Sep 6, 2022
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Networking Music - Brief 2
When asked about the rights on what a musician should have, I've probably answered the same as almost any musician would answer.
I believe that as musicians, we should get paid for the work that we create, produce and perform, although in this day and age it is much harder to make a profit. With platforms like YouTube, Spotify and Pandora now ruling the music streaming scene, it is more likely that people will listen to your music for free than actually pay anything to hear it, which boasts problems. People tend to believe that musicians can make their money easily by placing their single, EP or album on iTunes, perform gigs and wait for the money to roll in, which is a huge misconception on how things actually work nowadays. With Spotify, you get to listen to whatever artists you desire for free with adverts or by paying monthly with no interruptions. This has caused artists to evolve their strategies of making money away from the actual music they have recorded and place it into live environments e.g. From playing gigs to selling merchandise (T-shirts, jumpers, mugs etc). This has also led to some artists taking their music of of free music platforms such as Oasis, The Beatles and The Black Keys. When asked about why their music wasn't available through Spotify, The Back Keys drummer Patrick Carney replied, "If it was fair to the artist, we would be involved in it". Grizzly Bear also stated "Spotify might be good for exposure but after about 10k plays we get approx 10 dollars".
For me, having released music on iTunes and having my music accessed through Spotify, I have to say that whilst it is wonderful to get paid for releasing music, I do think that if people want to listen to my music for free they can. I do believe that we, as musicians, should get paid but if we can't evolve into the movement of having our music accessed for free then I worry that some artists may get left behind. The people I mentioned who have refused to have music on Spotify have made a big enough name to do so, whereas if I tried to do such a thing people wouldn't bat an eyelid and would just not buy my music anyway.
How do I view cultural content?
I believe that if someone claimed to own a melody they would be wrong. I feel that most melodies can sound almost like a brand new thing but if you search deep enough into decades of older music, you will find something that will match it. I find that because of this it would be almost impossible to actually say that you won a melody. Lyrics, on the other hand, most definitely can be owned and protected. Some songs may sound similar but at the end of the day it is about the words that are different to things that sound similar.
Do we need copyright laws or should we approach music without IP?
We should most definitely use copyright laws when making music as otherwise, someone could claim the work that you have written and use it as their own. Therefore, if you were to make money from your music, if someone else has copyrighted it as their own, they would get the money and you would be left with nothing.
http://www.popsugar.com/tech/Musicians-Spotify-36046164#photo-36046171
First ideas for Networking Music. I have taken a more electronic approach rather than an acoustic one working with Joe Coote, who is also known as The Renwig Customer. For this project we will be working together under a different alias but for this demo we just wanted to see people's reactions and thoughts towards it.
Networking Music / Brief 1 - Past releases
I have been a musician, some might even say a working one, for about 2 years now. My first release was on January 20th 2014, it was my 'Luna EP'. It was released onto Spotify, iTunes and physical copies were also sold on Amazon. (If my iTunes decided it would be able to work I would also insert a link to the EP on it's store but I'll have to attempt that again later!)
My EP sold out on Amazon during it's first day of release, which shocked and surprised not only me, but my manager David Aspden. I met David after recording in Studio 49 in Narberth, where my producer had sent him some tracks. I feel the best way I promoted my EP was through a lot of gigs and through social media. I tend to think of myself as a bit of an introvert but I knew to get heard that I had to start a facebook page and try push it on my own facebook to engage people. About 6 months before recording my EP, I found out about the BBC Introducing uploader through researching about playing at festivals like Reading & Leeds and Glastonbury. The day I uploaded a demo of my song 'Luna Eyes' I was contacted by Adam Walton telling me how much he loved the song and was going to play it that night. Again, I couldn't quite believe this. Because of this, when my EP was released I got a lot of airplay on BBC Radio Wales by both Adam Walton and Bethan Elfyn. Up to this day I have recorded a live session and had 2 interviews with Bethan, played at Focus Wales festival in Wrexham and had my set played live with an interview by Adam Walton and played at Swn 2013. I found that with regards to making money, the sales of my EP and radio plays made up a lot of the money I got from PRS. I would say my first EP was definitely a more formal release. I am under contract with David Aspden and we released my EP through our own label 'Grapefruit Records'. As much as I love this, I do struggle under pressure and felt that because I was under contract I felt the need to deliver a lot higher than I would have initially.
For future releases, I would like to carry on in the direction I have started but also try to edge my way into electronic music and I definitely feel this is where this module will take me.
