When I first started this blog I was posting music I created on Ableton. The reason that I haven’t done more of that is because the program began crashing on me on a regular basis. In fact it got worse and worse, and eventually trying to make the most basic adjustments caused crashes. So I’ve given up on Ableton. I’m going to look into how well Logic works out in a bit, it seems like a lot of producers I admire have good things to say about it, so that’s encouraging.
Probably the most weird and stupid thing about the world today is that we don’t have awesome music making programs on smart phones. What’s up with that?
I admire a lot of electronic music. The more technology you use, the more chances of failure are possible. So people that are able to overcome these types of obstacles deserve respect, but there’s also a virtue to folk & acoustic music, which has less opportunities for failure.
The financial crisis indicated that human society has not determined how to properly evaluate risk. Is it better to play it safe and do what works, or seek out ambitions that may result in catastrophe?
Similarly, with novels one could create short, concise works of arts, all polished & pristine, without a flaw in sight. But then there are also the authors that write big, sprawling novels, totally messy, chaotic, unable to be tamed into some kind of orderly thing.
Vacillations.
Tags: literature, markets, philosophy
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Well I’m back and readjusting to my normal life after extensive post-holiday travels. I have high hopes for the new year, and have lots of friends that are getting their lives back on track after the harsh reality that intruded into so many people’s lives in 2009. The most exciting thing for me is finally having a practice space to play loud music in again. Back in the 1990s it seemed like finding out about cool music was relatively difficult, but having a place to create music was relatively easy. Nearly two decades later the opposite is true. Music as a commodity is not so valuable anymore, but volume is an extremely valuable commodity these days.
Those of you who enjoyed the Deep Earth track I played on my Chicago podcast will be pleased to hear they have a second cassette release in the works, and are now digitally distributing the first one.
Lets all share even more awesome music in 2010.
Tags: chicago, markets
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From wikipedia’s entry on the Tepito market in Mexico City:
Statistics show that eight out of ten CDs purchased in Mexico come from “pirate” distributors, causing “losses” to the music industry that is claimed to exceed seven hundred million dollars.
I am continually amazed by the hostility displayed by the so called capitalist class of society to actually existing free markets. The distinction between trade monopolists and real free markets is brilliantly explored by the historian Fernand Braudel, whose books on the economic history of capitalism are the best I know on the subject. The music industry has spent decades pricing itself out of its own market, disregarding developments in recording production technology that has made it cheaper to produce quality music, digital distribution advances, and then somehow expects people to believe that it has lost $700 million from a market in a country where the GDP per capita is about $14k, or, stated another way, 1/35th of the average person’s income? This is an industry that can’t die quickly enough.
Tags: markets, mexico
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