Blog Music Archive

The Consumerist recently held a poll to find out what their readers thought was the worst company of 2007. The winner? The RIAA. They edged out Halliburton by only a few percentage points, which just goes to show you how serious people are taking this whole music downloading thing.

What this means is that the people who responded to this poll actually think that all of the major labels are the worst company in America. The RIAA exists mainly to speak for the labels and to be a sort of buffer between them and the rest of the world.

And to make that point clear The Consumerist posted a helpful guide called The Faces of the RIAA.

Just got done reading yet another great post on the Lefsetz Letter:

Some might say the lunatics have taken over the asylum.

I say thank god. It’s time a new generation dominates, one with different values, one that is not beholden to the blow ‘em up on TV paradigm embraced by those running the major labels today. These new players are about the music, and the culture. Elements way off the radar of those making quarterly reports.

Give people something to believe in and they’ll give you all their money. Hell, isn’t that what religion is about? Think about your act as a religion. Gain adherents. They’ll spread the word. And guard your core principles very closely. The more honest and trustworthy you are, the more people will flock to you. And the slower the build, the longer the career.

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Obviously, I like these kind of posts because they describe a possible future for independent artists that circumvents the whole label system. It’s basically the future we’ve been hoping for since we started this band over 12 years ago.

If I worked for a label, I’d probably say this guy is full of shit and that the labels will always be in control. You hear what you want to hear, I guess. But I really think we’re getting closer and closer to a world where you can much more easily make a living as an independent artist, and do it totally on your own terms.

According to recent research, gifted teenagers often listen to “heavy metal” music to help deal with the stress of being talented. Sounds a little ridiculous as first, but I think there’s some truth to it.

Researchers found that, far from being a sign of delinquency and poor academic ability, many adolescent “metalheads” are extremely bright and often use the music to help them deal with the stresses and strains of being gifted social outsiders.

Read the full article »

I grew up listening to a lot of metal. I don’t think I consciously chose metal because I felt talented, but somehow frustrated, and needed something to help me cope. But it was some of the only music I found that was challenging on some level (to me at least) and also allowed a sort of release from every day stresses in the form of aggression and anger. Again, I didn’t consciously think of it that way, but looking back, that’s why I think I was drawn to it.

And like a lot of young kids I took on certain aspects of the whole “metal” lifestyle… long hair, dressing all in black, etc, which I think caused a lot of adults to assume there was something wrong with me or that I was always pissed off or something. And that just wasn’t the case. I really just thought it looked cool. Years later I realized I was wrong to some extent (I have some pictures of myself that definitely don’t look cool), but it was never about scaring people or making sure people knew I was depressed or something.

It’s probably different for everyone, and I’m sure there are kids who are drawn to it for different reasons than I was. But the point is that, on the whole, these are some really intelligent kids and it’s a shame that a lot of people just don’t see that. They’re assumed to be delinquents or potential murderers or whatever, instead of the potentially great musicians or artists (or whatever else) that they’ll probably be someday.

And just to make sure we’re not taking this all too seriously, take a minute to check out the discussion on Digg. It quickly devolved into the usual “metal vs. not metal” arguments you can find surrounding pretty much any band that uses a distortion pedal.

I decided to moderate (as the Genre Police) and try to help everyone separate their Korns from their Cradle of Filths. Just look for comments by “redivider” (if they haven’t been “dugg down” already). After a while they wouldn’t let me post any more comments but I got a few in there.

I just got done reading a great post over at the Lefsetz Letter that suggests that “piracy didn’t kill the major label business model, choice did,” and I’m inclined to agree.

Even as new technology is finally giving the power of choice back to the people, the major labels are quietly trying to keep their stranglehold on every viable distribution channel. They’re currently putting forward legislation that will effectively shut down all but the largest internet radio stations with new licensing fees that are out of reach for most internet broadcasters. They refuse to bring down the price of CDs and digital downloads, even though consumers, pretty much across the board, have expressed price as one of the major reasons they don’t buy more music.

What they don’t understand is that people really want more choices and we’ve reached a technological threshold where it’s going to be very difficult (if not impossible) to ever take it away from them.

In order for labels and artists to be successful, they need to give people what they want. Whether it’s DRM-free digital downloads, cheaper CDs or more selection on the radio, the customer now has the upper hand and won’t hesitate to get what they want from “alternative” sources if the majors refuse to play along.

I don’t really think that many people will continue to refuse to buy music as long as you give it to them in the formats they want and make it very easy to buy. Label executives are so busy worrying about ways to protect their content, they don’t realize that the only thing they’re protecting it from is actually being bought.

From the article:

Music production is cheap. And there’s no cap on the number of acts in the marketplace. Sure, hype is expensive, which is why most indie acts let their audience do the selling for them, which is now possible with new technologies. Furthermore, the more you market, the more you try to become ubiquitous, the more your core, the revenue-generating machine that you depend on day by day, gets turned off. Become a huge star, and you’re probably finished. Then again, if you grow organically over a decade, no one complains. But the point is you no longer need the major label as a bank, as a marketer, you don’t need that much money and your fans do so much of the work for you. How do the majors compete in this new landscape? Good question.

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While none of us actually live in the city, when people ask where we’re from we just say Philadelphia. I’d imagine most bands do the same thing when they live in some small town 30 minutes outside of a big city. When you’re 3,000 miles from home it’s pretty unlikely that anyones heard of Doylestown.

Anyway, the point is we’re pretty much a Philly band. And there are a lot of really good rock bands from this city but ask anyone more than 100 miles away and all they can come up with is The Hooters and Hall and Oates. The Roots are also from Philly and I’m sure a lot of people know that, but as far as rock music goes we don’t have the best reputation.

I’m not exactly sure where I’m going with this… I just wanted an excuse to post some links to some good Philly bands that we know and felt like I should introduce it with something, but I’ll just get to the point:

Tapping the Vein
We’ve played with this band many times over the years and their singer, Heather Thompson is actually featured on our album Diatribe. They’re apparently working on a new album and hopefully we’ll be playing some more shows with them in the future. Recommended song: Numb (wait til it kicks in half way through…)

Jealousy Curve
These guys won the Zippo Hot Tour contest a couple of years ago and we had the pleasure of playing a show with them at The Silo in Reading, PA. Recommended song: Selfish Thing

Hail Social
I came across this band randomly so I don’t know much about them, but I really like their stuff. I was pleasantly surprised to see that they’re from Philadelphia. You can actually download the song that got me turned on to them here, if you want to get the full experience. Recommended song: Objects in Mirror

North Star Infinite
The guitarist in this band is a Sinch fan and has been to more shows than almost anyone I can think of who’s not directly related to or dating a band member. And I’m not just including them here because of that. They’re a good band and you should check them out. Recommended song: Turning the Dial

Metroplex
I found these guys because they play a lot of shows with North Star Infinite. Don’t know much about them other than the fact that they always have really sweet flyers and they make some good music. Recommended song: This Is Not A Test

Not Alone
Our good friend Steve Zegray (aka Chinstrap and drum/video tech extraodinare) plays drums for this band, which is how I got to know them. Recommended song: In Angel’s Arms

Also, I want throw in a plug for a new band he’s in (along with Ribbles aka Rob Fisher). They’re called Domi and even though I haven’t heard any music yet, I’m sure it’ll be good. Recommended action: Email them and tell them to get their asses in the studio!

That should be enough for now. If you’re in a Philly band and we didn’t list you here, don’t worry… we don’t hate you. Your day will come.

A Swarm of Angels is “a groundbreaking project to create a £1 million film and give it away to over 1 million people using the Internet and a global community of members.”

This is a really cool idea. It’s something I’ve considered doing on a smaller scale with a Sinch album (or some other type of release that needs up front money to get started).

People are getting a lot of their music for free these days anyway. Why not flip the whole process around and get the fans to buy the album before it’s even recorded? The band gets the advantage of having the money they need up front, and then all the “investors” get it for free when it’s done. Seems reasonable enough to me.

I’ve actually come across some sites that are attempting to do just that. One of the bigger ones is Sell A Band. Through their site, a band finds 5,000 “investors” (ie: fans) willing to cough up $10 each (or more if they want). Once the total raised reaches $50,000, the band records an album. They do a limited edition release on CD which gets sent (for free) to all the investors. Then they give the tracks away for free online, splitting the ad revenue from the site 3-ways between Sell A Band, the artist and the 5,000 investors. Also, they produce another version of the CD for the band to sell at shows and elsewhere, and that revenue is also split with the investors.

So, for a pretty small investment you could actually not only get a free CD, but also make some money in the process.

Sell A Band is definitely trying to sell people on the idea that it’s actually working for some bands, but I’d be interested to know what % of the total bands that have signed up are anywhere near being successful. So far it looks like only 2 bands have actually reached the $50,000 and neither of them has released their album yet. But it’s encouraging to see the idea working if only for a couple bands so far. It’ll be interesting to see what happens once some albums are released:

How involved will Sell A Band be after the fact? Will any of the bands be able to build on this success and create a sustainable career in the process? Will the quality of the album be enough to compete with everything else out there?

Here’s a question: Do you think Sinch should get involved with something like this? We certainly have a lot more than 5,000 fans out there. The question is can we connect with enough of them who are willing to invest money in us? Let us know what you think.

Ok, now it’s a toss up between the guitar in my last post and this one:

http://homepage3.nifty.com/mitsumatsu/guitar/005FC/005FC_1.htm

I’m in the market for a new guitar. I started playing years ago but eventually sold everything I had to pay for more drum equipment. I want to get back into it, the problem is I can’t really afford a “good” guitar right now, and I know I’ll be unhappy with a cheap one. I don’t need perfect sound quality for studio recording, but I want the thing to sound good and at least appear to be pretty well made.

After doing some looking around online I think I’ve decided on this Agile AL-3000 or something similar.

For less than $400 you get a guitar that plays and sounds like a $1500+ Les Paul — at least that’s what a lot of people are saying. The reviews on these things seem to be really good across the board, too.

If anyone has any experience with these guitars, let me know. I’d like to hear what you think. And if you happen to be looking for a guitar yourself, I’d definitely check them out. If I decide to buy one, I’ll post more after I have a chance to actually play the thing, but so far all I’m hearing is good stuff.

On our Myspace site, we get a lot of requests from people to add different songs to our profile so they can add them to their site. The problem is, we can only have 4 songs up there and everyone wants a different song. We’ve tried rotating them but that’s a lot of work and we can’t really keep up with it.

But we have a better solution.
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Phil Collins vs. The Ultimate Warrior

Seriously. I don’t even know what to say about this one.

Take Me Home

In the Air Tonight LIVE

Since this is the best Phil song ever, I figured it deserves another shot.

Genesis - Misunderstanding

This one makes the cut on Phil’s beard alone.