It has been a long journey since online music distributors (OMDs) began offering precious bandwidth for independent musicians. I only go back as far as 1994, but that is ancient history.

We all found out about OMDs in the mid- to late-90s and, of course, we all found out about mp3 dot com. And most of us jumped on to that bandwidth wagon quickly. After all, it was free. And before long it was offering royalties for downloads and for plays. Along came other OMDs, all free. A lot of others. All of 'em were free, so, it made sense to get a page on each one.

One of those "other" OMDs was Ampcast dot com. And if you would have made me forecast in '98 that it would still be standing, no less thriving, while mp3 dot com burned to cinders, I would have said, "No way." And I am a betting man.

Fortunately for me, after mp3 dot com became an unmanageable mess and was only truly servicing those who paid to be there (and stopped paying anyone money that was being scammed by too many artists anyway), I put up some bucks to stay at Ampcast dot com. Yes, the free ride at OMDs was over and most of the growing OMDs were charging. There were others that continued to be free but they weren't offering much and most of them collided with the economy and dismantled.

Why did I stay at Ampcast? For one, they had the best CD program. Rebook-quality CDs. I was tired of those mp3 dot com digital disks. Before that joint even crashed I was planning a CD release at Ampcast.

Another great reason for staying was that people who actually answer emails ran Ampcast. Not just a staff of hired hands-I'm talking the owners of the joint. True. I got to know one of them pretty well, just from emails and phone calls. That's right, most of us at Ampcast have the phone numbers of an owner or two and these guys talk with you, call you back, write emails to respond to questions and problems. It's revolutionary. At least considering the poor standard that mp3 dot com set.

And, of course, Ampcast wasn't just pushing the digital envelope in the customer service department. No sir, they also had internet broadcasting. Live programs that played music from the site. Not stupid "stations" like mp3 dot com offered-those lists of songs that anyone could develop. Ampcast dot com "radio" had real people talking and playing Ampcast music.

This place was a bastion of hip notions. It was the only club that mattered, as I saw it. And so I became more and more involved in it, focusing my indie working time on a relationship that seems to have no end. Because Ampcast is still around, even as other OMDs bite the cyber dust. And slowly, Ampcast gets better, with more features and stronger support to all who hang their musical hats there.

Of course you can still have pages and music anywhere else you want. Ampcast is not demanding exclusivity. However, if you are serious about being on an OMD, about releasing quality CDs, having the page of your choice and design, getting "airplay" on the internet and having the best support any OMD has available, then you need to become exclusive to Ampcast. If you are going to pay rent to be on an OMD, you can live in a palace at basement room prices at Ampcast....Frank Cotolo

Cotolo @ Ampcast   High Grass Boys @ Ampcast   Chronicles @ Ampcast