Fairtilizer blog: The Do It Yourself Music Club

Quadron

Fairtilizer — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 12:34:01 +0000

Quadron, a dynamic duo from Denmark call their music electronic soul, mixing the sound of hand-played instruments with the benefits of today’s computer-related techniques. Listen to a sample playlist of their forthcoming release plus a bonus interview below:

For the record tell us your names and where you are from?
Our names are Robin Hannibal and Coco Karshøj. We both have a Danish mom, and a mulatto dad that originates from Africa. That’s where the name Quadron derives from. It means a quarter black.

How would you best describe your sound?
The base is Soul, but we mix it with all kinds of genres. But if you should box it, you could call it electronic soul. We both like the honesty and true emotions that is in soul music, but there is a lot of other genres that also has that. We try to mix the old with the new, and make sure that whenever we look back there is also an element of the future. Our philosophy is “if it doesn’t make you cry, it should make you dance”.

It’s been a while since I’ve heard live woodwinds on a track. Who is playing the clarinet on “Day”?
We think it’s been a while too! We really like the sound of woodwinds and strings and it was a very deliberate choice to include those instruments on the record, even though we know that the saxophone solo isn’t the “coolest” in these “indie days”.

The name of the saxophonist is Jeppe Højgaard. He is also playing the clarinet and flutes on the record. “Day” is a good example of mixing the old classic instruments with modern production, and it gives it a certain emotion.
Coco, you’re voice is so angelic. Have you ever been formally trained?

I tried out two or three different teachers, but I have a problem with authorities, if they don’t impress me! So Mariah (Carey), Celine (Dion) & Lauryn (Hill)…Thank you for making albums I could sing along too, when I was a teen.

What do you all do for fun?
We are both party animals, give us an empty dance floor and we will fill it alone. We are both exhibitionists by nature!

When you’re not making music what do you listen to?
Robin: I listen to a lot of soundtrack music, especially Ennio Morricone, and also a lot of Marvin Gaye at the moment. I love all of the layers in his vocals

Coco: I listen to a lot of 90’s R&B. I’m very into Aaliyah’s records at the moment. It gets my groove on! I just bought Little Dragons newest album and I like it a lot.
But you could say that we both mainly listen to emotive music. No Goa trance on our iPods!

Tell me about your roles in the Boom Clap Collective.
Boom Clap Bachelors started out as a group of friends that met every 2nd week to play each other music and give constructive feedback. We then decided to release a project where all of us had equal amount of time on a record, and then it slowly developed to us collaborating and featuring on each other’s tracks. So it started as a producer’s collective, and evolved gradually into also having a live band, and we invited Coco to come and sing some of the songs, and it evolved from there.
She turned to be the glue. We started working more and more together, and also made some songs in Danish for a future Boom clap record, but it felt like we moving in another direction musically.
And we therefore made our own project. We are (currently) working on a Boom Clap follow up record, which has Coco’s angelic vocals too.

Where did you find the inspiration for “Jeans”?
We started with the idea of making a gospel influenced vocal harmony, and we thought the record needed a “work it out” song. Dance songs are always difficult lyrically, so we thought it would be funny to write about another theme than you would normally hear about. It doesn’t have any deep meaning, but we can all relate to being into our own pair of jeans right?

What generally comes first…the lyrics, melody, groove, or overall concept?
It depends, but it’s usually either a chord progression or a groove. But sometimes we have a talk about a certain feeling we want to evoke, and sometimes it’s an overall concept, like for example “Jeans”. But it’s always a process, and for the next record, we’ve decided to start on the same empty page, and sweat it out.

I see you just signed with a label. Which label is it and how will that affect your creative process?
We signed with a Californian label named Plug Research. It was really important for us that we still control the creative process, so hopefully it won’t change that. But it’s a pleasure meeting with likeminded people, that have the same vision and musical tastes. If we didn’t have a label it would slow down the process of making the next record. It’s good to have deadlines.

Why should the world listen to Quadron?
We’ve tried to make music that we would like to listen to, and we hope other people feel the same.
The most important thing is that we believe in every song we do, and then others opinions come second. And if there is true emotions in the music you make, we are convinced that it will come across.

Who would you love to work with that you haven’t already?
Robin: Anyone that wants to work on equal terms and can do something I can’t. Someone I can learn from.

Coco: If Missy Elliott could come over today I would love to work with her. And as said earlier, i’m in my 90’s phase at the moment, and I really admire the vocal arrangements she did for Aaliyah.

Visit Quadron Fairtilizer profile
Visit Quadrion Myspace profile

Wagon Repair

Fairtilizer — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 15:38:54 +0000

Canada’s Mathew Jonson & his renowned label Wagon Repair have become one of the preeminent figure in today’s electronic music scene. Interview with Adam Boothby (CEO of Wagon Repair) & Mathew Jonson below:

Could you introduce yourself?

MJ: I’m Mathew Jonson. I’m writing this interview from the Olympic Games in Vancouver.

AB:I’m Adam Boothby, Chief Operating Officer of Wagon Repair, writing from our London office.

Running a label / being an artist in 2010 seems very adventurous for a lot of people: what do you think?

MJ: It’s been challenging for sure. We’ve made some pretty big changes in the last year. Our main change is that we are focusing on albums from now on instead of singles like we used too. This is actually pretty cool because it is pushing the artists to release albums. My brother Nathan has his first album coming out in the beginning of May and I will have my first commercial album coming out June 7th as well. We are also releasing our 2nd Cobblestone Jazz album March 30th so its going to be a really busy summer for all of us.

AB: Running a label is definitely adventurous, especially in 2010. In fact, adventurous is probably the perfect word to describe the experience. Having worked closely with countless labels over the years, two things are constants: 1) small record labels don’t really make money. 2) money comes second to love of music. When you think about adventure, this is it – new and unknown, potentially dangerous – but exciting.

Do you think a label is still relevant in 2010 and beyond?

MJ: Of course it is. Labels are the way that someone can always trust a certain taste of music. Its great that these days anybody that wants to can release digital music. It opens up so much freedom for up and coming artists. But personally I think that the majority of unsigned artists are unsigned for a reason. Without a label to make taste calls as a music buyer I’m left looking through a bunch of stuff I would rather not hear.

AB: Publishing art will always be relevant. I think that small labels are a fantastic way for talent to rise up and share their creativity across a wide range of media and to an international audience that they would be hard pressed to reach on their own. Essentially, I believe that small labels are an integral part of fostering the growth of an artist, and art in general, and this can only be relevant.

How the label’s role evolved during the last couple of years?

MJ: It’s growing stronger and stronger. Its great for the artists involved to have this outlet to release there music. We release music that is very open minded and we try not to stick to genres so this leaves a lot of creative freedom for the artists we sign.

AB: I’d say the one of the label’s primary roles of functioning strictly as an outlet for a small group of friends has changed from the early days as we see more and more great artists come aboard. At first, it was pretty much built around small group of Canadians – Mathew Jonson, Konrad Black, The Mole, Mike Shannon, Cobblestone Jazz, Hrdvsion, Loose Change – and then of course there was our good friend from Denver, The Missing Link. This started to change after our first 20 EP’s, and we started to really embrace outside talent and our family grew and grew. Our other primary role has not changed – put out music and art that we like without worrying about trends or critics.

Internet has changed a lot of things in the music business: faster communication, new way to monetize music but also piracy, overload of contents and more difficulties to get consumers’ attention. From your experience what are the pros and cons?

MJ: Well this is why you need a label. It manages all these things. Its great that technology allows us so many things but I think its really important that if people keep stealing all their music then the artists and labels can not afford to keep going. The difference in cost between buying a piece of vinyl and a digital file is huge. There is really no excuse to steal music when now it can be so cheap if you go the digital route. 1.99 euro or whatever a track costs is nothing. People used to have to pay 12 euro for a single with 2 tracks on it and this can get expensive of course. Times are changing and I hope the general population will understand that stealing music only hurts the music they love.

AB: The internet is a double-edged sword for the music business. On the pros side, it helps us by making daily things easier and faster (can you imagine actually going to the bank, or mailing masters anymore?), helps us market and connect with our fan-base via various sites (wagonrepair.ca, myspace, facebook etc.) and has opened another revenue stream in the form of digital sales, which is great. Here’s where the double–edged sword comes in. As music has gone digital and much more accessible and convenient, the vinyl has suffered. The problem with this is that the 12” EP is an absolutely vital staple of the small record label. This format allows the relatively small funded record labels to get their physical, touchable product into stores a few tracks at a time, without incurring the possibly hefty fees and administration required to put out a full album.With the slow, absolutely painful death of vinyl, record labels are being forced to abandon vinyl altogether as the high manufacturing costs and the low sales are just too much to absorb. Once relegated to the digital world entirely, small record labels get lost in an endless amount of music (as opposed to the limited space in record stores) and their odds of success are lessened.

As for people taking time to upload to share sites or download from them without compensating the label and artist for their work – shame on them. People need to realize that although they may go and see the artist perform live as a result of their downloads, most small labels don’t make any money off artist bookings and rely purely on people buying their music. Don’t fool yourself – every cent counts in this game. Without this much needed income, labels are not able to survive and artists’ loose their outlets.

How internet and the new media had changed your way of running your business? How do you use it on a day to day basis?

MJ: It makes it so that we don’t really need one central office. I work from Berlin. Adam my C.O.O. works from London. Our A&R people are constantly traveling meeting new artists. Without the net none of this would be possible.

AB: Internet is king. It really is amazing how much faster everything happens. When I was running labels back in the early 00’s, I remember having to fax almost everything and we would spend a fortune on international shipping. Nowadays, I don’t leave my desk and if I do, I can still be emailed on my phone. As long as I’m awake, we’re open for business.

How much money could you save by using more digital in your day to day operations ?

MJ: You save a lot just doing digital but when it comes to having a physical medium like a cd or vinyl its not the same. Digital files are not really so romantic. You can’t give someone a bunch of digital files as a present like you can a cd for instance. But for things like sending out promo’s etc it helps a lot in saved shipping costs.

AB: You can save a fortune by going all digital. No cutting, no test pressings, no artwork, no jackets, no sleeves, no design, no shipping. Sounds great, I know, but because this is so easy and so cheap that anyone with a laptop can do it with little personal and financial investment, the digital market has become saturated and the average quality has suffered.

Is it important for you to use digital services to have a smaller impact on the ecology of the planet?

MJ: Of course. Digital business is great for the environment.

AB: Definitely. Paper sucks.

Your records are available on physical and digital formats: do you think there’s still a place for both?

MJ: When you do albums its important to have a physical format. It is certainly what I prefer when its something I really love.

AB: The tangibility of vinyl and CDs is something that digital can never offer. It’s the same story (pardon the pun) with eBooks. Although loading your novel into a reader is easy and saves lots of space, it’s just nothing like reading an actual book.

What is your position regarding illegal file sharing as a label (rapidshare, p2p, blogs…)? How do you deal with this?

MJ: I have our lawyers send torrent sites a mail if our tracks are on there. Most of them take it down after they know that there will be legal action against them if they don’t. When it comes to individuals sharing its pretty hard to control but hopefully people understand that they are only hurting the music business if they steal tracks and then decided not to.

AB: I am completely against it. What really gets me is people who take their time to upload to share sites so our music can be downloaded by free by anyone. Ironically, this is often done, as claimed by many site members, for the love of music. If you want to burn a CD for your friend, go ahead; but don’t take the time to give away our music for free to people that you don’t know. It only hurts the industry that they profess to love.

More and more content owners asking bloggers and music media to not rehost their music so they can keep up with the stats. Do you feel it is a fair request ?

MJ: Its not something I have thought about.

AB: I’m not even sure what that means!

Do you have an idea of the percentage of the physical toward the digital? Are you going on digital only releases?

MJ: We are doing CD’s for all the albums and also some vinyl as well from time to time.

AB: It depends on what percentage you are talking about. Sales wise, digital has never reached what we could do when it was vinyl only. Perhaps on some records more people have downloaded than purchased the physical product, but the profits from those downloads are so much less that is is comparing apples to oranges. I don’t think we will ever do a digital only release, but it’s hard to say for sure given the climate.

How do you keep contact with your fans? Through your site, community sites, newsletters…? Which tools are you using to commmunicate throught internet?

MJ: I talk to most people directly on Facebook and Myspace. Other than that its interviews like this one, blogs, online magazines etc…

AB: These days, it mostly comes to me via email and I try to respond to everything that comes in. Myspace has seemed to turn into people spamming about releases and tour dates etc., which is a drag.

Any recommended music sites (services, shop, blogs…)?
wagonrepair.ca
k7.com
whatpeopleplay.com
beatport.com

Thanks a lot to Mathew & Adam for their time.

Also visit Wagon Repair Fairtilizer profile & Myspace.

TCY Radio Tokyo

Fairtilizer — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 15:15:55 +0000

Taku is the mastermind behind TCY, the electro web radio & label based in Tokyo. He is also one of Japan’s top djs, the most in-demand remixer for the likes of Calvin Harris, Lady Sovereign and The Ting Tings, and a million record selling artist with the hip hop group M-Flo. Interview below:

Hello Taku, please introduce yourself/your project?
TCY Radio Tokyo is a radio program that introduces electronic music to the Japanese audience. We play new and exclusive tunes so people can be up to date with the scene.

How has Fairtilizer helped your career?
In Japan, Dance music program like this is very hard to find. We believe that it is important to have a radio to introduce good music to the Japanese audience. The good thing about Fairtilizer is you can listen to them not only in a big city like Tokyo, but also all other places where you can hardly get the information for this music.

It’s a difficult time for the music industry: how do you see the future of it?
Industry wise, I think it is going to get more difficult. The world’s economy has gone down, thus the record sales are going down. I think the way we play “game” is changing drastically. It is important to adapt to the change we are facing. In terms of music as an art, I think it is a great era though.

How do you use & see the web today, how do you see it evolving in the coming years? And how do you see the future of the internet?

I get all the information thru the web. I believe it is the quickest way to get the latest information. At the same time I have to be careful not picking the false information and rubbish. Internet has changed our aspect for publishing. Back then you had to be involved in certain organization to publish music or broadcast a show to the mass, but today you have several ways to do that using internet. Internet today is mainly for PC’s and smart phones, but I think the width will increase to home appliances and audioware in the future.

What would be your dream online music service?
It’s already here. Technology will still grow, but I think now is a good time to focus on the quality of the contents.

Servicing promos / Selling music: digital or physical?
Both. I prefer digital, but lot of people (such as radio directors and shops) still prefer physical. I think Japan will be the last country to sell CD physically.

Do you think a label is still relevant in 2010? What expect from a label today?
The role of the label obviously depends on the size of the market. It is always good to have someone take care of the paperworks and getting promotions and sometimes booking. lol. Important thing is that the artist do things independently too.

Distribution: DIY or aggregator?
Aggregator with the DIY spirit.

How much money you could save by using more digital in ur day to day operations ?
Never counted…In terms of broadcasting my stuff are almost free. Really appreciate Fairtilizer.

You have some buzz in an emerging country but no way to monetize it, would you give away ur music for free to keep growing it?
Yeah, making money is nice, but the main reason Im doing music is because I love it.

How do you deal with / prevent / use an (un)official leak?
Physically I think it is impossible to prevent it. You should use it wisely for the promotion. I would just officially leak the low bit versions.

Could you you tell us what is the most important source of income today?
DJing. But also have to come up with something else. Right now, publishing music is shifting to promotion and DJ and live gigs are the place where you earn monery. But, somehow I think this style will break down in the future too.

Is there any feature/service we could build for you?
iPhone app will be really nice. We really want Fairtilizer to be more mobile. People listen to radio more on cars or on trains, than sitting in front of the PC. Lots of kids in Japan use cellular phone listening music. It will be even better if we can listen to it on non-smartphones.
Also, live streaming will be nice.

Is it also important for you to use digital services to have a smaller impact on the ecology of the planet?
Im not a scientist so I do not know how efficient it will be using more digital. But I try to avoid printing as much as possible .

Recommended music site (services, shop, blogs…)?
Ustream is getting really big in Japan, but I like how Fairtilizer is sticking to audio only.

Visit Taku Takahashi Myspace

Visit TCY Records Myspace
Visit TCY Records website
Visit TCY Radio Fairtilizer profile

Aline Frazão

Fairtilizer — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 19:26:10 +0000

Aline Frazao is a 21 year young songwriter with a stunning artistic maturity. While her compositions have an undoubtedly Brasilian feel, she seemlessly integrates her Angolan and Cape Verdean influences for unique and powerful songs. Click play, seat back, relax and read the interview below:

[28.02.10 21:16:31] Olivier Rosset:Hello Aline, so who are u and where are u from?

[28.02.10 21:17:42] Aline Frazão: I’m Aline Frazão and I’m from Luanda, Angola.

[28.02.10 21:18:31] Olivier Rosset: How and when did you start playing and writing music?

[28.02.10 21:20:39] Aline Frazão: Well… despite of my age, it started long ago. I was 9 when I started singing in public, in some school events… I started with Fado, actually. Then some Bossa-nova and Cabo-verde’s traditional Mornas. At the age of 15 I started playing the guitar. That was when I wrote my first song. And it was a love song. hehehe first love, first song. Curiouse. =) And I started with some small concerts in a lot of places of Luanda, almost all of them related to my school activities.

[28.02.10 21:23:48] Olivier Rosset: Wow cool! Can you tell us a bit more about the music scene in angola?

[28.02.10 21:28:05] Aline Frazão: In this very moment everybody all around the world is getting crazy with Kuduru, this electronic dance music made in Luanda that Buraka Som Sistema brought to the world recently. But we’ve always been very… musical, we have a very musical culture. The traditional “Semba” and “Kizomba” never loose its fans and dancers. There is also a nice Hip-Hop sceene, some very good rappers. I think that the angolan music receives a big influence on one hand from Brazilian music and on the other ghand from the american Hip-Hop-MTV-Pop stuff. Ah, and there are some house/soul/chill-out DJ’s rising up too.

[28.02.10 21:35:45] Olivier Rosset: If you would have to pick up 5 albums to go live on a desert island, what would it be?

[28.02.10 21:35:58] Aline Frazão: Hmmm… let’s see:
”Elis&Tom” – Antonio Carlos Jobim and Elis regina
This Golden Album of Ella Fitzgerald
”Navega” of Mayra Andrade
Gal Costa Canta Tom Jobim (live)
and right now maybe Nneka “No Longer At Ease”
But that would be a very difficult choice! i’m sure tomorrow I’ll remember some other 5 albums I really like

[28.02.10 21:42:41] Olivier Rosset: 2 more questions?
[28.02.10 21:42:47] Aline Frazão: Sure! =)

[28.02.10 21:45:24] Olivier Rosset: I noticed that you are giving away for free some of your music.
[28.02.10 21:46:00] Olivier Rosset: How do you use & see the web today?

[28.02.10 21:47:47] Aline Frazão: Yes… nice question. I think we all agree that Internet is changing the way we deal with knowledge and culture and communication. As far as music is concearnd, well it allows us sharing it with a huge public everywhere in the world (except some countries like China hehehe). I find that possibility… just great.
Looks like a true democratization of Music, I mean… A response to this crazy music industry of the last century.
Me, as public, I think it’s great to have access to all of these artists through internet, listen or download albums free or paying what it worths. As a musician, as long as you respect and recognize authory, if you really like my music I’m happy if you can have it free. For me the most important thing is to play live

[28.02.10 21:56:01] Olivier Rosset: So what should we expect from a label today?

[28.02.10 21:56:24] Aline Frazão: . A label…
Well, I’m not an expert but I think that labels shoud adapt themselves to Internet and practise real prices, I mean…
I don’t mind buying a track or an album I really like, but it should not be overpriced (I don’t know if it exists). There should be more and more concerts live. I think we overrate the studio music.

[28.02.10 22:04:47] Aline Frazão: Muito obrigada.

[28.02.10 22:05:18] Olivier Rosset: De nada.

[28.02.10 22:05:31] Aline Frazão: And let me tell you, nice work with the web. It seems like it works really well (much better than MySpace!!!)

[28.02.10 22:07:47] Olivier Rosset: Thanx soooo much!
[28.02.10 22:07:54] Aline Frazão: You too! I’ll be waiting for it.
[28.02.10 22:08:07] Aline Frazão: Thank YOU*

Visit Aline Frazão Myspace

Visit Aline Frazão Fairtilizer profile

Conspiracy Worldwide Radio

Fairtilizer — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 16:14:20 +0000

An in depth look at arguably the most widely listened to underground hip hop internet radio show in the world, Friday Night Lights. Check the latest show + bonus interview with the Founders of Conspiracy Worldwide Radio, DJ Mista Montana and DJ Menace below:

How long have you been on the air?
Mista Montana: It all started in September 2004, as an occasional streaming radio station which adopted a very raw, pirate radio style approach and a play list which was made up of music sent to us directly by listeners, often while we were live on air. Almost instantly, artists reacted to what we were doing and wanted their own show on Conspiracy Worldwide Radio, as we offered a 100% regulation-free platform, allowing for freedom in terms of song choice and genre style. As the internet market began to flood with ‘Average Joes’ playing their mp3 collection and murmuring into their Radio Shack microphones, we knew we had to evolve and develop something which could not be replicated. The Friday Night Live Show as you know it now, really began it’s evolution in 2006 with masses of live guests each month and brand new, often non-web hip hop. We have utilized all resources available to us and without a budget created a radio show which some have described as ‘the best hip hop show anywhere in the world’. We glow at such statements and continue to nurture the radio show, gathering 1000s of new listeners each week from all around the world.

What has been the biggest change in the music industry since you’ve started?
Menace: Put simply, it is the artistic prostitution and poison of the culture.

Mista Montana: As hip hop left the 90s, its eligibility for mass marketing and mainstream inclusion increased dramatically. We began in 2004, at a time when the mass media had almost completely turned their back on quality hip hop in favor of synthetic, unchallenging and ultimately generically accessible rap music. Our radio show’s awe-inspiring rise has been synonymous with this ignorance on the mass media’s part and now in 2010, there are some artists whose only chance of airplay and dedicated exposure is via such shows as ours or other successful “underground” shows such as DJ Eclipse or DJ Premier.

Where do you go to find new artists to feature on your show?
Menace: During the shows initial stages of broadcast it was MySpace and a select few other sites/blogs that determined a big role in discovering ‘new’ artists, as did gigs and live events and word of mouth. Since the shows inception and consistent evolution coinciding with technology we have discovered artists via YouTube and more recently social networking sites such as Face Book and Twitter, as well as mix tapes and blogs/sites . Today however it is usually new artists that discover us before we discover them. As one would imagine this can be a blessing and a curse – especially having to sift through countless demo’s/tracks and often albums. Depending on how myself and Montana mutually feel about an artist and them being interviewed or played rests upon their body of work, attitude and above all skills. In past we have expressed our trust and confidence in the many blogs out there who service promotional MP3’s; almost serving as online DJ’s. These blogs are of great convenience for us and have of recent become frequent sources for our shows more so then ever before. In addition to the blogs we are fortunate enough to be a part of various email blast promotion companies and digital services. It is these services and blogs that allow prompt delivery of quality music via email with a pulse on brand new material and often ‘new’ artists. A mission of our show has always been and always will be to break both present and future Hip Hop artists and you can expect us doing exactly that in 2010!

Which do you prefer: Digital or Physical servicing?
Mista Montana: Digital servicing has its advantages such as its instantaneous nature and ease of integration into a digital broadcast studio. However, in contrast to physical, ‘hard-copy’ servicing, there is a high risk of digitally serviced music being missed or becoming lost in a sea of similar files. Due to the vast amount of music we receive for The Friday Night Live Show, there have been occasions where certain preferred tracks have been omitted from the scheduled playlist, simply due to being lost in the vacuum of files and folders. Although this is a rarity, physical servicing serves as a guaranteed delivery method and can assure the sender that the recipient will notice their product. It is a pleasure to receive both types of media.

How do you use the web to save your business money today?
Mista Montana: As a non-profit organization that actually uses it’s own, self-created finance to broadcast, this is somewhat of a complex question for us. We could easily accept advertising and even run a ‘pay to play’ policy regarding the music we play. However, Conspiracy Worldwide Radio thrives on operating without any business-related motivation, allowing for music to be of paramount importance and main focus for our existence. Many are shocked that we do not make any money from what we have built and are often under the illusion that we even pay artists to appear on the show. Money is not synonymous with good radio, if anything money burdens radio.

How do you see the web evolving in the coming years?
Mista Montana: As discussed with some of our recent guests on the show, we recognize the massive potential of the internet and have built our coverage and hands-on achievement, solely upon the many opportunities that the internet has afforded us. With the recent boom in such tools as Twitter and now the equally communicative, Google Buzz, never has there been a better time for artists to handle their own promotion and success. The internet has equipped musicians with all the weaponry they need to make sure that the entire world hears their artistry and that, thankfully, then negates the urgency for them to sign away their life to a corporation such as a record label. In 2010, some of our guests have argued that signing to a conventional record label is now a bad move and that every single musician with an internet connection should be able to build a worldwide following and an army of fans willing to invest in their dream. With the internet’s possibilities, the ants will and already have, overthrown the giant.

Is there any feature or service we could build for you?
Mista Montana: Fairtilizer is already a superb place for musicians and such a site comes at a time when Hip Hop needs collaboration more than ever. We need a site that will bring together the wealth of talent that currently operate in isolation, across all corners of the globe and blurs the boundaries set between “established” and “non-established” artists. Unlike similar sites, which are simply a business venture to rob desperate musicians of their money on a monthly basis, sites like Fairtilizer need to operate without subscription fees. Having said this, there needs to be some degree of exclusivity and some regulation to ensure that the corporations stay away and that each artist that registers IS making quality hip hop that will enhance our culture. It seems that your site is already offering everything that a musician would want, so a specific regulated section dedicated to meaningful hip hop artist cohesion and collaboration would be superb for us.

What are your tech tips for 2010?
Mista Montana: My advice to all artists, whether established or non-established, is to embrace every new development in communication. We get no end of mail from new artists who are depressed that their youtube video only has 45 views after a month, for example. Our response is always the same – how many people did YOU tell about it? The internet is a vast chasm of humanity, filled with billions of global users, so people must spend as much time promoting their talent as they do creating the evidence of that talent. It takes me longer to promote our weekly radio show as it does to create and broadcast it. But the rewards are vast. There are some absolute superstars out there, who the general public have yet to hear and it through this beautiful conception of internet that these artists can change that, without the need for blood-sucking middlemen. Take your career into your own hands from the comfort of your bedroom and utilize every single aspect of the internet to reach your targeted audience. We have developed a network of over 150k unique users across our Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, Google Buzz and LinkedIn profiles, fan pages and groups. They didn’t all discover Conspiracy Worldwide Radio, Conspiracy Worldwide Radio found them and now they are dedicated fans of what we do.

The Friday Night Live Show on Conspiracy Worldwide Radio broadcasts every Friday at 5om EST (10pm GMT) at http://www.conspiracyuk.com and you can listen to all OF Mista Montana& Menace’s shows at their iTunes archive http://www.conspiracyblog.net

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Billie Ray Martin

Fairtilizer — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 18:10:48 +0000

Legendary singer Billie Ray Martin (Electribe 101, collaborator with DJ Hell and Slam) returns with The Crackdown Project, an hommage to cult DIY-electro band Cabaret Voltaire. Interview below:

Hi Billie, please could you let us know a bit more about The Crackdown Project? When did you start working on it?
It all happened quite quickly. I wanted to give the classic Cabaret Voltaire album ‘The Crackdown’ a new life. It had been such a groundbreaking album in dance and electronic music and I felt it never got the attention it deserved. Also I had met Mal from Cabaret Voltaire years ago and we had wanted to work together. Then I came across Märtini Brös’ music and was a fan. I stalked them and told them that they simply had to produce my Crackdown version. How could they refuse. I can be persistent. Then Lusty Zanzibar came onboard. I had chatted with him and he revealed that he was a massive Cabs fan. Then the entire remix team from Audio Porn Central’s blog became available to mix and when I heard what they did my jaw dropped. It was more than I had ever dreamed of achieving with this project. All in all the whole thing happened very quickly in the end. Märtini Brös and I and Lusty started working on in in the summer of 2009.

The Crackdown Project is available on digital only: do you think there’s no more space now for a physical release?
I think there is. Especially as I’ve been around for a while, so in that sense am an old school artist, where fans will buy the cd. But I could not afford production of a cd so it’s purely digital for this one. In the future I will evaluate whether any given release that I put out warrants the cost of physical cd production. The Opiates album, which comes out next for instance, lends itself very well to a cd release as well as digital so I am hoping to both. People have already been asking for cd’s of this and my other new releases.

You decided to do a partnership with torrent-site Mininova.org, why? Could you let us know more about this?
I wanted to get maximum attention for my release. I just saw that I have 10′000 downloads there now so it seems to have worked. The ‘traditional channels’ of promotion no longer really grant results, as music has become so disposable. I wanted to make use of a process that I perceive as very ‘democratic’ in terms of you make music available without anybody stopping you or telling you that it’s no good, meanwhile reaching people instantly and directly. I felt that mininova could give me that opportunity.

As a digital only release you are avoiding a lot of costs like manufacturing CDs, promotional costs, etc. Do you know how much money you are saving?
A cd production will cost you maybe 1000 euros. So I’m saving that but I’m not saving on promotional cost. I pay for full dj promotion, press promotion etc… the more money you spend on those the better you’re results will be. Having said that the traditional print press and even some big online press publications are almost as slow as major record companies now, i.e. they only react if something is already hyped etc… or if it fits into their ideas of hipness or will give them revenue, making them much too slow to react. So on press promotion I guess it might be more effective to contact online publications and blogs yourself. It’ll depend on the result one looks for.

Is it also important for you to use digital services to have a smaller impact on the ecology of the planet?
I actually have not thought of it in that way. Everything we do uses the resources of the planet and messes it up. To do digital releases you buy computers, hard-drives etc… basically a multitude of eco-unfriendly devices manufactured by exploited humans in China and supporting one of the worst governments on the planet. I generally try to use eco-friendly materials wherever they are offered. When it comes to manufacturing vinyl or cd’s I have to work with materials and processes that are available and just hope that I can make up for it in other ways.

Internet has changed a lot of things in the music business: faster communication, new way to monetize music but also piracy. For your experience what are the pros and cons?
They’re been discussed a lot recently and over the last years. I’m not sure if I can add anything. Pro’s for me are the instant access to an audience. I really am having fun communicating with everyone.
Cons are spoiled lazy kids who won’t get off the sofa to buy music. Websites like Spotify and Last.fm who kill music by throwing unlimited stuff at people for free and not paying artists in return.

How internet and the new media had changed your way of working as an artist? How do you use it on a day to day basis?
We all make music in computers, through computers, with computers….It’s a laborious way of working. I have yet to find out how to reach any kind of spontanaety. More and more tracks in my field of music now sound sub-standard and mechanical cause they were created by people miles apart sending e-mails to each other. The entire inspirational thing of people in the same room is gone.
Even when in the same room with someone, the moment you want to put an idea down or share one, the other person might have to deal with technical issues within the computer or spend an hour getting the right plug-in up, by which time you’ve either fallen asleep or will have lost any kind of idea what it was you wanted to do.
On the other hand I’m glad I can edit, master, create music, record vocal in my appartment. It does give you freedom.
I have noticed that I spend too much time doing admin and promotion and not enough time making music. It is an ongoing task to upload your content onto websites. I have 2 assistants but still I spend hours every day promoting, sending, uploading…..

How do you keep contact with your fans? Through your site, community sites…?
I keep in contact with my fans on every single networking and music site, as well as through my newsletter.

Billie Ray Martin: The Crackdown Project – Sold out to disco vol.1 feat. Stephen Mallinder, Märtini Brös and Lusty Zanzibar is available through JUNO and all digital outlets worldwide.

Watch Billie Ray Martin – The Crackdown (Phil RetroSpector remix)
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Donso remix contest

Fairtilizer — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 17:31:19 +0000

To celebrate the release of Donso’s debut album, Comet Records is very excited to announce the Donso remix project. Rules below:

In collaboration with the good folks at Fairtilizer, Novation and Ableton, Comet Records are offering the opportunity to remix “Mogoya”, a track taken from Donso’s album. A mesmerizing piece of modern Malian electro-pop featuring hypnotic synths, penetrating guitars and N’goni & Gedeon Diarra’s voice raising the hair on the back of your neck.

The band:

Donso (meaning “hunter” in Bambara) is the result of the collaboration of four talented musicians coming from France and Mali: Producer Pierre Antoine Grison (who also releases his own music on Ed Banger Records as Krazy Baldhead), malian vocalist Gedeon Papa Diarra, Guimba Kouyate on Guitars and Djele N’Goni (traditional malian string instruments), Thomas Guillaume on percussions and Donso N’Goni.
Also featured on the album are other top Malian musicians Ballake Sissoko on Kora and keyboardist Cheick Thidiane Seck.
Donso’s long awaited first album, out in June 2010 on Comet Records, is a well-rounded journey from the deep roots of Malian music to an exciting and melodic african electro-pop. Pierre-Antoine Grison, who produced the album in Paris along with one of France’s most talented sound engineers Lucas Chauviere, created a stunning blend that mixes traditional music from Mali with a fresh and modern sound that truly belongs to the 21st century.

The rules:

1. Listen to the original track

2. Download the remix parts to Mogoya here.

3. Remix the track into your chosen style. All genres are welcome.

4. Send your remix via Comet’s dropbox:

5. All remixes must be submitted as high quality 320kbs MP3s.

6. Submissions will be closed on April 20th.

7. Remixes using uncleared samples will be disqualified. An uncleared sample is a musical work, loop or sample that you do not own the copyright for (ie: you didn’t create it). You are free to use sounds that were created by you.

8. All remixes submitted for this contest become the legal property of Comet Records. Your remix contest submission becomes the legal property of the record label hosting the competition as protection against the release of unauthorized remixes.

9. All trademarks and logos are protected. All rights of the producer and the owner of the recorded work are reserved. Unauthorized copying, hiring, renting, public performance and broadcasting of this record, remix or remix parts is prohibited.

10. Your submission of a remix in this contest constitutes your agreement to these Rules.

The prizes:

The winner will receive a boxed version of Ableton Live 8 along with Ableton goodies, Novation’s latest Launchpad midi controler, and a Fairtilizer Pro account & T-Shirt. His remix will be released in digital format on Comet Records!

The runner-up will receive Ableton Live 8 Intro (download), a Saffire 6 USB audio interface by Focusrite, and a Fairtilizer Pro account & T-Shirt.

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Wanted: Freelancers

Fairtilizer — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 15:39:31 +0000

Wanted: Freelancers (6 to 12 months)

We’re moving fast and have a team of super passionate, smart people who pride themselves on exceptional quality work. Our office environment is creative, collaborative and a lot of fun, so if you’re a soon-to-be music professional with a passion for social media, online marketing and growing an online audience of music users, read on.

Open positions:

UK, Russia, Canada, USA X2, Jamaica, North Brasil, South Brasil, South Korea, China, India, South Africa and West Africa.

Responsibilities will include but are not limited to the following:

• Help with translation in order to launch local version.
• Describe, explain and promote to bands, labels, managements, webzines, blogs, venues, etc… the “Fairtilizer experience” (player, private promo, url based site, statistics…) .
• Reporting and feedbacks from end users: pros & cons.
• Weekly/monthly activity.
• The ability to organize net activities using Fairtilizer tools: contests, private promo, build a radio…
• Interview artists, bands, producers and other tastemakers/trendsetters in your area for our awesome blog.
• Provide a bit of tech support to users in your area.

Required skills:

• Tech friendly (net).
• Scenester with some music biz experience (i.e. label, band, venue, management, webzine, party promoter).
• Still active in her/his scene.
• Blog or website experience required.
• Organization, ability to prioritize and strong reporting are a must. A passion for music and a commitment to delivering value to our users.

Full or part-time positions available.
To apply: send resume to jobs (at) fairtilizer (dot) com

The Black Sunn

Fairtilizer — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 17:51:55 +0000

Boom Bap rapper from Baltimore gives us a glimpse into his life, music and the state of the industry. Check out the bonus interview below:

Where are you from?
Baltimore, MD

How would you classify your sound?
That’s an interesting question. I’d like to think my sound is based in Hip Hop but isn’t one that can be confined to any area. I like to have that freedom; I use elements of everything from Funk & Soul to classic Japanese library music as long as it conveys the emotion that I’m going for. I like to define my music is hard hitting, dusty percussion with sick 808s.

What’s the most important thing that’s happened to you lately?
Releasing my project GodSound with the major Hip Hop blogs 2dopeboyz and illRoots. That has opened a lot of doors for me and I am extremely grateful to them for allowing me that chance to let my voice be heard.

When you’re not making music what do you listen to?
I like everything from Reggae, Soul, R&B and Rock but Hip Hop is and will always be my main love. My rotation right now is Method Man – Tical 2000, GZA – Liquid Swords, and Wu Tang Forever so I think you get where I’m going.

When did you know you wanted to make music for a living?
I’ve always known that I wanted to make music, since I was little. As far as it being my living, I didn’t think in that direction until I got kicked out of high school my senior year. It forced me to put into perspective what I enjoy doing and what I really wanted to do with my life. I still went and got back into school to get a diploma but my mind was on music. Just recently I withdrew from college to get my career on its feet, with no interruptions.

Are your family and friends supportive?
In the beginning they didn’t think I was serious but now they understand that this is my passion and something that I put my energy into 100%. My mother in particular just wants me to succeed, so they do support me even if at times they don’t agree with what I do.

Where do you find inspiration?
From life, my relationships with people, my interactions with my environment, movies, books…just anything that gives me that spark.

Would you rather DIY or sign with a major label?
To be honest, any situation that allows me to retain full creative control and also allows me to reach the largest audience is who I want to sign with. I have no preference beyond major or indie, they just have to allow me to make what I want, reach the masses and not jerk me out of my money. I’ll leave it at that.

What do you think about the current state of the music industry?
It’s interesting because we’ve reached a new crossroad. The industry realizes that the internet has put the power back into the musician’s hands and they have started to figure out how to get a piece of that pie back. This is a very exciting time and only the smart ones will survive it and flourish.

Who would you love to work with that you haven’t already?
I like to keep my circle small so that people will cherish my music, but as far as dream collaborations I would say, Mos Def, NaS, or GZA from the Wu.

What is the hardest part of what you do?
Finding the money to fund studio time and live at the same time. It’s hard, but I know if I keep putting my all into my music I’ll be able to live off it comfortably one day.

How do you define success?
I’d say a large, dedicated fan base…plenty of tours and comfortable income from music. Everyone wants fame to a degree but as long as I have what I said, all that is secondary.

What can we expect in the future from you?
A collaboration project with fellow Baltimore emcee 810 and a full length studio album.

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RJD2

Fairtilizer — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 18:47:58 +0000

RJD2 pays homage to his ten year anniversary as a record producer with the release of, “The Colossus”. Catch the interview below!

What inspired the name of your latest album, “The Colossus”?
The name actually came from a video game, “Shadows of the Colossus”. It just fit, and so I ran with it.

How has digital distribution changed the way you operate?
It has made things like promoting an album easier and better. My record didn’t leak until 3 days before the street date. On the other hand, recouping the cost of physical manufacturing is harder and harder.

How do you deal with or prevent the use of an unofficial leak?
For this album, I did a stream-only campaign. My publicist and I worked very hard on making sure that the stream was only made available to the proper tier of people at the proper times. As far as dealing with it, there really isn’t a lot to be done, you just have to man up and stomach it.

Do some media outlets still prefer you to service them with physical promos?
Yes…doing a stream-only promo campaign definitely hurt me in certain markets, the UK specifically. But it worked well in other markets. I still didn’t get the full amount of coverage in the US that I would have with physical promos, but it’s a fair trade-off to me, considering how long I kept a leak at bay.

What’s the most important thing independents should learn about releasing an album online?
Gosh, I don’t know. I think we are all still figuring it out. It’s not going to be the same for everyone; I’m on my 4th solo album.

How does a new band on their 1st record release it digi-only, and build awareness?
We are all not playing by the same rules, basically.

How has Fairtilizer changed the way you promote new releases?
It has made it very easy to share, or give away, free music, basically. There’s more about the service that I need to explore, really.

Are there any features/services we could build for you?
With the stream campaign for my album, I used Fatdrop. In the service, you can log in and build emailing lists. Then you can send out blasts to the lists with the campaign, as well as PDF’s for download. If that were able to be done, I would be able to switch over to the Fairtilizer service for 100% of my promotional needs.

Who would you like to work with that you haven’t already?
D ‘Angelo, Anthony Hamilton, Wu-Tang, and Ludacris.

How do you see the future of the digital music revolution?
Oh man, it’s already gone to places I’ve never expected, so I’m just along for the ride. No idea!

What hardware, software, blogs or sites would you recommend in 2010?
Hardware…Whatever gives you the ability to be creative. Mac computers, Akai samplers, and analog synths give me a lot of pleasure, but it’s not going to be the same for everyone.
Software…anything you can use quickly and easily.
Blogs: Matrixsynth is the only one I read. But it’s also very nerdy.

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