The Animal Farm

The concept of a demo is an interesting one, I think.

Our writers write pop songs for other people. Working with A&Rs world wide, we are part of a huge pool of professional writers who get asked for songs for projects. It’s mainly pop stuff.

For instance, one writer might get an idea for a song. He demos it quickly for other writers to listen to. It will have a simple beat, a bass line or riff, the chord progression and a vocal. The lyrics will be incomplete, but the basic idea will be there most times. This kind of a rough demo works in that context. Everyone is listening out for an idea that we can together develop further.

Out of many such ideas, we develop further demos. We work hard on the sound of the track, we finish the lyrics. Someone will sing a guide vocal. This demo has all the basic ideas in place. It’s good enough for us to determine whether or not the song is strong enough to finish into a proper song demo. If it is, we get a session singer in and then, once there’s a cracking vocal on it, we work more on the track, to get it to sparkle and kick ass, so that we can present our stuff to people outside our circle. It will sound like a record that’s fit for public consumption.

That demo then goes to the A&R guy. He will listen to it with the artist in mind. If they like it, they will want to turn it into a proper record that’s bespoke to the artist. They may use our production. Equally, they may want other producers to finish it.

That version of the song enters the market place. The track has received a lot of attention in many different phases of its existence by different, very skilled people to turn it into a piece of music that the music loving public will hopefully desire.

Over the years, however, as technological advances have made it easier for people to make and share music, the idea of a demo has lost its meaning, especially in the band world. Virtually everything a band ever makes ends up with the end user. I wonder how good an idea it is.

Is what you put on Facebook something that’s going to make people forget all the bands they’re already into? Or, should you use it as an internal document instead?

Certainly, most of the stuff we receive in the post is not good enough for public consumption. By way of comparison, most of it is of a similar standard to our song demos when we’ve got the basic ideas in place and decide to develop them into something worth pitching to others outside our circle.

There’s one way to test whether or not stuff is good enough: if your intended audience is reacting with wild abandon, you know you’re on the money. If you’re not getting anything back, you should accept that you need to do better.

The only known cure: tune your twanger and get back in the studio.

I was a guest speaker at Analogue To Digital Music Festival in the fair city of Exeter. The event is organised by the very excellent Jim Peters and his wife Maria.

A2D was a fantastic event and the good people of Exeter should buy Jim and Maria a drink. By the way, Jim has a record out.

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One of my fellow panelists was John Leckie, veteran producer of many a fine record, including, with some probability, a few in your record collection if you’ve been into good music over the past 40 years.

Afterwards I had a very nice chat with John and his mate Dennis Smith who runs Sawmills, the legendary residential studio in Devon. We spoke about skill and professionalism. John said of making records that you should be able to cut a record in a week. You cut a track in the morning. Break for lunch. Then you cut another one in the afternoon. Have another break. In the evening you cut a third track. Have dinner, get some shut eye and start all over again. In a week the album is recorded.

To do this those involved must be skilful and professional. The band must be able to play. The technical staff must be competent.

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The panel was asked a question about what they would do if they were given £5000. Would they buy gear or spend it in a recording studio? Many opted for the latest Protools widgetry. John’s opinion, with which I concur, is that buying the gear is all very well, but learning how to use it will take you years. How long have you got?

I have a camera on my phone. A good one. Still, I’m no photographer.

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Most recordings polluting our social media airwaves are made by hapless amateurs in make shift studios in bedrooms. Think about it. Something called quality exists. It’s hard to define, but you can bet your ass that the unskilled won’t get anywhere near it.

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Recording studios are special places. In them congregate knowledge, expertise and professional equipment. Past successes. Having been there and done it. Vibes. However, studios don’t make records. People do. John has made great records at Sawmills. But let a bunch of day jobbing amateurs in and out comes not a lot.

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Many things have to combine to make great art. It starts with the artist’s vision and their skill as musicians. You have to marry the artist’s vision and skill with other equally vital components like great A&R, great engineering, producers and studios to come up with something remarkable. Of course, you may not want to be remarkable. You may want to be a hobbyist.

That’s cool. But you’re not in the music business. There is a difference.

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On one of the panels it was said that in the “new music business” the job of an artist is to write music, play gigs, update Facebook, do the accounts, promote shows, design flyers, produce records and blah blah blah. You get the idea.

Make no mistake: an artist’s job is to create art.

A plausible mission for an artist is to make people appreciate being alive at least a little bit.

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I told John a story about a songwriter I’d met via a networking forum for professional songwriters. She said she was looking for a co-writer to work with. I said I do that and offered to work with her. She came to our studios and was in awe of our set up, saying that what with people running around the office and with two studios etc. our expenses must be sky high. I sort of shrugged and said yeah it’s what we do for a living, it’s our business.

It transpired that she was a school teacher for a living. The songwriting was just a hobby.

Now, we had a perfectly fine session and wrote a perfectly good song. But I felt strangely betrayed. Why did she pass herself off as something she clearly wasn’t? I spoke to our interns about it and they felt I was being petulant and stupid. Their view was that if she writes songs then she is a songwriter.

I would like to refer to the point I made earlier about me and my phone and the camera in it.

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These days it’s hard to escape news articles about the 1% versus the 99% as it pertains to income levels. I think that redistribution of wealth is a good idea. But you can’t redistribute talent and skill. You’re born with the former and you develop the latter through hard work.

The fact is that no matter how much we engage with people on Facebook and get them to like photos of dogs picking their butts with their noses, 99% of us have no business doing for a living what only 1% of us are capable of doing.

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Attending conferences like A2D to chat with people desperate to find a way into the business that has fed and clothed my brother Mat and I for over 20 years is a very humbling experience. We’re lucky buggers.

V.

PS. People always ask for advice. Mine is this: if making music is something you love and nothing else will do, then dedicate your life to it. Immerse yourself in the art form. Study it. Be humble. Work hard. Work smart. Work with pros. Get out and push. Be patient. Don’t give up.

PSS. Having given this advice I look into their eyes and realise that they listened but didn’t hear. They’d rather I told them a fairytale.

Finding talent is hard. Finding those who are willing to develop their talent is even harder. Finding those who will risk everything to do so is rarer still. Becoming a great artist is not a matter of declaration. You get there by paying your dues. It almost certainly involves putting everything on the line.

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Most artists who approach managers for management advice are usually in the very beginnings of their career. It’s not even a career yet, if we’re honest. It’s debatable whether or not they need the services of managers. Advice, though, everyone needs. When asked, our advice is this: write better songs and make better records, do many more gigs in small places so that whatever you ask people to pay attention to becomes better than the stuff they are already into, earning you the right to be the beneficiary of their diposable income and spare time.

For it is those two things that you are competing for with all other bands old and new, all other forms of art and entertainment old and new.

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Some artists say, with straight faces, that it’s not the kind of advice they want. My guess is that they want to hear that our “contacts” can get them a freebie to the promised land.

Lots of luck.

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It’s depressing and disturbing to talk with such artists. How can they not see the correlation between what they do and how their career is (not) progressing? Don’t they hear what’s coming out of the speakers? Can’t they accept that the reason they’re struggling to get gigs is because they’re just not that good yet?

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Nevergonnabes will always be ignored. But when the mightbes, too, get sucked into the mentality that it’s all gonna happen for nothing, for free, without any difficulty…. they’re in bad territory.

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I’ve read that the Pirate Party in Germany has a fair bit of support. Their views on copyright have radical and not always positive effects on the livelihoods of artists. The stupefying thing in their manifesto is free public travel for everyone and guaranteed income for all whether you work or not. Their candidate confessed to not knowing about the level of debt the country is in.

Ever hear the one about money not growing on trees?

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Here are some thoughts on how to effect change. Make of them what you will.

Awesome Musicianship v. Bad Playing

It’s fun and impressive to watch someone blow it out of their instrument. It’s something that not every Tomdickandharry can do. It’s special. People prefer special over someone struggling to play a succession of barre chords in time and in tune.

Great Songs v. Songs

While your own songs are still getting better, remember that the world is full of great songs. Why is it such a no-no to do covers? Even The Beatles did them. Rumour has it that it taught them a lot about songwriting.

New And Different v. Same Old Same Old

Being the second closest clone of Foals in your town isn’t going to get you a career.

Looking cool and different, of course, is all relative and subjective, but the Man About Office – look is just as boring as wearing the same skinny jeans and fringe as everyone else.

Great And Commanding v. Trying Too Hard

The only way to get loose in your skin as a performer is to do lots of gigs. Two a month is not lots. Three a week for a year still isn’t a lot, but it will get you nearer to where you need to be in order to feed and clothe yourself with your music.

Ten Years To Be An Overnight Success

We live in an era where anything can be very famous and popular in an instant. Such is the power of online social networks. When you get your chance, you’d better be ready for it.

So, rather than look for opportunities to gain exposure, look for opportunities to get great at what you do. That way when you do get your shot, you’re ready to capitalize on it.