Seems other bands are beginning to realize what Jagged Spiral knew a long time ago: the recording industry is dead, and Do-It-Yourself is the new Black.

Before bands were only seeing their music as a ‘product’ something that they ‘sold’. But not anymore. Bands like Jagged Spiral, NIN, Radiohead, and Atmosphere have broken the paradigm: they front all the costs themselves: engineering, production, mastering, duplication, graphics, packaging, etc…  They have a pro-quality ‘product’, but they give it away for free.

This article on TorrentFreak points out that artists are catching on. They are realizing that the possibility of popularity is more likely than the possibility they can sell one-thousand CDs.  They drop their music on bittorrent and other file-sharing clients in the hopes of publicity (which is free) versus advertising (which costs $$$$).

This is great news for fans of real music. Leave the music industry behind for suckas who will gladly pay $18 for the latest piece of over-hyped, over-processesed, under-talented garbage. Dive into myspace, torrent and band websites to find the real thing . Music that the creators care about, and gatekeepers-be-damned.

What do you think? Is this behavior undercutting the perceived value of music?  Will the internet drown in a deluge of crap-rock? Is this empowering artists to usher in a Renaissance of music? Drop your comments below.

Jagged Spiral doesn’t generally do product endorsements, but sometimes something comes along that surprises us with its simplicity and moxie. Things like that warrant public approval, especially when all three of us are in agreement.

At the Apocalyptica concert last April, Jagged Spiral discovered the Jag-bomb. (Pronounced Yag-Bom) At least, I only remember having two.

Jag Bombs have been around for a while now. For those not in college, a Jag-Bomb is a combination of Jagermeister and Red Bull.

I know what half of you are about to say. “Are you Insane? Mixing something that makes people Fight with something that gives people Energy?” The other half were going to say, “Are you Insane? Mixing something that tastes like Cough Syrup with something that tastes like Radioactive Camel Urine?”

Agreed on both counts, however, there is some strange co-mingling of effects and flavors with the two ingredients, and the end result is less undesirable than you would expect.

The drink is an interesting dichotomy of emotional directions, much like Jagged Spiral’s music. Therefore, we are announcing that the Official Drink of Jagged Spiral is the Jag-Bomb. If you ever come see us live, [Editors Note: Like at the July 11th CD Release party for example…] try one out, it will definitely put a unique spin on your perception of our live sound…