New Ideas New Nominations

Peter Gabriel's Filter Hall Of Fame nominees

Since Genesis, Peter Gabriel has been an innovator and pioneer, utilising the then-clumsy and expensive Fairlight computer on his solo albums; he was one of the first to utilise digital recording, established WOMAD, Real World studios and Real World record label, developed CD ROM technology, (creating the acclaimed Xplora, the world's largest selling music CD-ROM), invested in online advertising-supported free music download site (We7.com), was one of the founders of On Demand Distribution (OD2) one of the first online music download services, as well as numerous humanitarian projects.

Peter's latest venture is the newly launched The Filter. It's been said that the internet needs a good editor, the amount of information available can often be overwhelming, finding what you know is out there can be difficult, but finding relevant material that you don't even know exists can be time-consuming and frustrating. As an avid user of the internet Peter feels the same way, his new enterprise narrows the choices of music and makes suggestions based on your personal music preferences. The user can filter music based on mood and interest and find music unknown or forgotten by them. "The internet, which I think is an amazing creation, provides access to an ocean of limitless information, but without filtering it's easy to drown," Gabriel, 58, told The Press Association. "But if you have this little friend on your shoulder, that can pick out music to listen to and films to look it, it's something I would use provided I could steer it a little." It is a bold experiment that may make music that is seen as too obscure, or fringe, by current search engines more accessible and user-access friendly, which can only be a good thing, especially for the time poor punter.