IDM Mailing Archive

Predictably, the first rebuttal comes from Jon Drukman, Astralwerks artist collaborator, rushing to the side to defend the Major -- I should have predicted this in my previous rant, like clockwork. You'd be shooting yourself or your friends in the foot (wallet?) if you dissed them anyway, eh? Understandable.

quoted 5 lines Matt MacQueen writes:

>Matt MacQueen writes: >> I know I'm going to take a lot of heat for this, but I have to say >> this or I'm going to explode: > >if you had blown up, who would have missed you?

I guess I'll just never be as popular as you are on-line, Jon. Whatever. Did this make you feel important? This is a music/labels/principle discussion. Keep it that way. I always respected your personal opinion (whether I agreed with it or not) as a critic and as a musician, I ask that you respect mine.

quoted 9 lines "EXTREMELY LIMITED $UPER RARE I$DN", re-i$$ues, re-package! Well, okay

>> "EXTREMELY LIMITED $UPER RARE I$DN", re-i$$ues, re-package! Well, okay >> folks, uh, now it's not so rare, plus more/different mixes, so buy them >> both, and we'll all do it again in a couple months! Yippee! > >how much control do you suppose they had over the original ISDN >release? apparently not very much considering they were simply taking >UK copies, shrinkwrapping them and throwing a sticker on. so, now >that they're doing another version for people who missed it the first >time around, you think that's a bad thing? i beg to differ.

I don't thing giving the music to everyone is a bad thing either. But I think telling the whole world something is cool and rare and special, and that it's generally "sought after" - generate this really SHORT supply, and really HUGE demand - then let this percolate for a month or two, and then re-releasing it later (different package, a few different tracks) is essentially lying to your fans to make more money! More people will be able to enjoy the music, yes, but at what cost? Now that I've read Astralwerks response (thank you for being prompt) I see it was FSOL themselves, not Astralwerks, that decided to re-release it, so their hands were tied it seems. if

quoted 1 line you're a kollektorskum who absolutely must have those two new tracks,then you

>you're a kollektorskum who absolutely must have those two new tracks,then you

^^^^^^^^^^^^^ get what you deserve. That's quite a crass statement, considering most IDM subscribers collect records. I'm a fucking struggling DJ, who has to own (collect?) records, in order to spin a party -- and never considered "collectors" as "scum" either, myself. Just devoted people.

quoted 3 lines then you get what you deserve. given astralwerks commendable policy

>then you get what you deserve. given astralwerks commendable policy >towards issuing ANY of this stuff to start with, anything extra is >just bonus points.

Oh god, like we should all bow down and kiss their ass cause their stooping to release "ANY" of these Hope Diamonds to us throngs of unworthy "kollektorskum." Bonus points? Psssh. That's how record labels work. They release stuff. It's up to the market to decide if it's any good, just *because* it's released doesn't mean it's god-like.

quoted 9 lines A$tralwekrs is owned by a major label, folks, (Virgin, I believe?) And

>> A$tralwekrs is owned by a major label, folks, (Virgin, I believe?) And >> Virgin deserves *NO* trust until they have proven themselves differently to >> the techno/IDM/ambient/whatever communities. Their "History of Ambient" 1, >> 2, 3, at $24.00 a pop was a poor showing, I thought. > >except you can get them domestically thru Virgin US for $16 a pop. >$8/disc for a reasonable selection of classic ambience BOTHERS you? >hell, i bought the first one on import for $20. that's hardly a rip >off.

I bought the imports at the time, I didn't know about the domestics. My fault here. But I think they're BARELY reasonable, the point was to show Virgin's mediocre grip on the subject. I don't like "reasonable selections" -- I like outstanding selections. Expect the best and don't "settle" just because a Major label released it.

quoted 3 lines THINK ABOUT IT, that's all I ask.

>> THINK ABOUT IT, that's all I ask. > >i did. now can you handle it?

OOohhh, tough guy. ;) My whole underlyihg point of the rant was to get people to think about pitfalls of the Major/corporate labels in techno, (house, idm, ambient, etc.) becuase I say with FIRM commitment: These are genres of music that are driven from the Underground, and that's where the labels are ARTIST driven, keeping it REAL, not money-driven or trend-market-driven like the Major/corporate labels are. I'll give Astralwerks their credit, they release much great stuff, (I own several). I think they *DO* have a feel for what their trying to do. Much more of a feel for this than VIRGIN records. (Eewwww). But techno listeners need to know that THERE'S MORE OUT THERE than whatever the Excusions in Ambience series, etc. has to offer, (and the artificial intellignce/wax trax series, [that BlackBox re-package, what a tired old joke] but that's another argument) -- and whatever they send to the College radio stations, and give out free 4-color stickers with every release. As long as listeners lie in their cribs waiting for the music to come to them, the majors will come along and market something new, and shove the pacifier in their mouths! Get out of your cribs and dig into the underground music, that's all I'm saying. In the indie techno labels, the bottom-line is always the music, It's *extremely* hard to say that about a Major/corporate label! Most indie techno labels are owned and run by the artists themselves, Do-It-Yourself! But you've got to go LOOK for this stuff, it's not gonna appear in your P.O. Box with a badge, poster, sticker-kit, and press-release. I understand and RESPECT the fact that Major/corporare labels have an understandable purpose to promote the music out to the masses -- but I urge people to dig even deeper than their local Shopping Mall CD store. Try out an indie label. I just wanted people to think about the words to that Smiths song, you don't think it applied at all, Jon? I did. KEEP IT REAL. p.s. - Thanks to the handfull of people who mailed me personally (off the list), supporting my original rant! _________________________________________________________________________ Matt MacQueen -- multimedia production -- human interface, CD-ROM, Web <macqueen@student.msu.edu> -- aural nukes in the mix _________________________________________________________________________