Onion AV Club - "If I was 19 again, I'd bypass music and go right to the internet." Those were David Bowie's words back in 1998 just before he launched his own ISP, BowieNet, which offered his fans "uncensored" access to the internet. The Guardian's Keith Stuart has a comprehensive profile of Bowie's early foray into the World Wide Web and the ways in which his music-centric social network platform preempted the emergence of sites like Friendster and Myspace. Active through 2006, BowieNet was a "technologically ambitious" site for the early days of the internet. It used Flash and Real Audio to offer users animated graphics and downloadable music clips. The site housed archival photos, videos, and interviews with the star as well as a blog, career timeline, and news feed. It also offered access to music services like Rolling Stone Network and Music Boulevard, provided users with 5MB of ...
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