I was discussing with my friend Rich Huxley the other day about the state of the music business and the od notion that the industry as a whole (and I am generalising here)has the right to sell millions of records, that this notion of buying and selling music on a large scale is set in stone.
Yet, how long has recorded music sold in vast numbers? Less than 100 years and in the time scale of the existence of music that it bugger all!!! Indeed, the commercial success of recorded music is a blip, almost a fad. But the popularity of music is far from fading just the business model in which it is presented to us. For a much better argued point of view of this check out the brilliant Steve Lawson lecture at the bottom of this post (cheers for the link to this Rich).
Of all people it was Le Roux said "what gives musicians the god given right to be millionaires?". Good point. In fact the basis of capitalism is clearly exemplified when looking at the distribution of wealth throughout music, the minority having 90% of the money and with that power, with rest of us left to fight over the remaining 10%.
The disintegration of the current business model for most people working within music can only be a good thing. Whether or not it will lead to a fair distribution of the wealth is questionable, but what it might do is free artists from the notion that a major record company will provide their payday and the answers to their dreams. It will also hopefully empower artists to sell and communicate directly to their audience, and in turn have a more realistic chance at making a living out of music.
The level of success of this also depends on radio and the democratisation of who gets played. This is another argument and one I'm going to get into on another post.
This might all sound a bit revolutionary and even naive but the more bands I meet, the more I find them more willing to go down the DIY route and the less interested they are in talking to Major labels.
"You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one".
Wednesday 16 September 2009
Wednesday 9 September 2009
Mercury Music Prize
So Speech Debelle won the 2009 Mercury Music prize, well done to her. I haven't heard much of her stuff but what I heard seems pretty good. I am even more pleased for her label Big Dadda who have been pushing UK Hip-Hop for years bringing us Roots Manuva & New Flesh.
The response has been interesting, with some believing that the Speech Debelle's album isn't groundbreaking enough, it's tokenism and other such complaints.
Unlike The Brits which is largely a big pat on the back for the majors, The Mercury is touted as the "credible" award as accepts albums from any genre and with any amount of record sales, The FA Cup of the music awards if you will. To quote thier site:
"The Barclaycard Mercury Prize exists solely to champion music in the UK, mainly through the 'Albums of the Year' competition, which celebrates recorded music of all genres by British or Irish artists."
It could be argued that it is The Mercury's openness that is its downfall, every nomination feels like a token gesture to Folk, Jazz, Indie, Urban... But then there is the issue of exclusive awards; The MOBOs always seemed a bit of a weird one to me.
I like the idea of The Mercury, an open door policy where music is judged on merit and not on sales or even poularity (the two are not always one and the same). But at the same time it seems a bit a folly, some fun to be had be comparing Le Roux and Led Bib, and realising that each have their own merits and flaws.
I now apologise for sounding like a huge music snob, but The Mercurys always seem like a bit of a pointer to the middle aged men who want to be listening to what they think is cool, the fact that most of the past winners have become popular with The Gaurdian could be seen as testement to this. This is taking nothing away from the winners themselves and fair play to them all if they get a boost in record sales, but if you win The Mercury it sought of seems to make you a bit wel, um, uncool as you know accountants who wouldn't have gone anywhere near you are suddenly your biggest fans.
But then who the fuck am I to say who should or shouldn't listen to music? and my last statement contradicts entirely my belief that music is for everyone.
In truth awards are all problematic, selecting 12 albums from an infinite choice of new nusic and saying "this ones the best" is a load of shit. Where The Mercurys do succeed is in creating a conversation around music, and while Florence & The Machine might not need the publicity Speech Debebelle certainly does and whle it might not be "the album of the year" for me it might become just that for somebody else.
The response has been interesting, with some believing that the Speech Debelle's album isn't groundbreaking enough, it's tokenism and other such complaints.
Unlike The Brits which is largely a big pat on the back for the majors, The Mercury is touted as the "credible" award as accepts albums from any genre and with any amount of record sales, The FA Cup of the music awards if you will. To quote thier site:
"The Barclaycard Mercury Prize exists solely to champion music in the UK, mainly through the 'Albums of the Year' competition, which celebrates recorded music of all genres by British or Irish artists."
It could be argued that it is The Mercury's openness that is its downfall, every nomination feels like a token gesture to Folk, Jazz, Indie, Urban... But then there is the issue of exclusive awards; The MOBOs always seemed a bit of a weird one to me.
I like the idea of The Mercury, an open door policy where music is judged on merit and not on sales or even poularity (the two are not always one and the same). But at the same time it seems a bit a folly, some fun to be had be comparing Le Roux and Led Bib, and realising that each have their own merits and flaws.
I now apologise for sounding like a huge music snob, but The Mercurys always seem like a bit of a pointer to the middle aged men who want to be listening to what they think is cool, the fact that most of the past winners have become popular with The Gaurdian could be seen as testement to this. This is taking nothing away from the winners themselves and fair play to them all if they get a boost in record sales, but if you win The Mercury it sought of seems to make you a bit wel, um, uncool as you know accountants who wouldn't have gone anywhere near you are suddenly your biggest fans.
But then who the fuck am I to say who should or shouldn't listen to music? and my last statement contradicts entirely my belief that music is for everyone.
In truth awards are all problematic, selecting 12 albums from an infinite choice of new nusic and saying "this ones the best" is a load of shit. Where The Mercurys do succeed is in creating a conversation around music, and while Florence & The Machine might not need the publicity Speech Debebelle certainly does and whle it might not be "the album of the year" for me it might become just that for somebody else.
Thursday 27 August 2009
C.R.E.A.M
A band posted in Leeds Music Forum asking how much, or even they should charge for the debut EP. This sparked a fairly heated and somewhat ideological argument.
Some believed that should charge somewhere between £1-3 so that the band could cover their costs. Others felt that as it was a debut EP and that the band has only a small fan base that giving the CD away could potentially increase their following.
Both of these are valid points. Not wanting to get into an online war of words I declined from entering into the debate but I suppose my feelings are this:
A band should never give their music away at gigs for nothing. By giving away a CD for nothing renders the item worthless, the potential listener has had to make no investment and have had to place no value on the music and therefore they are more than likely to get the CD home and forget about it.
By making people pay a small amount it means that they have placed a value on the item and will more than likely listen to it. the argument for this is aren't you missing out on potential fans? Well if they really liked your music surely they would be happy to pay for it? A pint in most music venues is about £3, I think music worth damn sight more than beer and if a someone is unwilling to part with there cash then it's hard to believe that they'll like you more if it's free.
I highlighted "at gigs" because I do believe that making tracks available for nothing online can be used effectively as either an exchange for details for a mailing list or to boost traffic to a bands site. But the difference between that and giving away a CD is that pressing and packaging a CD takes time and money but if you can offer reasons for people to keep coming back to a website or better still give their details to a mailing list then an investment has been made. Plus a track given away online can be listened to instantly, and while they may decide that they hate the music, at least you haven't wasted a CD that you could have made some money from.
I suppose the wider argument is the value of music itself. Is the notion of paying for music a dying one, should music be free? I don't think so, people have to make a living, and it's not just the bands. Studios, music shops, venues, T-Shirt printers, photographers, graphic designers, (the list goes on) all rely on the economy of music, and this is most important at a local level.
It's hard to place monetary value on music as it is such an emotive and personal part of people's lives. But to say it's worthless is folly and fails to deal with the reality that almost everything costs money in life.
But how much is it worth?
Some believed that should charge somewhere between £1-3 so that the band could cover their costs. Others felt that as it was a debut EP and that the band has only a small fan base that giving the CD away could potentially increase their following.
Both of these are valid points. Not wanting to get into an online war of words I declined from entering into the debate but I suppose my feelings are this:
A band should never give their music away at gigs for nothing. By giving away a CD for nothing renders the item worthless, the potential listener has had to make no investment and have had to place no value on the music and therefore they are more than likely to get the CD home and forget about it.
By making people pay a small amount it means that they have placed a value on the item and will more than likely listen to it. the argument for this is aren't you missing out on potential fans? Well if they really liked your music surely they would be happy to pay for it? A pint in most music venues is about £3, I think music worth damn sight more than beer and if a someone is unwilling to part with there cash then it's hard to believe that they'll like you more if it's free.
I highlighted "at gigs" because I do believe that making tracks available for nothing online can be used effectively as either an exchange for details for a mailing list or to boost traffic to a bands site. But the difference between that and giving away a CD is that pressing and packaging a CD takes time and money but if you can offer reasons for people to keep coming back to a website or better still give their details to a mailing list then an investment has been made. Plus a track given away online can be listened to instantly, and while they may decide that they hate the music, at least you haven't wasted a CD that you could have made some money from.
I suppose the wider argument is the value of music itself. Is the notion of paying for music a dying one, should music be free? I don't think so, people have to make a living, and it's not just the bands. Studios, music shops, venues, T-Shirt printers, photographers, graphic designers, (the list goes on) all rely on the economy of music, and this is most important at a local level.
It's hard to place monetary value on music as it is such an emotive and personal part of people's lives. But to say it's worthless is folly and fails to deal with the reality that almost everything costs money in life.
But how much is it worth?
Friday 21 August 2009
A Confession
I'm not that interested in music technology, or as interested as I should be.
OK so I geek out over mics and mixers more than the average Joe on the street, but when it comes up in conversation I get a bit uncomfortable, I basically think I'm a bit of a fraud!
Sometimes I think it's that I'm lazy or don't care enough, but I know that's not true. The thing is I've found the setup I'm happy with at my studio, it does exactly what I want it to do. I like the the compressors, reverbs, delays, EQ's and other tools that I have at my disposal at the Soundmill. If need something I'll get it. I'd like a few more mics, but wouldn't we all? I like getting new plugins and find new and exciting ways to use them but I don't find myself thinking, "if only I had this plugin or that mic then record would be perfect".
When I listen back to recordings that I have produced, any short falls or mistakes aren't to do with not having the right kit but were all human errors. The ones that sound like demos are because the band aren't that great or I haven't clicked with their sound.
In all honesty the best recordings I've done are the ones when the band played well on good instruments and opened up their songs to the creative process. The things that have made a difference in the recording process have usually been the quirks: mics is odd places, re-amping, and yes, busing the signal through filters or a weird delay. But using what I have to hand as a creative tool not letting it dictate my actions.
There is also the Producers relationship with the band. A band that trusts you and lets you into the creative discourse and uses you as a rescourse and not just they bloke who pressses record that's when then creativeity flurishes. It's not always easy, and I don't think it should be, debate and sometimes straight up and down arguments can fule creativeity, push people into making brave and hard choices, while always getting the best out of the song.
Ultimately it doesn't matter if it was recorded at Abby Road or in someones garage with coke cans and some hairy string as long as it sounds great when it's playing through someones crappy home spekers and people want to keep listening to it.
All this said, I'd be lost without my Protools rig!
OK so I geek out over mics and mixers more than the average Joe on the street, but when it comes up in conversation I get a bit uncomfortable, I basically think I'm a bit of a fraud!
Sometimes I think it's that I'm lazy or don't care enough, but I know that's not true. The thing is I've found the setup I'm happy with at my studio, it does exactly what I want it to do. I like the the compressors, reverbs, delays, EQ's and other tools that I have at my disposal at the Soundmill. If need something I'll get it. I'd like a few more mics, but wouldn't we all? I like getting new plugins and find new and exciting ways to use them but I don't find myself thinking, "if only I had this plugin or that mic then record would be perfect".
When I listen back to recordings that I have produced, any short falls or mistakes aren't to do with not having the right kit but were all human errors. The ones that sound like demos are because the band aren't that great or I haven't clicked with their sound.
In all honesty the best recordings I've done are the ones when the band played well on good instruments and opened up their songs to the creative process. The things that have made a difference in the recording process have usually been the quirks: mics is odd places, re-amping, and yes, busing the signal through filters or a weird delay. But using what I have to hand as a creative tool not letting it dictate my actions.
There is also the Producers relationship with the band. A band that trusts you and lets you into the creative discourse and uses you as a rescourse and not just they bloke who pressses record that's when then creativeity flurishes. It's not always easy, and I don't think it should be, debate and sometimes straight up and down arguments can fule creativeity, push people into making brave and hard choices, while always getting the best out of the song.
Ultimately it doesn't matter if it was recorded at Abby Road or in someones garage with coke cans and some hairy string as long as it sounds great when it's playing through someones crappy home spekers and people want to keep listening to it.
All this said, I'd be lost without my Protools rig!
So Then...
So then, I tried doing a blog before and failed. I think it was because I wasn't sure if it was personal or work, so I had to many thoughts in my head and not enough will to type them.
But what this blog will be about is me as a creative individual and my thoughts on my working life and the music and creative industries as a whole. I will attempt and fail to be self-deprecating as I am take myself far to seriously and I'm not cool enough to be nonchalant about music. I am the over enthusiastic geek at the back who reads the liner notes.
I'd like to say that I had this idea all on my own but I have to thank my friend Whiskas, has being doing his blog for ages and is probably much better than me than me and it's really worth following. Sorry for the steal buddy.
In case you don't know, for a living I do loads. Primarily I'm a music producer and I work out of my own studio The Soundmill with my business and creative partner Si McGrath. I'm also music director for ELFM, which is a community radio station. I also do lots of sound design for film and theatre.
These are my ramblings, enjoy, hate, it's your call. Oh who am I kidding love it, love me, I just want to be loved!!!
I'll go now.
But what this blog will be about is me as a creative individual and my thoughts on my working life and the music and creative industries as a whole. I will attempt and fail to be self-deprecating as I am take myself far to seriously and I'm not cool enough to be nonchalant about music. I am the over enthusiastic geek at the back who reads the liner notes.
I'd like to say that I had this idea all on my own but I have to thank my friend Whiskas, has being doing his blog for ages and is probably much better than me than me and it's really worth following. Sorry for the steal buddy.
In case you don't know, for a living I do loads. Primarily I'm a music producer and I work out of my own studio The Soundmill with my business and creative partner Si McGrath. I'm also music director for ELFM, which is a community radio station. I also do lots of sound design for film and theatre.
These are my ramblings, enjoy, hate, it's your call. Oh who am I kidding love it, love me, I just want to be loved!!!
I'll go now.
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