Screw sales... do what you want....

[Miromiric]

this is exactly why i class djing and making music as two totally seperate things. djing for me pays the bills and gets me a life (well, at the same time i absolutely love it and i try to be groundbreaking in my own little way). god i've been lucky to be able to do things this way. but once i get in that studio.... mannnnnnn.. money comes no-where near the equation.... it simply cant. i can't see how making money will enable you focus on music without taking away from the music itself.... no way this can happen in my book... but that's my opinion

good marko.

[TechMouse]

Bugger, so this isn't a DIY store thread, then?

[eyeswithoutaface]

Bugger, so this isn't a DIY store thread, then?

hahaha nearly spat my tea out when i read that

[kai]

Amen to all thats been said - its for that reason that I'm only ever planning to put out anything I produce - and I'm a long way from ever producing at a high enough quality to do this yet - for free over the net rather than actually selling them and earning my income from a day job.

To me music is an art form and should be made for its own artistic merit and to please the maker rather than as a product as commercialisation of art inherantly influences and changes the final product - there again I am a crusty at heart and a firm believer in keeping music as free as possible so as to be open to all and an inclusive force within society.

[robin m]

This is a very refreshing thread to read... it's good to hear that people with talent & a history of quality releases are still able to take a stance that's not all about cash in their pocket.

In an ideal world people who deserve it & dedicate themselves wouldn't have a problem making a living from their art but that's rarely the case. Good music has to be made for it's own sake rather than profit - fair play Mark, I hope you manage to make a living from your music but respect for not claiming it owes you that :clap:

[Aratron]

Bugger, so this isn't a DIY store thread, then?

[MARK ANXIOUS]

Bugger, so this isn't a DIY store thread, then?

I totally missed that. Hahahahahaha. Best post for ages!!!!

[Little_Fella!]

@Crime : Now that is a very interesting observation... The mind has a strange habit of reacting in accordance with it's surroundings...

When you are back in a position that your mind remembers from b4, back to basics so to speak, where your motivation to create and achieve was based on certain principles that you had then, your enthusiasm for innovation increases thus bringing about a greater focus and sense of enjoyment for what you are creating...

This then can translate into some of your finest works, as has been seen countless times b4 with artists who have been bouyed by the ebbs n flows of the music industry...

Not meaning to say this is exactly how it is with you but rather to bring about the question, if I may, that as the market changes and say, you find yourself with improved circulation and bookings etc., maybe achieving more than you have so far, would you be able to approach the studio with the same attitude now that you have come to this awareness...?

[Little_Fella!]

@ Dirty Bass : This is spot on imo...

Can I add to this train of thought jus by saying, like it or not, record sales are the necessary bench mark for the whole industry as an indicator as to how well a particular artist is doing in relative terms to the genre of music that he/she is creating within...

Without the incentive that if someone likes a certain work of art that they are prepared to pay for it, you cannot have an accurate reflection as to how popular, shall we say, the artist is at any given time and therefore there isn't a music 'industry' to operate within...

Utopia anyone...? lol:)

[crime]

Ok, my thoughts on the replies here...

I think there's nothing wrong with making money out of music, I'd be a hypocrite if I did, I've earned my living from it for the past 4 years, I mean do you think an artist would give away his paintings for free just because he had a day job?? I don't think so...

my point is more not worrying about whether it will be popular or not, and artisticly going in the direction you want to, ignoring all the people, such as distributors who will try and tell you "It's good, but we can't sell it"

...especially when these records sell through in the end, and often go on to be classics (I mean records that didn't fit the mold, and therefore scared distributors off possibly)

I mean, I think it's the biggest cliche in any kind of underground music, that no-one in techno would admit that they are driven by money, but I'm sure that a lot of it, in one way or another, is. For instance, being told by a distributor that you have to change things to fit in with what they think is selling right now.

It just seemed to me that it got to the point where you are screwed if you don't fit into a nice little box that's easy to sell and understand.. I appreciate that distributors have to sell records, and not all distributors are like this, but when you take the examples of Prime and Integrale, where it seemed to me that the Label Management A&R was basically "If you don't sound like the other records we sell, forget it" I think this can really make people fall into line, let's face it, the evidence is out there in record stores around the world...

this is what, to me, has stifled the style and prevented progression, and inevitably made me far more interested in hearing what people like Aphex, Venetian Snares, Boards of canada and many other more diverse things..

I don't see the 2 things from seperate, the DJing/Performance and producing... Not for me anyway, I don't play such hard music these days, and I have no desire too, especially when I felt so out of place at hard techno parties.. Maybe this is because I'm playing live a lot, and playing the stuff which will be coming out on vinyl soon...

Anyway, half way through working on my album right now, and totally destroyed from 2 gigs in Southern Russia this weekend, I think we're going to make a bleep radio special from it maybe.... ;)