Internet Underground Music Archive
Encyclopedia
The Internet Underground Music Archive (IUMA) was a pioneer of online music. IUMA was started by Rob Lord
, Jeff Patterson and Jon Luini from the University of California, Santa Cruz
in 1993, for the purpose of providing a venue for unsigned artist
s to share their music and communicate with their audience
. IUMA's goal was to help independent artists use the Internet to distribute their music to fans while circumventing the usual distribution model of using a record company.
IUMA originally existed as FTP and Gopher
sites, before the World Wide Web
was widely used. On March 9, 1994 CNN
featured IUMA in their "Showbiz News" segment.
Around 1998, IUMA was purchased by EMusic
, and moved operations from Santa Cruz
to Redwood City
, home of the EMusic offices.
IUMA provided artists who registered with a free URL and web page
. The artists could present their music over the Internet
in stream
, download, and internet radio
format. Further, it provided an easy-to-use home page for the band and the ability to distribute their music with no bandwidth fees. Some of the original file formats used to encode the music were WAV
, AIFF
and MP2
. MP3
was added later as that format became more popular.
In 2000, IUMA offered US$5,000 to couples who named their baby "Iuma". Several families took up the offer.
IUMA flourished, hosting events such as "Music-o-mania", the largest online "Battle of the Bands" ever held. The winners were given rock star treatment, flown to San Francisco to open for Primus
at the Fillmore auditorium.
Early in 2006, the IUMA website disappeared from the Internet. The site had already been closed to new submissions since 2001, when EMusic downsized, eliminating most of the IUMA Staff. Despite this setback, many of IUMA's core group continued to work on a "volunteer" basis, in the hopes that IUMA could be resurrected. IUMA was then purchased by Vitaminic, an Italian Music company. But with many of the core group now gone, IUMA finally has shut down altogether.
Rob Lord (software developer)
Rob Lord is an American software executive best known as a founder of the Songbird media player application. He also created the Internet Underground Music Archive and worked on Winamp as its general manager.-References:...
, Jeff Patterson and Jon Luini from the University of California, Santa Cruz
University of California, Santa Cruz
The University of California, Santa Cruz, also known as UC Santa Cruz or UCSC, is a public, collegiate university; one of ten campuses in the University of California...
in 1993, for the purpose of providing a venue for unsigned artist
Unsigned artist
The term "unsigned artist" or "independent artist" is used in the music industry as a marketing technique.-History and current scene:Many unsigned artists used to sell their music and music-related merchandise without the financial support of a record label, while often seeking a recording contract...
s to share their music and communicate with their audience
Audience
An audience is a group of people who participate in a show or encounter a work of art, literature , theatre, music or academics in any medium...
. IUMA's goal was to help independent artists use the Internet to distribute their music to fans while circumventing the usual distribution model of using a record company.
IUMA originally existed as FTP and Gopher
Gopher
- Animal kingdom :* Gopher , including:** Pocket gophers , about 40 species distributed from North America to Colombia** Several ground squirrels of North America, particularly those formerly classified as Spermophilus* Gopher tortoise , distributed in North America- Other uses :* Minnesota, the...
sites, before the World Wide Web
World Wide Web
The World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet...
was widely used. On March 9, 1994 CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
featured IUMA in their "Showbiz News" segment.
Around 1998, IUMA was purchased by EMusic
EMusic
eMusic is an online music and audiobook store that operates by subscription. It is headquartered in New York City with an office in London and owned by Dimensional Associates. As of September 2008 eMusic has over 400,000 subscribers....
, and moved operations from Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz, California
Santa Cruz is the county seat and largest city of Santa Cruz County, California in the US. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, Santa Cruz had a total population of 59,946...
to Redwood City
Redwood City, California
Redwood City is a California charter city located on the San Francisco Peninsula in Northern California, approximately 27 miles south of San Francisco, and 24 miles north of San Jose. Redwood City's history spans from its earliest inhabitation by the Ohlone people, to its tradition as a port for...
, home of the EMusic offices.
IUMA provided artists who registered with a free URL and web page
Web page
A web page or webpage is a document or information resource that is suitable for the World Wide Web and can be accessed through a web browser and displayed on a monitor or mobile device. This information is usually in HTML or XHTML format, and may provide navigation to other web pages via hypertext...
. The artists could present their music over the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
in stream
Streaming media
Streaming media is multimedia that is constantly received by and presented to an end-user while being delivered by a streaming provider.The term "presented" is used in this article in a general sense that includes audio or video playback. The name refers to the delivery method of the medium rather...
, download, and internet radio
Internet radio
Internet radio is an audio service transmitted via the Internet...
format. Further, it provided an easy-to-use home page for the band and the ability to distribute their music with no bandwidth fees. Some of the original file formats used to encode the music were WAV
WAV
Waveform Audio File Format , is a Microsoft and IBM audio file format standard for storing an audio bitstream on PCs...
, AIFF
AIFF
Audio Interchange File Format is an audio file format standard used for storing sound data for personal computers and other electronic audio devices...
and MP2
MP2
MP2 or MP-2 may refer to:* MP 2, an abbreviation for a zone during the Paleocene* MPEG-1 Audio Layer II audio compression format and .mp2 file format...
. MP3
MP3
MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
was added later as that format became more popular.
In 2000, IUMA offered US$5,000 to couples who named their baby "Iuma". Several families took up the offer.
IUMA flourished, hosting events such as "Music-o-mania", the largest online "Battle of the Bands" ever held. The winners were given rock star treatment, flown to San Francisco to open for Primus
Primus (band)
Primus is an American rock band based in San Francisco, California, currently composed of bassist/vocalist Les Claypool, guitarist Larry "Ler" LaLonde and drummer Jay Lane. Primus originally formed in 1984 with Claypool and guitarist Todd Huth, later joined by Lane, though the latter two departed...
at the Fillmore auditorium.
Early in 2006, the IUMA website disappeared from the Internet. The site had already been closed to new submissions since 2001, when EMusic downsized, eliminating most of the IUMA Staff. Despite this setback, many of IUMA's core group continued to work on a "volunteer" basis, in the hopes that IUMA could be resurrected. IUMA was then purchased by Vitaminic, an Italian Music company. But with many of the core group now gone, IUMA finally has shut down altogether.
External links
- IUMA web site archived at archive.org