The music world has changed and continues to do so without anyone really able to accurately predict how the future of music will look like. The good thing is that music is still being enjoyed and celebrated by people all over the world. It wakes people up in the mornings and gets people through their day, it allows people to relax, disconnect and reflect and transcend their environments in spouts of elation; it provides a life narrative and strengthens the self identity of many individuals while moving and uniting people in a common bond of shared experience.

This much has not changed. What has changed is that a large chunk of music which wasn’t available to the masses has now become available. Why be satisfied with mainstream hits when the horizons to discover new music are so broad? The problem for the music industry of 10 years ago is that many have been slow to adapt to these changes. They focus, and still do, on selling a huge volume of a select few artists, whereas those who listen to music these days are able to diversify their taste to such a degree that these select few artists are becoming less attractive (the thing to read here is The Long Tail by Chris Anderson). There is so much more music out there for people to listen to and buy.

It seems that the goals of the services of the new music generation are clear. First, we have to make as much of this glorious but neglected market of unheard “niche” music available to as many people as possible: we need to give it a fair listenership. Second, and perhaps the most challenging, is to make it easy to navigate this new diverse realm; to discover new and clever ways of filtering this world of music based on individual listener preferences. Thirdly, we need to provide a good way to support the artists in this new environment, to give them a way to make money so that they can continue to move us with their music. These are challenges which we at Record Union are determined to face, head on.

Heads up! This is the first post of the Dog Blog, wohoo! (wild clapping and raucous hooting). Thats right my friends, the Dog Blog is live! wahhhhh! (vicarious fainting and exaggerated gesticulation).  Now, the first thing to cover (for those who may be curious) is why this is called the “Dog” blog. Well, you may have met Hefner, the Record Union pug and mastermind of our web service. This is his blog; hence, the “dog” blog. However, since Hefner is very busy these days securing DSP contracts, schmoozing with the music industry elites, flirting with Pugesses and smoking large cigars, his ideas will be mediated via the Record Union blog team. We are a collection of hyper intelligent and well informed music enthusiasts originating from planet Zarathustra (next to Arkintoofle Minor). The direction of this blog will change over time, but we assure you it will be interesting, informative and maybe even a little bit headucational. But fear not, there will also be plenty of stuff to make you chuckle too!