Book by amruta bhavsar

note-worthy

bass-ically, a key for today’s musicians

Amruta Bhavsar

note-worthy Bass-ically, a key for today’s independent artists

Amruta Bhavsar

Dedication For my mom and dad, who have always put up with my music obsessions and satiated my concert cravings.

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Acknowledgements Thank you to Freestyle Academy and my wonderful teachers – Mr. Florendo, Mr. Greco, and Ms. Parkinson – for providing all the means necessary to complete this project. Thank you to my lovely interviewees – Nick, Brian, Sharon, Mariah, Shawn, Reign, and Mr. Bruno – for taking time out of their busy days to talk to me. Thank you to my amazing friends – Kiley and Hannah – for reading through and editing my giant paper.

Thank you to anyone who’s ever shown me a good song or artist and for making me fall in love with music.

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Contents 6

Introduction 10

Preface 8

Chapter one 13

works cited 36 Chapter two 20

Chapter four 30

Chapter three 24

preface W

hen first trying to decide my documentary topic, I was stuck. I didn’t think I had access to anyone or any place that I would be interested in documenting and I didn’t know what I wanted to spend the next four months learning about. I reached out to several potential interviewees, and in the end, I found that the ones who reached back all had a common thread, and that was that they enjoyed music, so I decided to focus around that. Something I’ve always been interested in is the ways technology has affected various parts of our world today, so I thought it might be interesting to gain some insight into how it’s affected music. I wanted to include multiple perspectives from multiple people in different places in their lives and with different experiences with music.

Originally, I was just going to focus on how the Internet has

changed the music industry, but I learned from my research that a lot more has affected it since even twenty or thirty years ago, and I thought it was too interesting not to include.

This process, however, was not without challenges. I am not a photographer, and I only really started learning how to take pictures with a real camera when I began Freestyle this year, which is why I struggled with some of the work we did in Design. Looking back, I’m glad that I was able to use this project as an opportunity to improve a skill I hadn’t developed before, and even though photography isn’t my strong suit, I’m fairly proud of the results.

This book is about how technology has affected the music industry – but is structured like a “how-to” book so that the reader can see just how easy it is for anyone to take a stab at music today in comparison to before.

Nu-Ricks

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10

Introduction S

tudio B was silent – and then the metronome sounded, beating in time to the tension in the room. The guitarist’s pick plucked each string, his face tense from concentration. Eyes squeezed shut, the singer began to sing. The drummer held his breath as he waited for his cue, exhaling once the singer had sung every note of the first verse perfectly in tune as he pressed down onto his kick drum.

Everything was going smoothly – until an unruly twang sounded out of nowhere. The guitarist cursed and the drummer and singer both sighed. This was their hundredth time trying to record their song on a reel-to-reel, and they were fed up with their inability to get a perfect take. Slicing and editing the tapes by hand would have been a nightmare, so the singer left the microphone to clear the tape. A perfect take was essential; it would practically guarantee them the attention of a record company.

Prior to social media and the technological advancements of today’s music industry, there was really only one way to make it as a musician, and that was to get a record deal. Getting a major record label’s attention was every aspiring musician’s dream, and should that dream come true, it would be smooth sailing from there on out.

Your label would promote you and your music and take care of all the commercial and technical aspects so that you could spend all your time working on your art. A big record company with a copious amount of money would be able to invest more in your albums, music

videos, and tours, and it would give you numerous opportunities to be creative and focus on the quality of your projects. After all, the only way to get access to a studio and record professional sounding tracks (without blowing your life savings) was through a record label.

A famous label would indirectly offer credibility to the musicians on it and make the masses more inclined to listen to them. Their work would be exposed through news and media outlets label-less musicians didn’t have connections with, and would expose you to a wider and more receptive audience (McDonalds). In sum, you were no one unless you had a label.

The qualities of a popular musician were also a lot more focused back in the day. Songwriting and singing were separate jobs because it was rare for someone to be talented at both. It would be like lining up all of the jackpots on a slot machine; it just didn’t happen very often. Producers found that the music turned out better when the jobs were split up, but that has changed since then (Bruno).

While what makes a song or songwriter good is fairly subjective, there are trends that point to several reasons why well-known songs and musicians are popular, one of the biggest of which is that the song has a clear overall structure. In today’s world, the content of song lyrics doesn’t matter so much as the rhythm and flow does, so successful songs tend to have predictable lyrics. It’s also beneficial for a song to have a climactic moment, typically if the lyrics work together to tell a story. Other characteristics include that it’s easy 11

to sing along to, isn’t super complex and, most importantly, catchy.

It’s hard to say what makes a song catchy, but the best way to achieve that appeal is through building a melody around a simple 4-chord progression and repeating that (Ewer).

Additionally, good songs utilize interesting elements. Many songs have the same verse-chorus-verse-chorus structure, but when you change it slightly by, say, throwing a pre-chorus or a bridge in the mix, it adds a distinct quality and can actually draw more interest from the listener. Of course, it can’t stray too far away from the norm for fear of turning the audience off, but musicians who vary the shapes of their songs have more interesting repertoires. Songs that become popular also tend to appeal to newer generations.

Rebellious in nature and lyrics, these songs are often traditional and enjoyably predictable but break maybe one or two rules of song composition (Ewer).

What makes a good performer is even harder to put into words.

The fact that an amazing musician isn’t always an amazing performer is important to acknowledge, as one of the key qualities of a good performer is stage presence. While vocals cannot be disregarded, they aren’t quite as important as how you interact with and engage the crowd. Even if you sound and feel great, inconspicuous energy will not engage the audience. Most singers start their act strong with the energy levels high for the first few songs, but then start to dwindle down as they reach the end of the set. Keeping the energy going all the way through is imperative, and even if you have a slow song, there is still a way to engage the audience. Shows with high energy are usually the most memorable ones as well. For instance, Shawn Tran, the booking representative of the independent live music company Nu-Ricks, described to me in an interview how one of the best shows he’d ever been to was one where every person in the audience was engaged. He mentioned how everyone in the crowd was moshing (dancing aggressively) during the entire set, and how it wasn’t just the performer’s enthusiasm that made it a fun and memorable experience, but the transfer of that enthusiasm to the whole audience (Yee, et al.).

Today, there is more of an emphasis on shock value. People do

crazy things to try to become famous, and it usually results in the quality of their music being brushed aside. For example, a rapper called Boonk Gang recorded videos of himself stealing clothes from stores and posted them on WorldStarHipHop, a video sharing site.

He rose to fame through reckless behavior like this and tried turning his new-found popularity into a rap career. Another example is of a fifteen year old girl with the rapper name Bhad Bhabie. She was on the TV show “Dr. Phil” for being disrespectful to her mother and gained an immense Internet following after saying the line, “Catch me outside, how ‘bout that?” She became a meme (a widely spread joke on the Internet), which she used to launch a rap career and attract traffic to her music. The invention of the Internet has made it so much easier to make waves in the music industry, granted you have a following (Villa, et al.).

Songwriting today has also evolved since even ten or twenty years ago. Rap plays a much larger role in almost every form of music. Even songs without any rapping have had the rhythm of their lyrics influenced by it; the triple meter, which is used very often in rap, is extremely common now (Bruno). Song lyrics also include lots of modern slang and relevant vocabulary, and are normally written by the singer (Tran and Yee).

This is extremely different from before as musicians and music fans today associate a song’s words and ideas with the singer. The music pushed out by the industry these days is expected to be closely tied to the singer’s own experience, which is why many people think that if an artist does not write his or her own lyrics, he or she is “fake,” “ingenuine,” or “less than legitimate.” But because of this mindset, we can observe a decline in the quality of song lyrics. Every artist thinks he or she has to be a songwriter, even if he or she isn’t very good at it. Thinking like this is idealistic, but the reality is that not many people can do this right off the bat (Bruno).

The inevitable result of this is that you don’t have to be quite as conscious with your lyrics anymore. Technically, you could get off of the hook with simple lyrics, as long as the beat is aesthetically pleasing. Popular artists like Migos have sold albums where they spent only around forty-five minutes per track, but it’s still a better

Reign LaFreniere

idea to take your time with your work. Don’t feel like you have to continuously push out music that you don’t feel you gave your all on (Villa, et al.).

One final way music production has changed over the years is that quality is expected. Good equipment is incredibly important, as polish will stand out in a song and separates the amateurs from the professionals, and it shouldn’t be too

expensive. Professional equipment can make a huge difference in how seriously someone takes you and your work; it shows you much you’re willing to invest in your music. Distortion (that is not on purpose but because of poor equipment) can take away from the value of a song. An unbalanced mix can come across as messy and the essence of the song won’t be conveyed properly or done justice (Villa et al).

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Chapter one

getting the right equipment

O

ver the years, the technology associated with music production has changed and developed immensely. Below are some of the most important contributions to the music technology we have today.

Hammond Organ

The Hammond organ was created in 1895 and was considered one of the world’s first synthesizers. They were designed for the home, churches, live gigs, and studio recordings. The most popular organ was the Hammond B-3, which has two 61 note keyboards, built-in special effects for percussion, chorus, vibrato, and decay, and two octave foot pedals and a volume pedal. Weighing over 400 pounds, the Hammond organ was extremely versatile in sound as the tone generator frequencies ranged from 32 hertz to 5920 hertz (Nelson).

1877 Phonograph

The theremin was invented by a physicist named Lev Termen and is especially unique in the way that it is played without being touched. This is accomplished through bringing your hands close to two antennas, one of which controls pitch and one which controls volume. It was initially created with the intention of playing classical music with “sounds of the ether” but was instead used in multiple specialty albums and sci-fi movie soundtracks during the 50’s and 60’s. It disappeared for a while, but has recently made a comeback and modern versions are growing popular again (Jason).

1895

The phonograph was invented by Thomas Edison and its design consisted of a piece of tin-foil wrapped around the cylinder in the middle. Someone would shout a message on one side of the cylinder while turning the handle and the needle inside would vibrate from his or her voice and make a line on the tin-foil. This line would be used by the needle on the other side to replay what was recorded, but this could only be done a few times before the tin-foil tore. It wasn’t until later that you could play records with music on the outside (U.S. Department of the Interior).

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Theremin

1896 Telharmonium

The Telharmonium was invented by Thaddeus Cahill and was one of the earliest electrical organs. The way it worked was that it transmitted an electrical signal through wires and was heard through speakers. It was very big and heavy, weighing in at 200 tons. Wires were fed through holes in the floor of an auditorium into the instrument room, which is where telharmoniums were normally located. It could recreate the sounds of woodwind instruments like the flute, clarinet, and bassoon (Georgievska).

1919 Musique concrète

1948

Musique concrète was an idea created by Pierre Schaeffer, a man who speculated about instruments that could draw from a bank or prerecorded sounds. He figured out that records could be locked into their grooves and therefore looped. The needle could be made to stay in one groove, creating a loop instead of letting it spiral towards the center of the record, which meant that replaying it was not dependent on human performers (Sweetwater).

Multi-track Reel-To-Reel

MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface)

The invention of the multi-track reel-to-reel was the first time you could record individual tracks and put them together. It used magnetic tape to allow for different tracks to be recorded on different parts of the tape’s surface, and in turn play them back at the same time. It allowed you to split the rhythm section through emphasizing the bass or the higher frequencies of certain parts, but was only limited to a couple tracks of physical tape (National Museums Liverpool). Editing was difficult because you would have to physically slice the tape, which pushed you to try until you got a perfect take (Bruno).

1955

1956

MIDI technology was invented in 1983 and designed for recording and playing back music on a digital synthesizer that was adapted to be used with computers.

It transmits information about how a sound should be produced through notes, velocity, and pitch. People were able to create music with just a keyboard that could make the sounds of many different instruments, thanks to MIDI (Rouse).

1963

1982

1983

RCA Synthesizer

The RCA synthesizer was created by Harry F. Olsen, who used a bank of 12 oscillator circuits that used electron tubes to generate the 12 basic tones of musical scales. It included highpass filters, low-pass filters, envelope filters, frequency dividers, modulators, and resonators. A sequence of notes were programmed to be played with info about how they should sound, and the result was mostly weird, unearthly sounds (Engineering and Technology History Wiki).

Cassette

Cassettes allowed people to make recordings that didn’t require the experience and skill needed for reel-to-reels.

They were marketed for recording and dictation as opposed to music, but that changed after improvements in technology were made and they could have a high-quality sound (Burr).

CD

CDs replaced cassettes in the 1990’s. Not so much for recording, they were used mostly to share music. Nevertheless, they’ve contributed to the ways in which we consume music today (Burr).

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Today, you can easily create high-quality music that uses elements from all of the above technologies through just a few pieces of equipment (assuming you already own a computer). Here are the four things you’ll need: 1. Microphone

For many reasons, a microphone is essential to recording music. Sometimes, you will need a microphone for a specific purpose, like drums or guitar, but usually you’ll only need one to record your vocals with. Cheaper microphones will probably need a little more adjusting when mixing, but they will serve their purpose and still be fairly affordable. (Robley).

3. Audio Interface

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2. Headphones

Headphones are usually used when you’re recording yourself.

You want to be able to hear your voice over the instrumental music.

They can be used for mixing (editing a song), but shouldn’t always be because they don’t provide an accurate representation of what your song sounds like. The channels are separated and when you’re listening to a song out loud, the right and left channels will bleed, so you won’t be able to tell that with headphones. Try to only use headphones when panning (balancing the left and right channels) and fine editing because otherwise you won’t get the complete perspective. (Enmore Audio).

An audio interface is a piece of hardware that connects your microphone and other audio equipment with your computer. It expands the sound output capabilities of your computer and is very important to having a professional sound. Most computers aren’t designed to specifically produce music, but an audio interface can fix that and make your songs sound really high-quality (Hughes).

A DAW is a music editing program that you download onto your computer and record and edit on. Examples include Pro Tools, Logic, and even GarageBand. DAWs are essential if you’re an independent artist, because they allow you to record, edit, mix and produce all sorts of sounds that aren’t from traditional instruments (Hughes).

Because technology has advanced in so many ways, the music industry’s game has been changed completely. Everybody with an Internet connection has a fair shot at getting his or her music out there and heard by a diverse audience. But this also raises the level of competition, so how does one stand out? Technology has made it so that your music can have any sound that you want, so take advantage of that. Write songs that you wish other people were writing – songs that you want to hear and you would listen to (Joseph, et al.).

Music genres tend to shift and cycle over time, so don’t worry about what’s popular right now. In 2018, rap, trap, and hip hop are very popular, but in the early 2000s, electropop was big, and then in the late 2000s, rock made a brief comeback. Every genre has its period, so avoid making something you think will get views but

don’t like yourself. If you like what you make, chances are other people will like it as well, so don’t limit or force yourself to stick with a sound that isn’t your favorite (LaFreniere). Music progresses and there’s no right or wrong way to do it (Ricks).

People have access to every type of music now, so most of us have developed tastes in various genres. Blending genres together in your music can help you stand out, but be careful; it’s very easy to do badly. For instance, some genres, like country and rap, don’t go together, whereas rock and electronic do pretty well. One genre can be limiting, so genre-blending can lead to some unique songs more (Tran and Yee), but the transitions can make or break the song. They have to feel right and it’s hard to make happen, so that’s a skill you’ll have to develop and improve, should you choose to make music in multiple genres (Joseph, et al.).

4. DAW (Digital Audio Workstation)

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Chapter two

recording

B

efore modern technology, there was a fairly straightforward formula that was the protocol to follow for the majority of unsigned musicians. It looked something like this:

1. Write some great songs.

2. Make a great demo.

3. Get noticed by someone powerful in the industry.

4. Put out a great album.

5. Wait for the album to be a big hit and for me to become a big star and make a bunch of money.

This is much different from the route most unsigned musicians take today. First, the recording process was incredibly tedious and time-consuming. Once you finally wrote something worth recording, you would have to record on big reel-to-reels which had only four tracks at most.

Editing was onerous because you had to slice and cut physical tape, and it was difficult and annoying to fix your mistakes.

It would be much easier to just get a perfect take than edit 22

a mistake out, which is why you would have to keep trying and trying until you got a perfect take. On the bright side, however, it made sure that you and your band were pulled together because you had to be good. Now, if you record something that doesn’t sound perfect, you can easily fix it with technology, but back then, you’d have to keep trying (Bruno).

After you finally got a good take, you had to somehow get someone in the industry to listen to it. Usually, this wasn’t in your control, but the best way to get yourself out there and noticed was through working with physical press, since that was the main form of advertisement. To get a record deal, you would send your cassette to a company and wait for their response (Bruno).

The path is now a little blurrier. For one thing, record labels aren’t quite as powerful as they used to be. There are still many artists who sign to them, but more and more are choosing not to, or at least blazing their own path until the perfect deal comes up. However, not every artist chooses to sign to a label, as it means that a large portion of your income from recordings, merchandise, and live shows will be taken by the label in exchange for them providing you with more exposure and taking care of advertising for you. But with the advent of social media and the Internet, it is possible to juggle both the production and promotional aspects of your career (Bruno).

Furthermore, it is now easier than ever for anyone to record a song and post it online. Through the use of DAWs like Pro Tools and Audacity, you can create very high quality recordings in your bedroom or living room, or wherever you prefer to work. As discussed in the previous chapter, equipment is much more affordable now than ever before.

You aren’t limited to a certain number of tracks, like you would be if artists had to use reel-to-reels today.

The recording process of unsigned artists today looks more like this:

1. Write some great songs.

2. Create the instrumentals to those songs.

3. Record those songs.

4. Mix/edit them to perfection.

5. Upload them online to a platform like YouTube or Soundcloud.

6. Share everything with my friends and family. Post about my music online.

7. Make more great songs. Maybe even a whole album.

8. Repeat and continue networking until i’ve grown an online audience.

Start-up musicians today do not solely depend on someone else to build their career up. Independent artists, for the most part, have realized that since technology has advanced, all the tools they need are at their fingertips and they no longer need to wait until someone powerful decides they like them. There might be some more steps involved today and probably a lot more hard work as well, but if you can be the catalyst in your own career, why wouldn’t you?

It’s the most rewarding feeling when you get to where you want to be–because you know you did it all by yourself.

Chapter Three

Attracting an audience

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ne of the steps mentioned in the previous chapter is to network in order to accumulate a plethora of listeners. The traditional way would be to reach out to main media like radio, fan magazines, and newspapers. Word of mouth was also effective, and still remains extremely effective to this day, but the method that’s probably the most consistent with today is playing live shows (Bruno).

Live shows can require a lot of time and energy. Sometimes, it can be exhausting to play empty room after empty room and not really get anywhere. Waiting for someone to notice you and miraculously build your career up for you is a waste of time because that’s rare and unrealistic. No one is going to catapult you to stardom but you, and that’s why it’s imperative to have the mentality of an entrepreneur, and through strategic promotion and the power of technology, it is very possible for you to “make it” all on your own (VÉRITÉ).

That aside, how does an undiscovered musician get gigs?

Reaching out to clubs and small venues is a good first step. You can also reach out to a few bands and ask if you could be an opening act at their shows. If they do reach back (most won’t and that’s okay), you will probably have to pay to play since you’re being exposed to a huge audience that you wouldn’t be able to play for on your own (Joseph, et al.). In a personal interview with Nu-Ricks cofounders Brian Ricks and Nick Ulleseit, Ricks told me that the two of them used to be in a rock band and that they, “...did an event where we brought, you know, fifty people to the show, and we weren’t paid anything. We brought over a thousand dollars to the show and we weren’t paid anything.” This is, unfortunately, very common for local musicians who are just starting out. The

reality is that when you don’t already have lots of supporters, you have something to prove (Ricks and Ulleseit).

It’s important to keep in mind that when playing a live show, you aren’t really playing to the audience in the venue; you’re playing to the bartender or the barista or the person who has access to the venue owner, because those are the people who will tell them about the show and will be the deciding factor in whether you’re coming back or not. When you’re the opening act, you have to win the crowd over somehow. Most people passively wait for the opening act to be over because you’re in front of the act they actually came to see, so you have to work your way up. Have the mindset that no one knows or really cares about you at the moment, so it might not always be a good show, and that’s okay as long as you keep moving forward (Joseph, et al.).

A strategy to make fans and increase your audience is to pick a central location and build around that. This is what worked for the band Twenty One Pilots, and in an interview with Columbus Alive, frontman Tyler Joseph describes their approach. The central location they picked was Columbus, Ohio because that was their hometown and it would be easier to expand from there. After playing a show there and gaining some fans, they played in Cleveland, but didn’t promote that show. It seems counterintuitive, but it would be harder to reach new people if they asked the Columbus supporters to come. When attempting to increase your audience, you want to play for other bands’ fans, bartenders, or anyone who isn’t already a fan. The point is to reach new people.

After Cleveland, Twenty One Pilots played in Cincinnati and made some fans there, again choosing not to promote that show so that none of the Columbus or Cleveland fans would come. The

“...we brought, you know, fifty people to the show and we weren’t paid anything. We brought over a thousand dollars to the show and we weren’t paid anything.”

- Brian Ricks

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idea was to make people think they discovered them, and also to avoid being overbearing and bombarding people with promo about every single show. Through repeating this process throughout Ohio, the band created pockets of fans everywhere, and could finally promote one big show where everyone they worked on would think they grew exponentially ever since they “discovered” them. The audience took them seriously because clearly they had a larger following, so everyone else was taking them seriously, and since they weren’t overbearing with their promoting, they were able to get three-fourths of their fan base to come out and make them seem a lot larger than they actually were. People like the idea that they discovered you because it makes them feel like they have a personal connection with you or that they knew you before you blew up, so take advantage of that through strategic promotion (Joseph, et al).

Engaging your audience is essential, especially if they don’t know any of your lyrics. Show them an easy clapping or stomping pattern and then direct them when to do it (Joseph, et al.). Teach them an easy background part of the song that they sing during the chorus. Tell them to raise their arms and sway along to the beat, or get on the ground and wait for your cue to jump up, or go crazy when the beat drops during a certain part of a song to engage them and so they walk away feeling like they were involved with the show.

Today, you aren’t just limited to your live shows, though; there’s a myriad of different things you can do to build an audience, thanks to technology. As mentioned before, people do wild things to attract attention and notoriety. This tends to be done by rappers, but anyone could do it if he or she wanted to. It’s not really recommended though, assuming you want your fanbase to be grown organically. You want your followers to like you for you and your music, and not just because you did something outrageous, controversial, or problematic (Tran and Yee).

In addition, some artists have turned to third party companies to assist them with promotion and advertisement. It’s easy to find online promoters who you can pay to put your music and

information on their blogs and websites. For example, there’s a blog called “No Jumper” which has a podcast and requires people to pay $1.75 to get their music featured. Some also pay popular YouTubers to put their music in the intros of their videos to get more exposure and for someone in the comments to hopefully like it and check your music out. Social media promotion tools are also an option, and you can pay platforms like Instagram and Twitter to put your post or ad in someone else’s feed (Tran and Yee).

The barrier to entry has been broken down, and getting views and listens online is almost more important now than scoring a record deal. Artists can probably make more money independently than with a major record label that’s taking a percentage of his or her income (Ulleseit and Ricks).

However, there is often an abundance of low-caliber music that threatens to drown out your songs. Back in the day, there were more gatekeepers so that it wasn’t as clogged up and hard to reach your audience as it is now. Obviously, anyone should be able to create music if he or she wants to, and unfortunately, the result is just the nature of competition, but that’s okay because luck has a large part to do with a musician’s level of success (Bruno). Be prepared to meet as many opportunities as you can, because if your music is undeniably good, it will come out eventually (Tran and Yee).

Additionally, it’s important to keep building on your previous successes; in other words, don’t stop putting out new music. As a new unsigned artist, you have to be prepared to keep your head down for a little while and put in lots of hard work. Something you can do to keep your audience engaged is put together EPs. Continue strategically promoting yourself as well, as sometimes a record company might fail to promote an artist, even if his or her music is amazing, and that is something an independent artist can avoid. Marketing is essential to keep the momentum going (Tran and Yee).

Moreover, when building an audience, you have to keep your image in mind. Part of the consumption habits of music fans today is an artist’s image and identi`ty. As discussed previously, 27

visuals can add or subtract from the appeal of an artist’s work.

Most people who have fame or influence tend to have a certain aesthetic that defines their visuals (Tran and Yee). For example, the alternative band The Neighbourhood describes their image as “black and white,” and all of their music videos and photos online are in black and white. They even ask photographers to take only black and white photos because they don’t want to distort their theme (Thomas-Hansard).

Additionally, how you present yourself is an important factor.

People who push their music too hard might seem overbearing and like they’re trying too hard, but if you don’t promote yourself at all, it’ll be even harder to get a following. You have to find a balance between “trying hard” and “indifferent,” which is tricky, but can be done when you know the type of image you want to portray (Tran and Yee).

The last thing to keep in mind is your social media presence. In today’s day and age, social media is an integral part to growing your musical career. It brings attention to the events you’re having and you can use it to promote your work and connect with and attract like-minded people. Music used to be a regional thing, but now with social media, you can spread more easily (LaFreniere). People can discover your music through social media, but now it’s more important than ever to be mindful of everything you put up online. It has to be clear that you are in charge of all of your platforms and what’s being put out. Fans are smart; they can tell if you’re ingenuine or not, so you can’t give the impression that you aren’t running anything. It comes down to even the words you use and the times you post (Joseph, et al).

Because of the Internet, the relationship between a musician and their fans is incredibly important, especially when you’re just starting out and trying to build a fanbase. You want your audience to be engaged and you can only do that through involving and interacting with them (Tran and Yee). It goes with the idea that people like thinking that they discovered you and it’s important to growing a voracious fanbase (Joseph, et al.).

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Chapter four making money

T

he production and sales of music today have been greatly altered by advancements in technology and its availability to millions of people across the globe. Through examining the effects of technology on music business and reflecting on ways the ever changing industry has adapted, we can understand the steps a musician would have to take to have a better chance at success. In the music industry, sales of digital CDs and records have decreased significantly in favor of digital copies, and as a result, artists don’t gain much profit from physical albums anymore (Socialnomics).

Because of the Internet, music has become almost free, which means that musicians have had to figure out other ways to make a living from it.

There used to be a few ways artists made money: selling physical albums, concert tickets, and song lyrics. Things have changed a lot since then, as record labels that had most of the control and could do what they wanted with the artist have less power. Also, people are able to choose from a much wider selection of music than ever before since we’re no longer limited to the work from our area’s scene. The control has been taken away from corporations, but that also means independent artists have had to figure out how to financially stabilize themselves (LaFreniere).

To begin, one of the options today’s artists have is putting their music on streaming platforms. Companies like Spotify, Pandora, and SoundCloud, just to name a few, have revolutionized the distribution and consumption of music. However, there is a bit of debate about whether they are fair to artists or not.

As a consumer, streaming services are great. You can go check someone’s music out and it barely costs anything. Spotify is the biggest record store in the world, and you get complete access for just $10 a month (Bruno). Stephanie Brown, the singer from

electronic pop act Lips, explains, “...I grew up with LimeWire, and Napster and I remember thinking it was so great. You could find these bootleg concert recordings from way back in the day that you’d never get to hear otherwise… And I remember Metallica complaining, and being like - screw those guys, they’ve got too much money anyway.” (Illingworth, et al.). Today, music piracy has been replaced with streaming services. Anyone would take something for free if he or she could, so you can’t really blame the consumer (Ulleseit and Ricks).

As an artist though, it’s a little more complicated.

In a personal interview, Americana musician Jim Bruno claims that, “The royalty checks are pathetic.” Spotify and other platforms pay barely pennies for every few streams.

Bruno adds, “They make a lot of money off of artists, but don’t really share the revenue like they should” (Bruno). At their core, streaming services are designed to rake in revenue for investors, and artists who aren’t already exceptionally popular are neglected. The profits are unproportionately distributed to favor major labels over independent musicians.

Moreover, the quality of music is going down because artists simply aren’t making enough to fund their projects. People used to willingly pay money for albums, but with the invention of the Internet, they don’t really need to, and sales for physical albums are at an all-time low. “Why would I spend a year making something, spend thousands of dollars on it, then give it away for free?” Brown says. It’s true that you get some amount of exposure and the opportunity to get in front of new people, but when you aren’t making enough money from it because creating music and going on tour is expensive, it doesn’t matter; you can’t afford to make any more (Illingworth, et al.).

“The royalty checks are pathetic.

They make a lot of money off of artists but don’t really share the revenue like they should.”

- Jim Bruno

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VÉRITÉ

The indie pop artist VÉRITÉ provides an interesting perspective on this topic. She talks about how artists complain that, “It’s impossible to make a living, it doesn’t value creators, it’s ruined the art of album listening.” While she agrees that the expectation of instant gratification is changing people’s consumption habits for the worse and making them devalue music, her streaming revenue was and still is her biggest source of income. In her article, she describes how when she first started, she didn’t know how to make money and was essentially giving her music away for free and had to work as a server for some months in order to fund her project. Nonetheless, streaming royalties finally started to come in, and she was able to quit her job as a server, take a few steps back, and breathe for a moment.

The money from Spotify was supplementary and it allowed her to focus on how to strategically move her project forward. At the end of the day, it is not the job or function of the streaming services to build your career, as they are merely tools you can and should use to your advantage. They can help you be discovered, link listeners to merchandise and concerts, and even provide data about your audience so you can decide how to cater to them, but the music industry is evolving and the best way to adapt to it is through embracing the changes. It’s important to keep in mind that no one will build you up but yourself and it’s imperative to keep engaging and growing your audience, as that’s when your streaming numbers will start to add up and finally become substantial enough to support yourself (VÉRITÉ).

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conclusion S

imultaneously, it has never been easier or more difficult to become a self-sustaining independent artist. Technology has advanced and affected the music industry in so many ways, from the availability of equipment to garnering an audience to how you can make money. But sometimes, it can be a little discouraging if you feel like you’ve invested a lot of time and money and still aren’t getting anywhere. If you feel like you’ve given it all you’ve got but still aren’t happy with where you are in terms of success here some words of advice:

“Look for why you sound unique.”

Shawn Tran, the booking representative of Nu-Ricks, recommends avoiding the same template that other people use. A lot of it has to do with how creative you are in your production and promotion, and you have to be strategic when deciding how to get people to listen to your music.

Interesting visuals usually do pretty well. He also says it’s beneficial to work with other people because when you have a team of people helping you push your music instead of trying to do everything yourself, it’ll help you be more creative.

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“There are endless ways to promote yourself.”

Sharon Yee, a marketing intern at Nu-Ricks, explains how there isn’t a limit to the various ways you can promote yourself or make your music, and that sometimes it’s beneficial to try something different. Try something different with your music if all of it sounds the same or like everyone else’s.

“Other people will constantly tell you what they think or what you should do,” Reign LaFreniere, a rock and blues musician and senior at Ruth Asawa School of the Arts. In a personal interview, he explained how you cannot doubt yourself, because no one will believe in you if you don’t even believe in yourself. There is a difference between being self-aware and doubting yourself, and you have to do your best to not cross that line. Other people will flood you with their opinions and sometimes they’re helpful, but other times they can be really destructive.

Clockwise from left: Sharon Yee, Reign LaFreniere, Shawn Tran, Jim Bruno

“Stay positive. Don’t quit. It’s art and once art touches commerce, it becomes a little tainted.”

One last piece of advice comes from Jim Bruno, a musician who has watched the music industry shift into what it is today. Bruno says that you have to get used to rejection and ninety percent of the time, you’ll hear the word “no.” You have to get used to it, but don’t ever stop believing in yourself and continuing to try.

The road to success as a DIY musician in today’s world is ironically similar to the nearly extinct reel-to-reel recorder. A four-track and the Internet can both be frustrating and hard to use, but also the best thing you could have access to as a musician.

Just as people in the 60’s learned how to use big reel-to-reels, today’s artists can learn how to navigate modern technology and use it to his or her advantage in order to keep progressing.

The mentality of musicians has definitely shifted from “artist” to “artistic entrepreneur,” and will no doubt progress with technology in the years to come.

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about the author Amruta Bhavsar is a junior at Mountain View High School and Freestyle Academy. She is a Digital Media student who has taken a few swings at producing her own short pieces of music, which you can find on her website. She enjoys singing and playing the piano, even though she’s not that good at either, but her taste in music is probably better than yours.

Additionally, she loves drawing, especially in pen and ink, and can often be found doodling eyes or sketching portraits in her free time.

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note-worthy

bass-ically, a key for today’s musicians

Amruta Bhavsar