"Alternative" music

My observation is not a new one, but as a person who plays and listens to music, it must be documented that there are very few ways people hear about new music anymore. It must also be noted that none of the following apply to me, likely because I read Music-oriented magazines and websites, and even have a small group of friends who are as nutty and critical of music themselves. Obviously, that's quite a pretentious thing to say, I'm quite aware. Anyways, here it is, where the majority of America's music-buying audience finds their music. No, it's not XM Radio, and no, I have no statistics to back any of this up. These are purely observations, so don't take anything too seriously!

WHERE "AVERAGE" MUSIC LISTENERS FIND "NEW" MUSIC
1. iTunes commercials- It's not a secret that Apple has broken lots of new artists, primarily Feist, who did not just appear overnight.

http://www.macnn.com/articles/07/10/01/nano.propels.feist/

2. Guitar Hero/Rock Band- The downfall of music, in my opinion, celebrates the music we already hear on Classic Rock stations everyday, whether we avoid them or not. Sometimes they throw in a "new" Nirvana song and constantly rip you off by making the music you already listen to "interactive," but not as interactive as dancing or as actually learning to play the song. Obviously, the game is geared towards non-musicians, but seriously, I hate this thing. The game is so cheap and easy to produce, aside from purchasing music rights, that Activision is laughing all the way to the bank because you're willing to buy a Metallica version of their game.


Another opinion: http://new.nz.music.yahoo.com/blogs/mojo/7313/guitar-hero-must-die/?page=22



3. Now! That's What I Call Music - This album sells more copies than even it's largest featured chart-topper these days, but seriously, this is just a compilation of music the dying record-industry still has control over, and hilariously, convinces people to buy the singles they already hear 20 times a day on terrestrial Top-40 radio.

4. The O.C./Chuck/Grey's Anatomy - The woman who chooses the music for these shows will break your band into the mainstream, and my Mother will ask me if I know who "Snow Patrol" is.

5. Hand-me-down music - Siblings get music handed down to them without personally exploring or discovering it on their own, getting an unfiltered, pre-determined collection of music no different than a "NOW" compilation (only probably more diverse). "You like the Beatles and I like the Stones, but those were just records that our parents owned" - Art Brut



6. The band is opening for Paramore - Seriously, this will break a lot of really generic bands.



7. "Indie" films - Films that appear to represent the counter-culture, but actually just get better distribution because Fox Searchlight knows how to take a movie, market it as "this year's Juno" and cram the Moldy Peaches or Sufjan down your throat until you feel like you're suddenly eclectic.


8. Morning Television shows - The "TRL" for housewives, "Good Morning America" has tricked mothers into listening to Lily Allen do a duet with Debbie Harry while reuniting the New Kids on the Block for an endearing, heartfelt, 8 am performance. Sometimes, Local Cleveland's Fox-8 Morning show will feature "hits" like Kanye's "Love Lockdown" over their traffic cam.



9. Lil Wayne guest appears on one of their tracks - Who the hell is Kevin, whatever his name is? Who? It doesn't matter, he got a famous rapper to spend an hour out of his day to rap over and then appear in his video. The point is, this broke whoever this guy is.

10. Making a crappy reality show about your band - Brett Michaels, Cartel (sorry guys, you jumped ship after your first EP), and the Pussycat Dolls. Go away.



There are many I'm surely missing. I posted a link to this blog and 3 people seemed to be up in arms about it, you cannot tell me that the above listed are not garnering record sales for bands that would normally never be heard. What's crazy about the whole thing is not necessarily how you can go from rags to riches (Death Cab for Cutie), but that your music will likely garner the attention of fans who will come to your shows only wanting to hear the new album or your 2 iTunes singles.

Some stuff

I'm working on a Stem Cell Research Installation along with my CD class for Case Western/Cleveland Clinic/ University Hospitals partnership, The National Center for Regenerative Medicine. Anyways, we have a few more weeks to work on the project, but iterations are still in the early stages, and my proposal to use plexi (and now foamcore, due to budget reasons) is likely to follow through. More iterations, and hopefully photos of the final installation in the Wolstein Bldg. at Case Western will follow. The class has yet to decide on a "look" for this, so I figured I'd throw my hat in the ring. Here's an iteration.

For Illustration, I was assigned an editorial design project, where I was given an article (a Bruce Springsteen article circa 2 years ago). After early iterations which actually featured portraits of Bruce, I focused on the theme of the interview as well as his album. "Radio Nowhere," the single off of the album described the panic when all communication would be down, the sense of loneliness and lack of direction that would follow. I decided to use radio waves, which also serve as a metaphor for sound waves (in the song he describes it) as well as for the obvious heartbeat. My ideas changed quite a bit, but this was what I came up with, something simple, in a format similar to that of Esquire Magazine.


In addition, I created an Identity for 'Energy Coatings International," a Cleveland-based Powder Coating company. Their coating keeps out heat and works primarily in roofings and coatings for anything that needs to be protected from the heat. After many, many iterations, trial and error, the final logo incorporated a green swoosh, which represented the environment through color, and ozone through the sem-circle 'swoosh.' the "ozone" is a metaphor for both the Earth, which reflect's the sun's heat and also the coatings the ECI makes. Recently, they have made groundbreaking progress with their product and have sold to large clients in help because of the new branding.


Here is a work in progress, this is the proposed cover for TDR Records' Texas-based band, Barely Blind. Entitled "My Life With A Giant," this also went through many iterations and digital coloring was the obvious choice for something of this magnitude and with the time I had, as well as the budget. I'm also doing a 6-panel interior, the disc, the design...basically the entire thing. The band had a strong sense of direction for what they wanted, so I had some creative freedom within their given parameters. The rest of the booklet is also done by hand and colored digitally, so it'll be interesting to see how it comes out.





In other news, I've been meaning to avoid the computer as much as possible for the next few assignments. When deadlines are short it's very helpful, but I don't want to abandon the look I often favor of digital. I guess each project will just dictate the direction.