Amid the flood of heartfelt obituaries celebrating David Bowie for his uncountable contributions to music, popular culture, and queer identity, many are reflecting on the artist as a trailblazer for the Internet age.
In 1998, the English musician, actor and artist launched his own Internet service provider (ISP), BowieNet, offering users subscription-based dial-up Internet access, as well as an e-mail address, access to exclusive media content, and a host of tools that essentially equalled an early social network.
"I wanted to create an environment where not just my fans, but all music fans could be part of a single community where vast archives of music and information could be accessed, views stated and ideas exchanged," said Bowie of the US launch of BowieNet in September 1998. BowieNet launched in the UK in December that year, and was expected to be operational worldwide by the end of 1999.
Users could adopt BowieNet as their ISP for $19.95 per month, or keep their current ISP and access BowieNet's other features for $5.95 per month.
The service offered members "not only essential news pertaining to business, sports and finance, but also music and entertainment content exclusive to BowieNet," said the 1998 press release announcing the UK launch. "In effect, BowieNet offers members the combination of exclusive access to David Bowie's visual artistry, words and music and BowieNets unparalleled technical capabilities," it went on.
BowieNet strongly encouraged users to create their own Web pages and online content. In addition to an e-mail address (@davidbowie.com or @davidbowie.co.uk) and a CD containing previously unreleased music and videos, each BowieNet member received 20MB to build a custom home page and 11MB "in the David Bowie Pod to create fan-based Web sites".
Bowie himself dived into the platform as a means for interacting with fans. The platform offered members a chance to speak directly to Bowie through "a full schedule of real-time chat sessions with Bowie and other artists and celebrities," and heralded its UK launch with "the world's first glam rock-themed chat".
The platform was also an early adopter of immersive technologies still making their way into the mainstream today, nearly 20 years later. BowieNet's 1998 press release announced it would be "the first open Internet site to use the Lucent 360-degree FullView Camera, which enables members to control the direction of the camera lens during a live event".
In 1997, Bowie ambitiously attempted a live Web broadcast of one of his US concerts, although streaming capacity was quickly exhausted, leaving most hopeful users faced with stuttering screens and error messages.
Bowie was also one of the first musicians to embrace the Internet as a distribution platform for his music, in 1996 becoming the first famous musician to release a new song, "Telling Lies", via the Internet only.
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