A Final Goodbye from K. Sawyer Paul

By Shawn M. Smith - June 24, 2011 | Email the author

I haven’t written anything on Radio Exile (or Broken Dial, as it was known then) since 2007. I realized that when Shawn informed me that the site would be closing down. People don’t think about websites dying. We think these things will be staffed forever by fervent volunteers, never wavered by the realities of time and life and changing priorities. From what I understand, Radio Exile is going away not because of frustration or anger, but because the writers of the site wish to move onto other priorities. Their lives have changed. If you’ve paid attention to the site over the last five years, you’ll see how people grow. You’ll see tastes change. You’ll see priorities shift. These are all good things. Harping on the same ideal over and over again eventually leads to just punching at a wall. That wasn’t the case at Radio Exile. It was always moving, always focusing on new, interesting things. And I’m glad to see everyone still moving, still focusing on new, interesting things.

Read KSP’s final thoughts on Broken Dial and Radio Exile “after the jump”

The last thing I wrote for the site, in 2007, was about how I was no longer angry about the music industry. I’d come to peace with the things I couldn’t change, and I was happy to see the entire goliath shifting into place, with a new, brighter day coming to pass. I’m glad to say I was right. Four years later, the music industry has matured into a pretty glorious thing. The death of the CD is still happening, but those of us on the cusp have more options than ever. Subscription sites like Mog and Rdio offer hardcore music lovers the ability to affordably and guiltlessly enjoy the buffet. Amazon and Google are both offering giant storage lockers with offline syncing and streaming. ITunes has become the dominant way to purchase music, and this fall they are essentially offering amnesty to pirates in their cloud service. Give them $25, and all your music, no matter where you got it, becomes legal, high quality lucre.

And on the physical side, vinyl has made the kind of comeback you simply can’t predict. Record Store Day is a thing that happens, and people celebrate it. We live in the age of Jonathan Coulton, of the super indie bands, of independence and self management and a new, exciting wild west. The great independent music shops are thriving. And what’s that? MuchMusic is playing independent music videos? (is MTV in the states doing this?) They’re giving air time to Holy Fuck? What is this, 1995?

The point is, we won. Yes, we still have to contend with giant corporations, but the new giant corporations are far less interested in pushing their idea of music. iTunes, Amazon, and Google are all interested in being the place we put our music. That’s a huge difference.

Broken Dial was a play on how few of us cared about what mainstream music was feeding us. Radio Exile was a play on where we felt we belonged in the pantheon of the industry. But neither of those things are really true, anymore. We’re living in the age of independence. Let’s cherish it.