It’s kills me to see how little most struggling musicians understand about the music business and the practices that transpire. Even all these years there is still this mystical veil that seems to shroud the inner workings of the industry machine. It’s not all rainbows and fairy tales kids.
There is no doubt that the music industry has seen dramatic changes over the past decade. However, commercial radio, you know..the big FM channels; they still pretty much operate the same way they have for the past fifty years. Commercial radio is still firmly in the grasp of the major record labels. To understand why the majors still control radio while having lost considerable size everywhere else you need to first understand how new music gets added to the playlists of commercial radio.
The majority of the time the music is chosen not based on the talent and merits of the artist but by money paid from those with established relationships with the radio stations. The labels get around payola laws by paying third party “indie promoters” to work a song. In reality they are merely a pass-through for pay-to-play. The indie promoters pay the radio stations whose Program Directors then add the “promoted” songs to their playlists.
So you may ask yourself, “Well I have one million dollars. Why can’t I just pay the indie promoters to get radio play?” Sure, if you indeed had the funds you could pay the indie promoters. And you may get a few plays during the off-hours at like 4AM when no one is listening. I’ve seen many bottom feeder companies prey upon the hopes and dreams of naive musicians and do this exact thing. You’ll get a few spins on some station up in Minnesota once or twice. For an additional payment they’ll promise to keep working your song. You’ll never see consistent and repeated radio play though. That’s because the indie promoter’s primary clients are the majors. They are the ones who will repeatedly come back and pay them weekly where as an independent label or artist may only pay once or twice. Why would they prioritize your tracks over those of their big clients? They wouldn’t. Sure, once in awhile a song will go viral or break out and get radio play. But this is an extremely rare case nowadays.
Will things get better with commercial radio? Not anytime soon. However, if you are an DIY artist or signed to an independent label don’t fret. You don’t need commercial radio to be successful and for most it’s a waste of time to pursue. Focus your efforts on avenues where you can thrive.
I am proud to present the debut track by my collaborative project, Doom Generation. I formed Doom Generation in 2010 with Eddie Suicide of Royal Dead and we have been working on material in the recording studio. Our song “Possessed” available now for a limited time as a free download as part of Side-Line Magazine’s “Face the Beat Volume 1″ compilation. Get it here now.
After all these years, Ministry’s “The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste” is still one of my favorite all-time albums. It never seems to get old to listen to. When this first came out nothing sounded quite like it. It was danceable yet thick with foreboding menace. I would argue that this was Ministry at their creative peak. Nothing anyone has since has sounded quite like this although there were a plethora of imitators in during the 1990’s.
I knew I was in for a treat when I first saw the cover. You have to take into consideration the time period when this album came out. MTV was spinning some pretty wretched hair metal, hip-hop was churning out sanitized suburb friendly pap like Kid N’ Play. “Mind” was a kick in the gut and a death knell for anything clad in spandex.
Songs like “Thieves” and “Burning Inside” were the perfect combination of heavy guitars and pneumatic drums. The droning bass on “Cannibal Song” mixed with moody samples and shrieking vocals evoked an audio landscape of gloom and despair.
If you haven’t heard this album before it’s a definite recommend. If you have listened to it lately, pop it in for a spin.
Alec Empire and CX KiDTRONiK of Atari Teenage Riot walk through what gear they are using live on their current tour. It’s a good mix of old and new technology. Custom effect boxes, an Analogue Solutions Vostok, and an old school Atari ST sequencer that has taken a beating are among some of their gear. The Atari ST is running Notator. I’ve heard nothing but good about the reliability and tight midi timing of Notator running on the ST.
I’ve always wanted a Vostok since I first heard one several years ago.
For musicians that engage in sample-based live performance, Elektron has what you crave.
Presenting the Octatrack:
If you are currently using a laptop and Ableton Live for performances this could totally replace that setup. The file space is only limited by the CompactFlash card that you use with the Octatrack. This hardware unit is far more inspiring than mousing around in software as well. Step sequencer goodness…mmm.
Moog Music has released the keyboardless Slim Fatty. Slightly smaller in width than a standard rackmount unit you can get that Moog Phatty sound on a smaller budget. Retails $849, street price of around $800.
Adrian Utley from Portishead talks about some the synthesizers he used while making the album Third. We get a peak into his studio and some of the rare synths in his collection.
Mark Mothersbaugh provides a guided tour through Mutato Muzika studios. An interesting look at some of the vintage instruments Devo has used over the years.
Once you’ve amassed a large collection of samples properly cataloging all of these sounds is critical for optimum workflow during a studio session. On Mac I’ve found a great program that handles this, AudioFinder. AudioFinder lets you catalog all of your sounds by genre, type, or project. You can then quickly search through for a particular sound, for example “hi-hats” and it will retrieve a listing of all the hi-hat sounds on your system. You can then right within the app preview the sound at any pitch or BPM and if you like it just drag and drop it right into Logic, ProTools or Ableton.
I’ve been listening to a lot of Rick James over the past few weeks and I’ve come to realize that’s he’s a genius.
If you listen to the musical structure of the songs there is a lot to appreciate. Good use of instrumental counter-point, and a serious understanding of what makes a good groove. In addition to his talent for creating visceral funk music the lyrics he wrote went perfectly with the songs. Most of his lyrics talked about either getting laid, smoking pot or life in the ghetto. I wonder how the sound of funk would have continued to evolve after the 1980′s if hip-hop hadn’t taken off and displaced funk as the voice of black music.
Unfortunately, his slew of personal problems began to overshadow his creativity has time went on. I also think he let his bitter feud with Prince get the best of him.
Rick James is more remembered now for his criminal and drug exploits during the height of his fame but if you look past his notoriety at the music he created it was remarkable.
The majority of the time the music is chosen not based on the talent and merits of the artist but by money paid from those with established relationships with the radio stations. The labels get around payola laws by paying third party “indie promoters” to work a song. In reality they are merely a pass-through for pay-to-play. The indie promoters pay the radio stations whose Program Directors then add the “promoted” songs to their playlists. 
