FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
1. What is Fingertips?
2. Why the name Fingertips?
3. Why don't you have more pictures and animation and stuff like that?
4. Why won't you tell me where to get all MP3s, not just legal ones?
5. You ask for donations. Why should I donate, when so many MP3 blogs are out there doing the same thing, or sort of the same thing?
6. Lots of MP3 blogs post links to lots of songs every day or two. Why do you write about only three new songs every week?
7. Why haven't I heard of most of the musicians written about on Fingertips? Are
you just into "indie" rock?
8. I don't think Fingertips is eclectic enough. Why isn't there
more variety?
9. I suggested some songs for you to post. Why don't you post them?
10. Why don't you feature music from MySpace.com?
11. Why don't you feature music from other cool places with tons of music from unsigned bands, like GarageBand.com and purevolume.com?
12. Why don't you like my MP3s in particular?
13. Why do you only write about things that you like? Don't critics also not like things?
14. If the songs Fingertips links to are free and legal to download does this mean the music is royalty-free?
15. Does this site have anything to do with the Portuguese band the Fingertips?
1. What is Fingertips?
Fingertips is a
web site devoted to quality free and legal music online. But it is not a
comprehensive guide; rather, it is my personal, informed, idiosyncratic effort to point
you in the direction of intelligent music that is available online legally and
for free. What I
call intelligent music comes in a variety of guises, featuring a wide array of
sounds and approaches--the common factor is that it is all music that has been
created and produced with heart, craft, and spirit. For a fuller description of
what Fingertips is and why it is how it is, see the site
introduction. For a clear sense of the site's
guiding principles, you might check out the "Rules
of Thumb" page.
2. Why the name Fingertips?
"Fingertips"
is the name of a song by They Might Be Giants which is actually an
accumulation of about three dozen partial songs. I liked the subtle but
sure imagery in that case, and it seems appropriate here as well. I also
like the way it relates to the image of someone browsing through albums on a
shelf somewhere--flipping through them with fingertips. And then of course
there's the "tips" part of it: I am trying to give you good advice
about music worth listening to. This web
site will never be more than a small, enticing introduction to the good
(and legal) music that's available to listen to and download on the web--all at your
fingertips, courtesy of mine.
3. Why don't you have more pictures and animation and stuff?
A few reasons. First, I'm a big
believer in clean and simple design. I also know that there are people (believe it or not!) who still don't
have the types of connections and computers that make graphics-heavy web sites
easy to handle. On top of that (and, to be honest, most important at this point), I am building this web site myself using rudimentary tools, and it's all I can do to throw a plain and simple web page
together never mind make things move and blink. Oh, sure, I'm a smart enough
guy, I could probably learn how to do it, but I'd rather spend time finding and
listening to music than fiddling with technology. Anyway, even if I could make Fingertips fancier, I don't know that I would. There's something gratifying
about a web page that loads quickly and cleanly, just as there's something
gratifying about arriving at a web page and knowing just what you're supposed to
be seeing, versus finding yourself on a page so cluttered with links and
pictures you aren't sure where to start or even what you're looking at.
4. Why won't you tell me where to get all MP3s, not just legal ones?
Simply stated, I do not believe in
taking music from musicians who do not intend for me to have it without paying
them. If you'd like a slightly more elaborate explanation, click
here.
5. You ask for donations. Why should I donate, when so many MP3 blogs are out there doing the same thing, or sort of the same thing?
First of all, if you don't see any value here I certainly don't expect you to donate. I challenge, however, the assertion that there are many other sites out here doing the same thing. There certainly are many (many) MP3 blogs, no question. But I think Fingertips is different in three important ways. First and most obviously, not many others traffic only in free and legal MP3s. At Fingertips, the MP3s I discuss are MP3s the musicians and/or record companies want you to download. (You can't be sued if you only download Fingertips-recommended MP3s!) Second, Fingertips believes in the value of quality over quantity. There's a whole lot of music out there but not all that much of it is really really great. Three songs a week of high quality is worth far more, in my book, than 10 or 20 or more songs a week of mixed quality. (For more thoughts on the matter see question #6, below.) Third, while the net has all but eliminated the idea that one needs to be a writer to write something worth reading, I'm not sure this is a service to mankind. I happen to be a writer, with more than 20 years of professional experience. I have written many many times for publications that people paid for to read. The idea that good writing--in other words, writing of value--is actually worth paying for is not really that strange an idea. The strange part, of course, is that it's up to you to decide if you want to pay or not. It's free otherwise. I leave it to you.
6. Lots of MP3 blogs post links to lots of songs every day or two. Why do you write about only three new songs every week?
Unlike most web sites, Fingertips does not believe bigger is always better, that having lots of information is always better than having a select amount of information. Filtering is an underappreciated value on the internet, but I think it's far more useful to visit sites that actively and intelligently screen out excess information than to spend time on sites clogged with too much information. And at my end, I'd rather spend the week looking for really good music, knowing I have three slots to fill each week, rather than dash around like a virtual chicken without its virtual head, under the crazy pressure of a daily or near-daily deadline. Not only is better quality assured this way, but I will be far less likely to burn out, as many of the best and most well-intentioned of bloggers do eventually. Besides, there seem to be many more people who have the time to write daily blog posts than there are people with time to read them. The last thing you need is another blog that you can't keep up with. Three songs, once a week: most people can keep up with it.
7. Why haven't I heard of most of the musicians written about on
Fingertips? Are you just into "indie" rock?
While I write about a lot of musicians
who are not exactly household names, I don't consider myself a particular
aficionado of what's sometimes called "indie rock." (I tend to resist labels
in general, as you can read about here.)
If there are a fair number of seemingly obscure bands and artists dealt with
here on Fingertips, this is partially a reflection of the fact that it's largely
the "little guys" out there who are sharing their music legally and
for free. This is true even in "alternative" circles--for instance,
you won't see Ryan Adams (big-time "adult alternative" name) uploading full songs
from her newest CD on the internet for free; you will see Over the Rhine do
that, and Tapes 'n Tapes, and Liz Durrett, and many other artists you may not have heard of.
But while I may like a lot of less well-known musicians, I do not
tend to like music that is extremely weird or otherwise hard to listen to. One
of the main reasons I am so passionate about Fingertips is my belief that there
is so much more good music out there than people realize--music that is truly
accessible and engaging, even if it's being created by people who are not
household names.
8. I don't think Fingertips is eclectic enough. Why isn't there
more variety?
Eclectic is in the eyes of the beholder. For
someone with wide-ranging taste in music and an avowed interest in lesser-known
musicians and genres, Fingertips may appear pretty safe and uninteresting. For
someone who likes good music but hasn't been able to keep up with too many new
releases in recent years, on the other hand, Fingertips may seem exotic and
strange. For someone who tends to like only acoustic, singer/songwriter-y music,
some of the things here on Fingertips may sound too loud; for someone who likes
their music loud, some of the things here may sound quiet and uninteresting.
Clearly I cannot and will not satisfy everyone. But as someone who has spent
time in radio and covering the media as a journalist, I am confident that the
artist list here on Fingertips is more varied than the playlists on all but a
handful of American radio stations, including the vast majority of "Adult
Album Alternative" stations. Most of these so-called "triple-A"
stations (such as WXPN in Philadelphia and WXRV in Boston) are limited by market
forces and fundraising requirements to a relatively narrow list of acceptable
artists. Me, I just want the music to be good. That said, I do not pretend to be
an expert in jazz, blues, world music, or other non-rock genres and so these
will not usually be represented here.
9. I suggested some songs for you to post. Why don't you post them?
As I am constantly on the lookout for good music, I am certainly open to
suggestions. In the end, however, the site is modeled after the old
free-form FM
radio model, which is about listeners being pointed to new and interesting music
by an informed and passionate guide. On Fingertips, that guide is
me. So on the one
hand I take suggestions seriously because that's partially how I in fact find
out about things; on the other hand, if what you point me to doesn't move me,
then I will not end up writing about it. But hey, what say we strive towards
enlightenment and tolerance here by acknowledging that this really and truly
does not reflect badly on either of us--not on you for liking something I may not like or on
me for not liking what you like. This site will only have validity and integrity
as long as I hold to my own standards, not if I feel compelled to agree with
what visitors here think is good.
10. Why don't you feature music from MySpace.com?
A couple of reasons. First of all, songs on MySpace tend to come and go. My aim is to find free and legal MP3s that will be around for a long time. Fingertips is not (have I mentioned this yet?) a standard MP3 blog, posting what comes to mind today, forgetting and moving on tomorrow. Second, I'm still not thrilled with the technology there. I still don't get the sense that MP3s there are reliably available, particularly if you have an older computer. Sometimes the site's media player doesn't load properly; other times the player loads but I'm hung out to dry waiting for the MP3 to download. So I really don't feel like knowingly sending hundreds and hundreds of people over there to find an MP3 that either won't work or is no longer there at all. So I do not at this point feature MP3s that are available only via MySpace. But I do listen to songs on MySpace and if I hear something I really like, I'm usually able to work with the band to find another place online where the song is available. That said, I may as well admit I am not a fan of MySpace as a music site, but that's a whole other soapbox.
11. Why don't you feature music from other cool places with tons of music from unsigned bands, like Garageband.com and Purevolume.com?
The internet is saturated with free and
legal MP3s uploaded by bands that are not signed to any record company, big or
small. While I regularly come across some great songs by unsigned bands, and often feature them, I will admit that the vast, murky ocean of sites I call upload free-for-alls will never be a great source of Fingertips music. Like everyone, I've only discovered 24 hours in a day, so searching for a great song on an unedited upload free-for-all is simply not a good use of time. Beyond that practical concern is a philosophical issue. Basically,
I do not believe in art without mediation--that is, I believe in a system
where artists do in fact pass through a stage where their work is evaluated and
deemed worthy by some sort of outside authority. It doesn't have to be a record company per se--lord knows that record companies have never shown themselves to be all that interested in artistic merit in the first place. But I by and large need to know a band has done more than simply upload songs to MySpace. Maintaining one's own web site in an updated and presentable way is in fact a good sign that a band means business, has people listening, and has been deemed worthy by at least a small audience of outsiders.
12. Why don't you like my MP3s in particular?
This question relates to question #9,
only it's even touchier because it's apparently more personal. In this case, a
musician consciously seeks Fingertips out to offer his or her own songs for
consideration, and yikes, I'm touched and honored to even be in this position. I
respect musicians like crazy; they're the ones doing the work of creating all
this wonderful music that I'm so excited by day by day. But of course the
reality of it is still going to be that some music moves me and some doesn't. I
would urge you to understand that my opinion reflects neither on you nor on me.
But if I am not entirely free to have my own opinion--if I begin to feel
constrained by wanting to be "nice" to people--then I truly believe
the integrity of the site is compromised and its value diminishes greatly. But
then again that's just my opinion!
13. Why do you only write about things that you like? Don't critics also not like things?
First of all, I do not think of myself as a "critic." A writer who is knowledgeable about music, I feel much more affinity to the free-form FM disc jockeys of old than I do to music critics of any stripe, past or present. My job is to tell you about music I'm psyched about. Which leads me to second of all: the fact that there is so much music out there in the world to get psyched about, and so few hours in the day, that I think it foolish (not to mention churlish) to spend time explaining to the world why I don't like something. And so it is that when I don't especially like something, I simply don't write about it. Much the way that FM DJs in the old days simply didn't play stuff they didn't like. (If you want to know what I really think about pop music critics--that they basically shouldn't even exist--you can read this.)
14. If the songs Fingertips links to are free and legal to download does this mean the music is royalty-free?
No. No no no. Artists who make their songs available for free and legal downloads are NOT making them available without royalties for other uses. These songs are available to download legally and for free simply so music fans can download them for their own personal use. This doesn't mean you can use this music in a project of your own--e.g. a film or video or theater piece--without paying royalties. The music on Fingertips is not royalty-free.
15. Does this site have anything to do with the Portuguese band the Fingertips?
Um, no. But this question does. You can find their web site at www.thefingertips.com.
© copyright 2003-2007 Fingertip Productions