In this month's segment of NPR's ongoing series, The Changing Face of America, singer and songwriter Jim Infantino tells the story of how his band, the Boston-based Jim's Big Ego, records and distributes a new song in a brand new way. For All Things Considered , Jim walks us through the creation of a song from a rough idea, to a rehearsal, into the studio and onto an MP3 file with Flash animation. We'll meet the people involved in the process: his manager, the recording engineer, members of the band, and his friends.
There's a lot about the record-making machine that is the same as it's always been, but this band is taking the process a step further. The music is not experimental and it's captured in very traditional ways in the studio. But instead of using a record company, Jim's Big Ego attracts fans to its Web site where the song and the animated video are available -- for free. The band wants its fans to download the music and pictures and send it to friends.