Pianist/composer Richard Carr certainly is one busy guy. Adding to
his
seven releases in the last five years, Richard has several new projects
waiting to be released: Momente Intimate (a solo piano
project), Four
Healing Hands (a two-piano project with Alx Uttermann) and
At Heaven's
Edge (a
project of synthesizer compositions). And as he says in our
conversation below, he has enough unreleased material for several
more
albums!
A resident of the French Quarter of New Orleans, Richard's draws on
such
diverse influences as Mannheim Steamroller, Tangerine Dream, John
Adams, Keith Jarrett, Cole Porter, Thomas "Fats" Waller, Steve Reich, George
Winston, and George Gershwin. Mix those influences with his love of
classical harmony and improvisation and you have one complex artist!
To learn more about Richard and his music, please visit his website.
Jamie:
As an artist I need to keep evolving. Experiencing different styles
of
music and new ways of working are vital for my musical well-being.
I sense
that you have a similar approach from listening to your new music.
What
drew you to the electronic-based music that you're making now?
Richard: Evolution in music
is absolutely necessary to keep my sanity.
Exploring different music realms, pushing my boundaries further
-- and
hopefully maintain the listener's ear at the same time.
The new aspect of my music began, originally, out of necessity to
finish
Crystalline Christmas which we released in December
for the holidays. I
have been recording at Tulane University on the 9 ft. Steinways
whenever
they are available. Each year in May there is normally a two week
window
for Lenny (my recording engineer) and I to have unlimited access
before the
pianos are stored for the summer. This past year, the pianos were
put in
storage early due to a quirk in the schedule. So I finished the
project on my
Kurzweil PC2x, which is the keyboard I perform on when a grand piano
isn't
available.
Recording the rest of Crystalline Christmas on the
Kurzweil allowed me to
explore the keyboard's sound banks -- something that I had not done
since I
got the keyboard a little over a year prior to the recording sessions.
Every
track was recorded through a Mackie 8 track mixer straight to DAT.
My normal creative and recording process is improvisational. After
the first
30 min or so of work on a particular composition - the rest is all
improvised.
The tape is never turned off if I am at the keyboard because we
don't know
what will come. All the tracks from the new project At Heaven's
Edge are
from the end of the Crystalline Christmas recording
sessions.
I made a conscious and serious effort in the beginning of my recording
career
to remain on the piano as the instrument of choice. I desired to
be known as
a composer first, but also as a fine pianist as well. Using the
Kurzweil
opened the doors to including "new" sounds for a Richard Carr recording.
It
also opened the doors to my orchestrational and textural abilities.
As an undergrad in college I excelled in orchestration. I did some
experimentation with strange combinations in graduate school as
well. In
grad school, I also discovered the serious electronic music literature.
I found
much of that music a bit too extreme for my personal tastes. Certain
20th
century (not necessarily electronically based) intrigued me -- the
minimalists
especially caught my attention.
While in grad school, when asked what kind of music did I write
- I would
answer "music for the 21st century". Maybe those were words of a
high-spirited "rebellious" grad student at the time, but I took
those words
very seriously. I didn't want to write music that was just an exercise
in
composition for me. I needed the music to grab me and throw me down
-- or
to pluck every emotional string inside -- or to take one on a journey
away
from the real world. Although I hadn't really thought specifically
in those
words in a long time, I am still writing with that thought process
in mind.
It was in grad school that I purchased an old Roland Jupiter 8 (JP-8)
synthesizer. I had a couple reel-to-reel (one 2 channel and one
4 channel)
tape decks and it was only natural that I would start my own experimenting
with sounds and the layering of them. The Jupiter probably is the
main
reason why I didn't get my master's degree. I spent entirely too
much time
creating sounds and soundscapes that I didn't give the professors
what they
wanted. I still have much of those old tapes and notes on the sounds
created
with the Jupiter.
So when I started to work with the Kurzweil for Crystalline
Christmas, it
opened the door that had more or less been closed since 1988 or
so. I am
much more proficient technically as a pianist now. Adding that with
the
rediscovered palette of sounds a synth can provide has put my music
into a
new light for those who only know my music since my first CD Through
the
Mind's Eye in 1997.
My music is continually expanding its working parameters. I am always
listening to various kinds of music. Much of my fundamental basics
are
steeped in the Russian Romantics and the French Impressionists.
My piano
sound is harmonically rooted there, rhythmically I probably couldn't
really
trace it. Although my very active left hand has been accused of
being quite
unique, I can only attribute it to the years of playing cover tunes
as a solo
pianist.
The new synthesized music is allowing me to explore new sounds and
reacquaint myself with familiar sounds again with older, maybe a
bit more
mature ears. The Jupiter has been pulled out of the mothballs and
is getting
restored back to full capability. Look to hear sounds from it added
to the
Kurzweil in the future.
Jamie: My
brother had, and still has, a Jupiter 4 -- I'll have to see if I
can
borrow it one day. There's so much music still in older instruments.
I find
when I go back to an instrument or particular sound that I had shelved
for a
while, I'm able to look at the sound from another angle. It's as
if I'm now
hearing things that I didn't know were there before. Has your work
with
electronic music affected your piano playing in any way?
Richard: Maybe
your brother will let me borrow it. I would love to see what
kind of sounds will come out of it. Many of the older synths have
lots of
music in them. There is something about the buttons and knobs that
help
the creative process. You learn what a small change in the attack
and decay
does to a sound. That is just two of many components when constructing
sounds from scratch.
Today's digital sampling has its place, but it is still much more
fun to create
sounds from scratch through an analog synth. The blending of digital
and
analog is probably the next phase of exploration for me. After I
reacquaint
myself with the Jupiter's capabilities, that is. It literally has
been in a case for
almost 12 years.
Playing electronic keyboards does effect my piano playing quite
a bit. The
older synths do not have weighted keys nor or touch-sensitive -
two items
that effect the quality of stylistic expression for a pianist. As
a pianist, my
emotion and passions use the full expression of the piano. There
is a
physicality involved in expressing emotion on a piano which is not
there on
a synthesizer. I experience a very similar problem when I am playing
a pipe
organ on a regular basis and am switching back and forth to the
piano.
Consequently, I have to find another means to express the emotion
of my
music if I am not on a piano or a weighted keyboard. That can be
through
tonal color and texture, sheer volume as well as using the various
sounds
available to you. Over time, live performances of the electronic/synthesized
music will probably be blended together with the acoustic piano
-- opening
yet another set of sound combinations to be explored.
Jamie: Improvisation
is a big part of my music -- it creates a vibrancy and
spontaneity that I need. I try to be as free as I possibly can when
I'm
improvising. In general, I'm not thinking about chord/scale relationships,
although I may be aware of tonal centres. For me, it's all about
trying to
create a vibe! How do you approach improvisation in your music?
Richard: Improvisation
is one of the very basic foundation blocks of my
compositional process. Let me briefly describe a typical recording
session
for you. Maybe it will demonstrate its importance to my music.
Each recording session is no more than 2 hours long. I find myself
exhausted
after 2 hours of concentrated studio work. A typical recording session
starts
with a reworking of something from a previous session for 20-30
minutes.
Then I will flesh out some new melodic ideas for a bit. Then I randomly
pick
a key/tonal center and start to play. My mind basically checks out
of the
loop at this time and my "soul and heart" take over. Sound hokey
or not
realistic? Well, I don't believe it either sometimes.
I suppose my subconscious takes over and is in control. I know I
am not
really consciously thinking about what is being created at the time.
My mind
might be remembering a beautiful scene or imagining a scene and
is painting
the aural pictures for us to experience. That best describes what
happens
while I am improvising.
The results of the next 90 minutes or so of a recording session
will be about
65 minutes of freely improvised music. Generally about 40 minutes
of
completely usable music for recordings. At least two-thirds of the
cuts off all
my recordings are the results of first time improvisations done
in the studio.
The difficult part is then going back to recreate the original.
It may take a
year or more before some of the pieces are fully reconstructed.
Therefore the
live concert versions of many of my compositions are slightly different,
some
even significantly different from the recordings. Rarely are the
pieces played
identically the same way -- adding an element of freshness or excitement
to
a concert.
On every concert program there is a note stating "due to the improvisational
nature of Richard's music, a new, untitled composition may develop
at any
time during the concert." I don't know when the switch will be turned
on. It
really is like a switch being turned on. Consequently I try to record
every
concert to preserve the moment and to possibly be able to re-create
the
music of that moment.
Over the course of the last six years of recording, I have become
able to
"step into the zone" while in the studio, regardless of whatever
is going on
in my life. In between cuts, the conversation may drift from college
basketball
to baseball trivia to thoughts on what restaurant to go to after
the session.
Yet, but when we are ready, I am able to just create, through improvisation,
a complete track without editing.
I agree with you, there should not be any structure to the improvisation.
This
is one spot where my music is different from classical or jazz.
The
improvisations of the classical cadenzas are strictly dictated what
is allowed.
The improvisation in jazz has its structure or rules based within
the chord
and rhythmic progressions. I do not have any preconceived notion
of where I
am going to start and certainly not where I will finish. Over a
six to eight
minute piece, I might wander through five tonal centers/key signatures
or I
might focus on just a few chords. Sonoma Coast Sunset (from Fogland)
is
basically two chords B9 and Emaj7.
There are moments when I finish an improvisation asking "where did
that
come from". Lenny Bertrand, my recording engineer, can tell when
the switch
is turned on too. Sometimes he will push for one more......... while
I am
seemingly on a roll.
I do believe that recording sessions are something that should be
done quite
frequently throughout the year. The more often one is in the studio,
the more
productive the sessions become because of the comfortability factor
of the
situation. Even in a different studio setting, I can quickly adapt
to the
surroundings and have quite productive sessions.
As a result of this mentality in the studio, once I sit down at
the piano, the
tape is rolling. A warm-up exercise might turn into a full blown
piece. We
really don't know. The real end result is a backlog of
compositions/improvisations ready to be placed on a CD project.
From the
seven An American Quixote sessions, we still have
another 65+ minutes
of quality recordings - some of them better than what is on the
An
American Quixote itself. The fifteen or so American
Reflection sessions
have 41 unused tracks - easily enough quality tracks for at least
another
project, maybe two.
All the tracks from the new release At Heaven's Edge are first time
improvisations without any overdubs, tracking or edits on my Kurzweil
PC2x
using stock library sounds from the keyboard. The shortest track
here is
about 12 min long. The longer tracks of the sessions were 30-35
min and
will probably come out in another release next year. Unless, that
is, I create
something that just can't wait to be put out.
Constantly creating is essential. Compose all you can while the
flow is there.
You never know when it, the creative energy flow, will stop. The
more you do
it, the more natural it becomes for you.
Jamie: This
is such a good point! A good friend of mine says that you play
what you practice. If you want to be creative you have to "practice"
being
creative. And you're right -- you have to allow creativity to flow.
But this brings up a question: how do you remain creative, when
as an
independent musician, you have so many hats to wear? Many musicians
are
up against the "one too many things to do" syndrome. When they sit
down
to write, they find it difficult to get into that creative zone.
I was watching a
biography on Leonard Bernstein a while back and they were saying
he had
trouble moving between the extroverted nature of conducting and
the
introspective world of composition. Do you find it a challenge getting
into that
creative space?
Richard: Ahhhh!
The proverbial question, how does it, the creative process,
happen? First of all, if a musician is against just one too many
things, then
he/she isn't getting his/her fair share of things to do. This is
really another
issue altogether which we can address later in the conversation
There are
probably dozens of things going on in any artist's mind in the course
of the
day, even in their sleep (at least, in my sleep my mind is still
actively
working - if my dreams are any indication).
My writing process is quite different from most others. I don't
sit down and
say "OK, today I am writing a song that will be in 3/4 time with
an Irish feel".
I sit at the piano or keyboard and allow my fingers to wander.
There isn't an active conscious thought of harmonic or melodic structure.
Obviously there is a subconscious process going on for the harmonic
and
melodic structures are inherently built in most of the time. I allow
my
emotions and passions of the moment to take control of my hands.
The emotions and feelings are what really dictate what happens in
the creative
process.
The question was really how can I or how do I switch back and forth.
The
only things that I can really attribute to that ability are the
comfort zones
built around me when I am in the studio and the natural ability
I have been
blessed with.
I could say there is some specific chant or mantra that I recite,
but I don't
really do that. I do have a friend of mine who does chant a creation
mantra
before going into the studio and it works for her. I will start
thinking about
my time in the studio the night before and concentrate, at least
in the
background, on the fact that I am going into the studio for the
entire day -
but that is about it.
There are other minor details which add to the comfort zone. I have
been
using the same recording engineer, the same recording space, and
the
same pianos since Fogland, my second release. We always
have Arizona
Ice Tea -- Asian Plum or Mandarin Orange with jasmine honey flavors.
The
lights are always have a warm glow, and not very bright at all.
Sometimes
we even light candles -- especially if we are at my apartment doing
the
electronic stuff.
Knowing that the session is only two hours long, by choice, also
probably
encourages the quick transference into creative mode. Again, it
goes back to
the comfort zone which can only be created by constantly doing things
in a
very similar fashion over a long period of time. We record approximately
12-15 times a year since 1998, depending on my schedule, operating
in the
same basic fashion each time. It is the same all the way down to
the pizza
place we eat at before we start.
Still, even with all that said and done, we wonder where some of
the tracks
come from. I often can be heard saying "Where did that come from?".
Lenny, my recording engineer, often will take a few seconds to respond
from
a finished track -- because he is still caught up in the moment
too. He is a
hard sell on music, so when I get him caught up in the moment, I
know we
got something pretty good.
That, the studio work, is the easy part of creating new music for
me. Going
back and recreating it for concerts is another matter all together.
Through a
combination of notes written at the time of recording and very active
listening
with a portable CD player through headphones, I am able to approximately
recreate the moment and the notes. Over time, the music will solidify
into a
performing version of the studio recording. Very rarely will the
original
recording sound exactly like my performing version.
Over the last four or five years of playing my own music, certain
songs have
been known to become different animals in live performances. "My
Candle
Burns" from Through the Mind's Eye is an all-out monster
when I play it.
"Fogland" has been known to be extended five or six minutes at times
with
some dark harmonic variation of the theme. "Hope (Vietnam)" from
American Reflection is filled with emotional passion and
sometimes it gets
very difficult to stop the energy flow while performing it. In that
particular
instance, the emotions are probably even stronger than when I recorded
it,
thus the increased passion with which I play it.
I am not sure if I answered the question adequately or if it shed
any light
how are my composition process is. Maybe I just opened the doors
to look
at many other aspects of this business we call music.
Jamie: Your
comment about energy flow really rings true for me. Live music
is in many ways different from the studio. The actual environment
that I'm
playing in, the audience and the musicians that I'm playing with
can deeply
affect the way I play. How important are external forces in your
live music
making?
Richard: Since
I have been performing strictly solo for the last 8 years, I
cannot speak for interactive energy between musicians in a live
concert
setting. I do know that audience energy does influence my performance.
Since I have been playing in hotels and restaurants as background
music
for many years, I am used to being ignored. A responsive crowd does
help
to elevate the energy and enthusiasm even if it is a responsive
crowd of one.
My only live performances with another musician has been with guitarist
Joesf Glaude, from Tulsa. He is a brilliant neo-classical guitarist
with a few
recordings available (www.jglaude.com - I think). Our improvisations
in the
four performances we have had together have progressively improved
to the
point where we are discussing when we will begin a recording project.
There are other things that effect my live performance -- the sounds
out of
my control in the setting. A couple years ago, I had a stretch of
six concerts
where the weather was a serious issue. Thunderstorms and even a
tornado
(in St. Louis) added further natural ambiance for the music, inspiring
an
improvisation on the spot incorporating the thunder and rain into
the piece.
My only experiences in performing with another musician, outside
of
accompanying vocalists, have been while working on a two piano recording
series. The first two sessions were with pianist Alx Utterman. There
was an
unbelievable energy and connection between the two of us. The results
of
those sessions will be released in January 2004 with the recording
Four
Healing Hands. Some of the tracks are just pure magic.
In my experiences, we all come across kindred souls in our lifetimes,
musical and other types. Apparently Alx and I are such a pair of
musical
kindred souls. The other two piano sessions with two other pianists
didn't
yield such magic as those first sessions with Alx. There were moments
with
them, but not the extended magic that was with Alx. There are pairs
in our
genre who have such a unique blending of musical spirits - Peter
Kater and
R. Carlos Nakai, Tingstad & Rumbel, or Nakai and almost anyone
actually.
When such pairs get together, the music transcends the notes to
another
higher level.
Jamie: The
notes are just a starting place for me, and to get to that place
where the music seems effortless, I have to find where it lives.
And practice
like heck! There are so many ways to approach a composition, but
every
time I approach a piece with any sort of set agenda, the tune just
doesn't
seem to work. Oddly, finding out what the music is about is rarely
apparent
to me initially -- I just have to believe that over time the piece
will reveal itself.
Just to go off on a business oriented tangent, where do you see
the music
industry, in general, and the contemporary instrumental genre, specifically,
headed?
Richard: Practice,
that is another subject we can touch on later.
MUSIC BUSINESS? Ha, many of today's big shots in the music industry
see the end on the very near horizon. If the big shots continue
"business as
usual", they will come to a quicker death than most. Today's music
industry
is very much like the film industry was 10-15 years ago. The independent
film company's were struggling for dollars to put out high quality
art. The big
three or four companies downplayed the existence of the independents
and
kept putting out sub-quality films. What caused the change and acceptance?
The actors and creators took a stand and decided what the public
needed
was quality films, not schlock. Grant it, there is still a lot of
schlock in film,
but there are many quality films with decent budgets coming from
independent film companies. Many actors are funding projects themselves
-- Tribeca Films is owned by Al Pacino, if I remember correctly.
Clint
Eastwood funds most of his own films now and is doing great work.
The
Lord of the Rings is produced by an independent outfit from Australia/New
Zealand. Basically the creators and actors determined the fate of
the film
industry by taking control of the artistic side of film and the
film execs
followed suit. The lack of competition permitted a lapse of quality
to occur.
Competition breeds quality. Without quality, it fades into just
another piece
of humdrum existence.
Today's music industry is where the film industry was 10-15 years
ago. There
is a lot of schlock being put out by the major record companies
looking for
the quick dollar. The record companies are telling us what we should
like.
Let me rephrase that, they are targeting the 11-20 year olds and
telling them
what they should like. In time, they start to make music choices
for
themselves and toss those notions aside. You don't find too many
people
in the late 20's or older listening to the Back Street Boys or NSYNC
or any
of the girls bands.
The recent Grammy awards rewarded an independent label who believed
in
an artist and gave her the opportunity to cross into the pop world.
Norah
Jones and Blue Note (one of the biggest names in jazz recording
over the
last 50 years) were rewarded with 8 Grammies.
Music, true music, stands the test of time. I can only pray and
hope that my
music will still be around 100 years from now. Will most of the
mainstream
music today? I seriously doubt it.
As far as the music industry as a whole, I don't believe we will
recognize the
industry in 10 years, using today as a checkpoint. The independent
music
scene will eventually force the major labels to retool their paradigm
to
survive. Many major execs realize that now and are jumping ship
because
the corporate dollar driven model is being overwhelmed by the need
for artists
to create their art, despite the obstacles in the way.
We have been seeing distributors closing their doors, others barely
hanging
on. Smaller, more focused distributors are weathering the storm
a bit better.
They are not taking new artists, focusing on who they already have.
That plan
is good for them in the short run, but may not be good in the long
run
because the new artists are not able to expand their audiences.
I see a
return to the smaller, regional distributors. This will certainly
help artists to
get a better regional representation. They will just have to deal
with a few
more distributors.
Our genre is already devoid of major labels for the most part. The
real
problem for the genre, as I see it, is a lack of money to really
promote the
product. Without the proper promotion, high quality music is being
produced
and many of the artists are hoping, or more like praying, that it
is found.
Another thing the lack of money hurts is the live performances.
The
ambient/electronic side of the genre is not really geared toward
live
performances. Much of our listening audience would rather spend
the money
on the CD and listen on their own time, rather than go see someone
perform
live. Getting a venue to book a contemporary composer/pianist is
like asking
Barry Bonds if he gets no satisfaction out of hitting a home run
-- there is
little or no chance of that happening unless it is financed by someone
else.
So what are live performers doing? Loreena McKennitt started as
a street
performer, playing for tips for several years. Bookstores, coffee
shops, malls,
churches and new age shops are also options -- most for little or
no
committed fees.
Clubs are looking to bring people in to drink and spend money. My
target
audience would probably be found in a coffee shop rather than a
bar/club.
Getting them to come to a concert hall setting is something that
is quite a
challenge. I have been playing benefit concerts which do draw more
attendees. It is not necessarily a profitable way to function because
you are
basically playing to raise money for a charity, not for you. The
fallout of
benefit concerts is that you may develop fans from your performances.
CD
sales are just an affirmation of that. I donate a portion of each
CD sold at a
benefit to the benefiting organization, which may also increase
sales at the
concert as well.
Philanthropic organizations might sponsor a concert, but would rather
sponsor a concert of a "bigger" name in the genre. How does one
convince
them that you are equally as entertaining, if not more, as the "big"
name? I
am wrestling with that one myself. The music apparently isn't enough.
I
suppose if I did a PBS special concert and marketed it to the public
television stations around the country cheaply enough, I would probably
become one of the "bigger" names. Got about $20K to produce a TV
show?
I will have you on as a guest -- we both can become big names at
the same
time.
Alternative marketing and performance venues is where I see the
ground to
be made. There is a lot of music in the genre that isn't really
of, what I
would call, high-quality. I include my first CD in that group. The
music is
quite good, but the production is seriously lacking. I think we
have worked
out most of the production bugs. To go back to the thought, in my
specific
area -- solo contemporary piano -- there are quite a few pianists
who really
need to be taking lessons rather than performing live concerts.
I realize I am
opening myself up to criticism here, but I truly believe that. There
are too
many pianists out there who are more worried about playing all the
notes
right that they are completely without emotion and passion. Music
is not
just notes. It is the notes blended with the passion and emotion
of the
performer. If you forget to include the emotion and passion -- don't
bother
me with your music, I will just sit and squirm inside.
When playing in New Orleans' restaurants and hotels, I frequently
get asked
why I am not in a concert hall somewhere. I tell them simply --
no money,
but it is in my plans to be in a concert hall in your hometown within
the next
5-10 years. Now I am creating a church concert circuit for myself.
Using my
radio airplay an assistant for promoting concerts and my distributor
to make
my music accessible in those same areas, I am approaching churches
as
performance venues. Using existing concert series and a few other
concepts,
I am booking tours in various denominations of churches around the
country.
Hopefully building a fan base large enough in an area to permit
me, in time,
the ability to book a concert hall and not take a financial loss.
Unless other artists start to realize that networking and sharing
resources
is the only way to crack the vanity label image, our genre will
remain to be
on the fringe. I have made some connections with artists who are
willing to
share info, but a majority are guarding their little piece of turf,
so to speak.
So, instead of getting the info directly from them, I get it indirectly
through
their websites. I am not afraid to pick up a phone to find out how
to book a
concert in a certain venue. I have heard "No" all too many times
for it to even
come close to bothering me. If a venue will book David Lanz, maybe
they
will book me - if the price is right or I can convince them that
they need to
book me. Then again, they can just say "No" and I will put them
down to be
contacted a year later - after another CD or two has been released
and
charted well.
One thing to note, the public is starting to recognize the quality
of music in
our genre. Check the statistics -- new age CD sales have risen over
the last
five years. That trend is contrary to the majority of the genres.
I do believe that the genre will survive despite the lack of a unified
front.
Although it will make great strides if artists are able and willing
to work
together. The real issue is "Who has the time to do that and continue
working on their own music and careers?" That question is roaming
around
in one of the new age online discussion groups right now.
I know I could do it, with a bit of financing -- then again, what
about my
career? Do I sacrifice my career to help promote other artists?
No, you
can't expect me to either, but I will help anyone out that I can.
If we don't
help each other out to some extent, we all will starve as full-time
musicians
or we will sacrifice our careers to work some boring humdrum job
to put food
on the table and a roof over our head.
I don't know if that really answered the question as a genre --
but my
experiences as a one person operation independent label indicates
that the
rest of the genre is probably doing the same thing.
Jamie: Lots
of great points! You're right about time constraints -- how do
independent musicians give the necessary attention to business without
hurting the artistic side? I don't know if there's really a good
answer to this,
but I've taken the view that everything I do is part of the whole.
Selling more
records or getting more people out to a show means I can buy more
gear or
hire more musicians. So I see there being a real, tangible artistic
value in
succeeding on the business side. That said, business sure can eat
up a lot
of time!
So what do think about the Internet? Is the Internet going to be
the dominant
means distribution in the future?
Richard: I
will answer the second question first. It is the easier of the two
to answer. Will the Internet become the dominant means of distribution
in
the future? No -- Never! People love to walk into a music store,
browse, buy
and walk out with product in their hand. I don't need to ask anyone
that
question -- I know from personal experience. I prefer to walk out
with my
new CDs and put them on as soon as possible.
Now let's rephrase the question -- Will the Internet become the
dominant
means of distribution for our genre and independent music, in general,
in the
future? That answer in many ways is -- the future is already here.
How are
the bulk of your sales, excluding the gig sales, sold? That answer
for many
artists, myself included, is through online sales -- either at our
own websites,
Amazon.com, CDBaby.com, CDStreet.com, MP3.com or any of the myriad
of online stores. Even many of the brick and mortar stores have
online
services.
Online purchases are the way most artists are selling because they
cannot
secure distribution and they are not touring. Whether an artist
can succeed
solely by being available online or not is strictly up to the amount
of time and
effort they are willing to put into online promoting of their music.
Up to about
3-4 months ago, one could be somewhat successful online through
MP3.com. Since they have been bought out by one of the major labels,
Vivendi I believe, changes in the very way business is done has
made it all
but impossible for independent musicians of any genre to make any
money
through MP3.com. Pianist/composer David Nevue from Eugene, OR has
been very successful with generating an income and awareness online.
So
successful that he wrote an excellent how-to book. and has released
a 2nd
revised edition of it. Multiple sources of income through the music
is the way
to go.
If you can maximize your time and effort, not to mention your money,
you
can succeed online. You better learn HTML along the way (something
I
haven't done - yet). It will make your life easier when you want
to change
something on your website or add a new feature or just update your
performing schedule.
Again, in my mind, the Internet is all part of the puzzle to have
a successful
music career. I used MP3.com strictly as a freebie promotional vehicle.
At
one time an artist got paid for downloads -- IF they paid a monthly
fee.
MP3.com even gave you a whole list of promo items or gimmicks.
The one really good gimmick was the Internet radio programming possibilities
using MP3.com artists. All these took time to develop, then time
to promote
them as well. If you had something already in place to help promote
such a
concept, it was real easy to add it to existing promotions. If you
didn't have
such a promotional vehicle (i.e.: a monthly e-newsletter to your
fans), you
have to create and continue to promote continuously.
The big uproar about Napster two years ago, Gnutella last year and
KaZaa
this year only can help us as independent artists to get noticed.
I was
against Napster before I started looking into it. I am still not
thrilled with
someone getting my music for nothing, unless it leads them to buying
my
CDs either online or in a retail outlet in their city.
When we (my webmistress and I) first looked into Napster, we found
3 titles
of my music on the system and another title attributed to me. The
additional
title was my music with a seashore background added to it. The person
who
"techno'd" it, a mild techno at that, didn't claim it, just renamed
it.
We then decided to place a few more titles onto the Napster system
and
sure enough, people starting downloading it. One of the cool features
was
that you could send an instant message and talk to the downloader
right
then. Half the people we talked to had no idea what they were downloading,
the other half were concerned that we were talking to them. Yet,
once we
started to talk to them, people started to ask questions like "When
are you
coming to give a concert?" ........ in Hong Kong, Turkey, Istanbul,
England,
Russia, etc. How would you like to do that tour? We also told them
to visit
the website and if they wanted to purchase the music, they could
do so at
the website and I would sign it for them.
Napster provided a means of actually making contact with potential
fans. I
can tell you that the lady from Hong Kong spent over an hour on
my website
the next day. Several other people found my website and spent time
there
listening after hearing music on Napster. I haven't check on Gnutella
or
KaZaa if my music is there. I figure if someone finds my music there,
it is
a freebie for them. How handmade cassettes or CDs do you have at
home
that have been given or you have put together over the years?
Grant it, the whole file-sharing concept is controversial in many
ways. I view
it as just another tool at my disposal to help promote the music.
The is so
vast, unless you actively are promoting your website, it is just
another
nameless site in the nameless void called the cyberworld.
Educating yourself and your potential fans on how to locate you
on the net
is probably the most important part of the portion of your promotional
efforts.
Maybe there is an easier way to succeed online. If there is, I haven't
found it
yet. It is like any other kind of promotion, the harder you work
at it, the more
success you will get. I used to wander into chat rooms and start
up
conversations with complete strangers. Eventually sending them to
my
website and hopefully registering a sale. For a while, I wouldn't
let myself go
to sleep unless I sold at least one CD a day -- either at a gig
or online when
I got home. It worked for a while, but it was real hard work some
days.
If what I see as the current trend continues, very few of the artists
in our
genre will be touring. Very few artists are on "major labels" today
and even
those get very minimal support from the labels. The economics of
basic living
prevent most of the artists from going on the road to promote their
music. So
online sales and an effective mailing lists are two ways CDs will
be sold.
I am opening another can of worms by discussing touring, but I will
just leave
it open and put it on the side for the moment. I have some definite
thoughts
on touring, but I will hold back for a moment.
Jamie: Well,
you opened the can.......So, what are your thoughts on
touring?
Richard: Touring
is again another vital piece of the overall puzzle of a
successful artist with a complete package. It is essential to perform
live so
one can develop the larger fan base necessary to allow an artist
to support
him/herself with music, not another career.
I guess we should look at the overall definition of success. There
are many
artists out there content to record and not perform live. If a project
gets
airplay, that is wonderful -- but they are not pushing themselves
as artists.
Other artists expect a distributor to take the music and sell it
to the masses.
As we discussed earlier, a distributor is not going to be the big
pusher of
anyone's music. Maybe the artists are happy with working a different
career
and having a music as a sideline. Those people will not be found
on the road.
In fact, in this genre, we don't find very many on the road. Why?
The reasons are numerous, let's cover some of them. The big reason
comes
to mind is that many of us cannot find a place to perform. Celtic
musicians
can usually find an Irish pub -- some ambient/electronica artists
can find
some clubs that cater to the genre -- solo guitarist can get into
some coffee
shops or small night clubs -- pianists or synthesists are a different
matter
though.
Anyone can rent a venue and promote a concert in a new city. This
costs
money that is not a guaranteed to be recouped. Outside of those
expenses,
there is the lodging and food, not to mention the transportation
costs. How
can we build an audience in a new area without costing a small fortune?
If I want to move forward beyond my city, I need three things --
product, radio
and media awareness and a venue to perform in. Most of us have product.
There can be some radio awareness if I have done some radio promo
when
the CDs come out. The venue won't be a club in most cases, maybe
a
coffee shop. University and college music programs don't always
take our
music seriously (although that may be slowly changing). What is
left for
piano music that is somewhat classical but not completely in nature?
Restaurants and hotels? Department stores or malls? Churches or
libraries?
Arts & crafts festivals or Fine Art Concert Series? Finding
fans off your
mailing list to host a concert in their home? Finding a sponsor
like a local
fine arts council or a charity wanting to raise money for their
cause? The
answer, for me at least, is yes to some degree to all of those.
Over the last three years I have collected venue info from a variety
number
of sources, many via the Internet. Everything from Borders bookstores
to
scouring online every state for churches that host concerts to checking
directories of festivals and fine arts programs. I have heard of
some
individuals being fairly successful performing in malls, even without
airplay or
much press. Currently I am exploring that as a means to sell product
to allow
me to produce more product. Festivals could be performing on stage
or even
renting a booth to sell your product, possibly playing 20-30 minutes
each
hour and then selling product.
The reality of it all is that the whole concept of touring is difficult.
Every
aspect is difficult to do by oneself. Booking the tour is a completely
tiresome
job with following up letters and emails, making sure the promo
packets get
to those interested in a timely fashion and following those up.
One needs to
look ahead at least two months, more often more than a year ahead
of
schedule. Handling rejection is paramount to not being completely
discouraged.
The current plan I have been working with is a combination of church
concerts, mall appearances, benefits, house concerts (when and where
possible), bookstores, etc. Each of these is a means to develop
a
relationship with new fans. Ideally I will perform 3-5 times a week.
Each time
I play in a city, it is to foster the ongoing relationship with
the existing fan
base and to expose my music to new audiences with the ultimate goal
of
performing in a small theater in front of a crowd of 300-500 or
more after
several visits in a period of 3-5 years.
Many artists do not really want to share their contact information.
So I have
stopped asking for their help. I just look at their concert schedules
and go
from there. Although I believe that the genre would flourish if
artists would
help each other in their cities, it isn't something that is happening.
Thus
adding a bit more legwork to be done. Finding a booking agent doesn't
help
too much because they will work only with those who will make it
worth their
while from a financial aspect -- which doesn't happen on the first
couple
times through. If one wants to tour most of the year, I recommend
finding a
good calling plan and have a reliable someone who can and will send
out
packages when you are on the road so you can continue to move forward.
There is the whole issue of getting the media's attention too. Having
contacts
for the daily newspaper(s), weekly entertainment paper(s), monthly
magazines, television and radio can be wonderful sources for exposure
if
you can get their attention. The free listings are about all you
can get most
of the time.
Fans in a particular area might be able to help obtain the contact
information,
too. Use any and all possible channels of assistance. You never
know when
or where that good publicity plug will come from.
There are artists blazing their own path with a modicum of success.
Many of
the big name artists have a whole team of people helping them to
book the
concerts AND command a large appearance fee.
In summary, a solo artist with or without too much of a support
team will
require lots of time and effort to put a tour together. Then the
artist has to
take his/herself on the road for the actual tour. Both of these
aspects of
touring require time and money to pull it off -- maybe that is why
there are
not too many artists out on the road.
Jamie: I
think you sum it up very nicely. Many artists starting out vastly
underestimating the labour involved in handling the business side
of the
music industry. I know it was an eye opener for me!
Richard, thanks for taking the time to do this conversation and
best of luck
in the future!
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