KVSC. Garrity wanted to create a site that local bands and musicians could turn to for information on local music venues, even who at what radio station to send their music to get it heard. For non-Minnesotans, it'd be a way for them to find out more about the local music scene.
"I ran a couple of very popular BBSs (computer bulletin boards) in the '80s and longed for the close community feel. In the early '90s, there wasn't much out there," Garrity said. "I wanted to create a comprehensive, community-supported list of everything a band or fan would need to know about the music scene in and around Minnesota."
In early 1995, Shawn (Chrishawn) Lee came aboard and started managing content and in 1996, the Web site officially opened for business.
The directory may not have been getting much use, but Musicscene's members found something to talk about with each other and were shaping the site into a community bulletin board. And there were a number of others who enjoyed the site, but didn't feel the need to interject their opinion into every posted topic.
Many of the bulletin board topics were constructive to the music scene, yet some members were starting to criticize some of its non-music content.
"Musicscene is really a snapshot of its members at any given time; it's connected so many people whose goal is to make music with those who want to listen to music," Garrity said.
The only downside to running the site has been the criticism aimed at its founders.
"Chrishawn and I sometimes get criticized personally for the way the Web site has evolved, but people forget it's free. We do ask for donations from time to time to pay some bills, but it's absolutely free," Garrity said. "It's so easy for others to criticize Musicscene, but it's not so easy to offer insight and ideas on where to take it next."
It's almost inevitable with any media outlet there'll be critics, but Musicscene's core group of members have proven loyal to the site and step up in defense of it. Despite the criticism, Garrity admits he likes the positive attention the site's given him.
"I have a 'Musicscene moment' when I see a Musicscene T-shirt on the street or in a club, even on the rare occasion someone actually recognizes me and buys me a beverage," he said.
No matter how it's changed in the last 10 years or how it will change in the next 10, the main goal of Musicscene.org will stay the same: To support the local music scene in their small, but very consistent, way.
www.musicscene.org
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