LAST DANCE?…So how can you possibly explain the banner year that little-known artists experienced in 2007? Thank you, MySpace. Gracias, YouTube. Likewise to CDBaby, Last.fm, satellite radio, CMJ, NPR, iTunes and all you other beautiful acronyms and jabberwockies.The musicians have turned against the labels, and listeners besides. Hoist by their own petard, the corporate tastemakers have relinquished their right as victors to pen the history books of music each year, and strangely enough – impossibly – Central Florida and its neighbors have moved into the leader’s spot.
Record stores are dead? Tell that to Park Ave CDs, who have grown into not only a successful record store but a synergistic multiplatform hotspot. Small labels can’t get the word out for their peeps? Talk to Orlando’s X:144 & SPS, staples in ’07 on college radio Top Ten charts, or Band Marino, whose profile as one of the top 5 “MySpace bands” in Rolling Stone led to a talked-about performance at South by Southwest this year, or local rapper S.K.I.P, one of URB magazine’s “Next 1000” for 2007-2008, or Jacksonville’s Black Kids, named by Rolling Stone one of the 10 bands to watch in 2008. Even in Tampa, Yo Majesty was featured in Stereogum as a “band to watch.” Label-less Orlandoans Summerbirds in the Cellar were so big this year that their CD release party spilled into two shows.
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