Music Business

Sometimes You Have To Go Backwards To Move Forwards

We definitely live in a single driven music business. Where people don’t even give a thought to buying full length albums.

I know this. In a way, I’ve helped to proliferate this paperless, intangible culture. I’m also ok with that too.

This year, I’ve been given an opportunity to put out physical CD’s. I’m currently approving the final proofs and finishing touches of the record.

When it came time to figuring out the right sequence, I let my friend and Mastering engineer Herb Powers help me come up with the right presentation of songs – Knowing fully well that the odds that people might not even purchase the CD let alone listen to the tracks throughout.

As I was going through the exercise of putting the record together, I got a bit wistful. I may be the last generation who will ever have the joy of listening through a record as some people still read through chapters. Cassettes had a funny way of forcing you to do so. In my heart I know that the songs have a natural sequence. Such as the dates by which they were written or sequenced by the gradual growth in production value.

Ultimately the art of listening through a record is lost. Like Latin. It’s a dead music activity.

Well tonight, Herb and I resurrected the art of the sequence. I received a master class in the theory from someone I highly respect. He helped me tell the story and weave through the record’s emotions and tied the seemingly disparate songs in a cohesive package. It is a sequence I would have NEVER have put on my own. Mostly because people constantly say, “put the singles at the top of the record.” That doesn’t seem like it matters so much anymore since people are just going to “Google” the single and then try to listen to it on YouTube, or download the song on its own.

It was almost refreshing for a moment – to not worry about the “single.” We listened to each song on its own merits and through the nuances, and capturing the charms of each song – he walked through how he thought we should weave the record.

On top of the romance of sequencing – I had the joy of writing liner notes. In posterity, I traveled back through the memory of making the record and put in record, the wonderful producers and musicians that had helped me to get to this point. Then I did something no one ever does on any album anymore – because I think people forget that music comes from the soul or spirit – I wrote a dedication. Then I did something else that no one ever does on albums anymore. I said Thanks.

Thanks because it takes a village to raise a record. Sure, I’m no Gaga – I don’t have any little monsters – but shit, I still have friends. I still have fans. I still have people worth creating for.

I’ve been lost in a lot of the business aspect of launching my label and sometimes in the ruckus of the business world – it feels like vertigo. Putting the finishing touches on the record had brought me back to what it means for me to write this music. It brought me back to connect with the soul and the intangible reasons why its so important for me to create music. This whole mundane process of sequencing the songs and writing the liner notes was cathartic, and I realized – a truly lost art.

As digital as I am known to be – I think its a bit sad that this process has died. The last CD I purchased was Justin Timberlake’s. (Yes, I travelled to ::gasp:: Brooklyn to go to ::gasp:: Target, to buy the CD – that I ::gasp:: bought – ONLY for the liner notes. I looked through his liner notes for a quick study, and it felt cold and sterile. The paper stock felt nice, but I didn’t feel anything except for the flag in the sand for the writer and publisher splits. Like reading a bad sequel to a beloved novel.

As I move forward, I’ve had to go backwards a bit. Liner notes and sequencing are a bit archaic in this ADD addled era, but I’m happy to say I’ve got them now.

Proof.