#independent-music

#independent-music

Bottom of the Hill co-owners Ramona Downey, Kathleen Owen, and Lynn Schwarz announced on social media Friday that the legendary Potrero Hill music venue will be closing its doors at the end of the year after 35 years in business. Coyote Media spoke with Downey, Owen, and Schwarz, who said it was the hardest decision we've ever made, but they all agreed it's time to move on whether it be relaxing or pursuing other projects. They also cited rising operation costs, shifting demographics, and the corporatizing of music as contributing factors in the closure.

The site was launched "January 1st, 2002, on a whim," founder Scott Lapatine told The Verge. Originally, this early staple of the music blog era was focused almost entirely on music discovery and posting MP3s. "It was the early days of like Windows Media Player and Real Player," Scott remembers. Today, the site is focused on music journalism and has just relaunched to keep up with a media landscape being overrun by AI.

For years, brands and artists relied on traditional search engines and social platforms to build visibility. In 2025, that model is no longer enough. Algorithms no longer belong solely to Google or Instagram. Large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and Gemini now shape how people discover music, fashion, travel, cannabis, and culture. These AI-driven platforms don't just retrieve links - they filter, contextualize, and recommend content in real time.

Godspeed You! Black Emperor have removed nearly their entire discography from all major streaming services, including Spotify and Tidal, to protest Spotify's military investments.

In a lot of ways, 'many lives' and 'part ii' is the epicenter of things we've been working on recently. It's like the sun we've been orbiting around.

We didn't want to be the cops, says Bobby Weir, guitarist and founder member of the Grateful Dead, laughing as he describes his band's legendarily lax attitude to people taping their concerts... It was an easy decision to make.

From those dashed-off half-thoughts, Record Store Day (RSD) was born, successfully driving traffic to record stores with live concerts and exclusive releases.