The Plastic Sax Blip

I have good news for Kansas City-area jazz musicians- your music is not posted on file-sharing services.

Don't get too happy. The fact that the world's most passionate music fans are not actively listening to you is also bad news.

In April I introduced the Plastic Sax Muxtape. Copyright concerns forced Muxtape's closing. And 364 days ago, I initiated Plastic Sax radio at Pandora. That site has faced legal battles, but it's still fully operational.

An even better concept, Blip.fm, recently hit the scene. It pulls music files from across the internet and adds a social networking component to the mix. It's the musical equivalent of sliced bread. I seeded the Plastic Sax Blip with ten songs from artists associated with Kansas City.

The problem is that so few contemporary Kansas City jazz musicians have music available on the world's servers. Oh, there's plenty of Count Basie, Charlie Parker and Julia Lee. I tried to feature the likes of Alaadeen, Basse, Hagenbach, Pickford and Winslett. Nada.

I'll regularly add songs to the Plastic Sax Blip. I also encourage Plastic Sax readers to create their own accounts. It's ridiculously fun, easy and addictive. And local musicians- it's your call, but I implore you to consider sharing at least a portion of your music with the world. Like or not, it's the way it works in 2008.

(Original image by Plastic Sax.)