Thursday, October 28, 2010

Music Boxes

In a world where auto-tuned pop music and lyrics written by strangers reigns supreme, artists who write their own music are some of today's most creative and influential people. In nusic, it has become commonplace to see singers who can't sing, dance, play an instrument, or really do much besides standing around and looking pretty. Because of this, truly talented people are pushed to the bottom and forced to work even harder to create works of art.

"Artists" like Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera have been around for quite a while. They sing, they dance, and they look pretty; but at the core, they are just music boxes for record companies to renovate and play their music through. There is no heart or soul in pop music. Artists like Lady Gaga have challenged the status quo of the genre, but really, is Lady Gaga anything more than an extravagantly decorated music box? Yes, she's different, but is there anything behind the almost contrived uniqueness?

Young singers and singwriters seem to be the only hope left for true art today. Bands like Kiss Kiss, with an electric violin and an orchestra-gone-mad sound, or This Is My Suitcase, with sad lyrics and happy melodies, challenge what is expected from music, and from art.

Bands and singers that write their own music as a sort of challenge to the music industry are the most creative artists we have today. With new sounds, new ideas, and new beliefs in what sounds good, these artists take what the listener is used to hearing and turns it on its head. In essence, these artists are redefining music as we know it.

Friday, October 22, 2010

Is Album Artwork Important?

In this digital age, where everyone has access to Photoshop and stock photos, it seems the quality of album covers has gone down. Bands tend to throw quality to the wayside, instead preferring to make their own cheap covers. While this is expected for newer, struggling bands, it kills me a little inside when established bands decide to release a mediocre album cover.

Children are raised with the mantra of "don't judge a book by its cover," but as consumers, we are instantly drawn to pretty packaging. Nice packaging tells the consumer's subconscious that the contents will be just as pleasing, and encourage the individual to make a purchase. Because of this, it's important that bands realize when they are designing their packaging that they are not just creating an icon to symbolize their music on an iPod. Album artwork is marketing material, and it should be treated as such.

One of my favorite examples of artwork gone wrong is the cover of Cobra Starship's "Hot Mess."


Without knowing anything about the band, most consumers would be put off by this cover, mostly for the reasons that the band picked it. The girl is supposed to be a "hot mess," but to the average viewer, it comes across as sloppy and almost gross.

Conceptual album art is another way of encouraging purchases, but it is very often a hit or miss situation.

A few of my favorite covers:


This is two album covers. The one on the left is PlayRadioPlay!'s last album before a name change (and change in style) to Analog Rebellion, whose debut album is on the right. They were released at the same time.

courtesy of psfk.com

The original release of OK Go's "Of The Blue Colour of the Sky" had this abstract artwork as the booklet.


Although it shouldn't be left in the hands of just anyone, handmade album covers can be adorable, gorgeous, and altogether perfect for sale.

Album covers can often become very cliched, very fast, however. The one thing I always see, and can't stand, is the closeup on a woman's face. This usually happens with solo (female) artists, bands with a female singer, etc. Some examples:





The covers quickly begin to blend into each other, and just become background noise among other, more original covers.

As you can see from just the few examples here, album covers are more than just a place for bands to thank their moms and slap their name onto paper. As prime marketing space, covers have to be treated as the precious real estate they are - the first thing the customer sees. 

Friday, October 15, 2010

The Music Business Ruins Music.

The music business is primarily a business. As counterintuitive as it seems, music labels are more concerned with producing money than with producing quality music.


This drive to sell to the masses leads to a decline in quality. And even with quality bands, interaction with fans is lessened or even lost, because time spent with fans is time losing money. When this kind of distance between fans and musicians becomes the standard, fans lose part of the joy of music. In this sense, the music business is losing everything that it relies on - music.

Recently, a band that I discovered back before they were signed to a label was released from their contract after a few years with the company. Before they had signed with the label, they were heavily fan-oriented, giving away music for free, having barbecues after concerts, and hanging out with fans wherever they went. On the label, they were not allowed to give away music, and their heavy touring schedule forbade them from spending any time with fans, except for in harshly scheduled meet and greets. After some fighting, presumably about monetary issues, as well as their lack of control over their own future, they left the label.

In a few months, everything changed. A house tour with inexpensive tickets was scheduled, singles were released on vinyl, and pre-order packages came with hand-written letters and homemade presents. When a band decides to send me handmade presents for pre-ordering their album, it practically guarantees that I will be a fan, no matter how bad the album is.

Music labels need to realize that they need to adapt to audience's needs in order to survive. With music available freely online, the personal touch can be exactly the draw needed to bring customers back to buying from the artist. Beyond that, the majority of money made by bands is through touring and merchandise sales. When a fan is guaranteed to meet the band because of a small venue, he or she will be more willing to fork over more money for the show.

In the end, the music business will always be about money. But, CEOs must realize that with changing times comes a need for a change in the way bands are operated.

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

OK Go - White Knuckles

In case you've been living under a rock, here's the latest music video from my favorite band, OK Go:



The video is for their latest single, "White Knuckles," and proceeds from the sale of the video go to the ASPCA. After their recent break with Capitol Records, it's definitely interesting to see a band use their popularity to help animals. But, as animal lovers themselves, it's not surprising in the least. In fact, Damian's own dog makes a cameo in the video.

OK Go is also re-releasing their CD "Of the Blue Colour of the Sky," this time as as an "extra nice edition," complete with bonus tracks and access to a digital vault of songs that the band plans to frequently update.

It seems that fan-oriented bands are calling it quits with record labels far more often lately. Whether over creative differences, monetary disagreements, or even things as simple as youtube, there is nothing better than seeing a band able to do what they want, and when they want to. OK Go has proven that you can go from a major label to a self-funded band, and end up faring better than the businessmen.

You can purchase the video, the new edition of the CD, dog collars, autogaphed trash cans, paper airplanes, and more at the band's website, http://www.okgo.net/. You can also hear remixes of "White Knuckles" and buy tickets to their upcoming shows. They will be playing Terminal 9 in Brooklyn in a few days.

Seriously, just check them out. If you're not convinced, you must not feel emotion. They are an awesome creative team.

Friday, October 1, 2010

Pirating Music is Bad. (So Why Do We Do it Anyways?)

I recently recieved in the mail a clear yellow 7" vinyl of Hellogoodbye's single, "When We First Met." When I called up a friend, fully prepared to wax poetic about the beauty of my new posession, she told me I was ridiculous, and that I should have just pirated the song instead.

For those who don't know, pirating music is the act of illegally downloading a song from the internet for free. This is illegal. Programs like limewire have made this a very simple process, though, and many people pirate music regardless of the legality.

Personally, I've always treasured physical CDs and LPs, and I've never understood the craze of pirating music. If no one buys a musician's music, how will he make money to make more music? In theory, it's a lack of morals that keeps individuals pirating music, but I believe it is more to do with the apathetic nature of today's society.

Being raised in the world of instant-access everything, kids today want music when they want it. So instead of getting a ride to the local CD store, hunting the racks for a specific album, and then waiting in line to finally purchase it, people are more likely to use an application like iTunes or Rhapsody. So with music literally at people's fingertips, why do they still pirate it?

If there was a bin of free things dropped at everyone's front door, it's almost guaranteed that everyone would sneak those things back inside and happily keep them, even if they knew the things probably weren't for them. The same thing applies to music. If we can get it for free, and everyone else does it already, why shouldn't we get it?

 Due to these beliefs, however, bands are constantly forced to disband, unable to make enough money to release new music, dropped from labels, and pushed back into corporate 9-5 jobs. By pirating music, you destroy music. Can you live with that?