Watched All I Can

Earlier this month, The Woodentops released the single, Dream On, another hint at the forthcoming - and eagerly anticipated - album Fruits Of The Deep. Swiss Adam reviewed the single and the accompanying pair of remixes (by Balearic Ultras and mainman Rolo McGinty himself) on Bagging Area this week and he's spot on in describing the music as "full of the promise of spring/summer" and, more succinctly, "lovely stuff". 

 

I didn't get to see The Woodentops on their recent run of live dates (though Adam did and you can read about it here) but I have been overjoyed that they have been releasing new music and, more, have an album's worth of new material to release into the world.

 

  

Much as I loved Dream On and it's accompanying remixes, I didn't buy any of them last Bandcamp Friday. As it happens, I didn't buy anything last Bandcamp Friday, but more on that later. As I commented on Adam's post last Thursday,

 

I’m loving the music, but finding the £3.50 per track price tag a stretch too far for my budget, sadly.

 

to which Adam replied,

Yep, I know. I winced too.

 

What I wasn't expecting (and I'm guessing Adam wasn't either) is that Rolo had read the post and followed up on our comments with his own.

Hello Khayem.

its an awkward balance.I think maybe 3 pounds is right? 

1 pound is ridiculous. these tracks cost about a grand each to make. 

I don't mix from home usually but even if I do its days of full on work , 

People in general are used to listening then, well they've heard it, can return but don't need to buy, or, move to Spotify. How the hell can we make quality recordings if we know its going to earn 100 quid. 

Perhaps on this, the price is not right? 

I'm finding my way in this now cottage industry . But a dj who plays it on radio or in a club is earning a few hundred or more and a radio show is surviving on the quality of music it plays.

Thanks for your comment, I needed to read that, I was uncertain of the price. 

Why don't you drop me a line and I'll send you something.

I know I'm biased. I've loved The Woodentops since I was a teen, and I've admired Rolo's musical ventures with the band, as a solo electronic artist and his collaborations, recently with Andres Y Xavi. But even so, what a considerate and kind response. 

I have replied and it's also given me food for thought about my feelings about the value (and devaluing) of music and my role as part of the problem and how I can continue to change my attitiude and approach. In really basic terms, I want the artists whose music I enjoy to be able to continue to create and perform music, but I also want new artists to have a viable way of emerging and being seen and heard. 

If you've read this blog previously, you'll have already guessed that whilst I've had a lifelong passion and appreciation for music, I’m very clearly a consumer not a creator. 

 

I’ve never had the talent, the drive, the passion to create music, apart from a brief blip in my teens when I had a secondhand keyboard and my friend Stuart had a guitar and between us, we wrote some terribly po-faced lyrics and tried to make music. The fact that I could barely get beyond the opening riff of Just Can't Get Enough by Depeche Mode probably tells you all you need to know.

Yet there are thousands, millions, of people who do, seemingly in the face of overwhelming odds (and increasingly so) to be able to afford to do so. Actually making a living from music - whether your own or performing someone else's in a covers band - seems to be an impossible dream.

 

Despite the thousands and thousands of words that I've posted on this blog alone, I don’t have a personal insight or perspective to truly understand the blood, sweat, tears, the time, the hours, the cost that goes into creating and releasing music.

What I try to do is make sure that whatever money I’m privileged and lucky enough to spend benefits the people making it as much as possible. So, these days my spend is predominantly digital (Bandcamp Fridays or artist subscriptions only though) or vinyl (I’m a member of Last Night From Glasgow and also occasionally buy direct from artists) or by going to gigs (which I couldn’t do for years, but I’ve tried to make up for in the last few years, post-lockdown).

 

As a consumer of music, I recognise that I’m part of the problem. This is nothing new, but it seems more keenly felt these days that I am part of a population that wants - more, feels entitled to - instant gratification, having everything right now and for free or next to nothing. 

 

Rolo's comments about the rough cost of producing each version of Dream On hit home, not least because I suspect that even this will still not be a true reflection of the hours and the other direct and indirect costs. 

 

Also, I have no idea of what the reach of individual artists are. I always hope that there are thousands of people like me that buy music regularly, whether physical and/or digital formats, but the artists themselves will have first hand knowledge of how much - and how long - it will take to break even. And let's face it, breaking even is not a given or take several years. I'm thinking particularly of that obscure remix from 2014 that I've discovered on a Bandcamp Friday and paid £1 for. Is that even helping by that point?

 

It's also made me think about where I buy and what I'm 'prepared' to pay. I'm lucky enough that I've managed to be employed for pretty much all my working life to date, have a home and a family and can afford to indulge in my passion for music (although Mrs. K could reasonably comment that I spend too much!).

My music buying habits are almost unrecognisable from my teens and 20s, where I used to spend hours in record shops, buying new or secondhand vinyl and CDs, relying on the music press to give me a nod to new music from established and upcoming artists.

 

These days, it's pretty much all online, but I try to make sure that whatever money I’m fortunate enough to spend benefits the people making it as much as possible. The majority of my music purchases are digital and Bandcamp is the biggest source of these. That said, I only buy on Bandcamp Fridays, where fees are waived and artists get more money. The 'but' is that, acknowledging Rolo's comment above, I've frequently bought 'name your price' tracks or albums at a price that would work out at less than £1 per track.

 

I’m also in my second year as a subscriber to Last Night From Glasgow, which means that I get a set number of vinyl releases through the year from artists on their label. I also buy digital or physical releases direct from artists' official websites. I've been going to a lot more gigs, though I'm mindful that in terms of bar and merch stall spend, I'm making very little contribution there, neither of which necessarily benefits the artist significantly but will impact on the viability of the venue hosting gigs. In a recent BBC News item, the owner of The Fleece in Bristol acknowledged that tribute bands and club nights on Fridays and Saturdays sell more tickets and generate more bar spend, effectively subsidising the tours and new artists that perform there during the week.

 

I occasionally use Bandcamp or YouTube to ‘try before I buy’ but I don't use Spotify or other streaming platforms, and I think it's common knowledge how disgraceful their payment model is, which generates an obscene amount of profit for the owners and shareholders and fuck all if you're an independent artist trying to reach out to a wider audience.

 

James Blake made headlines recently when he announced that he had found a 'solution' to the problem of streaming revenues and has gone into partnership with Vault to launch a new way for fans to access unreleased music and engage directly with him.

 

Tom Vek is less convinced by this model and said so in The Guardian, though he has created his own solution - Supercollector - to add to the mix.

 

I follow Trevor Jackson on Twitter and saw that he added to the conversation, with some interesting responses.

 

Trevor also commented on Richard D. James aka Aphex Twin aka user18081971's act of making unreleased music available for free download via Soundcloud. He got quite a strong response to those comments, not least from RDJ fans but also those who pointed out previous acts by U2 and Radiohead, the latter 'pay what you want' model being adopted by Bandcamp.
 

Although I mentioned earlier that I only shop on Bandcamp Fridays, I also acknowledged that whilst I've never paid zero for 'name your price' music, the purchase price for a song or album has worked out at less than £1 per track. That's on me for thinking more about the end product, i.e. a digital copy as opposed to a tangible vinyl or CD copy that I can hold in my hand, without thinking enough about the cost of getting the music there in the first place.

 

There are exceptions: I subscribe to a couple of artists via Bandcamp which means that they receive a set amount of money from me every month and I get digital copies of new music when they release it. As it also includes access to the artists' full digital discography, then I think it's fair to say that the subscriber gets way over and above in terms of value for money. 

 

In a similar vein to Rolo's comments, I follow the music of Catherine Anne Davies aka The Anchoress. Whilst I haven't taken the leap with her (or anyone, for that matter) and supported her via Patreon, I've been quite comfortable with paying the £2 per track for the run of cover versions that she's released over the past couple of years. When 10 of these were subsequently collected and (re)released as the brilliant Versions album in physical and digital formats, I didn't feel 'ripped off' because I'd effectively paid £20 for a collection of songs that were now retailing for half that for a digital copy. I thought instead that each month, I made a small contribution to Catherine's cash flow, that hopefully meant that she could pay bills, eat food, care for her family and make music.

 

Trevor Jackson (again) sums it up beautifully on his sleeve design for A Different Kind Of Human by Aurora, released for War Child's Secret 7" series.

I was mortified to think that Rolo may have read my comment about the Dream On single and thought I was saying that the music is overpriced or not worth it. I know in the past I have commented on the pricing of digital music. 

 

On this occasion, I just couldn’t afford £10.50 for 3 songs and ending up buying nothing at all last Bandcamp Friday as I didn’t have any ‘spare’ money. 

 

Much as I’d love to buy Dream On straight away, in reality I may get one or both remixes next month, and then the album the month after that (or later, depending on the release date). And that's okay.

 

I grew up in the 1970s and 1980s, the latter a great time to be a teen, a music lover and a record collector, not least for discovering The Woodentops.

 

I lived through the Thatcher government, the bedding in of the 'greed is good' culture and the lack of empathy and compassion for others. You don't need me to tell you that in 2024 it feels like nothing’s changed. The internet has opened up the world for artists to reach a potential global audience in ways that were unimaginable 40-50 years ago, but it has also been a contributor to reducing the value of music. 

 

Rolo asked in his reply, Perhaps on this, the price is not right? 

 

It costs more than £3.00 or £3.50 to get a bog standard cup of coffee from a high street chain these days. I get so much more from a song, a remix, an album that I think it’s worth it. It may mean that I have to wait longer to buy in many cases, but pre-ordering or adding music to a shopping list to buy when I can afford to is okay. If anything, it’s a reminder of that teenage me, saving money from my Saturday or holiday jobs so I could go into town to buy some vinyl. 

 

Simply put some things are worth waiting - and saving up - for.

I realise that my financial contribution to enabling people to make music and sharing it is relatively small and thinly spread. But it's right that I'm constantly reflecting on what and how my spend goes to best benefit artists trying to reconcile creativity and cashflow. It will be a sorry world if that the capacity for music to thrive and survive diminishes further.

 

Thanks for bearing with me, this was a marathon compared to my usual blog sprints but something I felt that I had to express as best I could. I've just let the words flow and haven't gone back to edit this post, so my apologies also for typos, repetition or just plain nonsense at times!

I'm going to end as I began with The Woodentops and Ride A Cloud, their marvellous single from last year. It too is available on Bandcamp with a trio of wonderful remixes. And I've just discovered whilst writing this post that they have also made a brilliant video. 

Beautiful music and essential purchases, all.