1. Because it's my thread, so I can.Quote:
Originally Posted by The Hound
2. A fresh start. I'm sure someone ripped it, no?
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1. Because it's my thread, so I can.Quote:
Originally Posted by The Hound
2. A fresh start. I'm sure someone ripped it, no?
Not sure which world you reside in, but in my world, it's seems to be working quite alright.Quote:
Originally Posted by ol dirty abbot
Tracklisting has changed. And a Shabazz album?... what's this reality you live in? RZA can't dig and pick up Rae vocals without Rae approving.Quote:
Originally Posted by Chrism70
20 years of an extensive catalogue of music and now we don't care about fans? Stop being a baby and get over yourself, seriously.Quote:
Originally Posted by The Hound
And I vote Origin(tm) and 5th State as great minds on the forum. Thinking very much alike!
hi my name is Eminem
The only problem is that young kids or even those in their 20's don't listen to Wu now and think they are corny. Our son won't wear anything Wu-that's what his old man wears and it's free, and he could have anything and he doesn't want it. You don't have kids, because your kids and grandkids will not care about any Wu album. It's over for a Wu peak-that should have happened in the late 90's. They are not relevant anymore, but to their fans who are around their ages and listened to them in their youth. I just have a problem, where if the new album isn't worth millions that they can't even budget Rae in, why would the secret album? Same people and they just aren't selling to the public in large numbers, so the only hope is that some crazy fan buys it.Quote:
Originally Posted by 5th state
Oh and I think Hez makes good points.
You should read Catcher In The Rye, and you should go to a museum, maybe you'll find something that you appreciate.
"If the concept is maintained and not compromised by a corporate approach, then I believe the album will never make its way to your iPod....LMAO! This is the most CORPORATE Bullshit idea i ever heard. This Is'nt some Unreleased Beatles Recordings made during the Sgt. Pepper Sessions..or Abbey Road Sessions...or A Rare one of a Kind Jimi Hendrix Album that was recorded in secret and never released...or Tupac and Biggie...I can see those albums going on a Museum Tour. What makes those guys Music rare?? They're DEAD!! The Beatles and Hendrix and Pac and Biggie will NEVER EVER produce another Album or Song again in our lives and forever. People will pay Millions to listen to those guys new material. Wu-Tang is still a working functioning group!(So They Say) So how can an Album not Produced by RZA and recorded by Artist still putting out Tons of Music be Rare and Art? Not to mention Wu-Tang as a group is decreasing in value everyday with all the fighting RZA and Raekwon are doing in public. No way these "Bickering Brothers" recorded a "REAL" album in secret 6 years ago. RZA himself said on the Breakfast Club..or one of these interviews last week..that Rae does'nt know what type of beats he makes, because he has'nt even been in the studio with Rae since 2007!!(8 Diagrams Era)So there goes the "Secret recording" Bullshit! Second of all....How many niggaz in the hood do you know go to Museums?? The last time i was at a Museum was sometime in the early 90's for a School Field Trip. So there goes the poor Minorities in the hood. Even if niggaz went..the tour would probley be NY...D.C....L.A..London and some other shit. Leaving out about 200,000,000 people.
These White Folks will lose they mind if all these Hood dudes showed up at the Museums..they'll think we're gonna steal shit and break shit..they dont want us there! This is'nt for us!....So much for spreading Knowledge to the 85%... All that was bullshit anyways. Wu-Tang is finished and Infiltrated..and they finally Went "Full Sell-Out." Don't you see whats happening here??!! Whose gonna show up at Museums??..Pretensious White Hipster dudes who can afford to waste money on Album listening sessions just to seem cool and down with the culture. They dont give a Fuck about niggaz..we're not their fanbase anymore. Cilvaringz keeps saying "We gave the fans 20yrs"...You did'nt give me shit! I did'nt see you at the Paladium in Winter of 1993..performing with the Wu-leather on...i did'nt hear you while i was at the Bus Stop rolling Blunts and Listening to "Tical" in my cassette headphones in 1994....You was'nt in the tape deck when we was listening to "Cuban Linx" in a Stolen car being chased by the cops....you was'nt in the basement in the Winter of 1995 bagging up Crack while "Liquid Swords" was in the Tape deck...My point is..Wu-Tang was the Soundtrack to my life from 1993 to 1997....Cilvaringz was no where to be found..he was probley in High School like the rest of us...i did'nt hear of this guy until 2008. I joined this site in 2005 because i thought it was ran by Wu-tang or RZA. How is someone with a Posh London Accent telling us what's good for us niggaz in the streets of America. Taking our music and selling it to Rich White/Jews/Arabs...Hipsters in Museums with "BEATS" or whatever Commercialized Headphone company sponsoring this shit. Hip-Hop is dead!!..it's been hijacked by Outsiders and Corporate Thugs. Jay-Z and Puffy Started the Ball rolling. Now my generations music is gone..because we did'nt protect it.
Wu-Tang died in 1997...this So-called group we have today is a Robotic Nostalgia Act. Performing the same songs over and over. Even Paul McCartney Performs and records new Albums..and he's in his 70's with 50 Years of Music on his belt..he still performs new material. Yeah..im sure the "Mainstream" Media is Salavating over this "Publicity Stunt"...since when did Wu-Tang care what the mainstream thinks? They just alienated the last little "Street Cred" they had...I would of never thought these Grimy street dudes would sell-us out like that..but that's what we Black Folks do..we dont own shit..we dont produce shit..we dont support our Black Businesses..which allows outsiders to come in and Dictate to us...What we should listen to..how we should listen to it. Im done with Wu-tang...im getting to Old for all this shit....1993-1997..I dont acknowledge any group or member after 97..Sunz of man..Killarmy Predates 1997..all that other shit is what watered down the brand.(The W is a Great Album though)
Now "Cilvaringz" is the H.N.I.C..telling me he gave me 20years of music....no, you gave Wu-Tang nerds and White Boyz 8years of Music....Wu-tang was considered "Officially Corny" after 2001. Enjoy going to The Museum to listen to Cilvaring'z Wu-tang Nostalgia Album with 'Neck Beards" in Wu-tang T-Shirts with cacky shorts and flip-Flops. The streets wont be there. Very few if any Black folks will Show up. Ya'll fans on this site should stop promoting this Bullshit...Wu-Tang ended up "Wolves in Sheeps Clothing"....I dont wanna hear RZA blabbing about His 'Lessons" or teach The Truth to the Youth Bullshit anymore. This is Seth Rogans and Quinton Tarratino's Music now..and the Hollywood Elite. No wonder nobody from Park-Hill fuck with these dudes anymore. Phonies! Maybe i should go read "The Catcher In The Rye'
isn't ur new album idea basically just following this pyramid which basically all commercial businesses follow.Quote:
http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/wp-c...id2.jpg?7ce4e4
You can sketch this dynamic with a simple pyramid showing lots of people spending little or no money at the bottom and fewer people spending lots of money at the top. If you’re a new band, you begin at the bottom of that pyramid, but no matter how popular a given artist gets or how amazing her latest single is, there will always, always, always be more people in the world who don’t care than who do.
So the goal for every artist and every song has always been to climb this pyramid, convincing as many people as you can to part with something in exchange for listening. At first, you just want their attention. The next step is to get them to give you some money for the privilege of hearing your song whenever they happen to get the urge and as you keep climbing the pyramid, you find yourself with fewer and fewer listeners but each one who who remains is happy to give you more and more money.
I fail to see how that adds value to music.
compare this with books that are considered classics. This books added value to literature because of how good their quality was, nothing to do with how much they sold. also consider the fact that nowadays u can get books considered as classics for free or for a very cheap price (eg
http://www.amazon.co.uk/War-Worlds-H...+of+the+worlds )
I think cost is completely irrelevant when it comes to how much value something has as a piece of art.
if u wanted to add more value to msic/hip hop just make an incredibly good album.
im not hating, but I really cant understand ur album idea.
Elitism.
Very interesting read! And you're absolutely right, I have no children yet. (Girlfriend abroad for work till the end of the year, then we'll start a family.) I think the picture you paint of a lot of teenage hiphop fans not being into Wu is correct.Quote:
Originally Posted by sinfullycute
As music taste changes Wu might become the hip thing again in say 10 to 15 years when young people rediscover them. These things usually tend to happen in cycles.
If the music is released in let's say 100 years people then will have no immediate references and will probably - that would be my guess at least - appreciate the 'Once Upon a Time...' album for what it is without comparing it right away to what's hot then or at least without refusing to take a listen to it.
I think you're right about the crazy rich fan suggestion, that is definitely an option. That's what often happens with paintings and sculptures too, right? Wouldn't necessarily refer to those people as 'crazy', though. Just like beauty is often in the eye of the beholder, so is monetary value that is associated with works of art. I don't even think RZA & Cilvaringz would be willing to deal with the two fans who came up with a Kickstarter campaign (even though I respect the initiative, and I assume so do they) in order to buy and then spread 'Once Upon a Time', because it kinds of defeats the whole purpose of what this album is supposed to achieve for music as an art form in today's society that considers music to be nothing but a quick fix for entertainment.
This is how it often goes down...Quote:
Originally Posted by Timothy Cain
Whats the difference between art and entertainment? Where do you draw the line?
I submit that there is no difference whatsoever.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ShaDynasty
I edited my post lolQuote:
Originally Posted by 5th state
I'd say by the way music & movies have been made available (mass consumption, sometimes without people having to pay for it) they have become QUICK entertainment and have been devaluated as an art form. All art is entertainment but music & movies are not considered art by some. For music Cilva is trying to correct this skewed perception, with a one of a kind album being presented as the work of art that each album and movie actually IS (within certain quality boundaries of course). This is all more about changing perceptions, I think. The idea is to start people to get thinking about art & entertainment. Which is why this thread is an enormous success, whatever the opinion is which you express in it.Quote:
Originally Posted by ShaDynasty
That is also why I think Hezekiah, Sinfullycute, you or I, just to name some of the last few people who have been writing in this thread, are all equally right, even though actual opinions vary wildly.
5th state, when did you sleep last?
what about books and poems. theyre also QUICK entertainment, especially in this digital age.Quote:
Originally Posted by 5th state
between 06:15 and 14:27 (GMT+1)Quote:
Originally Posted by check two
This pyramid is an excellent and well known business model, but I don't think Cilvaringz (or RZA) are in it for the money here. In actuality, I think they wouldn't really have a problem selling the album to a private person for a price covering the costs of the album, possibly with the addition of making a decent but not outrageous profit, as long as there is a binding contract saying the album cannot be released to the masses (any time soon) - just so they can get their point across of the music album being a work of art on its own merits.Quote:
Originally Posted by Timothy Cain
What I'm saying is : the highest bidder is definitely not guaranteed to win on this one. Cilvaringz stated this himself a few posts back so I'm not saying anything new or revolutionary here at all.
Of course, as these kinds of things tend to take on their own course (and this specific type of venue has not been explored before so who knows what might happen) the idea of a whole lot of money might become increasingly enticing for some of the people involved - same way you or I would respond if we stood to make so much money it could set us up for the rest of our lives. So we'll just have to wait and see how it plays out. In fact, the uncertainty about it is half of the excitement for the people who made the album possible.
Correcto mundo.Quote:
Originally Posted by Timothy Cain
Its pretentious horseshit, everybody knows music is art but paintings are a limited format, thats why millions of people can't own them unlike records. I don't know, maybe if Kanye came up with this idea, i might go with it.
But its not Ye, its not RZA or anyone else that matters. Its Cilvaringz, a guy that basically has no reputation as a producer or an artist. He made 1 standard Wu clone album 7 years ago and thats basically it. So why should i give a shit? Its being marketed as a Wu-Tang Clan album despite none of the Clan knowing it existed. RZA had nothing to do with it.
The whole thing comes off as shady and deceitful.
why wouldn't an album be a work of art on its own merits if it was distributed the normal way?Quote:
Originally Posted by 5th state
how would this album be considered a work of art if not that many have heard it?
All I've heard from this album was a snippet that Cilvaringz posted on his soundcloud with Inspectah Deck and Ghostface and it was amazing. I see a lot of people on here trying to devalue this project as "copy and paste" and a "Cilviringz album." but the fact is, Cilvaringz is a better producer now than RZA. I think you're just fooling yourselves in believing that this will be a mediocre record. All signs point to greatness, but people are too frustrated to focus on what's most important: the music itself.
You can keep complaining about the marketing concept, but don't belittle the music when you haven't even heard it yet. you know it's going to be the best Wu tang related album since the 90s probably, so be happy about that.
Quote:
Originally Posted by HEZAKYA
thats a long post
You shouldn't feel obliged to give a shit at all. If that's how you feel, that is simply how you feel. Your issue partly seems to lie with Cilva coming up with this idea, who to you hasn't cemented his status within the Wu legacy (early on). Hezekya expressed the same sentiment, which is a valid point of view. On the other hand, RZA okayed the idea (kind of retroactively).Quote:
Originally Posted by ShaDynasty
About the paintings. Andy Warhol & Marcel Duchamp changed the status of paintings & sculptures as one of a kind works of art by either making more than one copy at the same time (Warhol, and he was not the only one) or working with every day objects which were only slightly changed (Duchamp).
So you could say some artists tried to break down the idea of art as being elite because they didn't agree with the worrisome evolution that works of art were getting too much of an elitist aura at the time. However, as times have changed now and music & films seem to earn very little respect maybe a move like Cilva'z aims to restore some of the lost respect for certain works of art.
Seems (art) history sometimes works in cycles like that.
lol cilvaringz its been shown earlier that this concept isn't newQuote:
Originally Posted by Cilvaringz
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ghost In The 'Lac
This is not a direct answer to your question, but it reminds me of what a local well known artist who received a part time job as a music reviewer at an important national magazine once said. (Names don't matter since I'm not talking about the US.)Quote:
Originally Posted by Timothy Cain
When being asked about his new job as a reviewer he said it had much lessened his respect for and enjoyment of music. He went on to describe how his car had been filling up with CDs and records to review, so much so that he came to expect this constant music instream as nothing special, even as something tedious. Mind you, he was an artist himself. In the end he decided to give up the reviewing gig, even though his reviews were well received and high profile.
So I guess what I'm trying to say here is that wide availability, while having many advantages, also risks to negatively influence the way music is appreciated.
hhahahahahhhaha look at his 1 in the nerdnews threadQuote:
Originally Posted by check two
Rightfully refers to the 'one copy is unique concept'.Quote:
Originally Posted by Timothy Cain
Are you familiar with this controversial statement on art & art profits:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K_Found...a_Million_Quid
It was high profile back then (in Europe not in the US I'd guess), but of course it's been quite a few years.
First part of a documentary on this ... Beware, bad image quality & equally bad haircuts abound on this one ... The first half of this clip just reiterates the history of the band, you might want to skip that.
Kind of like how the Joker burned all that mobster money in Nolan's second Batman film.
lol u cant make that direct comparison though. hes listening to lots of albums/songs that he probably doesn't like so he doesn't enjoy music as much.Quote:
Originally Posted by 5th state
just becomes theres lots of copies of 1 song doesn't mean people think less of it and u can listen to it whenever u want and not get sick of it. plus ur not obliged to listen to it a lot of times like the music reviewer. u don't have to listen to groups u don't like.
listening/doing something lots of times u don't really like could quite likely make u not as interested in the genre/group that thing belongs to.
but digitalisation doesn't do that.
also I notice u mention lots of times music and movies aren't respected as art today. I don't know why u think that. majority of people think of music as art and movies aren't as respected cuz its a young form of art, but theyre a lot more respected since 100 years ago. in fact I think they've become more respected is cuz they've become more widely available.
Some very good points here. Thanks for the food for thought (no wucorp pun intended)! Don't know about music being more respected than 100 years ago (think of the almost worshiplike treatment of classical music by some).Quote:
Originally Posted by Timothy Cain
So you would be happy to be listen to all your music in a specific place?Quote:
Originally Posted by 5th state
Cos i wouldn't, most people wouldn't.
And Warhol made prints of prints, not multiple painting copies.
Correct, I wasn't clear enough on this. Thanks for expanding on that.Quote:
Originally Posted by ShaDynasty
And no, I wouldn't mind listening to this album in one specific place.
One more thing i forgot to mention...This "Once Upon A Time In Shaolin"...is nothing But A RZA Hustle. I watched all his interviews from his "Press Tour" and drew my own conclusion...He realizes "A better tommorow" might not see the light of day..that's a Million dollars he already spent on Production for the Album..he was betting on Raekwon submitting..Raekwon nor his management is Budging. RZA cant lose a Million Dollars..so he comes up with Plan B....He remembers Cilvaringz was recording an Album...He hears it...he's Blown Away! Cilvaringz pulled it off...It sounds like a Real Wu-Tang Album....The album he SHOULD be making....He knew this kid had talent! He may can save his neck. He cant just put the Album out because nobody heard of Cilvaringz...it'll just lay waste in Torrentville..and no Money. See, Investors will only Invest in a REAL Wu-Tang Project..Not a Cilavringz Project or a Wu-Tang Album without Rae or other missing members....So this Idea was Born...they had no idea it would blow up like this or even work....Wow...we could actually pull this off....The Publicity is Crazy....So now they really have to go with this plan now...or they wont look legit. So they cant even pull out if they wanted to. Also, with the re-newed interest in Wu-Tang as Brilliant Musical trendsetters...A better tommorow gets Talked about again. RZA pushing to finish it even more since this Museum News came out. He can have one album in the public and one Defined as "Art".....RZA makes a shitload of money and saves his Reputation...As for Cilvaringz..if he's a true artist..he would want his best music heard no matter what..but the pay off of Money and His Ego is worth more to him at this stage in his life. Cilvaringz did good for the Abbot..he's now calling him his Buddy. He pitched in idea to his Corporate Masters...and now they're inviting him to eat dinner and discuss business..he's on Bloomberg T.V with a Sweater vest on and London Accent saying he Gave the fans 20 years of Music...this project is not for them.
This is beyond the Shaolin album now...the album is just a Metaphor for Everything that is wrong with so-called Musician's and Corporate greed today. How a Young Upstart Rag-Tag Band of Rebels that were Wu-Tang..turn their back on their Fans and the streets that made them and become The Dark Lord of The Sith! "THE EMPIRE"....Just like Charlie Sheen sold his father's company out to Michael Douglas/Gordan Gekko in Wall-Street..Cilvaringz sold the only fans and credibility he had so he can eat at RZA's(Michael Douglas/Gordan Gekko) Table. He was hyping you guys up..was excited for you all..that he finally did it...then a couple a months ago...he all of a sudden changes his mind....no, RZA realized A Better tommorow was'nt working out like he planned....Let's Takeover Cilvaringz Album...RZA's gonna Gordan Gekko Cilvaringz by the end of this. This is not no Artistic statement....This another Diggs Family Hustle. Im sure Power is gonna have Wu-Wear Booths at the Museum Entrances come ShowTime. Cappadonna...U-God...and Masta Killah will have Q&A sessions with the Hipsters and Brooklyn Vegans after the Museum Show. While the rest of the Clan will come out Asking where is their Money...and they had no Idea this Album Existed.
I meant music as a whole today is held in high regard, not just modern music. yeah classical music is held in higher regard but I think that's reasons other than how easy it is to download music today.Quote:
Originally Posted by 5th state
The one thing I think Cilvaringz might be confused about is when he says that ALL music today is being devalued, when in reality most people still respect rock & roll. This record should be a statement for the legitimacy of hip hop music, which is constantly attacked and degraded. this is an album made to make hip hop look good
Well, first of all, the comparisons with Jarre's project have drawn many times, but with the exception of the one single copy, he encouraged the piracy of the record, and we are doing the exact opposite. Furthermore, Jarre himself played the record on Radio Luxembourg AFTER the sale, which raises the question whether all masters and plates were actually destroyed or whether he kept a copy for himself to play on the radio. Our concept, approach, handling and objective are different.
Secondly, this whole copy and pasting thing has to stop. And the whole Shabazz thing, seriously. When this was slated to be a commercial release, everybody and their mother on this board was overly excited and could've cared less about how it would be presented and under which name. Now the possibility of owning this thing is practically impossible and now all of the sudden it's a copy and paste album, Cilvaringz is a nobody, posh accent, bla bla, etc etc.. Please... don't be little kids and dont feel so sorry for yourselves. Look at the more intelligent and mind engaging posts, seriously far more interesting. Even if you don't agree with the approach, be intelligent about it, cause all that little childish bullshit, it only brings the interesting debates down.
As for more in depth about what we're doing, I think this is by far the best article written on our approach:
THE VALUE CRISIS IN RECORDED MUSIC - A NEW EXCLUSIVITY
Few would dispute that the recorded music industry is in crisis. Recent years have seen a flurry of attempts to think outside the traditional paradigm as artists and labels seek new distribution models, monetisation options and ways to connect with their core supporters.
What began as an economic problem and sustainability issue has since turned to raise deeper questions about other forms of ‘value’ within music. Ease of access, content saturation and the eradication of physicality from musical formats have arguably engendered a diminished experiential value – where profound engagement has ebbed away into a more fleeting, consumerist psychology.
In the light of two recent projects – the single copy Wu Tang album Once Upon a Time in Shaolin and the Kickstarter based distribution of Aphex Twin’s hitherto unreleased ‘Caustic Window’ album, we looked at a new embrace of exclusivity and spoke to Cilvaringz from the Wu Tang Clan.
"...It simply wasn’t good enough
anymore to make great music
and trust distribution channels
to ensure it got heard...."
Music's Value Loss
Purchasing and experiencing music used to require investment – both financial and emotional. Those who grew up in the era of physical formats remember the ‘stories’ to buying records. Skipping school to queue up for an album before rushing home to listen to a proud new treasure. Hanging out in a record shop as the newest white label dropped and the anticipation peaked. Defining one’s formative years through a very specific soundtrack. ‘Curating’ one’s own music collection and lovingly dusting off record sleeves with a passion that hard drives never quite matched.
As the democratisation of production and distribution spiralled from a utopian ideal into a dystopian sea of digital overload, the sustainability of independent music plummeted. With such an intimidating quantity of music out there, the focus started to become as much about presentation as musical substance. It simply wasn’t good enough anymore to make great music and trust distribution channels to ensure it got heard. Independent record labels with limited promotional budgets were subsumed in the new economic realities and corporate entities seemed to become even more powerful. For many musicians, it began to feel that they either needed giant promotional funding or ever more inventive distribution strategies.
"...As free downloads grew more prevalent,
the social networks took an increasingly
jaded view of them..."
One such strategy was to accept that recorded music was a loss leader. The received wisdom today amongst huge swathes of the industry is that recorded music is a means to an end rather than an end in itself. You release tracks and albums not because they are a sustainable form of exchange or a standalone piece of art, but as a calling card for gigs. Setting aside what this has done to live music - as producers are forced to become performers despite their talents lying elsewhere - this perception has accelerated the devaluation of recorded music.
Some artists, especially within dance music, began to give music away for free, concluding that it was likely to get pirated anyway in today’s climate. Many musicians felt that the promotional weight in giving music away for free was more productive than attempting to monetise in a conventional manner. This tactic did see some brief success, but as free downloads grew more prevalent, the social networks took an increasingly jaded view of them and grew weary of ‘sharing’ free music. So in many ways it was back to square one, but with yet another subliminal nail in the coffin of recorded music’s perceived value.
Enter The Wu Tang
The subtext to the ‘free model’ of recorded music was an ever swelling sense of entitlement on the part of the listener. And that is as much a problem for the listener as for the artist. When you feel entitled to something – when you expect something – when you are blasé about something – does it actively limit the depth of your appreciation? The issue isn’t just that musicians feel taken for granted or unable to make a basic living from releases, but that listeners have become idle consumers. ‘No effort was made in the acquisition of this music’ could be a virtual sticker on most digital releases. And it is arguable that emotional outlay as well as its symbolic representation (the parting of hard earned cash) is an integral part of any experience – especially a lasting one.
Enter the Wu Tang Clan with perhaps the most radical solution yet proposed. Their answer to this landscape was to create one sole physical copy of their new album; defying every conception of music as something to be shared, they are making a counter intuitive but fundamental point.
At first glance, Once Upon a Time in Shaolin looks like the ultimate expression of elitism and the final divorce of hip-hop from its community roots. The triumph of bling over art for art’s sake. Putting one copy of an album in an extravagant series of silver boxes and selling it off to a millionaire smacks of everything that is wrong with the music business and indeed with corporate hip hop culture.
“...This isn’t about elitism. This is an
artistic statement about
value within music...”
Speaking to Cilvaringz – the originator of the concept and the producer of the Wu’s new album – it becomes clear that a very different dynamic is in play; one that targets current realities.
“This isn’t about elitism. This is an artistic statement about value within music,” he told us. “Major artists have diversified their revenue streams – they have options. They can strike licensing deals, make TV shows, release fashion ranges, align themselves with brands, and go on perpetual tour. It’s the little guy who really needs recorded music to be worth something. If you sell 5000 copies of your CD – you can just about scrape a living. That gives you independence as a musician. But if we live in a world where recorded music – the culmination of years of creative work is worthless then what options do you have as a musician? This project is about restoring recorded music to the status of art and provoking a deeper debate about the economics and the experience of music.“
And this really is the crux of the matter. We have arrived at a point where recorded music is no longer seen as precious. We don’t prize our musical possessions in the way we used to and that has led to a deeper malaise where we view creative output as something disposable. This isn’t to sanctify the musician and scold the ‘consumer’. Musicians themselves are guilty in many cases of a slapdash approach to releases because they themselves no longer perceive their output as a lasting testament.
Back to the Exclusive
We are beginning to see a return to limited edition physicality across the spectrum. Beautifully presented, numbered vinyl runs are starting to pop up across dance music. It is partly about selling something exclusive to encourage people to dig deep and support the artist directly and equally about using beauty and tangibility to alter how that limited run is perceived. If there are a hundred copies in existence – how much does acquiring one shape the way you value it? Of course if you cannot get hold of a piece of music, do you suddenly view it with a different hunger?
With Spotify royalties being the stuff of black-comedy and Soundcloud somehow managing to cobble together a business model that makes artists and content providers actually pay for the privilege of being listened to, things are unmistakably dire. Perhaps the most insidious idea touted about is that music should be free and public. The emotional blackmail frequently put to artists is that by attempting to monetise, they are somehow desecrating art. It is an argument generally proposed by people who would laugh you out of the workplace if you suggested they toil for ‘the glow of their craft’.
The Robin Hood School of Music Piracy
There was a time when making music free and divorcing it from a material price was the most profound statement an artist could make. Indeed when Jean Michel Jarre made the single copy of Music for Supermarkets – a single copy predecessor to Once Upon a Time in Shaolin – he actually encouraged its piracy when it was played on Radio Luxembourg. Except this was a time when piracy was a challenge to corporate interest and the establishment. Today, piracy actively reinforces the establishment by disenfranchising the independent whose sole revenue stream is the music itself.
"...If something is free or too easy it will eventually become valueless..."
It is arguable that the most profound statement an artist can make today is to put a price on his music and achieve that price. It speaks to sustainability for the artist themselves and their ability to make a living through their art without a second job to subsidise it. From the listener’s perspective, part of experiencing music is the knowledge that you are contributing back towards the artist, building a circle of human support for something you appreciate. We really aren’t talking about faceless corporate entities any more – the Robin Hood school of music piracy has been wholly subverted by the very forces it once challenged.
It forces people who have lost touch with the idea of recorded music as a piece of art to re-evaluate their perceptions. And that includes musicians themselves. To strip away the indolence that mass access and content saturation have spawned, and realign the emotional connection with a piece of recorded music both as a listener and as an artist. Ubiquity was once the goal of an artist but even that apparently obvious ambition is being recalibrated as the actual nature of engagement really starts to matter. Getting heard is more difficult than ever and yet in many ways it’s no longer enough.
The sorry truth about our society is that if something is free or too easy it will eventually become valueless. If something is not done to rein these dynamics back in we risk losing our respect and relationship with music on levels far more primal than economics. And yet if one looks at money as a symbolic means of establishing value, and exclusivity as a reflex trigger of desire, then perhaps the reassertion of such frameworks is the only way to stem the digital tide of anonymity, corporate blandness and surface engagement. Whether these models will ultimately generate a new depth of connection with music remains to be seen, but a new and fascinating front has been opened.
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Originally Posted by Cilvaringz
If I understand this post correct. People should just give up now. Ringz and Co don't want this album listened to in a private domain.
lol @ people saying you could listen to this album in 50 or 100 years time. :?
A good read! Where was the article originally published? Interesting points about the difference in approach and goals of Jean-Michel Jarre and Cilvaringz.