Season 3 Day 35 - Flying the Portland Music Flag
So not much has been on the blog for the past few days this has mainly been due to either cancelled interviews or my forgetting to metnion in interviews about the blog so thus didn't get my ethically required permission to talk about the interviews I have had although they were gems.
Today I have had two contrasting yet incredibly interesting interviews about the music scene. My first appointment of the day was with Kat Olsen a music supervisor at Marmoset music. Marmoset are on of the newer enterprises in the infrastructure of the Portland music scene and are a licensing company. The group aim to provide clients with music for their needs be it for film, television series, adverts or even class projects. Kat works directly with clients and works through Marmoset's extensive library to find music to fit client requirements. Kat took time to show me the library and how it is catalogued online with music documented by genre, mood and even by shape ie. if a piece is a constant build or has variance in dynamics. For a client Kat will often create a list of 10 or so songs form the library she feels matches the client brief then awaits feedback. If a song is agreed on then a price will be arranged that takes into mind size of client, what they wish to use the music for and how long. The artist will be given a reasonable amount split with Marmoset if a song is licensed (I don't want to reveal the amount in case its a trade secret!). I found it interesting that Marmoset hold an open relationship with the aritsts they have on their books and will respect there opinions if an artist decides they don't want their music to be associated with a company, one example Kat gave is a client wanting to ironically use christian rock music and the band rejected this requested as they took their beliefs seriously and didn't want to be mocked which is fair enough really. Most requests Marmoset seem to get is for a Portland sounding music which Kat felt can be defined by a pure organic sound perhaps inferring to folk. Marmoset have been licensing for a variety of companies and recently licensed a local song for use in a coca cola campaign centred around the world cup. Marmoset are an example of music being used as an economic resource, the music is sold as a resource to fuel advertisement and film and television media. In fact most music industry insiders will tell you this is where the money is.
After spending time at Marmoset's building in South East I then went to one of the grandest buildings in Downtown Portland, City Hall. After making my way up a wonderful staircase with stunning works of art, all locally made, I got to the office of city commissioner Nick Fish where I met his arts liaison office Jenny Kalez. Jenny explained to me that as Commissioner Fish had been given the arts portfolio by Mayor Charlie Hales it was his job to see that the Regional Arts and Culture Council is funded as well as ensuring the enabling of funds form the Arts Tax to be used appropriately. Although the Commissioner is mainly involved in divvying out these finances and is rarely hands on with the arts in this role in her personal life he is a great fan of jazz music and can often be found at various musical events cross town. Jenny explained that his passion for jazz has kept the arts at the forefront of his priorities in government. He was recently re-elected to his office and on the campaign trail spoke at many arts based events answering questions of the arts tax and pledging to ensure funds could be distributed with more ease and be more readily available for organisations. With the arts tax funds education are given in statute priority access with a certain amount needing to be raised before non-for-profits organisations can receive them. This of course also requires enforcement on those who have not paid the tax. I also broached some more difficult topics with Jenny discussing fears of gentrification and the problems of the hip-hop scene both of which she assured me were recognised by the commissioner with an independent report being pursued on the latter by the city auditor. It was wonderful to have the opportunity to hear form the current city government their perspective on music and the arts in Portland.