As the #1 most popular R&B group on YouTube, it’s almost unimaginable and downright scary where we would be as music artists had the Internet not existed. Although, we feel we had some success with traditional media such as radio, TV, and print, there is no way AHMIR would be the recognized music artist & brand it is today without the Internet.

Early on, we found it seemingly impossible to gain entry to terrestrial radio without a huge budget and we found it almost equally impossible to get notable write-ups in the popular music and entertainment magazines. That’s the way music was traditionally released to the masses for discovery, and unless you had lots of money or the stamp of a major record label, you were essentially denied this opportunity.

BUT, the Internet has shattered that barrier and has allowed us to create music on our own terms and more importantly has allowed us to share it on our own terms. We record music and put it on MySpace; we shoot homemade music videos and post them on YouTube; we let everyone know about new music through tweets on Twitter and status updates on our Facebook page. There is no filter for who is allowed to listen to what we create or where our music can travel.

Once known regionally, AHMIR is now known on a global scale, which is a preposterous statement had this been 10 years ago without being signed to a major record label. We truly feel that the Internet has not only benefited us as music artists, but has benefited society and given them a choice… many choices and sometimes that alone is what makes life so much more enjoyable.

Radio today can only expose people to maybe 15 to 20 artists at a given time, so to think that 15 to 20 artists is all that people would appreciate is ludicrous. The Internet is “the people’s champ” and gives the public the much needed escape from what is forced into our ears every day on the radio.

The Internet breathes balance and passion into the world of music. Music consumption is at an all-time high because of the Internet. People are constantly looking to be satisfied with new and fresh sounds and adore the moments when they find a new artist with whom they identify sonically and emotionally. These are the moments we love as AHMIR and the Internet is the blessing that provides this.

The concept of Net Neutrality is the principal that will keep this blessing from being taken away. We have battled with the “powers that be” before and have come out victorious, but if Net Neutrality is eliminated, we will have reverted back to the place we first started – which is a sad and desolate environment where music artists and society as a whole will suffer.

If powerful telephone companies and cable providers begin to set up barriers where content is virtually discriminated from reaching the masses, then the world will no longer be able to discover all the great music that AHMIR and others have to offer. This is an unbearable thought, but the reality is that it could happen and we must fight and voice our support for Net Neutrality.

We as people need to make the decisions of what we want to discover through the Internet and we can’t let the decision-making process go to the “suits” and “boardrooms.” AHMIR is here to stay, but only as long as Net Neutrality is.

-AHMIR… Sing-Sing, Big Mike, Mr. Jones & KC