(with flowers in my hair)
I have the internet to thank for many things. One of the most recent things I can thank it for is opening me up to music that I normally I would of just passed by. Now some people love music. Their world would not be complete without an injection of some kind of music on a daily, hourly basis. I'm not one of these people. I like music, and if I don't listen to music I do start to miss it. However it isn't something that touches my life, songs don't drift into my soul, and give me something to relate to. Sometimes I am jealous of those people that really feel music. You can tell that some songs just mean everything to them. However, as I'm getting older I have started to notice my appreciation for a good song has grown. The days where I just wanted a good song to shake my ass to are passing me by, and now I am enjoying songs that have touching words, and a good beat, that somehow awakens something deep inside me.
There are many songs that have done this of recent times. The person I want to talk about now though is Sandi Thom. Upon hearing her first song I have become a 'fan'. It isn't only her song that touched me though, it's the story that goes with it. You see Sandi was like any struggling artist, playing as many gigs as possible, travelling up and down the UK, when she decided to take advantage of what she had at her fingertips and use the internet as a way to reach as many people as possible. She went out and invested in a webcam. She then announced that she would broadcast 21 shows on her webcam from her flat in London. They would be free, and could be watched from her website. This was in February and March of this year. Each show would last 30 mins. The first night, 70 people watched her. The next night it was up to 670. By the second week her peak audience was 162,000. All the major record companies came and watched this show live, and after finishing her virtual tour she signed for one of them on her webcam live in front of her audience. This girl has amazing talent though. She has a beautiful voice and powerful songs. I've linked the website for those of you who want to go and have a listen to the audio.
The internet allowed this young girl to reach so many people, and she didn't even have to leave her house to do it. I sometimes think the virtual world we live in isn't a great thing. Because it is making so many things so easy for us, that we are forgetting basic social skills, and we are becoming lazy, and blah blah blah. This girl showed us the positive things that we can achieve though, and I really do wish her every success. I'm sure that she will be huge.