The following article was written by Brian Sendrowitz of Beat Radio:
We recently decided to embark on a Kickstarter drive to raise funds to press our first ever vinyl release. We feel really grateful for the unique opportunity to be able to make something like this happen. At the moment, we’re just a few hundred dollars away from meeting our goal!
Before we started I thought for a long time about whether or not this was the right direction for us to take. Pretty much everyone knows the floor fell out on the record industry a few years back. For us it seemed to happen at the exact moment we came of age creatively. We had lots of record labels coming out to see us, but it was pretty clear none of them were going to be able to afford to take a chance on signing a band like us. A&R guys were getting fired left and right. The industry seemed to be in a state of panic. I couldn’t have blamed any of them. I mean, let’s face it, we’re kinda weird. I think I sort of knew that any deal we made at that time would probably have been the wrong deal for us.
Still, I remember watching The Last Waltz and lamenting on how there was once this magical time when artists who were as strange and idiosyncratic as Neil Young and Van Morrison could be signed to deals where creativity could be nurtured over the course of a few records. I mean of course, these are some of the greatest artists of the last century–and genius finds a way, but I couldn’t help but wonder what they’d be doing if they were just getting started. Would they be going on American idol or something?
Anyway, I was never one to spend to much time looking back. As Patti Smith would say “I don’t fuck much with the past, but I fuck plenty with the future.” For us the digital revolution has never been a bad thing. It’s actually been the thing that’s made it possible for us to continue to exist. Still, the question of how artists are going to find support to continue to create art continues to fascinate me.
I came across this post the other day: http://ow.ly/2itQW Basically, it makes the argument that supporting a band by buying T-shirts is not an adequate substitute for buying their music. The tone of the article is not really my style. I’m admittedly something of an anarchist when it comes to the idea of the digital proliferation of music, file-sharing, downloads, etc. I remember reading on a message board once that “unless you can un-invent the internet all this arguing about the problem of file-sharing is pretty pointless.” Kind of extreme, but true perhaps? Still, after reading the article yesterday one question that really hit home was this: Do we want to live in a world where artists thrive because of the quality of their art, or for their skill at merchandising and social networking?
I enjoy both. I have a real love for how I’m able to share and interact with people who are fans of our music. That sense of human connection is why we create music, and I wouldn’t want have been born at any other time. I believe that this is the best time ever to be an artist, but I do ultimately hope that we have fans because they love the songs, and not because I’m a nice guy who posts on twitter a lot, you know?
So anyway, here we are. To use my bandmate Evan’s term, we’re an “art gang”. We’re just friends really, but we take our craft seriously. It’s who we are, on a basic level. It’s what’s in our soul. We’re not going to sit around and complain how the music industry sucks. We’re going to work as hard as we can to get our music out into the world. We’re going to keep looking for a business model that makes the band sustainable.
Basically, we’re making this all up as we go along. So we’re going to make records, so people have a chance to pay for the music. If you want to download our songs for free, we’d love that too. We made the songs so you can share them with your friends, or put them on mixtapes. Or play them really loud when you’re driving down to the beach, or rock them on your ipod in the subway. If you can support us, it would mean the world to us, because we want to make this thing grow.
Sorry to get all philosophical on you again. We’re so so grateful for everyone’s support so far! Also, we’d love to hear what you guys think about this stuff.
’til the wheels come off,
Bri
