SPIRITFALL

ODDMAN

BUMPIN' UGLIES

RHEMA DESIGN

CHICO NIGHTS

BRICKWORKS

MP3.COM

NAPSTER

DYNAMICROCK.COM

      There is no doubt that society is in the middle of a technological revolution with "dot-com" businesses popping up faster than society knows what to do with them. Everywhere you look in major cities there is an advertisement.com waiting to say, "Hello, check out my Web site." They are so kind and innocent, how can you turn them down? What have you got to lose? It's just a company luring you to its land.

      With this revolution, the music industry has been divided into two sides: those who are for file sharing and those who are not. Napster brought the issue at hand to the forefront of this technological boom. Fans figured out how to get music for free and it has put some performers and all of the major record companies into a frenzy. They want their money.

       But not all performers are out to make money. Some are out to be heard and share their love of music with others. And they see the Internet as their link to the world.

       Christian Spencer designed his first Web page two years ago and has learned more and more to where he is now designing pages for businesses in Chico. He has formed a design company with a friend of his, Matt Pedri, called Rhema Design.

       Spencer, a sophomore computer science major at Chico State University, is a guitarist for Spiritfall, a Stockton-turned-Chico-based rock band. His business partner, Pedri, is the guitarist for Oddman, also a Chico-based rock band.

       With all of the worries record companies have had with music being available for free over the Internet, Spencer said that it has done nothing but help his band's sales. "It's definitely been the biggest access to our music," he said.

        Access is what many bands that are not signed to record contracts with labels have been fighting for. Many of the bands in Chico don't make much money off of playing in town. If band members travel to play in another city, such as Truckee, Sacramento or even San Luis Obispo, they usually end up spending more money than they make. But who knows? In the long run, that trip to San Luis Obispo might end up paying off.  If the band made an impression on the crowd it played for, that could lead to better turnouts in the future, leading to more money.

        Hands down, the best way for a band to get its music heard by a broader audience is to have it available over the Internet. Spiritfall has had success in this regard. For the week of Oct. 16, they were named "Band of the Week" by DynamicRock.Com, an Internet rock music magazine. They currently have three songs off their first album available at MP3.Com.

       "MP3s are sweet," Spiritfall bassist Ben Souza said. "You can go and find somebody you've never heard of that could be good." The Internet is a way to help smaller bands out.

       Souza did have a cautious outlook on the band's songs being available. "I wouldn't want to put all of our songs on the Internet," he said. Just enough songs to tease and attract people to come and watch them play. As stated before, these bands don't make much money.

       Another reason bands like having a Web page is that it brings them closer to their fans.

       Chico-turned-San Diego bands, Ten Pound Brown and the Bumpin' Uglies, along with Spiritfall and Oddman, have each followed the lead of major act's sites and have a mailing list fans can subscribe to. The list enables fans to receive the latest information on the bands, such as when and where they are playing next, via e-mail. The mailing list is also an indication of how often the site is being checked on.

       "The site's been very effective. We get people looking at it from all over," said Mike Lyon, Ten Pound Brown's manager. "We've also booked a lot of shows through our booking section."

       Ah yes, the booking section. A necessity for bands that want to expand their realms to more than the three bars and clubs they are used to inhabiting. 

       But what each of the bands said about their sites is that it comes down to easy and cheap advertising. Spencer said that everything they put the name "Spiritfall" on - flyers, banners, advertisements - there is a "www.spiritfallband.com" tag on it. And to once again emphasize the point, Lyon secured the thought, "It's a good way to promote yourself for cheap."