Idle Ramblings

Support Independent Music!

The more I read about stupid things the music industry is doing and the more I hear the increasingly crappy offerings from said music companies, the more I am thankful for independently produced and self-produced music.

Two things have really made me think about this recently. The first is the whole fiasco caused by Sony placing spyware on its music CDs, opening up computers (Windoze) to hackers. Supposedly, the move was to prevent piracy. As an offshoot of this, I have bought at least one Sony CD which wouldn't even play on Macs and couldn't be ripped to an iPod, so there was $15 down the tube!

The second is greed. As CD sale continue to slump and on-line purchases start to level off, the music industry is considering raising the price of on-line downloads. There's a way to get back those who are either not buying music because of the price or not buying music because of the quality. And raising the price is sure to convince those already pirating music to give up getting it for free and start paying.

Almost two years ago, Apple Computers released a music recording program called GarageBand. Now, I've gone on and on about this program before. It basically allows you to have a fully operational recording studio on your computer. It's easy to use and gives you the ability to produce professional-quality digital music with nothing more than your computer or with as much audio equipment as you want to plug in. It's mainly for beginners to the recording world and hobbiests, but there are plenty of people out there who use it to its fullest potential and make very good, professionally produced music. GarageBand is the "little brother," if you will, to the professional-level recording software Logic.

GarageBand and other easy-to-use or fairly-easy-to-use programs have spawned a whole new wave of musical hobbiests. These are people who might have toyed with recording at some time in the past, but grew frustrated with the time and effort that it took to make one recording. In college, I used a firend's Fostex 4-track recorder, adrum machine and bits of audio equipment we had collected over the years. Setting everything up would take several hours. Recording tracks, several more hours. The basic tracks for one song would take the better part of a day. Mixing was another story alltogether.

Shortly after I got GarageBand and began learning how to use it, I discovered there were a number of places on-line where people were featuring their own musical creations. One of them, MacJams, was the place where I decided to start posting my own music. At MacJams, I discovered many diverse and talented artists from around the globe, most of whom were using Macs to make their music.

For almost two years, MacJams served as an on-line community for featuring homemade music. Now, the creators of MacJams have created Simig Media Records which is a record label featuring independent, self-produced music. The first two offerings are by two very talented long-time MacJams members Tobin Mueller and Peter Greenstone. Tobin is a multi-talented individual who has not only written a lot of great music on MacJams, but produced a number of other musical works and does a lot of work with children. Peter, who I've written about before on this site, is a computer artists who has worked on a number of movies, video games and other projects. Music is his "hobby" and he creates some spectacular stuff.

The unwillingness to change is going to destroy the established music industry. The industry is lethargic and monolithic. It goes by an outdated business practice and doesn't foster new, origonal talent or new, origonal ways of thinking. MacJams, Simig Media Records and the people producing their on homemade music are definitely the wave of the future. They may never break the back of the music giants like Sony, but they have found a way to thrive. They have adapted to new technology and they are unfettered by lack of imagination. These artists are putting out works that don't have to go through the filters of producers, engineers and executives who distill raw talent in to lifeless, boring pablum acceptable to Clear Channel or the other commercial radio chains. The worst places like MacJams has to offer is usually more interesting than the best modern radio (or MTV - if they decide to play some music, that is) has to offer.

I know I'm a big fan because I'm part of the movement, but I also know a good thing when I hear it. Simmig Media Records, MacJams, and those other efforts to get independent, self-produced music out to the world will succeed not just on the talent of those making the music and running the businesses, but because those of us who are involved in making our own music will put our effort behind the endeavors and make it a success.

posted by Joseph @ 11/28/2005 12:32:00 PM