The future of PA

the site has no future.. it is leaderless and directionless.. and unless we make the current owner f**king disappear in a concrete foundation... it ain't going to change until one day you try to access the site and it is gone man...

I did a few times ... and I have a wall full of rejections ... they are my favorite art project in my life!

Ohhh ... forgot one thing ... the no replies!

AND, for the record, at 69, I probably am not sure I would be interested in it ... specially as there is no central control on what "reviews" should be and not be ... too many of them belong in a thread on PA, not in a location as a "review" ... we can keep the "ratings" but the review itself, does not belong.

And I think this lack of cohesion and definition at the top is the part that people thing helped create "progressive" ... and while that is a noble and thoughtful idea, there was a whole side of folks, specially in Europe that were experimenting with NOTHING ... and they came up with SOMETHING ... and I'll be damned ... someone even gave it a name! AND, its process can be found in film, theater, literature, painting ... and other performance arts ... at a time when watching a guy playing a couple of guitars by himself on an empty stage in a bar seemed weird ... but he did it, as did many others! He's not well remembered here on PA, sadly enough ... the courage alone is an important factor in all this, but it helped other groups/bands come around and have the guts to stand up and do something different.

I think we're missing something ... it's not me ... although I could be forced/coerced into helping here or there ... but ... it can't be work ... it has to be fun, and meaningful and a trip worth undertaking, just like ALL THAT MUSIC THAT WE LOVED LISTENING TO IN THOSE DAYS ... behind closed doors because so many folks were bubblegumming all the rest!

REMEMBER THAT ... that's all, really, that I am asking ... maybe Micky as well!

The other point I should make is internet free radio, which artists know as Radioairplay (our side of it) and listeners know as Jango.  Internet free radio is not free.  Artists pay $ so that their songs can be heard.  It works like this.  I plop down two weeks worth of groceries, and I receive 4000 radio plays on Jango.  If my song resonates with people, then I receive a PopScore, which grants me additional free radio plays.  It isn't the amount of $ I put down that gives me a PopScore.  It is how much the folks are INTERACTING with the music.  I hope that's clear.

When you listen to a band you like and you don't thumbs up, then guess what?  You aren't doing the artist you enjoy listening to any favors.

If I want to do prog, which is not popular, then I'm forced again into a compromise situation.  I'm not made of $.  Money doesn't grow on trees (remember your parents telling you that?).  So, I must shoot for getting my PopScore up high enough that I get additional free plays, but at the same time struggle with not allowing my music to become too compromised.

So, that's what we did.  Is it a form of selling out?  To an extent, yes, obviously it is.  Do I have a choice?  Yes.  I can either let my music sit on my computer never to be heard, or I can work within the system.

We released 8 songs and are on our 2nd full week.  In the first week, 5 of the songs received PopScores that were high enough to grant additional free radio plays.  We seem on track to hit the same target.

Now, how do I use Jango to get some information as to whether our music is prog?  What we do is choose song-targeting and pick "sounds like" artists and many of those are prog bands.  But, I don't want just prog people listening, or I can't get my PopScores up high enough to keep the radio campaign going.  There just aren't that many of us out there.  So, I also choose bands in music located in genres related to prog.

If someone really likes the music, then they can become a fan.  Yippeee!  Does that mean I get $15 for selling my CD?  No, but I do sincerely appreciate the gesture (yes, someone is relating to my work!), and it can help get us additional radio plays.

Radioairplay is wonderful for an Indie artist like me, because I can get the music out there.  But, it is also a double edged sword.  At the same time, it limits what we can do because if we stray too far from the average listener, the radio campaign ends quickly.

So, when you are choosing bands for PA, realize that artists are playing under a new set of rules.  We are ham-stringed from having complete freedom.  

To an extent, even under the old rules, bands had to make their music accessible to a point or be cut from their label.  We all know the story of how 2112 was make it or break it for Rush, because their albums (despite the fact that I enjoy those early ones) weren't making bank.  At least back then, the labels gave them time to develop.  These days, you either fund your project yourself (starving artists and some freedom, some compromise), or you swim fast or sink with a label, because they're not going to put up with low stats.

It's all very well for reviewers to say ... well, this isn't proggy enough.  But, you try writing an album, recording all the instrumentation with your limited budget, and then try to promote it.  It's hard work folks ... much harder than reviewing bands. 

Food for thought.  This has been my second lesson in Indie music 101.

Frenetic Zetetic wrote: It seems we all agree that the PA forums are close to the edge, but not right away.

Leaving all the topics far from far behind
We relieve the tension only to find out the webmaster's name

The information about the website and its registration is public record ... however, sometimes the information is hidden behind a fake company, although to my knowledge, fake addresses are not legal on those things but it is done all the time with addresses in Patagonia in Venus!

There is so much music out there to be discovered. I have tried out many modern recommendations, but mostly they are not interesting for me. They might have been interesting had they been published in the late 60s or early 70s, but from new releases I expect something more than just "samo, samo". There just are hardly any drastically new developments. The Red Masque, who are extremely underappreciated on this site, are one of the few bands who explore new territories, which is probably why they are underappreciated because most people are not really keen to hear something very different. And yes, this means YOU!

Jean and I have taken to exploring the 60s and 70s for really obscure bands (and not just prog ones). The variety of rock music was just so big back then, especially in the 60s. And of course our interest has shifted to classical music, and there are so many discoveries to be made there.