For example, in just-for-the-heck-of-it reverse alpha order:
Showing posts with label independent music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label independent music. Show all posts
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Return of attack of indies
For example, in just-for-the-heck-of-it reverse alpha order:
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Tales of the new music industry model: Wonderlick
Add to the tales of the new music industry model (coming someday in the future to a wireless card near you), the saga of California indie band Wonderlick's new album.Wonderlick recently conducted an "extremely successful" fan pre-order campaign on their forthcoming album Topless At The Arco Arena. The band ran a month-long pre-order offer via their Web site which allowed fans to set their own price for the album, with an additional incentive offered to fans who paid median price or higher: a thank-you by name in the album package. The final median price was $29.13. The low price paid was $5, and the high price paid was $500. Several fans paid over $100 for the disc.
Says band member Tim Quirk: “I wasn’t too worried about people paying less than the CDs themselves cost, but I was completely unprepared for just how generous fans were. When the first $30 payment came in, that was pretty cool. Then they just kept getting higher -- $45, $50, $100. I’m writing them all personal thank you notes, like my grandma taught me.”
Topless At The Arco Arena will be released on July 7, 2009 via Missing Piece/Rock Ridge Music. According to Quirk, the record, “examines the intersection of art and commerce from people who have been on every side of it.” In fact, Quirk and bandmate Jay Blumenfield both have successful careers in other endeavors: Tim is VP, Programming of Rhapsody and Jay is a TV producer and video director. Wonderlick has experimented with the donations-for-downloads approach previously while posting songs from their former group Too Much Joy. Based on the response this time around they seem to be onto something -- at least for their own small niche in the great big Wild West that is the music industry today.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Video games boosting music sales?
In the latest evolutionary cycle of the now nearly unrecognizable "music industry," video games have become a sort of booster rocket for music sales. In a recent post, New York Times Freakonomics guest blogger David Edery -- also a manager for Xbox Live Arcade -- notes that Rock Band and Guitar Hero have generated millions in catalog sales for bands like Aerosmith and The Who, and even gave a noticeable bump to sales of Motley Crue's recent single "Saints Of Los Angeles." The question still to be explored is, does this effect extend beyond further lining the pockets of the already successful and famous? Does a placement on Rock Band help your unknown indie band? The jury is still out, and the chances of a big video game employing nothing but undiscovered acts continues to waver somewhere around zero. That makes those lesser-known acts who do manage to get into the video game mix alongside veteran million-selling acts something akin to lottery winners.
Saturday, May 24, 2008
The good, the bad, the independent
The music world is like the Wild West nowadays. The old rules about making it in the business -- write singles, get the big label's attention, sign and sell lots of albums -- is out the window. The new model is still taking shape, and the only thing we know for sure is it's wide open.
The upside is that a lot of terrific artists who might have labored in obscurity making af few bucks a night playing bars are now laboring in semi-obscurity making a few more bucks a night by selling downloads and merch online in between playing bars.
The downside is, the market is flooded. Here at the Vault, we get a ton of independent discs in the mail every week, and while we love to discover new artists and feature independent music whenever we can, honestly, about 75% of what comes in is seriously flawed in one way or another. It's an act that doesn't have a voice or style of its own or anything original to say or an exciting or engaging way of saying it, or even a reasonably professional recording. It's self-indulgent, it's amateurish, and sometimes it's just plain bad.
That said, my last three published reviews have all been of terrific, lovingly crafted work by artists who are either self-releasing or on a small indie label. So please, ignore the glut of marginal material and enjoy these three indie gems:
The upside is that a lot of terrific artists who might have labored in obscurity making af few bucks a night playing bars are now laboring in semi-obscurity making a few more bucks a night by selling downloads and merch online in between playing bars.
The downside is, the market is flooded. Here at the Vault, we get a ton of independent discs in the mail every week, and while we love to discover new artists and feature independent music whenever we can, honestly, about 75% of what comes in is seriously flawed in one way or another. It's an act that doesn't have a voice or style of its own or anything original to say or an exciting or engaging way of saying it, or even a reasonably professional recording. It's self-indulgent, it's amateurish, and sometimes it's just plain bad.
That said, my last three published reviews have all been of terrific, lovingly crafted work by artists who are either self-releasing or on a small indie label. So please, ignore the glut of marginal material and enjoy these three indie gems:
Fractures by Last Charge Of The Light Horse. Like a ten-years-after sequel to Springsteen's Tunnel Of Love; a superbly crafted song cycle about troubled relationships and the daily search for hope and redemption.
Time Travel Made Easy by Spiraling. Fountains Of Wayne meet H.G. Wells in this brilliantly executed concept album full of clever riffs, retro synths and singalong choruses.
Today by Mike Zito. Simply the best electric blues album I've heard in a long time, full of Stevie Ray Vaughan grit mixed with John Mayer melodicism and John Hiatt self-awareness.
Enjoy!
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