Great art will shine through the clutter.
The odds are already stacked against you. You should have a Plan B. Music doesn’t pay. You should get a “real” job.
We’ve heard these sentiments all our lives. Its almost tragically part of our cultural narrative. And since then, Tower, MusicLand, and Sam Goody have filed for bankruptcy. Piracy exploded. Target, Best Buy, and the other big boxes all shrank their floor space dedicated to music. Poor quality MP3s and stuttery streaming have replaced the depth and emotion of high fidelity audio.
Clearly, today, the odds are really stacked against you.
And, with the affordability of home digital recording, amateurs are flooding the market. While its estimated that approximately 32,000 some titles were released annually in the early 2000s, over 180,000 albums were released last year alone.
The pundits say you can’t win.
We emphatically disagree. For the last two months, we’ve been engaged in a national music search for one of our corporate clients. We’ve been talking with friends, scouring blogs, and researching cities all over the country looking for good music.
It’s out there. We have found truly inspiring artists that are making vital and relevant music throughout our target markets- Seattle, Los Angeles, New York, and Austin. And since we found amazing songs and performers there, we know there is also important music being made in Ames, Lawrence, Camden, Bismark, Madison, and everywhere else inbetween.
The songs and records we’ve found this summer have hit us equally with their raw emotion and bold sound.
Granted, the majority of these singers, performers, and bands aren’t generating the millions of dollars that the MTV superstars of yester-year may have flaunted, but they’ve all won life-long fans from our little company.
Amazing music is out there. It will be heard. And we will happily buy it even though its available on Spotify.
If you’ve got something to say, take heart. Record it. The world wants to hear it. Keep fighting the good fight and someone will take note.
Thanks for the inspiration everyone, this has been an eye opening summer…
Dear Waves, can we be friends again?
Within the first few years of the digital and DAW revolution, one company quickly became a pre-eminent forerunner in the field of digital plug-ins: Waves Audio.
However, as can often happen to an industry leader, there was a backlash. Their bundles were expensive. They were labeled the big “corporate” developer. Regardless of the validity of those statements, we weren’t immune to sometimes agreeing with the crowd.
In the ensuing years, we spent quite a bit of time in the analog world and rarely worried about plugins. Today, however, we’re finding that many of our commercial projects demand fast turnarounds and often require multiple revisions making the efficiencies of the digital environment critical.
As such, we’re begun to listen, review, and now use a bevy of new plugins. Our current favorite developer? Yep, Waves. After spending a few days with the CLA Compressors, created in partnership with famed mix engineer Chris Lord-Alge, we were hooked. Clearly, it is not 2001 anymore.
Today’s plugings are better, impart an astounding sonic realism, and exude all of the subtleties we used to love about analog gear. Unquestionably, the good folks at Waves are making wonderful tools that we’re starting to rely on day in and out.
We want to take back everything we said. We love you Waves. The Durrough Meters just saved a broadcast project last week, and the PIE Compressor and HLS EQs are making a current mix project literally jump out of the speakers.
It is a new world order. Our HD Native system, coupled with the HD I/O and a host of RTAS plugins is truly our workflow for the future.
Well done gang, keep up the good work.
Happy Birthday Leo.
Today is Leo Fender’s birthday.
All in all, we think he’s owed a little recognition. Not a day goes by when a Fender Stratocaster, Telecaster, or amplifier isn’t in use here at NoWare. Leo and his team in Fullerton, California, truly helped craft what have become not only indispensable creative tools, but also pieces of art.
And, its important to note that our appreciation extends well beyond our day to day duties and responsibilities at the studio. It was often the images and sounds of these very instruments, played by some of the greats, that inspired us to explore music ourselves decades ago. Keith, Bruce, and Muddy all played Teles and helped redefine popular music and modern song. Equally, Eric, Jimi, and Stevie immortalized the Strat and reshaped our understanding of musical virtuosity and the depth of sound that a single guitar could create.
As a lot of people are talking about innovation in our country today, many are asking questions about what’s needed to jump start industry and reinvigorate the economy. Meanwhile, about 70 years ago, a half blind accountant lost his job during the Depression. Seeking to support his young family, Leo Fender opened the Fender Radio Service and learned to sell and repair radios, lap steels, and amplifiers which were gaining popularity at the time.
Somehow, all that fixing and on-the-job exploration led to some collaborative tinkering and the development of a solid body electric guitar. In time, those late nights of experimentation in a tin shed behind the shop quite literally changed the world.
Maybe one of the things that we all need today is a little more heart and the courage to wonder “what if?”. If that’s the case, Leo’s story helps embolden us further and reminds us of one of our favorite dictums about success- professionals are often the amateurs who didn’t quit.
As such, here’s to the next twelve year old whose spirit is captured and forever changed with a Fender guitar.
Thanks Leo. We all owe you a lot.
Is this a sign of a shifting (and streaming) paradigm?
Remember speed dial?
We do. In those heady days of middle school, you could call that special girl (and subsequently hang up of course) with the touch of only two buttons. It was a minor revolution in communication.
Not surprisingly, this advancement led to the often contentious decision of how to order your speed dial numbers. Immortalized in the Seinfeld episode “Millennium“, your speed dial set-up became a new social ranking.
T-Mobile created a similar predicament when they launched their Faves feature 15 years later. Who would your Faves be? What does that say about you / them?
This week, three different people have forwarded us a screenshot like the one above. Do you notice what’s missing? Yep, the iPod App. This phenomena is manifesting itself again.
What’s on your dock?
Apparently for many, that all-important list of four Apps is starting to include Spotify.
We were excited for Spotify to launch. We hoped that their media push would help lift the awareness factor for all streaming services. Thus far, it looks like this has happened, yet the growing popularity of this service is starting to make many question whether this spells the end for music sales and the monetization of recorded music.
Honestly, its probably still too early to tell. But that said, it looks like the momentum is on streaming. Bob Lefsetz had a great post about the inevitability of streaming’s public adoption last week. And, the most recent IFPI report suggested that overall, streaming services were adding value to artists and record labels in Europe where Spotify and others have been active for years.
Bottom line, we love Spotify. We use it for pleasure, we use it with clients to reference tracks and sounds, and within a few short weeks, its become a part of our daily lives. That says a lot, and we’re probably not alone in this perspective either…
You have managed to find NoWare. We are a music based creative house located in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
