Wow!  I didn’t realize it until yesterday, but I don’t listen to music anymore.  I have been listening to only ESPN Radio, Podcasts, and Audiobooks for over a year.  I have had no more time than desire to listen to music radio or bought MP3’s.

Interestingly enough, one of my regular podcasts, This Week in Tech (TWiT), turned me on to a new artist by having him on this week’s show.  This has gotten me back into the music scene (at least for the time being).

His name is Jonathan Coulton.  He is a software developer turned musician.  He is not on any label you have heard of, because he is an independent artist and does most of his promotions via his website www.jonathancoulton.com.

Jonathan Coulton (or sometimes called “JoCo”) is a niche artist who has a cult following.  I would classify him as the “Dane Cook” of music in that he is very attentive and in touch with his audience and has built a fan base via that attentiveness.

Click on the Code Monkey to hear one of his songs.  Many of his songs tell stories and have interesting characters.  So interesting that many of his fans show up to his concerts dressed as these characters.  Like me, he is strongly against DRM and thinks the industry should embrace music sharing as it benefits the artists as well as the consumers.

This guy is just cool!

And there you have it

As a reward for becoming Feature Complete on a project at work, we were all given iPod Shuffles.

Though originally I used it to shuffle music while running, I found it is perfect for podcasts.  I am fairly new to podcasts, but am now addicted.  Here are some of the podcasts that I am currently listening to:

All this listening to podcasts has made me interested in starting my own.  Episode 1 of the Real Deal describes how to make your own podcast.