What follows is my reaction to a post by David Kusek entitled Searching for Salvation on the subject of the future of recorded music, and the problems the music industry faces today. He’s running a contest for new business models..   I wrote this in the comment section of his blog, and realized I should probably post it on my blog to.. cause I have this crazy habit of writing comments like this.

I don’t know entirely if I agree that recorded music is dead.. I think what’s dead is the old business models. I also think there’s a lot gong on in the evolution of the kind of technological ecology.. of like.. how people find new music, filters, financing, and whatever.. that needs to happen.. and once it does, the picture will shift a bit more.

I’ve been sitting on this name for a good.. I don’t know, maybe 7 years? And so haven’t really mentioned it to anyone.. or not much anyway… and finally I’ve bought the URL, and posted a trailer to the site.. or the site is now a trailer for the future of the site.. or better yet, its a work in progress version of the trailer of the site..  and by work in progress what I really mean is that it’s like.. I’m sitting on my computer in the studio.. working on it, and you come over, peer over my shoulder, and see what’s going on.. and now I’m asking you for feed back.. and I really want it!

So, the site is… drum roll please Bad Sphincter Oedipus. It may take you a moment to decode.. so I’ll help you out.. Bad Sphincter Oedipus, of course, translates to Bad Ass Mother Fucker.. It is somewhat of an homage to Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention.. The mother’s used to be called just mothers.. for mother fucker, but the label made them change it.. It’s an old term you’ll find in blues meaning someone who can really play “like a mother fucker”.. 

The basic idea of the trailer is that the real site I want to put together will be a lot of work, and its not clear to me exactly when I’ll get through it.. particular as my attention is often on other things.. I wanted to post some content around the Bad Sphincter Oedipus project.. and I felt like I needed to put up the site before I could start posting content.. and then the content would link back to the site.

Ok, lets talk about Matt’s Self Criticism / where I think it needs to go.

1. The Flash movie just loops.. and um.. plays sound, and the user doesn’t really have control over the sound.. this is bad.. though less bad for a band / music site then a conventional site.. but still not good. I’m not quite sure what to do about this.. should I give you youtube like controls where it plays  through once, pauses, and you can replay if you like? Should you have to press a button to make it start?
2. The design really isn’t thought out well. If you don’t watch the Flash movie, you wouldn’t know what the site was, or anything. To this I should add that I think the only way you’d come to this site is from a profile link on ether twitter or Youtube, or from a facebook fan page.. (once they let me set up such a thing, seems like they don’t like the name Sphincter) or whatever it is I set up.. you could see it in other ways, but that’s really what its  there for.
3. It is REALLY just thrown together, not really well designed at all.. as I say, its just a place holder for a site.. but depending on how long I keep it up there, before I get onto replacing it with an actual site… it might not be a bad idea to design it well.

And so, I’m looking for your feed back

What do you think? Do you think it’s bad to throw up a site like this as an interim solution? If I were to make an effort to not just finish this work in progress, but bother to design it right, what do you think I should be thinking about as I design it? Any other thoughts or feedback? Would love and appreciate any feedback anyone might have. 

I don’t know how realistic my video ideas are, or what.. my feeling at this particular moment is.. probably the most important thing is simply to commit to them.. in a long term sorta way.

Ok, here’s the basic deal.. Video is like.. big these days on the internet.. you may have noticed? I’m basically looking at video as packaging for my music.. or as an extension of the experience of my music.. as a part of the art object. I’m really approaching video from a unique sorta aesthetic perspective… 99.9% of all video production today is produced inside of a certain set of conventions that don’t really get pushed all that much. Sure, there’s great video and film work made this way.. This isn’t a giant value judgement about that.. but its also not what I’m seeking to do.. What I’m seeking to do is approach video from a very ART perspective.

At the moment this means.. screwing around.. It’s a combination of exploring certain ideas as they come to you, and trying to learn the tools… At the moment the tool I’m working with is Apple’s Motion… which is a part of Final Cut Studio.. as an aside, its breaking news that a new version has just come out.. but we shant speak about that.

The project started on a sorta doodling branding adventure a few months back.. I was working in Photoshop and Illustrator.. trying to craft out a logo.. based on some sketches I had done.. This also included messing around with photography.. what follows is a part of that project.. as it looked at one moment in time…

 Motion is a motion graphics / animation program.. and one of the things you can do is import photoshop files.. complete with there individual layers.. I did some funky things.. and placed the different layers at different places in space.. to basically turn something like the above image into a 3D image that I could fly the camera around.. and play with various.. well.. ideas.

I’ve been working steadily on this for the last 3 or 4 days; creating these various little psychedelic video clips. The resulting clips seems to be about some kind of exploration of identity and personal branding… or at least that’s what they made me think of.

The idea originally was to simply put out a sorta complicated screen cast of my DAW.. put it on Youtube.. so that I could sorta share what I do in a certain way..  and I figured if I did that.. I’d at least need some sorta titling / motion graphic sequences.. to sorta.. make it look serious.. I may still do this.. I don’t know.. but now I’m thinking of it more like music video elements.. to be sorta remixed together latter on.

There’s a whole sorta visual language.. set of icons.. symbols.. whatever.. that make up the visual identity I plan on making for myself. [editors note: Matt has been working on this language since at least college] It’s something you are much more inclined to read as Fine Art then.. well communications / graphic design.. Though as I elluded to earlier.. I am thinking about this from something of a design perspective.

My kinda goal is to try and produce something that looks like a million bucks.. something that makes you go “wow, that’s fucking cool.” Make something that would seem to have the sorta production values you could expect from the music video of a major label artist.. way back when they had big budgets…. But something totally different.

The hard fact of the matter is I’m early in on learning to do this stuff.. and a great distance from where my ambition is aiming.. and it is not totally clear that I’ll be able to realize these goals I’ve set for myself…

Well.. whatever.. I actually don’t think those kinds of production values are all that important.. I mean they are for my vision.. but I also think if you just do good story telling.. and put together a number of good pieces… I think you really can have something.. so that’s really kinda what its about.. but.. why not aim high?

Are Celebrities Killing Twitter? @repecor of RebeccaCoriliss.com and HubSpot, posed this question on twitter today, with a link to an Advertising Age article: Twitter is Peaking: Get Ready to Follow Geeks Onward, by Steve Rubel.

The article I have problems with on many levels, but the question of how Twitter and Social Media are changing / might be changing.. in light of the explosive growth of Twitter, along with business swarming into social media more generally.. is something I’ve been thinking of a great deal lately.

So.. first off…

Are Celebrities Killing Twitter? 

Steve Rubel asserts… well a number of things. Basically.. there’s a kind of course that online communities follow.. where you have these early adopter folks.. geekdom in technology land, if you will.. whom bring the community to its tipping point.. that, once reached.. community becomes less fashionable, at least.. and so the geek hip move on.. 

But I think twitter is different: It’s different because how communities on twitter work is different.. Each of us follows, and is followed by, a different group of people..  a group we define.. so that the only way my experience of twitter is really changed, by the twitter explosion, is in the character of folks whom start following me.. whom I may or may not choose to follow back.. 

So I guess my point is.. My experience of twitter doesn’t necessarily degrade in anyway as a result of celebrities on Twitter.. or the only way it degrades is as a result of Twitter’s technological problems keeping up with the massive growth.. 

So it’s really a question of substance versus fashion…

I do confess that it’s a very surreal thing to find celebrities, and “old media” folk talking about twitter so much.. not quite “getting it,” and all the rest..  ..and there is something about “old media” talking about twitter that makes twitter seem less cool.. 

I joked on twitter, at some point, that maybe digital natives.. or social media natives.. need better immigration policies.. sorta suggesting that.. the rate of growth is such that the culture we’ve had can’t really assimilate the influx.. that this will likely change the culture. And this is the real thing of why the early adopter / “geek folks” would want to move on.

Still.. there’s something structurally different about twitter and social media then anything we’ve seen in the past.. and I feel a little like Allan Green Span, in the heat of the tech bubble saying “no, the productivity increases we see as a result of the technological revolution is not merely bubble talk.” He was right of course, but many people blame him for not removing the cool-aid..

The structure of social media is still one where, in rather Thomas Friedman esk language, flattens the playing field.. we see huge power diffusion.. the relationship between business and consumer is shifting.. Who knows what the future of journalism and the entertainment industries might look like? Ultimately.. I think we all think that a mass behavioral shift in peoples media consumption patterns.. is a good thing.. The question is just how will all of this play out. 

So will the Geeks leave Twitter?

I think.. the nature of the web 2.0 type technology is such that it’s very low hanging fruit to get started.. a do it in you’re basement while still having a day job kinda thing.. which creates a serious issue of asymmetric competition challenges for the MySpaces, FaceBooks, and Twitters of the world, whom want to maintain there dominance. And.. in a down economy.. more and more developers have more and more basement time.. All of which is good for the evolution of the space.. and difficult for the business of change management..  

In marketing.. there is this sorta metaphorical relationship between.. sex and relations.. with.. trying to get that quick one off sale.. versus building long term customer relationships..

And so it is that I think Mr. Marilyn Manson might have said it best when he said “I’m not in love, but I’m going to fuck you, till someone better comes along.”

Conclusion 

I don’t think Twitter is necessarily really peaking as we speak.. it’s just a new tipping point.. and the real question is how with the structure of the Twitter user experience relate to the tipping. There is a certain level where the “Web 2.0″ technologies aren’t really as Web 2.0 as is generally believed.. which creates an opening for next generation of web apps to come along.

So, we’ll see. 

Well.. what I ought to do now, perhaps, is finish up the part 2 of the remixing project posts.. and then move onto a kind of postmortem of it.. and I would do that.. accept that I’m now onto a new remix project.. and that’s kind of where my mind is at at the moment.. so… lets dig into that.

Working on Remix projects means moving out of my safety zone.. I’m fine with that.. accept.. I tend to like to “orbit” my safety zone.. another words.. go out into the difficult stuff as much as I can.. and then once I’ve had enough, go back to the safety zone.. work in such a way that you’re incorporating new stuff.. going on an explorative adventure.. but you’re also integrating it with your already built muscles.. and so far.. I feel like I’m a little further afield from my safety zone then all that…

The problem with jumping too far out is.. suddenly you start to realize how badly you suck.. or that’s the feeling you get.. It disturbs you’re feeling of comfort.. 

As we speak I’m moving into a world of “being serious about electronic music.” Was I ever not serious about electronic music? Well.. serious in a kind of more focused way.. a kind of thinking that runs something like “this is what you must do to be successful out here” and then going after it.. in a focused sorta way. All I can really say is that I have a hell of a lot of work to do before I get to where I want to get to along this front.. enough so that I’m feeling a little unsure of myself.

Some of the basics of what it probably takes.

1. Get to know electronic music: I mean this from a.. “what’s happening” kind a level.. there’s a marketing element to this.. of knowing the market and figuring out how you want to position you’re self in said market.. but it’s also a kind of.. just feeling connected to it all. Electronic music is a world of a zillion generas and sub generes.. enough so that it’s possible that no one really knows this world in and out.
2. What are the production styles of the various generas.. how do you make the stuff? I’m me.. I’ll make my music my own damn way.. but.. having the ability to work inside of generas, or at least relate to various generas, will likely have some kind of pragmatic value.. I figure at least it would have some value to add to my musical vocabulary…

Ok, fair enough.. lets look at some other stuff.

I’m looking into the subject of live performance..

So.. I’m looking at gear like Mashine:

Here’s a video I rather like on it:

This video might give you some sense of what can be done with Native Instrument’s Maschine.. though it doesn’t really go too deep into it.. Native Instruments site does a bit a more.. but it’s still a little limited in what it tells you.. I’ve had the following twitter conversations:

Tweeting with CynicOne..  

cynicone@MattSearles ps: saw you were interested in MASCHINE. you’d get better use outta ableton live + pad kontrol or a mpc1k with jjos2xl IMHO…

cynicone@MattSearles …spent 2 hrs @ guitar center with one and it’s not ready for prime time. wait for v2 of the software at least.

MattSearles@cynicone well I already bought Maschine, it was on back order, so I’m waiting for it at this point 

cynicone@MattSearles aye….the lack of vsti sequencing, groove quantization & sample layering/editing capabilities were the negative 4 me.

MattSearles@cynicone you mean Maschine? Couldn’t you use it as just a controller in a DAW to drive external vsti’s? 

cynicone@MattSearles u could use it as a midi controller but really it’s a sequencer in itself. u have 2 run drums in maschine, then synths in a daw

cynicone@MattSearles its sort of a 1/2 baked software mpc at the moment. i like the idea but it’s not developed fully. 

Lets see if I can’t translate this into English…

Maschine has a built in sequencer.. kind of the old analog style pattern thing.. which is really how I think you want to work with it.. in large measure.. and for God knows what reason.. Cynic One is telling us that this Sequencer can’t be used to control external virtual instruments.. which does sound rather insane.. you can, as near as I can  tell, export MIDI from what you’ve sequencing in Maschine, and bring it into you’re DAW to then use with you’re more robust instrument library.. assuming you have such a library.. but you would think you’d be able to use some kind of inter application midi communication.. or something.. 

Sample layers is important to.. how hard you hit something.. say a piano or a drum.. effects the sound in more ways then just volume.. with sample layers you use different samples for different… well levels of how hard you’re hitting the thing.. basically.

Groove quantizing is.. if you have notes on grid.. as you would with a step sequencer.. things can get a little robotic… which depending on you’re aesthetic inclinations and the project at hand, can be a good or bad thing.  Groove quantization is a means for turning a robot into… well, a groovy robot… err.. gives it a more human-esk feel.

In terms of how this effects my analysis of “if it’s worth it.” 

Prior to the announcement of Maschine at NAMM, I was thinking I wanted to get into “this type” of technology. Everything I do, pretty much, takes place in the computer with software.. so I was figuring I might just get one of these types of controllers… and then when I saw Maschine I was like “oh, yeah, I probably want that.”

I’m very much attracted to the idea of this kind of production… and this falls into a number of categories.

1. I want more of my music production to involve controllers and human performances, even if quantized
2. I want some kinda controller set up for doing sorta “groove box” style production.. including for generative sorts of stuff.
3. I’m interested in playing with step sequencers that are connected to actual controllers. I think the reason I usually don’t like working with step sequencers is that I’m normally using them with mouse input.. which is not terrible exciting, and can often be a bit on the tedious side.
4. Maschine will operate as a controller for Ableton Live.. which at least has some value to me prior to investing in the new Ableton controller.. 

If I could kind of summaries it all.. Maschine is a pretty expensive piece of gear.. if it’s worth the asking price.. that’s probably a matter of how you plan to use it.. and I think Native Instruments making it with these limitations.. really works against it being worth the asking price. Still.. It’s a “we’ll have to use it our selves to really know” kind of thing.

Of course the thing is that I’ve already bought Maschine..  I’m just waiting for it to arrive.. so.. I’m sorta in the position of having to wait and hope for the best.

Tweeting with Veerrgg 

I had a somewhat related conversation with “Vergel E,” whom makes electronic music up in Canada.. and has a blog and podcast on electronic music that can be found here, where we got a little into Kore 2 and speculation on subjects related to Maschine Integration stuff…

MattSearles Wow.. some of the compression in Kore 2 sounds better then you’d expect

vveerrgg@MattSearles #kore2 is actually a pretty sweet DAW alternative. I’ve fallen in love with it as a “simple” environment to create/record in 

MattSearles@vveerrgg yeah I don’t think I’d normally take a compressor from guitar rig.. in a certain process sense. 

vveerrgg@MattSearles thats part of why i like it so much. it reminds me of the old days when I would just plug stuff together and see what happens

MattSearles@vveerrgg makes me wonder if I should work out how to program more of my Instruments/effects into its data base. Maybe program some patches 

vveerrgg@MattSearles that might be taking it to the extreme… but i agree there is alot of value in that database and “scene”interface

MattSearles@vveerrgg yeah.. I’ve heard that some of that might be painful.. 

vveerrgg@MattSearles I experimented with building scene changes in #kore2 it didn’t go over well. I’m still trying to learn an effective solution

MattSearles@vveerrgg Perhaps we must wait for #kore3 ? 

vveerrgg@MattSearles I’m curious to see how #kore might integrate with #MASCHINE . Ideally I would like to see it all combined into a DAW

MattSearles@vveerrgg me to, and wondering how #maschine might integrate into my process, since I usually program sequences more then play them 

vveerrgg@MattSearles if #NI built or integrated a visualization app into #maschine similar to #Resolume I would be very curious to try 

MattSearles@vveerrgg I’m getting super interested in visualization to, enjoyed your post on it ( http://tinyurl.com/blg4fp ) didnt know about #Resolume

vveerrgg@MattSearles I downloaded the demo of #Resolume and enjoyed playing with it. felt like a video version of #ableton based around video clips

vveerrgg@MattSearles made a #Resolume video based on some screen caps & video feedback. was REALLY easy once i had the material http://tr.im/gFqj 

MattSearles@vveerrgg I’m thinking I’m going to have to do that.. was thinking of doing pseudo similar stuff with Ableton/Max/Jitter

Ok, some context on this conversation 

On Resolume, Abilton and Max/Jitter 

Vergel and I share some interest in sound visualization.. and with this VJ-ing. Ableton have announced “MAX for LIVE” which you can use “Jitter” with.. This is a long conversation that I don’t really know too much about.. but basically MAX is a somewhat visual programing environment for all things electronic music.. and Jitter is something you can add to MAX that allows you to process video.. and is perhaps one tool that could be used for audio visualization.

I think the big thing is.. it will turn Ableton into a VJ tool.. and potentially a rather amazing video tool at that… Which along with the new Ableton Controller.. could be quite amazing.

On the subject of Kore..

I pretty much always use Kore as plug in in my DAWs… Kore is a combination of hardware and software.. it can load instruments and effects in it.. and stuff can be routed around, and controlled via its hardware controls.. which is pretty damn cool.. On the software side it comes with a number of effects, plus utilized a number of native instruments effects / instrument library engines.. and provides a way of managing them.. and you get this “super instrument” sorta thing where you have multiple instruments and effects programmed together into a single patch..

What I take to be how Vergel is using Kore 

But then there’s the stuff I find a little more mysterious.. which I guess is where Vergel is having his fun. For starters there’s a way of using it for live performance out of the DAW environment..

As a part of that is a system for live performance.. where you essentially create something like a “live set” where you can move between Kore patches.. where Kore essentially turns off the unused patches.. and you can move between these sets for different parts of a song or set list.. This is one of the areas where Vergel has been running into problems.

Another thing worth mentioning.. which I guess Vergel is also using? Is a built in.. gosh, I’ve never even used it.. what is it? Is it a step sequencer of some sort? It is.. well pretty rudimentary.. and I suppose this is a larger part of what Vergel was getting to with the question of Maschine and Kore integration.. 

There doesn’t seem to be much in the way of an ability to modify the sequence as its playing.. not from the Kore controller anyway… and not only that but you don’t get banks of sequences…. and you can’t sequence modulation.. or I say all this without really knowing what I’m talking about.. but that’s my impression.

What would be kind of amazing is if Native Instruments really thought this out.. to the point that you had something like a step sequencing environment that integrated all these technologies..

It would make sense for them to do this as.. besides making the kinds of studio tools I use, they also have a rather substantial suite of DJ-ing tools.. which Maschine fits into rather nicely.. and you could see how the integration of all this stuff could really be cool… and make business sense for them

A few latter 

To somewhat complicate matters I’m looking at the Jazz Mutant Dexter and Lemur

Here’s a couple of videos:

First the Dexter

Dexter gives  you a multi touch graphic interface.. think iPhone, for controlling you’re DAWs 

The problem with Dexter.. besides being pricey, is that it doesn’t actually work with the DAW that is now my main DAW.. Digital Performer… So I’d ether have to revert back to Cubase or… go to Logic.. the latter of which being pretty expensive ($500).. as a pose to just an upgrade ( probably about $200)… 

And now for the Lemur

Lemur is like Dexter only.. you can make you’re own interfaces.. and I guess would generally use it for controlling like.. Ableton Live, MAX, Reaktor.. VJing stuff.. etc. What follows is one fellows swing at making such an interface.. to go along with.. I believe it’s a MAX patch.. working with Live?

DyNAmic sequencer from Lo-Fi Massahkah on Vimeo.

Very very cool..

So some more about this

The biggest problem with Dexter and Lemur is that its super expensive.. though for a few days past my writing of this.. it’s half off.. which actually makes it something worth considering for my self.. and yet……

You know there’s rumors that Apple will come out with a tablet Mac.. sorta iPhone on steroids.. that would be all touch screened out.. one assumes that such a device would be a much better device for doing what Lemur and Dexter do.. and its not at all unlikely that it could actually be cheaper..

If this were not enough, Microsoft has been working on multi touch technology to.. which it is likely to use as a means of differentiating it’s mobile OS from Google’s OS.. But even outside of all this, I’m sorta assuming that given the economy.. it’s not unlikely that the costs of the Dexter and Lemur will drop..

The list price of a Dexter is in the ball park of a Mac Pro.. at that price.. the potential market place is rather small.. I’m guessing.. It seems to be very much in the DIY MAX planet.. that’s the target audience.. which is often a little on the avant guard side of things.. not a group known for an excess of wealth… if the price were to drop.. and you were to focus on economies of scale.. you’d have a much huger potential market.. and you gotta be thinking with the possibility of Apple and Microsoft coming into that market place that.. well.. you really need to do something.

There are other issues I could drag up but.. but.. lets move back to the more or less original subject of all this stuff for live performance.

So electronic live performance

I’m gathering various tools along these lines.. There’s a really big challenge to working this stuff out.. if I can make my production style live.. The only way I can imagine it being possible is via MAX.. which is a very complex kettle of fish with which to attempt to tango.. 

But we won’t get into all that here.. we’ll end here.. with just saying.. well I don’t know.. that there’s an interesting set of challenges around this stuff.. and I’m sure I’ll be blogging about it more soon 

So I got an email from Evan today.. (not the Evan that’s often found in the comments of these posts, this Evan:)

Evan’s been working as a music promotor for quite some time..  and is now involved in starting a record label / management company.. He heard my music and was impressed enough to send me an email.. pitching a deal.. which is to say.. that I might sign with him… 

Evan I should add, is married to one of my favorite cousins..

So that was a kind of crazy out of the blue kinda email to get… I don’t have a real strong idea for where Evan and the company he’s in the process of starting is in relationship to.. well anything really.. but it’s probably worth being excited about..

A lot of people think signing a record contract means “you’ve made it.” Slightly more discerning people might think signing a contract with a major label means you’ve made it..  lol, what is perhaps more true is that major record labels is where bands go to die.

Yeah.. so I’ve never been all that interested in trying to get a record deal.. I’ve always figured I’d take a more independent path.. Thus Matt comes to social media…

My adventures through social media have been one where I haven’t really gotten around to executing a social media strategy in a… certain sense. Or.. perhaps I am? Well you’re reading this, aren’t you?

But.. my feeling on this sorta thing has been changing a little.. particularly after seeing this video from Dave Kusek.

Dave Kusek wrote the book “The Future of Music,” which is quite influential on thinking about the future of music.. and here he is suggesting to get in bed with a management company.

Well here’s the thing..

I’ve had a lot of question marks over how to move forwards with building a business around my music.. and I haven’t even been sure that that’s exactly what I should be doing.. I’m a multi media artist after all! 

A long standing thought has been that if I could hook up with someone who did music promotion.. or something like that.. someone who has some experience with this sorta thing.. that it could be a great learning adventure.. and I could probably get a lot further a lot fast, as far as developing a brand. And the thought of a management company.. well.. That sorta thing has been something I’ve been thinking about.

Of course I haven’t really thought of myself as ready for a record label as I don’t feel like I’ve gotten the ball rolling enough.. which is in part complicated by the fact that my music is something created in a studio.. and the way things normally work is you play gigs to promote you’re music.. and that’s hard to do with studio creations.

But.. if Evan things he can make money off me.. and is ready to talk about doing something..  assuming our ideas, and whatever are compatible.. well.. seems like something worth get excited about. 

I’m such a sucky poster, but ok.. must post something before sleep over takes me… so how about something on.. this moment’s mood..

My job, as near as I can tell, involves keeping 3 balls in the air:

1. Art Making Stuff
2. Social Media Stuff
3. Life / Responsibility stuff.

Art Making Stuff

I guess, one way or another, the goal is to make something brilliant…. preferably off the charts brilliant. But.. that’s kind of a long term goal.. because though I have the vision.. I have a lot of development to do, along multiple trajectories, before I’m really in a position to achieve that amazing vision.

For the moment my focus is on the 3D stuff.. Just banging my head against the wall.. doing tutorials, hoping I’ll get to a place of knowing what I’m doing in not too long.. The 3D stuff is really a kind of 6 month or more project, if I was doing it full time, just to get the skills together… and then after that there’s more stuff on top of which this is but a foundation… Never mind actually making art.

A lot of stuff, for me, is like this… lots of steep learning curves.. lots of trudging across the tundra.. lots of not knowing when it’ll feed me.. in terms of work of value coming along.. never mind work of a particular standard. But somehow this seems like the right course of action.. so I’ll be sticking to it for a while.

Social Media Stuff 

Most of the time I don’t take my social media stuff all that seriously. Or.. I do, I just don’t…. there’s a lot more that I know I could be doing.. there’s a lot that I feel I need to do if I am to make a success of it. Success of it, however, is a strange way of phrasing it.. for what exactly is success? 

My notion of success would be to develop a community / group of followers / fan base that’s enough to support my art. We could talk about quality over quantity.. and all of that sorta thing.. so it is an over simplification.. but whatever.. its about the search for a means to make a living from my passions.

Truth is, of course.. that adventure is not the social media adventure I’m on at the moment.. or.. perhaps I’m on it.. but I’m not on it at anything like the sort of aggressive level that is needed to really achieve the end goal. I could go so far as to suggest that I’m laying a foundation.. or planting seeds… or whatever.. but.

So keeping this ball in the air doesn’t actually require all that much.. taking it to the next level takes a lot.. and I’m basically waiting for the right opportunity..  the right opportunity, at least in my mind.. involves getting the art sorta in place.. a little better then it is.. which means getting beyond the deep learning curve stuff and into the producing stuff.. at which point the social media stuff sorta surrounds the art stuff.. The other thing that’s requires is to be able to take time and energy away from other things enough to make it happen.. and it feels like all these thing shave to happen at the same time..

So until that time comes.. it’s all just cruise control basically. 

Life / Responsibility Stuff

Ok.. I need to get better at this stuff!!! This involves all the stuff that goes along with running a house hold.. buying food, cooking, cleaning, laundry, paying bills, and taking care of Dad, and just doing the stuff that needs to be done.. 

I SUCK at this stuff. This is where my coping breaks down! I’m a sucky cook.. there’s very little I know how to cook.. I’m terrible at paying bills on time.. I worry I don’t do a good enough job of taking care of my father.. the house is a terrible mess.. I’m a mess.. There’s legal stuff to be taken care of as far as protecting assets.. fixing wills, etc.. I’m not sure how long I can continue taking care of dad.. I gotta get these ducks in a row…   

How all this stuff works together

Basically… I have a runway.. and I couldn’t tell you exactly how long that runway is.. but when the runway runs out, one of two things needs to happen… assets, in the name of runways, must be liquidated or.. income must happen.. or perhaps some mix of the two.

Art + Social Media stuff = income possibilities. Another words, if I get the art and the social media stuff happening.. I find myself in a position where doors can open.. At the very least, me spending all this time trying to learn high end 3D graphics gives me a marketable skills.. Indeed social media stuff is a marketable skill.. But.. if I can #1 Make something great and #2 Use social media as a means of building a brand around that content.. and all that sorta thing.. 

Well.. based off the feed back I’m getting on my latest musical project in progress.. I believe that if I can do it right.. all the puzzle pieces.. I could create a recognizable brand inside of the social media world..  and if i really do it right I could go so far as reach some level of internet celebrity / have one of those things that go viral in a big way. I really do feel it..

So I guess this is another post of mine.. just trying to work out what I gotta do.. so with that, lets edit this sucker and post it! 

[editor’s note: Matt wrote most of this last night] 

Ok, so the album isn’t done.. but it’s nearly done.. or a rough draft of it will be done by tomorrow.. [tonight] with the need for more work to be done in the coming month. It’s difficult to be too ruthless in one’s self criticism.. when one spent more then a week in bed sick.. Particularly when you consider that to do a solo album in a month is.. no easy matter to begin with!

As it stands.. I’m not real happy with my work… It’s just not quite good enough for me.. Once I finish the rough edges of it.. and maybe throw in some other tracks.. I might like it more.. or be more happy with it..

Not Good Enough?

Well.. I have big ambitions.. what I really want is work to represent myself as a sound artist… work that I could show you and you’d be like “wow,” assuming you were the sorta person who’d go for the sorta thing I do…

What this means.. in practice.. is you really want something that’ll grab someone and make you go “wow.” I don’t think any of this work really does that. That’s not to say the work isn’t strong, or doesn’t have strengths.. but for me, as I look at it now.. the weaknesses keep it on earth…  

The Problem this presents me with.

Well, there is the question of just what my goal might be here.. If I had “wow work” then the work of promoting it.. well I imagine that “wow work” has a potential for catching fire… and developing it’s own momentum.. if you can just get it that spark going strongly enough…  without that.. I think you probably have to fight a good deal harder.. to get a good deal less far.

So…  I feel the need to get some really good work… before I go to crazy trying to promote any it… There’s some chance that I might have that chance in short order.. as I’ll likely find myself working on scoring a documentary soon… which will likely mean yet another album’s worth of new work..

Beyond this.. there have been a few tracks I’ve made over the course of the last year or so.. that ought to be added to the album.. and maybe with all that.. It’ll be that much better…  so we’ll see.

Promising signs

What is promising, at least to me.. is the feeling that.. along the way I found new possibilities for where my work might go…  directions I’m excited to explore. We’ll see how far I get with that.

Stan’s Plan

So… could I maybe formulate a plan at this point? Anything I give here will just be some.. well what might make sense from the point of view of the nights temperament… but lets take a swing at it anyway, shall we?

One way or another I want to steadily continue creating music.. I don’t think I can keep it as front and center as it has been this last month.. But I’d love it if I could keep enough of a focus on it so that.. well I got somewhere with some new music.. that I was happy with.. in not too much time.

I want to do a promotional campaign.. one where I try and get some bloggers / podcasters to talk about what I’m doing.. get a little press here and there, get some radio play somewhere…. at least try and get the ball rolling.

There is the video blog / internet tv show-ish thing to try and get off the ground.

I must, of course, redesign this site…

I really want to make an effort to get on top of some 3D graphics stuff.

Take the rough draft and make it finished. 

Ok.. so that’s a bit of it.. not including collaborations..   

Next Morning:

I just wrote out about an hours wroth of stuff.. only to lose it.. I’m feeling terribly frustrated.. so I guess I’ll just post it as is….  

As I write this I’m.. super sick, in bed.. nice to have the laptop here with me, wish the internet connection was better… feeling slightly out of my mind.. as a result of it…

Any who… I’m thinking about social media engagement.. It’s sorta like a stupid obvious kind of thing…  but.. that if I were to get super serious about it.. this could be a key piece in getting me where I need to go.

What is this “social media” you speak of? 

I assume that most of my readers aren’t social media people.. so it might be worth explaining a little bit about this…

Basically.. social media, as we know it today.. is mostly about online communications.. perhaps focused around twitter, blogging, podcasting.. this sorta thing.. throw in your face books and your myspaces.. youtube’s, and linked in and.. seesmic and.. many other things.  

All of these things are like communications channels.. ok, so why  is communications important?

Err.. it occurs to me that I’ll never finish this post if I keep on  this trajectory…  But communications, as any good marriage counselor will tell you, is an important element in managing relationships..  put it that way. Business, as it turns out, is all about relationships.. relationship with you peers, relationships with your customers, employers, clients, coworkers.. etc.

So engagement in social media is all about these relationships.. and so obviously enough.. it’s powerful along multiple trajectories..

Basically.. for me.. at this moment.. the idea that I should engage more.. means commenting on people’s blogs, and spending time on twitter. It’s about engaging in the conversations people are having.. and hopefully adding to those conversations.

Tales of a miscellaneous niche 

Now.. off in the land of social media.. and this might not be a totally fair statement.. I think people tend to get focused on there niche’s. You start a blog on subject X, and you engage with other bloggers who are into subject X. I mean this is the way its done.. But what I think is key for who I am, and where I come from.. is to engage along multiple vectors.

I am a “follow you’re passions fundamentalist.” I believe.. we all, to one extent or another, have various interests.. I believe in pursuing all these interests..  That the path to you’re true potential lys in the development of a “whole self,” that the goal ought to be to develop all these interests to a relatively mature and sophisticated form.. in proportion to your level of interest.

Also, I believe that innovation is a synthesis of formally disparate fields of knowledge.. another words..  the more your knowledge and skills are diversified.. the more capable you are of innovation…

This is not entirely an “anti specialization” idea.. The idea is that what is you’re area of specialization is something that you define by you’re passions..  That it is a synthesis of what would traditionally be considered disparate fields.. 

For me.. much of the blog o sphere.. and the world of podcasts.. its a way to explore my interests.. learn from people who are really smart in the various areas I’m interested in…  So I think it makes sense for me to engage along the lines of those interests…  

Matt’s Interests 

Just for the record, what is Matt Interested in?

1. Philosophy
2. Psychology
3. Politics
4. Diplomacy
5. Business Management
6. Marketing
7. Public Relations
8. Technology
9. Music Composition
10. Music Performance
11. Music Production
12. Sound Synthesis
13. Music
14. Film
15. Film making
16. Animation
17. 3D graphics
18. Special Effects
19. Directing
20. Performance Art
21. Painting
22. Graphic Design
23. Web Design
24. Web Strategy
25. Social Media Strategy
26. Photography
27. History
28. The Arts
29. Human Sexuality
30. Social Sciences
31. Poetry
32. Religion
33. Theology
34. Cultural Studies
35. Mythology
36. The Military
37. Computer Graphics
38. Human Potentiality
39. Entrepreneurship 

Well you get the idea, right? I mean the list goes on from there.. 

Miscellaneous Niche Strategery

So, roughly speaking, I describe my self as a “Media Artist:” I work with different medias.. different mediums.. from sound to video to animation to painting to whatever, right?  At the moment I seem most focused on the sound part of that.. lets go make an album… etc. But clearly I see myself in broa —

A couple days latter:

Still feeling super sick, feeling like i should just post, cause I don’t have the energy to finish up this train of thought.. lol, and I don’t know where that last sentence was going! 

I think this is kind of an ongoing theme for this blog anyway.. so..  yeah.. ok, posting..

So I got this kind of crazy comment on a post..  from John…  which I think I could safely characterize as “insensitive” in its criticism…. which I don’t totally understand, accept that sometimes when one interacts with folks online one can forget one is interacting with real humans. In any event.. I don’t think John’s criticism was exactly constructive.. none the less I find myself searching for grains of truth in it.. which is an instinct I find a little dubious….  but it is what it is.

So I thought I’d sorta address his comment in a blog post.. well sorta.

If you have discerning eyes, and you look at this blog, you’d probably come away with an impression that “this cat has no desire to be a social media rock star.” Or to put it another way.. ( picture spoken in a somewhat Frank Zappa esk tone ) “This blog has got no kinda game at all.” 

I’m not really sure why that is, to tell you the honest truth.  I feel as if it’s just sorta indicative of the state my life is in.. which is.. difficult. Somehow, one way or another, I need to ether work this out or just accept it. Maybe.. instead of all my obsessions and whatever.. I should just focus on healing.

The difficult feeling of an artist.

When you go to art school.. coming in the door you realize you’re kind of screwed.. well unless you’re a designer or something. The plight of the fine artist.. is a difficult one.. and often we toil our lives away for little to no material reward.. In fact, just getting your life in such a situation that you can seriously focus on your work.. That’s a pretty substantial accomplishment on its own.

I think its a kind of addiction actually.. an addiction to the state of ecstasy that art making can bring you to… That feeling that you and the Gods are one. For me, I suppose, I really make art more for God then living souls… Or more for that internal spiritual nourishment. I mean it’s just the one place in my life where I feel truly alive. So if there’s anyway that I can make my way through this life, via this art, then I will call my life a success. That’s really all I’m looking for, you know?

I imagine to be a whole human, however, one needs a bit more. How about starting a family? The only way I could ever see that working out is if I found one hell of a women.. cause God knows I can barely take care of my Dad!

I don’t really feel like I have a choice in what I is.  

So the deal is.. if you make art the way I do.. where you’re serious about exploring your own unique creative vision, regardless of what’s up with the market place.. well..  I don’t know.. What can you realistically expect?

I guess I’ll leave this at this — I’m kinda tired.