We are staring the “Event Horizon” in the face.
As more and more electronic music labels struggle to stay in business, it seems that the integrity of the sound and honesty of intentions is going more and more out of the window for the sake of enough sales to keep rolling. And so it ends up that more and more of the music that is in the shops these days fits a blueprint, some kind of “guaranteed sales” identikit – anything outside of that is passed up as being too much of a risk.
Now why is that? Is it because the majority of dance music on vinyl sells because it’s easy for a DJ to mix in with other records? Is it because the people pushing their stuff to labels the most happen to be the kind of people who whilst aren’t the most musically talented, have more than enough confidence to really push their stuff to the few labels that still exist? Is it just the fact that the market for dance music on vinyl has shrunk so much that whilst 10 years ago it was still possible for more experimental labels and artists to exist on the periphery, now it’s just simply not possible? And whatever happened to the spirit of experimentalism that was thriving from the start of electronic music in the 60s and 70s, which seemed to explode in the 90s?
Now, I don’t believe for a second that the spirit of experimentation has just gone away. And, as I started going through various musicians’ accounts on Soundcloud this week, I suddenly discovered, that the true spirit of experimentation with electronic was far from dead, but was very much alive and well, albeit often ignored by the mainstream music “industry”.
Now, I’m sure that there are still some labels around that are willing to push the envelope. But more often than not their roster consists of a small collection of artists, and they are closed to submissions from anyone on the outside, mainly down to the fact that they are swamped with demos as it’s become easier and easier to put together a half decent sounding demo on just a home computer.
So, after feeling like I am repeatedly banging my head against a brick wall sending off demos, and then feeling like there is no point in sending any of my works to labels as there aren’t really any labels that my sound would fit with, I’m thinking a lot more about what my real aims are in making music. And all I really want now, is to have a bit of time to make the music I want, and, if I think it’s good enough, to share it with others in the hope that they might get some of the enjoyment I get out of it.
Accepting that you aren’t going to earn a living out of recorded music is a liberating experience, and gives you the freedom to experiment without being obsessed with what the majority of the public might want to hear. Pandering to trends is always a killer for original creativity.
And it always happens, you get some originator who was just experimenting, and hits upon something awesome. It’s released, the music journos herald it as the birth of a new genre, and then you get a whole bunch of people wanting a piece of the action who knock up second rate copies of the musical breakthrough in the hope of fame, fortune, or both.
It’s been a great experience checking out what other people have been up to via Soundcloud in the past week, there is stuff I have heard that I would release without a doubt if I had a label running and it was viable. And for myself, it’s given me an opportunity to gain feedback to stuff I’ve had sat around for a while on my HD.
Sadly in the present day and age, it seems that it’s not really viable to run a label, releasing recordings on physical media, otherwise someone would be doing it. Or am I mistaken, and the next vinyl backlash is just around the corner? In the meantime, anything that doesn’t get signed I may well give away for free in Wav/Flac/Aiff lossless format.. Watch this space!
With time we shall see
