Corus Radio is heavily promoting ExploreMusic, "a new web and radio service dedicated exclusively to music discovery." From the ExploreMusic About page.
By leveraging the success of Canada's top two music documentary radio features - The Ongoing History of New Music and The Legends of Classic Rock - ExploreMusic features the latest music news and opinion, interviews with established and emerging artists, behind-the-scenes information, technology and a host of other music-related topics. We combine the power and reach of radio with the unlimited potential of the internet, connecting rock fans with music and each other.
The host is Alan Cross, former PD at CFNY and longtime host of The Ongoing History of New Music. What I liked about Alan Cross when he was program director for Edge 102 is how responsive he was to my questions and even when I'd call him out on for selling out. The new PD doesn't reply to my emails....
Because I like Alan, and because I like exploring new music, today I decided to explore ExploreMusic. There are good things and things that are less than thrilling.
On the positive side, I like the convergence of radio the web here. You can listen to the show in the Corus Radio Network and hit up the web for additional show notes and to hear the tunes Alan Cross talks about. Radio has to tap into the web in order to survive.
I also like the spirit. There are indie tracks, mainstream tracks, new tracks and old tracks. It's just a bunch of music, interesting facts about the industry and tid-bits any music fan would be interested in.
On the negative side, it seems unfinished. With Corus behind the project, you'd expect more. Instead of a financed branch of a major media company, it feels more like something I'd throw together in a weekend. The blog isn't really a blog, as there's no permalinks, comments or RSS feed, and hearing the tunes requires you click through to MySpace, YouTube or whatever. It just seems awfully home made.
Hey Alan, add an RSS feed so I can follow your notes and lists in Google Reader. The "5 Songs Ya Gotta Hear Today" is a cool idea, I just want you to push them to me. And tell CFNY's new PD to reply to my emails!
