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4-30-2010
Well I just read something this morning in the news that just proves to me again that the big corporations really have no desire to promote music but are simply interested in making sure that their bottom lines are safe and that their investors always get their dividends. I'm talking about the article that announced that Apple after having purchased Lala is now shutting it down as of May 31, 2010. They won't be accepting any new members now so if you are not already a member you are now out of luck and after May 31 it won't matter if you are a member or not. It also means that the only source of legal full album demos is going away.
I guess I should have realized that something as good as Lala wouldn't last because it allowed people to discover new music before buying it, it was convenient and the pricing of the MP3's or the web tunes actually made sense. So in a way it was probably inevitable that once Apple bought it Lala's life expectancy was very limited. We can't have too many competitors out there for iTunes now can we? And to think that I had even considered buying an iPad at some point in the future which would have been my first Apple purchase ever and that includes iTunes. Now I think that I will keep my money and invest it in some other worthy music oriented companies who are not corporate giants bent on shaping the music landscape in their own image.
I enjoyed being able to go up to Lala on Tuesdays and see what new releases had come out and then listen to them to see if they were worth promoting on my websites. Or if they were really good then I would buy a copy of the whole album for web listening. Either way it was music that I wouldn't have know about otherwise and once Lala is gone it will be much harder to find these jems than ever. There are very few services that I thought enough of to integrate them into my websites but Lala's imbed album feature was something that I thought was perfect for smaller websites like mine and I had noticed that even the bigger sites like Billboard had integrated the full album previews into their content as well.
The only hope for all of this is if when Apple launches iTunes.com as a cloud based streaming service is that they offer full albums for listening prior to purchase. I doubt that they will outside of charging a monthly fee for the service but if they do then I can forgive the shutting down of Lala. If they don't then I will be looking for any alternative except iTunes. Spotify is rumored to be coming to the states later this year and that might be an alternative listening tool as well. I enjoy the radio services that have sprung up all over the internet but again these are programmed for you and don't allow you to listen to the tracks you want or the artists you want. You are pretty much tied down to the tastes of those who program the stations. If I want to buy MP3s from now on I'll certainly go to Amazon before setting foot on the iTunes website and if there is no free version forthcoming to replace what they have taken away in Lala I'll probably head back to Rhapsody and subscribe there until Apple buys that and shuts it down as well.
An important lesson to learn in all of this is that big business is looking out for big business and no one else. Corporations have demostrated during this recession, which by the way was caused by big business seeking "creative" ways to make money off of consumers, that the consumer is not their prime concern. Look at how credit card companies who brought on their own troubles by handing out cards like candy to everyone starting slapping high interest rates onto even their best customers when push came to shove. It took government regulation to get them to treat the consumer fairly. Apple is a corporation. Consumers are only as useful to them as a source of income. Beyond that we are really not that important. As some people commented on the article that I read this morning on Tech Crunch about Apple shutting down Lala....f..k you Apple and f..k you Steve Jobs. Not the most elegant way of putting it but it certainly captured the emotion of what they've done. http://techcrunch.com/2010/04/29/apple-to-shut-down-lala-on-may-31/
As a consequence of this please look for certain features of AV to start disappearing. The featured Lala release will no longer be available. The Lala page will disappear and any links back to their page will be taken down as they won't be functional after May 31, 2010. R.I.P Lala.com
4-17-2010
Over the years Ambient Visions has become a voice for ambient/new age/electronica music and it has always been a joy working with the artists and the fans of these genres. A site like AV needs to speak with many voices so that it can reach new listeners and expose this music to those who might not have otherwise found a particular artist or a new favorite sub genre within the main genres of ambient and electronic music.
I would like to see Ambient Visions become an engine of discovery for those already within the ambient music community and those who don't know it exists but will find it through the efforts of AV and other websites like it. To be able to do that though I will need your help. I know that to take AV to the next level I will need to make it more of a collaborative effort with other voices and other points of view represented.
I think there are those of you out there who feel the same as I do and would like to see our niche reach out a little further and touch more listeners who are looking for something new but they are not sure what that "something" is right now. We need to introduce them to the music and allow them to hear what we have heard over the years as we listened to it ourselves. Ambient Visions has that potential and I would like to ask those of you who are so inclined to step up and take the challenge.
Over the past few months I have seen Ambient Visions' traffic shoot up by about 50% over what it was doing just a year ago. I think that readers and listeners are looking for a place that they can find clues as to what music will become their new favorite albums or artists. I think that they are very pleased when they come across a place like AV that helps them to find at least some of the better choices that are available to them among the many new releases that come out each week, month or year. I have said it before and I will say it again...websites like Ambient Visions have become the new substitute for being able to go into a music store and talk with a knowledgeable clerk about what they should check out this week. Having spent quite a number of years behind the record counter at a local record store I know that people are looking for music that they will love and if you can point them in the right direction and your advice turns out to be solid folks will be back to talk to you again and again.
Now Ambient Visions doesn't sell anything but it does offer advice through the reviews, the interviews, the new release listings and a variety of other things as to what is good and what readers might find interesting for their next music purchase. Sort of like a music store without actually selling the music. Even though the physical aspect of going into a store is missing visiting a website can still be an interesting experience depending on why it is on the web and the people who work behind the scenes to make it happen. In this case the people behind the scenes is just me and of course the artists who so graciously consent to either send me review copies or who allow me to interview them for the website. That was the wind up and now here is the pitch.
I'm asking for readers, fans or artists to become involved in the content that eventually ends up on Ambient Visions. This appeal especially goes out to those who have written reviews for AV in the past to consider getting back into the groove and doing it again. This appeal also goes out to those who have more depth and understanding of the other genres that I would like to see covered on Ambient Visions such as techno, trance, electronica, downtempo, chillout etc. It is difficult to be in touch with all the genres and subgenres that make up the music that I listen to so I'm asking if there are those out there who will step in and fill in the gaps and become a part of AV.
If you consider that a magazine like Stereophile not only has an editor but a Music Editor, an Assistant Editor, Contributing Editors, reviewers, writers, etc etc. then it becomes clear that if AV is ever to take the next step in its evolution then I will need those who share my vision to step up and join the AV team. The only caveat to all of this is that it is a labor of love at this point. For the past 11 years I've never made any money off of AV and of course you know that means that I would be asking anyone who steps up to offer their services to AV to do it because they want to see these genres grow and grab more attention out on the web, to pull in new listeners and retain old ones, and of course to have fun discovering new music for yourself. Of course there is one payment that I receive all the time and that is the satisfaction of helping others to find and enjoy the music that I found so many years ago. Perhaps I would have discovered the music sooner if I had a resource like AV to help me along the way when I was first starting this journey and that is something that anyone who feels like they want to be involved with AV should always bear in mid.
Reviews about ambient music are scattered here and there across the web along with opinions and articles about the artists. Perhaps if there were a place that one could find an access point to all of this information it would allow someone to spend more time listening to new music rather than searching through board after discussion board trying to catch a conversation about an artist that might be good to search out for yourself. There is a very fundamental principle about websites and that is the more traffic that comes to Ambient Visions on a regular basis the more exposure that artists who are featured there will get. Web marketing 101. What draws people back is new and original material that is updated on a regular basis. This is the part that is difficult for me and is one of the reasons that I think it is time to find others who want to be a part of Ambient Visions. I can only listen to so much and my tastes though broad are not unlimited so there will always be some music that I just don't care for. Not that the music is bad but others would appreciate it more than I and they would be able to review it more intelligently than I could possibly hope to.
You might ask what am I looking for and that would be the right question to ask at this point. Just like everyone else I have a day job just like you do and I have to find time to work on the website at nights or on the weekends when my time is free. What I am looking for is for folks to do the same thing for AV that I do now. I am looking for those who are wordsmiths and are not afraid of expressing their thoughts about music on the website. This naturally means that writing skills are a requite for the articles, the interviews, the reviews or just commentary pieces on the ambient music industry in general that you might submit to me for putting up on Ambient Visions. If AV were to continue to grow I might also be looking for assistant editors or those to help with the look and feel of AV in the future. Those who might be good at a particular genre of music and be the person who spearheads coverage for that genre on Ambient Visions. Reporters of ambient news items that happened near you. Concert reviews would be interesting so that others will get a feel for what it is like to attend the live events put on my the artists of AV. I could go on and on but you get the picture.
I have tried these appeals before and most of the time all I received was silence. I'm not sure if that means that no one is interested, if my ideas are bad ideas or if people are interested but not sure what to do next. If you fall into that last category then the next step is to write to me (editor@ambientvisions.com) and begin a dialogue of what you would like to do and we can discuss it from there. If you want to be involved but aren't all that much into writing then help spread the word to the groups you belong to, the forums you discuss ambient music in, on your Facebook or MySpace page or where it is that you hang out on the web. Let them know about Ambient Visions and what we are trying to accomplish. If you have a website or a presence on the web then by all means add a link to Ambient Visions on your page. Drop me a line and if your website is music related I would be happy to add a link back to your site on AV's links pages.
Well there you have it. Always the optimist and looking towards a bright future for these wonderful genres of music. The only thing missing is you becoming a part of this effort. Put your talents to good use and contact me about writing for Ambient Visions or how you could help us reach beyond where we are now and open up brand new territories for this music to be heard. Life is too short not to do the things you really love and to do them right now.
***All uses of the word ambient or new age are generic uses and refer not only to ambient but all the other subgenres that I mention in this blog. Even the name Ambient Visions is broader than just ambient music so don't let the words narrow your perception of what AV is all about. ****
4-11-2010
I was reading an article in which Jack White from the rock group The White Stripes was quoted as saying that the web is "a nuisance" that trivializes music. He thinks that the Internet is good for some things but that "as every day passes music is more and more looked at as a soundbite and a trifle." While I can not agree that the Internet trivializes music I do see some danger with so much music available at the click of a mouse. The danger that I see is that like all things that find their way onto the Internet it is never in moderation but full tilt everything and anything goes. Music is no exception.
So now what we have is an environment in which just about any piece of music can be had instantly or with a little searching in a matter of minutes it can be downloaded to your hard drive. So where's the danger you ask? I think that you can be overwhelmed by the choices that are available for your listening pleasure and dismiss a lot of good music after only listening to a 30 second clip or sample of a few of the songs on any given album. With this much choice it now becomes difficult to decide what to listen to on any given occasion. Do I pull up Pandora and listen to the pre programmed music choices or do I head up to Lala and listen to some of the latest releases that just came out last Tuesday? Or do I head up to one of the Net label sites and download one of the hundreds of titles that are available for free to listen to there? Choices, choices, choices.
Think of the Internet as a huge buffet of music. Most of us go to a buffet not to eat a particular food item but to sample many things during our meal. We like to push ourselves to eat as much as we can to get our money's worth right up to the point of being sick by eating too much. Music used to be enjoyed like a meal in a restaurant where you would sit down and order one item with some side dishes and that would be your meal for the night. You would savor that meal and enjoy it thoroughly and step away from the table feeling satisfied. Music was very similar to this analogy. You would buy the LP, cassette or CD and bring it home to enjoy the album as a whole and get to know it through repeated listenings. In the digital age a person can conceivably still do this by downloading the whole CD and enjoying it completely but in many instances this is not what happens. Quite often a listener will listen to the samples of the music and then just go up to iTunes and download the tracks they like while ignoring the rest of the album.
Pink Floyd recently won a lawsuit to keep their music from being sold piecemeal as single tracks. Instead they would force them to be offered as complete albums as that was the way the band meant for them to be consumed. Their point is that listeners are not getting the whole picture of what an album is about because they are taking the songs out of context and listening to them as individual segments and not as part of the whole picture of the album itself. Jack White felt this as well when he said that the Internet trivializes music.
My feelings about the subject are mixed. I love the fact that I can listen to just about anything whenever I have a craving to listen to it all via the Internet. For me it does not trivialize the music but I will say that it does tend to dull the impact of new releases. It negates some of the excitement that used to surround a new album being released by an artist. I can go up to Lala on any given Tuesday when the new releases are available and start looking through hundreds of releases and reissues that came out that day. Back in the day I would be lucky if I heard a few songs off an album before I had to decide whether I wanted to buy it or not. Now I can listen to the whole thing online legally and make my decision on the music itself instead of hoping the rest of the release would be as good as the two singles that they released.
Now, how much time during any given day do I have to sit down and listen to music continuously? Obviously on the weekends I have a lot more time available but during the week when I work an eight hour day I only have a couple of hours each night ,if that, to sit down uninterrupted and listen to music. With hundreds of releases a week and with music services and podcasts all over the net clamoring for our attention where does a person even begin? Do you spend your time trying to find something new? Do you listen to CD's that are already in your collection because you want something familiar? Do you explore older catalog titles on Lala from your favorite artist? Many choices, limited time. Like a buffet a person might start sampling to see what they like and this is where music might be passed over if it doesn't grab you in that short 30 second sample. An artist may have spent a year or two working on the music you will hear but a listener these days might dismiss it out of hand after listening to it for 30 seconds because they want to get through a ton of new releases looking for something spectacular. So perhaps this is what Jack White meant by his statement that the Internet trivializes music.
The Internet to me has been a blessing when it comes to the music that I am able to access but in other ways my very broad tastes in music can be overwhelmed as I try to keep up with the latest musical trends and listen to the established artists as well. It has allowed me to hear very obscure artists from around the country and around the world that I would never have heard otherwise but at the same time I have a limited window of what I can listen to in any given day because of time constraints so I constantly have a feeling that I have missed something important because I did not have the time to listen for a longer period each day. So I can see the points of people like Jack White when he voices his opinion about the Internet but there are a lot of artists out there who would not be heard at all except that they were able to utilize the Internet to get their music out there to a wider audience. Perhaps it does trivialize some music but for others it casts a bright spotlight on tuneage that would never had heard the light of day otherwise. Let me know where you stand on this issue. I'd be interested to hear.
4-6-2010
Even though I'm sure that most of you would not consider this a proper blog because I don't pour out daily or hourly thoughts onto the website no matter how trivial or small I am still going to call this column a blog simply because that's the closest thing that I can come up with for an occasional column of my thoughts about the various genres of music that are covered here on Ambient Visions. I find myself wanting to write more as of late and put more of myself into Ambient Visions so that readers can get an idea of where I'm coming from in regards to the music that appears here on AV. What better place to do that than in a column called AV Blog.
For those who may have missed it Clifford White of New Age Music News inducted me into the reviewers Hall of Fame on his website. Check it out here http://www.newagemusicnews.com/music-reviewers.asp I was honored to be included in such an illustrious group of reviewers who all work to help ambient/new age music find new listeners by offering their thoughts on the latest releases so that others might go exploring. In this day and age I have found that even with websites such as Lala or Rhapsody or even Spotify when it makes it to our shores later this year that there are so many choices in what to listen to that a friendly voice or in this case friendly words on a page nudging you towards what we think are some of the better releases to check out is still needed. I thought that perhaps reviewers might become obsolete once you could just go up and sample the music for yourself but I find that opinions still count when there are hundreds of releases coming out each week to occupy your attention and time.
Of course there are not hundreds of releases each week within the smaller genres such as ambient and new age but there are still enough releases that if you didn't keep up with them all the time you would find yourself hopelessly lost as far as who has a new album out and which ones are worth checking out. And I'm sure that it would be a simple matter for a person to miss something that they might have found if they had someone (reviewers) to sift through many of the releases and just say "Here, try this one. I think you'll like it." Besides, some of the smaller labels and artists don't end up on Lala or any of the other streaming websites so those definitely depend on recommendations to get the word out. So way to go Clifford for recognizing the hard work that everyone of these reviewers has put in over the years and hey, extra points for including me. :)
Many times I'll find myself writing as I sit in my car waiting to go into work in the mornings or at lunch while taking a break from the daily grind. And these writings are done quite old fashionedly with a pen and an notebook as I don't really care for laptops all that much. I much prefer my easy to read dual monitor set up as opposed to sitting and staring at the smaller screens that normally come with the laptops. Some of that daily writing will find its way into this column if I deem that anyone else other than myself would find it even remotely interesting and the rest of it helps me to clarify my feelings about music and the role that it might play in my life as well as readers of Ambient Visions.
Today I was wondering about the benefits or lack thereof of ambient and new age music being considered something that you put on while you do something else. You are aware of the music in a subconscious way but you are not really paying any attention to it. Don't get me wrong because I do the same thing sometimes and it isn't just ambient music that I do this with. Having worked for years in a record store I was more than able to continue working, waiting on customers and stocking the shelves all while rock music played in the background that I may or may not remember hearing later on. I guess my thought is that there is a thin line between background music and elevator music or insignificant music. It is music that barely registers on our radar and when it does we tend to think of it as less than other music that fills our days such as rock or pop.
I'm sure that many artists are more than happy to live with this description of their music and feel that it is what they were trying to achieve. While other artists would prefer that listeners would actually hear and actively soak up the music that they so painstakingly assembled on their latest release. There have always been discussions about why ambient/new age music tends to be stagnant in regards to reaching new listeners but perhaps one of the explanations is that there is a general perception of the whole genre that limits who will listen to it or who will even venture to try it for the first time. Since I am a fan of jazz and classical as well it was not that hard for me to step into ambient, new age and world music and enjoy those genres the same as I had enjoyed rock n roll for most of my life. Perhaps it is this view of instrumental music in general that causes potential listeners to look at ambient or new age music as something other than skillfully written and played compositions. The images of a band plying their trade on stage dominate the mindsets of potential listeners and if you sit behind a piano or a keyboard in general (unless you are Elton John or Lady Gaga) it means that your music is going to be less than entertaining and maybe even boring.
I know this is not true personally but it's not me that you are trying to sell your music to but rather to new fans that have yet to discover these genres of music. I'd like to invite readers to submit their own ideas to me at editor@ambientvisions.com about your thoughts on these ideas or even how to correct these perceptions that seem to stifle the reach of ambient and new age music. How can ambient/new age music get "noticed" by listeners and attract more attention to itself. Marketing and promotion are not bad words and should be playing a large part in reversing these perceptions of what instrumental music actually is. Maybe it is time that those of us who make and partake of ambient/new age music to become "instrumental evangelists" to paraphrase a technology term and seek to build a critical mass of support for these genres of music in order for it to break free from misconceptions of what this music is all about and that it certainly is not boring if you really sit down and listen to it. Think about it. Ponder it and then react to it. Drop me an e-mail with your thoughts.
Michael Foster, editor
Ambient Visions
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