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Do we have any musical people on DC?

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Renegade:
Interesting if a little long-winded at times.
-40hz (November 16, 2015, 03:22 PM)
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Yep.

40hz:
So I don't see a return to patronage as necessarily  desireable or without danger to artistic integrity.
-40hz (November 17, 2015, 07:26 PM)
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I do agree there are dangers- but there's danger in everything.  The trick is to be aware of them, and work to avoid them.  You really think that the current system we have is any better?  And that those same pressures don't exist?  The current system is closer to classical patronage- the few hold the money, and they support who they will on a whim.  When I say patronage, I don't think towards that system- but more towards those that want support directly.  That is what I like about patronage.  I give $1 and it's not much.  10000 give $1 and it's a clear sign that you're doing something that people like.  100,000 give $1... and you're well on your way.  So I mean everyone being a patron of what they like.  Rather than the artist getting only a fraction of what I pay, and being in control of a lesser fraction.  And where you have to basically sign away your work in order to get published.

I had a friend... a moderately successful writer.  He wrote a pretty niche set of novels, and still writes them.  It was originally his story... and one that the publisher just publishes, right?  He tried to go into different media.  Things that the publisher wasn't even into.  Used Kickstarter for it, and was very successful.  Too successful one might say- there was nothing from the publisher's side, until the Kickstarter did so well.  You can imagine the rest.  It ended *reasonably* well, but still, it shows that people above will grasp onto anything they can keep ahold of, and squeeze until there's nothing left.
-wraith808 (November 17, 2015, 08:18 PM)
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Point taken. But it's also dangerous to equate the music industry with the publishing industry. Because except for some similarities when it comes to distribution models, the two worlds and businesses are very different once you get beyond the superficial resemblances. Having been in both worlds, I can speak from firsthand experience on that subject.

I also don't agree that it's necessarily worth revisiting an already known "bad option" with the (IMO) mistaken notion that just because its dangers are known, that somehow makes it potentially more "acceptable" or worth considering a second time. Because according to The Book of 40Hz: "When something sucks - knowing that it sucks (and how it sucks) - doesn't make it any less sucky."

Or to put it more professionally: A "bad option" remains a bad option, regardless of the degree of risk involved in pursuing it.  ;) 8)


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To go back to Amanda Palmer's successful Kickstarter campaign, I think it's also worth noting that she didn't solicit funding to write the music (which took 4 years), put the band together, or record the master tracks. She had already done that and was at pains to make sure people understood this wasn't the usual: "Hey wassup! We want to do our own album peeps! Mommy and daddy already said no. So can you maybe help pay to do it?". Which made her campaign very different from most music Kickstarters in that there already was "product."

In her case she was soliciting contributions for final mastering, manufacturing, and distribution. Basically those things a record company traditionally handles for a recording artist. So you could probably say she wasn't doing a music project campaign so much as a campaign to create a single project recording and distribution company. Because the creative part was already finished. All that remained was the manufacturing and distribution. And the road show...

Which was, I think, was an extremely significant factor in getting her the backing she got - along with her roughly 14 years of "street cred" and active involvement with her fan base leading up to it.

wraith808:
Or to put it more professionally: A "bad option" remains a bad option, regardless of the degree of risk involved in pursuing it. 
-40hz (November 18, 2015, 12:03 PM)
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I'd disagree that it, in and of itself, is a bad option.  It becomes bad, IMO, when too much dependency is introduced into one outside source.  Making art on Spec is very fraught with the unknowns.  To know beforehand that you have a ready market for your work can be very calming, I'd think.  So modifying what has gone before to remove the one source problem does make the problem and solution as different.  Many people funding (a crowd, even) makes it the rule of the mob- for good and for bad.

Which was, I think, was an extremely significant factor in getting her the backing she got - along with her roughly 14 years of "street cred" and active involvement with her fan base leading up to it.
-40hz (November 18, 2015, 12:03 PM)
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I do agree with this point- having a product made vs. soliciting to make it is a large differentiation.  And one that I use in my own support of Kickstarters that I support (less so with Patreon, as it's usually ongoing).

40hz:
Might this be the beginning of the end of the "tonewood" debate? A completely cardboard Stratocaster commissioned by Cardboard Chaos rolls out of the Fender Custom Shop...

Cardboard Chaos is here and it’s time to riff on a new idea! Rock out with your cardboard stock out! This episode we work with a master builder at the Fender Custom Shop to see if paper has the ability to handle the look, feel and sound of one of the world’s most recognizable guitars, the Fender Stratocaster. A master builder can make just about anything look good, but will it sound good? Will it have tone and will it be able to handle the heat and get approval from one who rocks for a living in one of the most ass kicking bands of the last two decades, Linkin Park?! It’s a tall order and with roughly 250lbs of torque put on the neck of a guitar from the strings – We have ourselves a challenge and some Cardboard Chaos!
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wraith808:
Thanks for sharing that!  It's so cool!  The part that was the best to me was watching the faces of the musicians as they first played it.

I wonder about the weight?  And the finishing?  And the durability over time?

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