R.E.M. Fandom with Ethan Kaplan

Adam and Steve chat with Ethan Kaplan to discuss the founding of Murmurs.com, collaborating with the band, and the nature of online fandom.They talk to Ethan about his musical journey to R.E.M., the nascent days of internet fandom, and how a chance meeting with Michael Stipe led to the creation of the primary R.E.M. fansite.Ethan talks about how that fansite led to him becoming a collaborator and friend of the band, and the difficulty of maintaining a fan community in those circumstances.We also talk about Ethan's work in the music industry and look to the future of music with the recent advent of more complex and intricate AI!Our next episode is out on Monday September 30th and will see us wrap up the second act of the band! Join the conversation on:Twitter: https://twitter.com/whatismusicpodInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/whatismusicpodE-mail: whatismusicpod@gmail.comGet access to more shows, exclusive bonus content, ad-free episodes of this show, and more music discussion by subscribing to our Patreon!Head to patreon.com/whatismusicpod and receive up to two new episodes of our various shows every week (including shows about Manic Street Preachers and monthly themed playlists!), ad-free archives of What Is Music?, and access to our Patron-only Discord server for even more music (and non-music) discussion!Support our show when starting your own podcast!By signing up to Buzzsprout with this link: https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=780379Check out our merch!https://whatismusicpod.redbubble.comDonate to our podcast!https://ko-fi.com/whatismusichttp://whatismusic.buzzsprout.com/Support the show