Do I need a new business model?

I had an interesting discussion this week about the future of the music business. I suddenly envisioned that we might well be at the end of an era. Music listening for millions of years was something that was dependent of the moment that the music was performed. Then, by the end of the 19th century someone invents a tool with which music can be recorded. This invention leads to an age where people listen to music through wax roles, lacquer discs, vinyl discs, tapes, cd's. A giant industry develops and millions are made. And then, 100 years later (a very short time when regarded in perspective of human history) we are done with that. The internet eradicates within a decade the necessity to distribute music on discreet physical carriers. Music is distributed without effort. The business model of the music industry has vaporized.

So, we're back to the situation where a musician earns his bread by performing his music. Music labels are forced to reconsider their role, their position. They are no longer needed by the artist to distribute the music, their role as producer/financer of the recording process has become obsolete or at least risky in the light of the vanished distribution channels (upon which their business model was based).

It is time that we take a close look at what the listener actually is prepared to pay up for. Obviously the listener is not interested in high quality recordings. The massive consumption of mp3's in favour of CD's shows that the listener thinks mp3 quality is fine enough when given the choice between paying (CD) or (free/cheaper) download.

Sooooooh, what does this mean for me and my music? If small quality labels are unable to sell more than a few dozens of copies of releases of artists that used to sell more than a 1,000 where does that leave me? I guess my days of traditional releases are over. I am forced to take a new direction. My primary drive is to make music, but to have it heard by other people adds a lot to that.

I guess that, together with me, a lot of musicians will be forced back from the professional into the semi-professional level and from that into the amateur level. A lot of artists will quit producing music because they have to take care of a family.

Nevertheless: I am convinced that new forms of musical production and distribution will rise. Small, fast, low budget. At this very moment someone is already working on the right concept for the future.

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There it is!!

I've done it; I've put my small business online. As of yesterday all of the information about my services is public on the EARLabs site. If you go [ there ] you can read about the services that you can order from me. With a track record of 30 years of composition, 20 years of writing about music and 10 years as a consultant I thought it was time to combine this experience into a little business. The past six months I have actively acquired projects for other people and all of them were satisfied with the result. Take a look at the list of [ clients ]. All of these projects were for free, for the client to get to know me and for me to get a feeling of how things might work out.

In 2010 I have decided to step up to the next level: a proper catalogue of services and online information. The business model is still quite low profile. I have been thinking about prices and looked at what competitors in this market ask for their services. This put up a dilemma: I want to aim at artists and labels with a small budget but on the other hand I want to deliver professional quality. And no matter what: quality requires time and good tooling.

Contrary to what people in my environment advised me I have decided not to start with a list of rates, like so and so many euro's per minute of music and so many tracks, etcetera. I think this business is very personal and I want to leave it up to the client to pay a fair price.

What is a fair price?
A fair price is an amount of money that satisfies both our needs. It depends on what you can afford to pay and what you think is fair to compensate me for my work. Yes, that is  more difficult than just say : 5 euro's per minute of music for mastering or 15 euro's per minute for  a 24 track mixing job. I was juggling with figures until I thought "what the heck, this might leave out all these guys whose music I love and who have done a great job musically but are unable to pay".
If this still makes you feel uneasy, then please ask me what I think is a fair price.

So there we are and here I am, distance is not an issue
I live in The Netherlands. That can be far away, geographically. But that doesn't matter anymore. We can work out everything via the Internet. I have a large server space where we store all of the music stuff and where we exchange the original material and the edited material. We have free teleconference software which allows us to discuss the music real-time. I can let you follow exactly what I do when I do it.

I think this getting on the same level with each other is important. Although most times I can work at a fast tempo and deliver the master of a song within 24 hours, I really want to get on the right level with the client. Can you imagine that you have worked a couple of months and a total of 200 hours on a series of songs or compositions and then decide that you need the master within let's say a day? No, you want to hand over this stuff very carefully to someone you trust.

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weekly report (September 6, 2009)

Nothing much. I worked on a piece that is based on the first three bars of a song by A Certain Ratio (bass only). I have cut up each bar and slowed it down and then started building up a new song with several variations.

I had a very nice meeting with Steffan De Turck (below) and Wouter Jaspers (left), two young composers from my home town. Steffan works under the monicker of Staplerfahrer, Wouter is aka Franz Fjödor. We have been discussing the possibilities of a collaboration. As far as I am concerned: I would love to have people in the EARLabs studio recording stuff and then collating everything into compositions a la the stuff we did with THU20 (way back). That's why I invited these two guys: they're ready to give anything a try!!

Both Jaspers and De Turck are active in the Tilburg music scene of Vatican Analog. Currently they run a studio in a derelict office building. Very cool, all that. Their 'Sturm und Drang' is very catchy and I am very curious to see what will happen when the three of us start to play in the studio.

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Nic Collins, after 20 or so years

Yesterday evening I was at Steim, in Amsterdam, to attend a book presentation (well, actually the second edition book presentation) of [ "Handmade Electronic Music" ] by Nic Collins. I knew Collins when he was director of Steim in the 1980s. We corresponded and met a few times and I organized a concert in my hometown. Since then I went my way and he went his. So yesterday was a really fine re-encounter which was celebrated with a fair amount of humor (of which he has an abundancy), discussions about improvised music and 'handmade electronic music' and more alcohol than I am used to absorp (no accidents happened, though).

The book (which comes with a DVD) was immediately sold out (before I arrived, actually) but I got a glance at the contents. It's a really detailed manual for those who dare to open up the devices that we use in our daily lives and start tampering them. It also has many, many advices about how to construct sound producing circuits from scratch. I have always been very clumsy with soldering equipment, but it is actually quite fun to do and rewarding to build up your own 'synth'. It gets me away from my computer and vst's and such. I´m sure that I will get down to it, once I have this guide.

Collins, in the mean time, is a Professor of Sound at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. What a wonderful position: Professor of SOUND, wow!!

Read more about [ Nic Collins ]
Read more about [ STEIM ]

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Wander almost finished

The Wander master is almost finished. Frans and Freek both approved the bits that I had thrown at them. That took a few days, but luckily (not!) my studio pc was broken down so I wasn't really waiting. The power supply of the pc stopped working. So I replaced it with a new, bigger one. Then my video card (DVI-D) started acting up. And after I got that working Windows simply told me that my configuration wasn't up to it. Bugger!

Anyway, I continued with the master yesterday. I added a sublayer of bass with the PV transposer VST plug. Just one octave lower in the background to add a bit of zoooommm. Now the sound is wider and deeper. I still have to work on the details in the higher frequencies. And then I am waiting to cut the whole into tracks. And go!

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Scratch did it

I have been listening a lot to one of the latest releases of Lee 'scratch' Perry, Repentance. By himself Perry is already legend, of course. A madman., age 70. But a brilliant one, or perhaps one of those figures who always get picked up by someone who takes care of them. Perry seems to be doing well, despite his juggled mind.

Anyway: Repentance is a masterpiece. Not only because of the lyrics and the grooves and such but because the production is really damn good! It rocks, it funks and it still is crystal clear. Every instrument is at the right spot with the space it deserves. Wow!! The producer is a certain Andrew W.K. who appears to have some fame but I don't know anything about him. Hmm, checking him out on the Web doesn't really give him a ticket for one of my parties. Jeezz, this is the typical overloaded, no headroom US rock. Read more about the production [ here ]. But you'd better just listen to the album.
This is Perry's 54th album release, btw. Considering the moroness of AWK's other music Perry's influence on the production must have been biggggg!

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wander master tests

I have been reconstructing the Wander master. Most basic: I split the file up into three frequencies: 0-200hz, 200-2,000hz, 2,000hz and up. The middle and upper frequencies have been split into a left and a right part. The middle is slightly off center, the higher again somewhat more. I have done this with the js/stereowidth vst that's natively present inside Reaper. The result is that I have more control over the track and that it all sounds a bit deeper and wider. The middle also has some reverberation, just enough to make it somewhat smoother (something that was requested).

There are two sections that I have given more attention. I have sent Freek and Frans the files for their scrutiny. You can taste them here (while they last :) ):

section 1
section 2

They are rather big, so be careful.

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Mastering and a new review

Frans de Waard and Freek Kinkelaar have asked me to master their future release of "Wander". Wander is a cooperational project, just like Beequeen is. It is actually the first time I heard their music of Wander, although they have been releasing music since 2000. Wander circles around organ and synth layers, I think it's recorded live.
Of course I know their Beequeen project; I've remastered their second release of Time Waits For No One.

This project is a bit of a challenge since I only got a stereo mix and not multi track project. On the other hand: with the current state of technology there are lots of ways to attack a stereo mix and get more out of it.
Wander on [ discogs.com ]


Other news: Gaussian Transient (Megaphone) was reviewed at Neural.it . Read it [ here ]

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Writing reviews

I have received quite a pile of relases for review during the past weeks. Pheew.. that means listening and listening and then listening and writing. What did I get? Jacob Kirkegaard's "Labyrinthitis", three discs by Zeitkratzer (coops with Carsten Nicolai, Keiji Haino, Terre Thaemlitz), two new Entr'acte releases, Roel Meelkop's "an ear for numbers", Aidan Baker/Tim Hecker, Palac, Morfrom. That's just to name a few.

Reviewing is at the same time a nice way to get into contact with new music, a way to express your thoughts on music and a time consuming effort. I take reviewing music quite seriously. Musicians and composers have gone through great lengths to produce the stuff and it would be quite disrespectful to just dismiss stuff at first hearing or just skipping through the music. So each disc gets at least two hearings before I start writing. So that takes almost two hours. Discs that I don't like or just don't appeal to me, or stuff that is completely off or blatantly following an easy path don't make it to the writing process. Unless someone is applying for a decent slashing, of course!!

Anyway, EARLabs will publish the reviews shortly.

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Re-aligning a zebra

Have been working on a Zebra composition. Roel Meelkop and Frans de Waard produced this a month ago. It's just two stereo tracks that I placed in Reaper and started working on. Zebra's working method is, in the studio, quite straightforward. They talk about a theme (like 70's sympho rock), prepare this at home and then go to the studio. There they do some trials and then record directly to disc.

So my material is an almost finished mix, actually. But, since i am given total freedom to do what I want,that's exactly what I do: what I want.

Look and listen: [ zebra at myspace ]

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new Wire release!

Listened to the new Wire release today, Object47. What a wonderful release. The sound is less biting than the previous one, Send. It's warmer, there's more detail. The vocals of Colin Newman shine. Back to the early days. Fantastic. Anyone should have a listen, you're instantly hooked. The title appears to refer to the fact that this is their 47th release. Haven't counted that, but I suppose that's correct.

And when you're not familiar with Wire check out this site.

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