Digital Waves

This thread (membership required unfortunately!) about whether labels are in it for the money or not set me and some others off on a tangent. I replied to it on the forum, but the topic made me think a bit more about the way that digital distribution is changing the way that people consume and interact with music. You know that cliché that every 10-13 years a seismic shift occurs in contemporary music, with the conventional sound superseded by something brand new? It hasn’t happened in a while, but maybe we need to rethink the rule to suit these technologically-advanced times. Maybe it’s actually the format that’s revolutionising music and not the music itself. The devil is in the detail as far as electronic music is concerned, with new digital production facilties allowing producers to tweak and stamp their mark on the long-established house/techno/electro styles, or in the case of Djs like Optimo, mix up Suicide with Thomas Brinkmann, but the bottom-heavy means of distribution is the ‘killer app’, the digital tools that allow everyone to set up a label or release their work from their bedroom.
Much as I am still a vinyl freak and believe that it has a future, albeit a limited, specialist one, there is no doubt that digital distribtuion is changing things in a positive way for many talented people. Of course, there’s always a downside and, as I stated in the orginal topic discussion, for me it’s that the number of promo emails I get sent these days is beginning to equate to the volume of spam I receive. I still download everything that I get sent – you never know when someone, somewhere will deliver the magic -  but most of it is dross. The reality is that the labels that use a happy medium of new technology, physical releases and a judicious A&R policy will be the ones that win out as the digital wave keeps building.

Comments

[Mike-2]

I think most of the labels are in it for the money, and are threatened by digital distribution. Part of the reason is because they basically want the success of the big 5 mainstream labels. One of the major effects of digital distribution and the new modality of media consumption is that it breaks down the distinction between consumer and producer, audience and performer which the business model, and indeed, art as a whole is based on. Labels want more of a distinction and customers want less.

In electronic dance music, this is particularly ironic, not just because of the obvious emphasis on remixing and sampling, but because the most important mode of interacting with the music is on the dancefloor, where the crowd's "performance" creates the experience as much or more than the DJ's. That's partly why the idea of dance music rockstars carries a faintly ridiculous air and why the late 90s mass-marketing of "electronica"/Big Beat in America ultimately failed.

Electronic music, especially dance music, should gain many benefits from digital distribution, but don't because labels dedicate most of their efforts to grafting on an alien mode of consumption.

[Z]

i agree with the last part. a mixture of both is the proper thing to do. I think putting something on the line to present an actual product really makes you take things a little more seriously. All these "net labels" just put random shit out because they don't have anything to lose.

[Chymera]

"i agree with the last part. a mixture of both is the proper thing to do. I think putting something on the line to present an actual product really makes you take things a little more seriously. All these "net labels" just put random shit out because they don't have anything to lose. "

the words "hit", "nail" and "head" spring to mind. my sentiments entirely.

[Brophy]

In response to Mike 2: the labels I was writing about are small ones who wouldn't be interested in emulating the majors' success (or business models)

Big beat didn't work because it was crap, not because it portrayed dj as rock stars. People like Hawtin, Vath etc have pop star status in Europe and they have never played big beat..

[Brophy]

To Chymera and Z: yeah, there are way too many 'digital only' labels springing up, which smacks of opportunism or short-termism at least. You need to 'commit' to electronic music and part of that is releasing on all formats...