Track Changes

Track Changes: The Origin Story of Canadian Music on the Internet (1990-2010) is the first book of its kind to document a cultural revolution in Canada, one now buried under broken URLs, corrupted hard drives, and discarded cell phones.

Long before streaming services, viral hits, AI, and social media, the internet was already reshaping Canadian music. Spanning two pivotal decades, this book chronicles this transformation.

Track Changes covers the rise of mailing lists, BBS communities, fan-built websites, MP3 blogs, e-commerce platforms, digital radio stations, music news websites, and other innovations that completely changed how artists reach audiences and how fans discover music. It also explores how the internet contributed to the collapse of major Canadian retailers, music magazines, mass market radio, and other corners of Canada's cultural infrastructure.

Drawing on original interviews, archival research, and vivid first-hand accounts, Track Changes tells the story of the early digital pioneers, artists, entrepreneurs, label heads, bloggers, and fans who used fledgling online tools to build communities, grow businesses, and shape careers. All this was done at a time when the internet's impact was still very much TBD.

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