Bryan’s Blog

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One of my favorite artists has continuously been moby, since I first heard him. He is now giving away his music for certain uses, free. (thanks to swissmiss for the link) It’s a great idea, and one that I hope more artists will embrace. Art is about sharing and receiving comments and creating ideas. The trend of locking away ideas and art and creativity saddens me, so I’m glad to see someone letting it free.

Yesterday, the University where I work sponsored a performance, through the New Music Ensemble, of Olivier Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time. It is a fairly complicated piece of music written and premiered at a PoW camp in Germany (Messiaen was conscripted for the French). Messiaen wrote for violin, cello, clarinet and piano. The piece includes bird songs and is perhaps his first work to do so extensively. There are eight movements, five with the full ensemble, one with clarinet only, one as a cello/piano duet and the eighth is a violin/piano duet. Ying-Wei Sung played violin, Kathryn Lent played cello, Andrew Sprung played clarinet and Karl Larson played the piano.

One of the musicologists here, Dr. Robert Fallon, gave a presentation on the piece before the performance. He presented interesting information regarding the creation of the piece and some of Messiaen’s life in the PoW camp (even at one point alluding to Hogan’s Heroes).

No offense meant to my colleague, but the real highlight was the performance itself. I have heard much music during my tenure here, but the performers today created one of the best performances I have ever heard. It seemed as though the architect designed the space for this quartet. Given that the performance took place in the atrium of a library, with all the typical library activities continuing around it, I never felt distracted from the performance. From the beginning, the performers captured my attention and would not let it go, and I am thankful they did.

A particularly touching moment happened during the fifth movement. That movement is the cello/piano duet, and I felt that the two performers captured the essence of the music. The cellist played with assurance and a gentleness and yet intense passion I feel is necessary for that movement. The movement haunted me and I believe will stay with me forever. The artistry shown in that movement surpasses nearly every duet performance I have heard at this University. Either of those performers, if they choose to continue with their art, will become successful chamber musicians. Given their relative youth, there is much more excitement possible from them.

Sprung navigated the clarinet solo with just the right touch. It never felt hurried or slowed. I never felt uncomfortable when I shouldn’t (there are three notes that are particularly chilling where the clarinetist plays from the softest volume to the loudest that, I feel, are meant to be uncomfortable).

The only movement that felt weak to me was the eighth. Even being weak, it still was of a high calibre and did not detract from the performance. I felt that it could have moved a little more slowly and still been effective, and perhaps been more so. I’m not sure the technical faculties of the violinist would have allowed the slower tempo, but musically I feel she could have accomplished it.

Overall, I felt satisfied with this performance. I felt fulfilled and happy to have taken the time in the middle of the day to leave campus and hear it. I hope the performers feel the same and will continue their progress and sharing of their art. Performers and performances like these are what make being a composer such a worthwhile life.

UPDATE: Coincidentally, today happens to be Good People Day, at least as promoted by Gary Vaynerchuk. Check out his video rant about why we need to praise people. What apropos timing!

Seth Godin continues his talking on the future of the music industry in a transcript of one of his presentations: The Live Music Talk. He begins by explaining why the record industry during his youth was “a perfect industry.” There are many positives and his reasoning makes sense. He then goes on to explain what has happend and offer a few suggestions for where to go.

One thing he said that I particularly liked was:

I have every record Ricky Lee Jones has ever made including the boot legs that she sells. Rick Lee Jones should know who I am! …  I desperately want Ricky Lee to drop me a note telling me when she is going to be in town. I want her to ask me, “should I do a duets album with Willie Nelson, or should I do one with Bruce Springsteen?”. I want to have these interactions. And I want her to say, “I’m making another bootleg, but not until I get 10,000 people to buy it as patrons before I make it”. Because I’d sign up. I’d buy five if it would help, but she doesn’t know who I am. She doesn’t know who I am, she never talks to me.

This is the new paradigm: talk to your audience. Make it easy for them to talk to you. I could write hundreds of new pieces a week, but it wouldn’t matter if I weren’t writing what the audience wants to hear. Does this mean I can’t use new media or new techniques and push the boundaries of the “typical” “classical” music? Of course not, but I just have to connect with that audience that is interested in those things.

With the Long Tail, we have tremendous opportunity to reach people who care about us, who want to hear what we have to say, who want to hear what we’re creating. There are people out there who want to listen to our music and then help us get better, who want to play that music, who want to enter a relationship with us and become a better thing becasue of it.

If you out there are into new music, specifically chamber and vocal music, let’s talk. Whether you perform it, write it or just like listening to it, I would love to hear from you and begin that relationship of mutual interest.

Welcome to the tribe.

As a composer, I’ve been following the ins and outs of digital music for a while. I think it’s fascinating to see where people think the world is going in terms of music and distribution in particular.

For a long time people have been discussing ways in which the music industry needs to adapt. It seems fairly clear that downloading music is part of the new norm. Younger generations are starting to feel that there is nothing wrong with downloading music for free. The industry can fight it (like they did with radio at first), or they can embrace it (like they did with radio later).

Christopher Fahey over at graphpaper.com has an interesting blog post where he discusses the end of music ownership.

Last.fm’s announcement that they will be allowing their users to listen to full-length versions of millions of music tracks is one of the final nails in the coffin of the traditional recorded-music industry. Owning music is dead. The new business model for making money in the music industry is simple: Design a better music distribution system. Or, simply put, build a better user experience for music listening.

He goes on to discuss some ways that the industry can adapt to the new model, and I think he makes a valid point. The ownership of music is no longer the priority of the industry: it’s all about value-added services. It’s a similar trend in many industries as we move into the information age. I don’t see the desire to have physical objects diminishing, but it’s not enough to just have the object, especially objects we can get anywhere.

Take cell phones. Cell phones are ubiquitous. Cell phone companies can’t compete by just selling phones. Phones and service are fairly similar throughout the cellular sphere (the recent exclusivity of the iPhone to AT&T not withstanding). What makes the difference are the bells and whistles: cameras, text messaging, planners, comprehensive address books, internet access. Those are the things selling services. How extensive the network, the clarity of the call and the number of “free” minutes also sell plans. That is where music is headed.

The music is necessary to drive interest in the value-added services. Live concerts give a feeling of immediacy that music has always had. At these concerts, many bands sell apparel, program books and other merchandise. These are ways for ownership, but in this instance are still value-added. The music is the thing that brings you in the door. Everything else adds to the experience. As Fahey says, the experience becomes everything.

It relates similarly to what Seth Godin mentions as permission-based marketing. (He also has a riff on what to do when things are free.) Musicians are breaking the century-old mold of ownership by changing what ownership means. They are creating a sense of ownership not of individual discs or bits, but of the concept of ownership in a band. By seeking your permission to collect your contact information (usually associated with a promise), then delivering on whatever they may have promised, musicians create a new network. A network that is devoted to that particular musician or band. That network then becomes a great source of drive, whether that is in greater music sales, additional permission links or something else entirely, something we have yet to imagine. That is the new music ownership.

I know that as I continue to make music I will try to embrace this new ideal. It’s not about the recorded copy, it’s about the commitment of the artist(s) to embrace the audience, provide ownership in the music makers and provide something beyond the music. It could be advice on how to start your own music career, how to write a song, how to get performers. It could be t-shirts, sweaters for dogs, mouse pads. It could be early tickets to concerts, spending time engaging with the audience, reaching out to emerging students/artists. It could be something we have never considered. It will be a new kind of ownership. How will you help create that new style?