Teenagers!

I'm standig in the music conservatory lobby, tyuping this on the public computer because I just read somehting in sound on sound that I thought really deserved to be spread as quickly as possible. Teenagers are the focus of all of the pop music industry! How did I miss that? Really, this is a problem, at least in my mind. How do you market to a group of consumers who do not have credit cards? They also have this obsession with sticking it to the man - a concept that potentially leads to piracy.

Hmm... this is a tough question, especially when they are becoming aware and resitant to traditional marketing (as major labels have discovered). I'm not claiming to have an answer to this dilemma, but I did figure that it was worth repeating to interested individuals.

Gear Lust

I'm in the process of looking to buy a bass guitar. I've wanted to play a real "band" instrument for a while - my main instrument is French Horn, and that's not really conducive to jamming or playing with a rock/funk band. I've had issues making this decision though, because the little voice in my head that has served me so well over the years says "you don't NEED that do you? it's just for FUN. we're in a RECESSION for crying out loud!" But then the other voice says, "but if you are really going to learn to play it, and it will bring you enjoyment, and you don't give it up in a year, it will totally be worth it."

Now, I'm not looking to buy a top of the line Warwick for three k's, just a starter bass, or whatever I can find on eBay for about 250 total. But this is a really hard decision. My entire life I have resisted what I consider "gear lust," or buying software/hardware for your music just because it's awesome. It may make your tracks better, but you could very easily do without it by learning what you already have to a fuller extent.

Not sure what to do here though. I really want to buy a bass, but I feel like I'm slapping down a big wad of money on something I don't need, at a time where it's smarter to save... :/

An Alternate session

The other day I had what I thought was a great idea. What if I set up a session in one of Purchase's recording studios without a set list of things to record, what if I invited people to play, to show up at any point during a certain time frame, and leave when they felt like it? What if some of the most talented musicians in the school played together for the purpose of enjoying themselves and making authentic music?

Well, I did it. Signed out a studio, miced up the room, started Pro Tools and didn't stop for six hours. I ignored stupid things like the door to the studio opening, people walking in and out, talking, setting up instruments, etc. The session revolved around capturing a moment in time where people gathered together and just made music without worrying about playing perfectly or wondering if the vibe was "right" for the song.

The experience was thoroughly enjoyable, at any given time three to eight jazz majors jammed together in the live room, while I sat behind the desk and enjoyed the sound. Occasionally, I would get up and move mics to capture the changing instrumentation more effectively.

What came out of this experience was an eleven gig PT session with enough great takes to make a double album. A double album which was truly a live album. An album that went back to what music, especially jazz, is all about - musical discourse and mutual enjoyment and creativity.

So what that there were errors? So what that the recording has noises interfering and could be clearer or better balanced? This is about as close to sitting in the room with the musicians as we can get after the fact. What better way to remember a great time? Yeah, ok, maybe your recording has more definition, and has no errors - my recording has more soul.

Thank you President Schwartz!

I would like to thank President Schwartz for joining us in our outrage. He appeared in a interview in The Journal News on the 18th and spoke out about the injustices of the way tuition hikes and budget cuts are effecting Purchase College students. Here is the full text of the article:

College joins tuition outrage

By Leah Rae
The Journal News • February 18, 2009



Purchase College, SUNY, is joining the uproar over what's to become of a $620-a-year increase in state college tuition, saying the extra money is being swept off to Albany and away from the schools.

State University of New York administrators were planning to use the new revenue to make up for funding cuts, college President Thomas J. Schwarz said. Instead, state leaders agreed to put the bulk of the money toward reducing the deficit.

What state lawmakers may see as another belt-tightening measure, Schwarz and his colleagues see as a major injustice: an unlucky class of SUNY students being slapped with an "excise tax" to help bail out Albany.

"I find this completely immoral," Schwarz said during a meeting with The Journal News Editorial Board yesterday.

Traditionally, tuition increases have filled the gap left by declines in state funding, he said, but the process changed. SUNY trustees voted last year to boost in-state tuition by $620 annually to $4,970. That could have offset some of the $210 million worth of funding reductions during the 2008-09 fiscal year. But under an agreement between Gov. David Paterson and the Legislature this month, all but 10 percent of the extra tuition money from the spring semester - when the new rate kicked in - will go toward reducing the state budget deficit. Next year, under Paterson's budget plan, 20 percent of the extra money will come back to the schools.

State officials have described the deal differently, saying the 10 percent and 20 percent allotments are "an expanded investment in the SUNY system."

Senate Higher Education Committee Chairwoman Toby Stavisky, D-Queens, said she would have preferred the tuition increase not be swept into the general fund, but that the decision was part of an entire package.

The upshot at Purchase is as follows, Schwarz said: The college has lost about $2.4 million in state funding for the current year, a 12 percent reduction. The tuition increase will generate only $190,000 in extra money for the college this term.

Students, paying an extra $310 per semester even as part-time jobs dry up, are not happy either.

"We see that the state and the country are in a tight spot, that the recession is everywhere," said Joseph Matoske, a cinema studies major and president of the Purchase Student Government Association. "But it's not right to take the money from the students. Students don't have this money."

The college is home to 4,200 students and a prominent School of the Arts. Morale has suffered amid small cutbacks - everything from colder buildings to shorter hours at campus facilities, Matoske said. He questioned how the economy will ever turn around if students are discouraged from pursuing college degrees.

"What kind of message is this sending to the schools on what our college is worth to everyone else?" he said.

Administrators have seen indications of the students' financial troubles. A review last year found that 100 students were attending classes without having paid their tuition, Schwarz said. This year, 700 students were in that category.

The college has worked out payment plans with most of those students, and the number is down to 150, Schwarz said. But higher tuition bills during a recession are clearly taking a toll.

"For some people it's nothing ... but for some people it's the difference between staying in school and not," the college president said. "What outrages me is that 90 percent of that tuition increase was swept by the Department of Budget. It didn't come to SUNY, it didn't come to us."

Reach Leah Rae at lrae@lohud.com or 914-694-3526.

When the faculty of the college start to openly and publicly join in this discourse, it lends power to our case. President Schwartz has access to numbers and statistics that we do not, and these help to show that this is not just an issue of students whining and complaining about a three hundred dollar tuition increase. The more information we can communicate to the public, the more likely people are to understand and act to support our plight.

Thank you President Schwartz for standing up for the students.

STOP STEALING FROM SUNY STUDENTS

SUNY students' tuition is being increased by appx $300 each semester. Originally, this money was going to be split 80/20 government/school, then the state assembly decided to change this to 90/10, meaning that of the extra $300 each student is paying, only $30 actually would benefit the school. Then, the state decided that not only were they going to take 100% of this money, they were going to further cut the budget of the SUNY system.

So, now, the NYS gov't is taking a brand new income of 427,398(total SUNY enrollment)*$300, or,

$128,219,400 each semester

and using it to bail out the state debt. Debt that was created by irresponsible behaviour by the higher ups who should have known better.

Why should the SUNY students be bailing out the state for mistakes they did not make? How does it make sense to borrow from future generations WITHOUT THEIR PERMISSION in order to save those who made irresponsible choices? Can you afford to sit idly by and allow this to happen?

Please do understand, that a lack of action on your part IS TACET APPROVAL. By doing nothing you are ALLOWING THIS TO HAPPEN.

Please, please, please, take action, visit this site:

http://studentassembly.org/

sign the petition, and spread the word.

join these facebook groups:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=44475689714

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=49311778620

set your facebook status to spead the word, twitter about it, blog about it, and help the cause.

Re-post the same facebook and twitter status multiple times, it is more likely to show up on people's feeds then.

Please, make a difference.

mp3?

I recently read an article in Mix or EM or one of those music/engineering magazines that discussed the mastering process and how some professional mastering engineers will not master specifically for mp3 but will master for really high fidelity "specialty" websites that allow high quality digital downloads of music. This lead me to an interesting thought while I walked back from practicing at the Conservatory this evening.

Why are engineers so concerned about audio fidelity? Put another way - I understand the love of high quality audio, when I listen (really LISTEN) to music actively, I love having the ability to hear every little nuance of performance with an accurate frequency response and proper imaging. But when I'm just passively listening - ie driving, working, reading, writing, etc - a simple streamed mp3 works just fine for me. Furthermore, there are some songs that kick so much ass that I don't care if I hear them in mono from a overhead speaker on the Purchase Shuttle (examples include Superstition, Take Five, anything by the Temptations).

People argue about how artists/labels should distribute music and in what quality/format. What if the consumer had all the options (within reason)? What if when they bought an album or a song on iTunes or Amazon they could download an mp3 and a full bandwidth wav? What if they could download one and not the other? What if we stopped arguing about fidelity and just made music that was so good it transcended bad quality? (yeah, right.)

Anyway, why should we argue about these things. The beauty of the Internet and digital distribution is that iTunes doesn't have to keep a full stock of inventory with all different qualities, they just need to host single files. Unlike brick and mortar stores, the file is still in inventory after someone buys it.

Yeah? It's an idea anyway.

The Co-op

Now really, although it is kinda my assignment to talk up the Co-op I'm happy because I really do like it there. The Co-op serves as a great music venue, it's smaller than Whitson's and more intimate. Basically, it's a small coffee house complete with low lighting, couches, tea, and great music.

Tonight, Matt Levy is playing at 5, the Purchase College Blues Band (which includes Jim McElwaine and Jim Koeppel) is playing at 6, and Leila is playing at 7.

Everyone should be there. All three acts are phenomenal. Really this isn't just a "I have to write this" thing, this is a these people are great and it will be an amazing time thing.

Sticking it to the Man

For those who are unaware, which would be most people who do not have a strange nerdy obsession with all things music business, there is a very interesting lawsuit currently in development. Ars Technica has a very good rundown of the story here. But for those not inclined to read the whole thing right now I'll give a very quick summary.

The RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) has a recent history of bringing very intimidating lawsuits against people accused of illegally obtaining music from the Internet. These lawsuits often involve people who have been accused of downloading only a few songs/files. Frequently those accused will settle out of court for large sums of money in order to avoid the potential for multi-million dollar penalties in court.

The way the RIAA goes about this comes off to many people as a disproportionately large response to the crime (if they even call it that) being committed. The tactics they use also seem to have questionable legal grounding and limited morality.

Finally, they wound up in a situation where someone decided to fight back in an unconventional way. Joel Tenenbaum got in touch with Prof. Charles Nesson from Harvard law school and secured his legal council. Nesson got his graduate students involved and now we have a whole new ball game.

Nesson and the rest of his legal team are seeking permission to stream hearings and legal proceedings over the Internet. They also are bringing a counter-suit against the RIAA claiming that their tactics are actually unconstitutional.

As we step into a new environment where intellectual property and copyright laws are questioned by the consumer and musicians seek new methods of marketing and distribution, a case like this that throws into question the legality of a group that publicly appears to represent the record industry, and hints at coming change.

The general population has for a large part abandoned the old system of CDs and brick and mortar stores in favor of instant access to almost infinite music, and now the legality of practices of those trying to maintain the old system is questioned.

Though I will not venture a guess at the future, this lawsuit certainly could effect it greatly.

First Post

This is my first post. I have to do this for my marketing class. I cannot imagine any reason why anyone would want to read about what I'm doing, so I'll try and fill this with slightly more interesting information about music, music industry, music business, perhaps some web design, and techno-babble.

First off, you should check out the page for Elephant Tree Records, a artist's collective/pseudo-label which I'm a member of.

http://virb.com/elephanttreerecords

Also, check out virb simply as a social networking site - it has some awesome features, and is customizable beyond belief.