And so it begins.

There's nothing more powerful than a collection of words or sounds that make me feel something.

Brian Rafferty is the fucking man. He inspired me with the most connected piece of literature I've found to date in a magazine.

His profile on Ian Rogers, a man he artfully describes as a pioneer that helped "midwife the MP3," here in the January 2013 issue of Wired, brought me on an emotional roller coaster.

A true punk-rocker, skateboarder and musical prodigy: Rogers is as badass as it comes.

Marking his path from a small studio as a student at Indiana University, Rogers was introduced to the World Wide Web-a gateway that would lead him to a future in the music industry touring alongside one of his favorite bands.

Over twenty years later, the Beastie Boys are still some of his best friends.

This guy was just screwing around and having fun transferring music into a computer and creating a fan page at college when one day the manager of the Beastie Boys rings him on the phone, and asks him to revamp their new professional website, and eventually show the Boys "what the Internet is." 

How rad is that?

A small town skateboarder from Indiana showed the Beastie Boys what the Internet is.

If that's possible than dreams do come true.

Maybe I will get to follow Laura Jane Grace around on tour and peer inside the mind of a transgender musician who just doesn't give a fuck.

Rogers' innovations are the future of the music industry and the definition of punk.


He's telling the media mongols and corporate labels to screw off and teaching musicians how to connect to their fans without wringing their wallets dry with his company, Topspin Media, and he's making money doing it.

Imagine that. Helping people and making money doing it.

Topspin has a pretty impressive roster of bands using the services Rogers and his team provides. Minus The Bear and Circa Survive are two of my favorite bands (which I'm seeing March 15!) and they're just a couple of the dozens of bands using Topspin to reach out to listeners without paying their label a fat chunk of the proceeds. 


Thank you for giving me hope, Ian Rogers. It's an inspiration to know someone is still fighting for the little guys.

Tweets by @Bai1eyj0