People have always tried to put music in categories, to try to describe it, and to make it easier to sell it; but this trend seems to have got stronger in recent times…
…maybe we can blame iTunes, and the Gracenote database of CD track names that won't let you enter a CD in the catalogue without a genre description (from a pre-existing list)? Definitely there is now a generation of listeners, at least in the eyes of marketing deptartments, who can't seem to comprehend music unless they can define it by an accepted genre name…
…is it Indie? Urban? Acoustic? Dance? Silly names! (most 'indie' music is released on major labels, 99% of all commercial releases are recorded somewhere urban, there's plenty of 'dance' you can't dance to, and plenty else that you can…) …but the main deal is that it has to have a name, or it doesn't exist or doesn't make sense…and those crazy fools that, horror, dare to mix, maybe, indie and hip hop…well there's no category to file them in on iTunes, no specialist radio station that can play them…so they might as well forget it…?
The irony is that this same generation is listening to more different types of music than any before…just as long as they know what to call it…
FRIZZ doesn't have a music policy based on genre or style; we subscribe instead to the Duke Ellington Theory: there are only two kinds of music, good music and bad music… We will release anything as long as it's good…
When albums were first invented they needed to fit on two sides of a piece of vinyl…
Which meant ideally not more than about 18 or maybe 20 minutes a side, otherwise you'd usually start to lose volume and dynamics (depending on the nature of the music); if you really went for it you could squeeze in maybe 25 minutes a side…anything more than that and it tends to start sounding crap…
So the LPs of the late 50s through to the start of the 80s tended to be 30-50 minutes long…This worked. It was easy to take for granted, but fitting the demands of this format was usually a good thing for peoples' creative juices. Enough time to stretch out a little and explore some ideas, but not so long that it gets boring or over-indulgent…
The best LPs were greater than the sum of their parts, and were best appreciated as a complete work, like a film or a novel, with something extra to be gained from hearing the music in that sequence. Unlike most films and novels, they were meant to be sat through repeatedly, showing new depths each time. Frequently there would be elements designed to grab you on first listen, elements that took a few listens to hook you in, and in the best cases elements which revealled themselves gradually over years of listening…
A great album was not just a collection of songs but a musical world to get lost in…
Most attempts at double albums weren't able to sustain this coherence over their longer running time, with very few exceptions. The single vinyl LP turned out to be the perfect format for sustained musical creativity…
The advent of the Compact Disc in the early 80s brought the potential of a dramatically longer running time of over 74 minutes on a single disc…
This wasn't fully exploited initially, since vinyl was still selling happily alongside CDs, and therefore determining album lengths; but gradually we started to get CD bonus tracks, and then double vinyl holding the same content as a single CD, until eventually vinyl sales dropped so far that most labels weren't that bothered about it anymore, and CD-length albums of 60 or 70 minutes became standard…
I'll lay myself on the line here and say that the number of great, perfectly formed albums that were tailored to this format (ie. they're 55-74 minutes long), and wouldn't benefit at all from being edited down, I can count on one hand…and I'd have a few spare fingers…
I can think of a few jazz and classical works that benefit from the uninterupted playing time; but in the realms of 'popular music' even my very favourite albums of the late 80s, 90s and 00s can without exception be edited down to make a better 40 min record (if they aren't already that short)…
Of course loads of great music was recorded during this time, but I'm arguing that the pressure of offering 'value for money' across a CD has eroded away at the art of the album format to the point where it no longer holds the magical power that it used to…
And right on cue, just as these lumpy, unfocused collections became normal, we were confronted again with new technology…
The possibility of selling mp3 downloads takes away the economic motivation for grouping tracks together as albums. If music no longer needs a physical carrier, then why constrain it into arbitrary groupings as if it did?The positive argument is that this liberates us from 'filler', and from cynical marketing campaigns which sell us an hour of mediocrity off the back of a couple of decent songs; and this is surely a good thing…?
Well yes, certainly a world where people are only sold music that they actually like has an appeal…especially to those raised on the CD-albums of the past 20 years…a true democracy based on musical merit…cool…
So the album is dead?
…well it would seem to be inevitable that albums will become less important, less of a necessary framework that every artist has to fit themselves to. Some music lends itself much more obviously to single-shot bursts rather than lengthy statements; some artists might be much better suited to cutting one, or two, or five tracks at a time rather than twelve; no reason why not (except for the potential marketing headaches perhaps). I can see this giving rise to a more liberated creative process for many people…fine by me…
This doesn't have to mean though that everyone has to stop making albums. Surely the new fluidity of the internet means that for those that want it, the old-style album format can be valid again. At least as valid as any other…
The real enemy here is not evil technology, or armies of teenagers in hoodies killing the music business by stealing music. The real enemy is the myth that our lifestyles have changed, that everyone is so muchbusier now that we don't have time to browse the record racks (real or virtual), or to sit through whole albums gradually absorbing their ideas. We want the songs we like, and we want them now, to listen to on our ipods on the bus! Sadly this becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy; the more labels and music makers cater to it, the closer to the truth it gets…the fewer albums there are being designed to be be gradually absorbed, the more likely this habit is to die out in most people…
FRIZZ is committed to preserving The Art Of The LP. We believe that there are large numbers of listeners out there (of all ages) with the patience and desire to listen to music, at least some of the time, in longer than 4 minute chunks. So we go out of our way to make albums that work well as albums, and we encourage you to listen to them that way, at least sometimes…
One way that we do this is to make a commitment to the vinyl LP as a format. All our albums come out on vinyl as well as CD (for now) and download. We think LPs are the nicest way to appreciate music, so evenif though they work out much less cost-effective for us than other formats we are determined to keep them alive. We also make your lives much easier by offering anyone who buys any of our vinyl (singles or LPs) the chance to own the same music as mp3s too at no extra cost. So you get the best of both worlds, without the rigmarole of recording the album into your computer or whatever. What more could you ask?
Listen, mp3s are alright…I can email a song to my friend in Australia in a matter of minutes…and it will sound ok…that's pretty cool…
I can go away on holiday, or just get the bus to work, and take 1000s of songs with me on my ipod…this is also very cool…much better than the days of playing the same five tapes over and over for two weeks (…maybe that had a charm…you ended up with albums that became the soundtrack to your holiday/drive to work/spell in hospital/…but just as likely you'd get sick of them and never want to hear them again…)…
Some people would also argue that it's amazing to be able to replace all those musty 12″ sleeves…or piles of broken plastic CD boxes…with one sleek little thingybob that fits in your pocket…or turn up at a DJ gig without those heavy old record boxes…
…I'm not sure about that last point myself. I can see the wisdom, but I also think we're in danger of losing some soul in exchange for the convenience. I like those 12″ sleeves, to me they contain magic…
…but anyway, my point is, mp3s are all well and good; you won't catch me going on about the evils of technology…as long as we don't let it get us too carried away…
The only sense in which I have a problem with mp3s is if you were to argue that they're now the only format we need (…don't get picky on me, I'm using mp3 as shorthand here for whatever compressed digital file format you like - AAC, mp4a, etc., same principle…). Then they're always gonna fall short…
Why? Because they don't sound as good as vinyl. Simple as that…
As a portable format, a way of storing loads of music in a small space, carrying it about…lovely…much better than CDs…
But if we only ever listen to mp3s (or any other digital format, including high quality 24-bit AIFF or WAV files, blah blah…), then we've lost something. An important part of our culture has died…
Most people find it easier to see how a photograph taken using film is better quality than even the highest resolution digital picture. There's a magic to a real photo that a digital image can only ever emulate. The more developed the technology, the better an emulation it is, but it will only ever be an emulation…
The same is true of sound. Audio tape and vinyl are capable of reproducing sonic images in a similarly pure and beautiful way, that digital technology can only ever emulate. Sadly many people, perhaps even most people now, can't really hear the difference, because they've grown up without hearing vinyl, or lived without it for so long that their ears have forgotten. This is a great shame…
FRIZZ is committed to pressing all our releases on vinyl as well as CD (for now) and download. So you'll always have the choice. We also offer anyone who buys our vinyl (singles or LPs) the chance to own the same music as mp3s too at no extra cost. So you get the best of both worlds. That's the future…
The relationship between artist and label should be a partnership…
The old-fashioned big business music business model of the 60s-90s was grounded in a Faustian pact between record company and artist: we'll lend you a pile of money to make and sell records, and in return weget to own the rights to those records forever…
As an artist, if you wanted to reach a wide audience, you had very little choice
In the world of home-studio-mp3-Web-2.0-iTunes-myspace-last.fm… you do have a choice; making and selling your own music is substantially cheaper to do
So there's no longer a reason for that marriage of convenience to exist, other than familiarity
A record company (or any other sort of investor/collaborator) can offer many useful things: financial backing, practical help and advice, tour support, marketing, networking, design, legal assistance… and in return they should expect to make some money …but that doesn't earn them the right, in our eyes, to own your songs or your recordings…there are many other kinds of mutually beneficial business deal that can be done…
FRIZZ believes you should Keep The Rights To What You Make
Somehow we got out of step with the zeitgeist…
2008, If it's anything like 2007, will be all about user-participation, open-source knowledge bases, social networking, the cult of the amateur, collective ownership of cultural resources…
What does this mean? …ever sat in a room with 5 other people not talking to each other because they're all too engrossed in updating their Facebook profiles? That's what you get…
We can all share our photos and video clips on the internet, we can put our favourite songs on myspace, and share music we've made ourselves in our bedrooms with others across the globe, we can contribute to online encyclopedias, become amateur journalists by blogging on topical issues, share our calendars, share our knowledge and interests…and make all this readily available to companies who are eager to tailor our shopping experience to best suit our personal needs…
…of course there's some good in it…the new internet model is great for meeting people who share your tastes and interests, and there are growing resources for creative individuals and small businesses to use…
…but mostly I can't help thinking we're busy creating so much content that anything new and worthwhile is as lost in a haystack as it ever was…and it becomes more and more difficult for people with expertise or aptitude at anything to stay afloat against all this competition…What we've ended up with in the music business, as a result of this fashion, is a culture which tells us that what people ('the kids'!) want is exclusive interactive content - they want to go behind the scenes and see their favourite musicians in rehearsal, on the tourbus, at home…
Do we really? …well obviously, if you like a band and you have the opportunity to see this stuff you're going to look aren't you? Interesting… but will you come away liking the band more? Isn't it a bit like opening your xmas presents the day before…in fact don't even worry about wrapping them up…actually, just gimme 20 quid and I'll get myself something… Takes away all the magic, for me, that a band might hope to create…
Similarly, we have the myth that people want to hear bonus tracks, demo versions, blah blah… Isn't this just a way of re-selling the same record? Obsessive fans could always track this stuff down anyway, and for everyone else all it can do is water down the impact of the original artwork. Even a band as good as The Beatles would have been better off without us hearing their out-takes 30 years on. There are obviously exceptions - some recordings got lost along the way and benefit from the archaeologists…but the process has turned into an epidemic…again, more poor and mediocre content out there obscuring the good things…
At FRIZZ we believe in Quality Control, and we believe in magic and mystery! There will be no acoustic covers of Sugarbabes songs, no session out-takes, or Youtube clips of bands rehearsing in the dressing room. No free bonus exclusive this and that to get you to buy something. Everything we release will be worth having in it's own right…
