Walking through Anthropologie looking up songs with Shazam, scrobbling the entire catalogue in Last.fm, and of course listening to full-length albums on our very own Panel App based on the recommendation of music experts. These are all experiences we share in the year 2010. MySpace has more bands than one would ever want to know; LaLa allows you to preview practically any album, then combine that with sites like GrooveShark, supply of music is virtually infinite. With so much music available, it is all the more important to have an intimate knowledge of your taste. Developing taste buds for music is very important, but it is not until you can describe and expound on your choices that a true tastemaker is born. A tastemaker looks past personal preferences to have educated opinions.
October of 2009 marks the beginning of Panel. Panel set out to bring you music tastemakers from all over the country. They all share one mission – to assist you in developing and expanding your taste, for the purpose of discovering and savoring. If there were a college for music tastemaking, these people would be the faculty. Let’s be honest, we all rely on others to discover music. Simply discovering a band or song through another human should not devalue the music. Tastemakers are faithful warriors, sifting through album upon album everyday only to bring to you the best.
Panel is a haven for music lovers, with a simple offer of two album picks per week from our roster of tastemakers/panelists. There's music suitable for beginners all the way to heavy music junkies. But this is not because we've chosen music carefully just to achieve that purpose. When you connect music with a collage of human experience, the most complex music equation finds its solution; the most bizarre composition finds its audience. Music is communal. Having someone else echo your newly found favorite song exponentially magnifies your experience. We consider ourselves truly blessed to be able to share music with you. We are well aware that you won't like all the music we bring to you each week. In fact, we don't want you to. We just want to connect the dots between human experience and music.
Music consumption is not showing signs of slowing down, and the next stop is music subscription. “Music subscription can and will work over time,” said Ian Rogers from Topspin Media, “You’ve got to start from the point of, where am I and how do I want to listen? As soon as you can get your music subscription in your house and your car and while you walk around, music subscription will work. It will be a model that people will use.” Music subscription or not, one thing is for certain. There will be no shortage of music. There are hundreds of thousands of blogs and services designed to keep you on track with the latest trend in music. Of course we want to be in the know when a talented new band emerges, but allow your music to burn a permanent impression in your mind, one that recalls a photograph when the first riff of the song hits. When we talk to our Panelists about their album choices, we don't limit them to music that was released within the past six months. We ask them for music that they can connect important memories with. What does your music photo album look like?
Written by Darius Fong
We are the Panel behind Panel, bringing you each week music from our roster of panelist. Music runs in our veins.
