It all beings with a mixtape. My first creation had humble beginnings, picture me crouched in front of my parents radio with a little Panasonic cassette recorder with two fingers trembling ready to press play+ record to catch my favorite song (once the DJ stopped talking). It was the start of a life long passion to create the ultimate playlist. From cassettes, reel to reel to CD’s, everything led to the modern day digital mixtape. While I can neither confirm nor deny my usage of the then illegal Napster to create my web 2.0 masterpieces, it was the gateway for many to frictionless sharing. The very notion of taking digital music and creating something you could send to your friends around the corner or on the other side of the world was in a word, amazing. But, we all know that stealing is bad and thus a new paradigm was needed. At the time, there were plenty of ways to buy digital music and listen to your hearts content. Sending that music to others had pretty much regressed back to burning CD’s. Meanwhile in Europe, my friends were extolling the virtues of a new service called Spotify. You could pay a monthly fee, have unlimited access to music, create playlist and download them to your computer or mobile device..
This was everything!
Well, I still had to wait until the doors opened for America. Once launched, Spotify was the truth. I opened my account the very first day and had visions of musical communication on a global scale. Yes, yes, I know. you’re thinking Duane, aren’t there other services? Indeed- Rdio, Apple Music, Google Play and Amazon Prime all do an excellent job of letting you listen to music… by yourself. Remember, this story is about crafting something special and gifting it to others. Oddly, rival services didn’t seem to be the stumbling block, people were the issue. I discovered, some folks are really weird about exposing their musical taste. They’ll share what they had for breakfast or if tf they forgot to wear underwear but ask them to share a playlist and it becomes problematic.. Look, if my friend Bryan can admit he loves Creed and Nikki can squeal over boy bands, it’s time to open your musical vault and let us peek inside. I want to declare a sonic revolution. Let your freak flag fly and spread the love. Let others know the soundtrack to your day, week, house cleaning driving or whatever gets you on the groove.
I’ll start. I’ll post three of my many playlist via Spotify here on DMM and I’ll share a reader submitted list on a weekly basis. Submit your list here.
