- 583
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- Jul 25, 2009
cliffnotes: instead of watching the seahawks get annihilated, i started a thread revolving around the art of sound, and the role the music industry plays.
hello all,
so i started making beats on Fruity Loops in the beginnings of middle school, which was about a decade ago. along that journey i tried out every role you could probably think of along the music manufacturing chain, from artist, producer, engineer and any other niches in between. i now run my own creative collective/record label i started from scratch (www.loendradio.com), putting out music with the most pure creative control possible (the only time my music touches other hands is during mastering, i do everything else myself), and i am now beginning to delve into freelancing my services in recording/engineering as well.. all with the same equipment and software from ten years ago. i guess the most accurate way to describe my role in my company is that i'm the CEO on the business side and the Musical Director on the creative side.
the point of the thread and others i plan to create in the future is to discuss sound as an artform, which i feel is a concept that simply goes under the radar way too often these days.. which is really sad. people have forgotten that music is an art, that as artists we are creating the soundtracks through which people will live out their lives. gone are the days where people craft music that's meant to be timeless, the days where people made songs that could be made a wedding song, the days where music was treated with respect.. and from a business perspective, it makes a lot of sense.
let us examine the music industry from a big picture perspective. back in the day, you needed the big labels in order to attain a certain level of success; there was simply no way to have your product distributed on even a national scale without the assistance of a corporate machine pushing your music into Wal-Mart, Target, etc. the thing that sucks about this is that by partnering with a corporation, you MUST sacrifice a certain level of creative control, because these corporations have to report their sales on a quarterly basis. they have stockholders, investors that they need to impress.. people who care not about the music at hand, but people who see the industry merely as a means of acquiring money. sure, the A&R rep might really understand what your music is about, but who's to say that his boss will, or his boss's boss? how is a middle age CEO, born into success, who's been locked on the top floor of some skyscraper downtown the majority of his life, going to understand the story of a young kid born into the struggles of the inner city, whose only solace was to express himself in the form of song? basic rationality would lead one to conclude that this is very, very difficult.. borderline impossible.
we've all heard the stories. over and over, we see artists getting trapped by the corporate system.. lupe, the clipse, every artist that diddy touches.. there's more than enough evidence.
let us fast forward to today: the digital era. with the introduction of the internet and digital distribution, anyone can upload anything online and it could potentially explode into a worldwide phenomenon. sure, you still need the big labels if you want your CD in major retailers, but why go through that channel? why not reach out to your potential audience on your own and have them get the music from you directly? this is the power we have today, and there is no doubt in my mind that the music industry as we know it will be completely different within ten years, most likely less. Thom Yorke made a similar, more outlandish prediction last year.
now there's nothing easier than saying "it's not that easy", and it's not. however, if you are an aspiring artist/producer at this point in time, you must acknowledge that the game has changed. if you continue to play by the rules that the music labels are imposing upon you, you may be working hard, but you are not working smart nor efficiently. YOU DO NOT NEED A MIDDLE MAN. NO ONE SHOULD TOUCH YOUR MONEY EXCEPT YOU.
no one's going to tell you that things are completely different now; you're just going to have to look at the world around you and realize it for yourself.
i'll stop here for now. the revolution is upon us. let's discuss.
hello all,
so i started making beats on Fruity Loops in the beginnings of middle school, which was about a decade ago. along that journey i tried out every role you could probably think of along the music manufacturing chain, from artist, producer, engineer and any other niches in between. i now run my own creative collective/record label i started from scratch (www.loendradio.com), putting out music with the most pure creative control possible (the only time my music touches other hands is during mastering, i do everything else myself), and i am now beginning to delve into freelancing my services in recording/engineering as well.. all with the same equipment and software from ten years ago. i guess the most accurate way to describe my role in my company is that i'm the CEO on the business side and the Musical Director on the creative side.
the point of the thread and others i plan to create in the future is to discuss sound as an artform, which i feel is a concept that simply goes under the radar way too often these days.. which is really sad. people have forgotten that music is an art, that as artists we are creating the soundtracks through which people will live out their lives. gone are the days where people craft music that's meant to be timeless, the days where people made songs that could be made a wedding song, the days where music was treated with respect.. and from a business perspective, it makes a lot of sense.
let us examine the music industry from a big picture perspective. back in the day, you needed the big labels in order to attain a certain level of success; there was simply no way to have your product distributed on even a national scale without the assistance of a corporate machine pushing your music into Wal-Mart, Target, etc. the thing that sucks about this is that by partnering with a corporation, you MUST sacrifice a certain level of creative control, because these corporations have to report their sales on a quarterly basis. they have stockholders, investors that they need to impress.. people who care not about the music at hand, but people who see the industry merely as a means of acquiring money. sure, the A&R rep might really understand what your music is about, but who's to say that his boss will, or his boss's boss? how is a middle age CEO, born into success, who's been locked on the top floor of some skyscraper downtown the majority of his life, going to understand the story of a young kid born into the struggles of the inner city, whose only solace was to express himself in the form of song? basic rationality would lead one to conclude that this is very, very difficult.. borderline impossible.
we've all heard the stories. over and over, we see artists getting trapped by the corporate system.. lupe, the clipse, every artist that diddy touches.. there's more than enough evidence.
let us fast forward to today: the digital era. with the introduction of the internet and digital distribution, anyone can upload anything online and it could potentially explode into a worldwide phenomenon. sure, you still need the big labels if you want your CD in major retailers, but why go through that channel? why not reach out to your potential audience on your own and have them get the music from you directly? this is the power we have today, and there is no doubt in my mind that the music industry as we know it will be completely different within ten years, most likely less. Thom Yorke made a similar, more outlandish prediction last year.
now there's nothing easier than saying "it's not that easy", and it's not. however, if you are an aspiring artist/producer at this point in time, you must acknowledge that the game has changed. if you continue to play by the rules that the music labels are imposing upon you, you may be working hard, but you are not working smart nor efficiently. YOU DO NOT NEED A MIDDLE MAN. NO ONE SHOULD TOUCH YOUR MONEY EXCEPT YOU.
no one's going to tell you that things are completely different now; you're just going to have to look at the world around you and realize it for yourself.
i'll stop here for now. the revolution is upon us. let's discuss.
