The Sound Age - Music industry Podcast: Recent Episodes
Wrecking Crew Touring
A collection of stories, observations, predictions and opinions, loosely based around rock music and the music industry.
The horrific story of the next big thing in rock. Ian Watkins will be remembered as one of the most evil people in the history of music.
A few years back I was looking to make a ticketing site that essentially scrapped booking fees, we got to the point where we had an investor working with us, but researching small venues we found out that Australia was uniquely different than the rest of the world. Almost every single small venue in Australia had EXCLUSIVE deals with 1 or 2 ticketing sites. This doesn't seem like a problem until you think what are tickets in 2022? In 2004 tickets were lining up in a newsagents waiting for the 6am ticket release and buying from a person behind a booth. Today it's an email with a qr code attached. But the booking fees have never changed. You still pay 10-15% or more on top of your $20 ticket for your local venue that holds 350 people.
It makes sense for stadiums and festivals and major tours to use a ticketing site, but these days small clubs can very easily sell their own tickets, they can collect their customers data to form a mailing list, $3 per person doesn't sound like that much of an issue, but that's over $1000 every night in a club that holds 350 people. In the local music scene that's a lot of money. If venues sold their own tickets they could save the customers money or they could use that extra money to pay local bands $1000 more every night.
Where will spotify be in 10 years? because there’s not much business in hosting other companies music. The answer is right in front of us already. Spotify Originals - Just like Netflix Originals. Original content exclusive to Spotify commissioned by Spotify. Imagine instead of being paid 0.003c per stream, the artist gets paid $20M for the rights to the music. It that doesn’t happen though, streaming and music in general runs the risk of becoming just a tool to sell mobile phones.
The Charts are a measure of success for an artist, they are also a trophy for artists that last the span of the their career. So it's no surprise that labels and managers have concocted ways to manufacture chart positions. This episode I break down a few ways artists have schemed their way to the top and also how the problem was solved and then unsolved meaning we still live in a world where you can essentially buy a chart position.
What happens when a TV trivia show mentions the similarity of a children's song and one of Australia's biggest hits 27 years after it's release. The owners of the copyright who never even realised the similarity go on a rampage to extract whatever money they can from the artists. The result, $4.5 million in damages and court costs and the downward spiral and eventual death of the musician at the centre of the court case. It highlights a glaring problem with Copyright law. If the motives and timeframe for copyright infringement is not considered in the case, then as more songs are sold to private investors, labels and publishers through NFT's and other means, there will be an increase in petty little copyright claims. After all these private investors are removed from the art of making music, they are in the art of making money.
The early 2000s Boy band craze was single handedly created by one man. A man who also created the biggest Ponzi scheme in the history of the US ripping off many thousands of innocent people out of hundreds of millions of dollars. The pop stars on the walls of teenagers were all victims of a Con man.
Note: Listen on Spotify for the full version of the song I’m talking about in this podcast. The story of writing a 2:50 pop rock song, that was pieced together using ideas spread out over a decade, recorded in 2 different countries in 3 different studios. a song that was written, perfected and recorded without the band members ever seeing each other in person. This is the story of Reset.
It cost a fortune for a pro studio, it used to cost a small fortune for a pro home studio set up, able to record studio quality recordings. And then Steve Jobs and Apple released Garageband. These days Garageband is a fully functional recording studio. I would know, i released a song using Garageband and nobody even knew.
Deep Fake audio will continue to get better, at one point it will be indistinguishable from real artists. At that point what happens to music and musicians. What happens when labels decide to keep an artist alive after their death by using Music AI and Deep Fake technology to release music in the exact likeness of the deceased artist. If we can keep ACDC alive with new music every year for 1000 years, what will ACDC look and sound like? With every recreation it becomes less and less familiar until one day we live in a dystopian hell, devoid of actual music.
The story of the worst album ever made is strange. How can something so bad have actual loyal fans. And in the same context how can something recorded so perfectly such as Nickleback's albums be so hated by so many? Perhaps true beauty is found in imperfection. Perhaps music isn't meant to sound perfect.
The creation of iTunes meant artists couldn't release more experimental tracks near the end of an album anymore, every song had to be a single.
The creation of Spotify meant hit songwriters wrote songs in a way to keep the listener streaming for at least 30 seconds to collect the stat
And then Til Tok happened and the art of songwriting is completely turned on its head.
This episode is about the dumbing down of songwriting from the creativity in writing hooks, to the length of songs. Music is not what it used to be.
Traditional Radio will die in 1 to 2 generations. There's just no room in our digital world to be tuning into frequencies. The replacement is already out there, it's being used by millions of music fans already. And yet rock n rollers have no idea about it. So here's the episode to enlighten to rock community on a better way.
Many years ago, there were countless Record labels each with their own distinct identity. As the world grew smaller the biggest labels became giants, consuming all that was below them. Today we are left with 3 major labels controlling the vast majority of mainstream music. It has had an effect on the creativity of songwriting and it has changed how artists get signed.
The battle to keep our Aussie pub rock culture alive has been one sided. We have lost out to gambling decade after decade. But this episode is more than just a retelling of facts. I come with a plan. If we can't beat them, why don't we join them.
Tune in to find out how I think Aussie pub rock can return to dominance.
Ben folds famously made an orchestral piece in about 7 minutes from scratch, teaching the entire orchestra their parts and then performing the brand new piece. But that’s nothing compared to the future of music... Music AI is here and it’s growing stronger all the time. So I put it to the test.
The historical tale of the music industry fighting a war with the very people who put them in power. A bitter battle that put rockstars against children. Mega corporations against single parents. A David and Goliath story where both sides were evil.
The anti hero of this story is someone you have never heard of before: a thieving single mother who took on the world, lost, but took down the music industry with her. The aftermath is what we are left with today.
Rock N Roll struggles to get into the ears of younger audiences. What if there was a way to use games to get music heard. What if there was already a game inventing a new form of Music entertainment. It's not even a music game..
In this episode I take the idea and morph it into a mobile app style game that could be a totally new form of music entertainment, providing an income source for musicians and labels while getting Rock N Roll in front of the younger generations.
Todays Sponsor is NWOCR Volume 1 A double compilation album featuring the best new rock bands. Out July 23rd Pre order your copy now! www.nwocr.com
In the 80s the average age of the headliners at Monsters of rock was 33 In the 90s the average age was 40 In the 2000s the average age of the headliners at Download was 41 in the 20teens the average age was 51.5 years old!
We have created a bubble and it's hurting rock n roll.
Sport stars retire at the top, while rockstars waddle onto stages charging more and more each year, hiding their lack of talent behind production.
An app that is aimed at teenagers, full of stupid comedy, kids doing dumb pranks and bad dance routines, is actually the best social media app for musicians. And every band should be on there now! Don’t delay.
This is the New Wave of Classic Rock. The future of Rock N Roll
To pre order the compilation album go to www.nwocr.com
For all things relating to the Wrecking Crew check out www.wreckingcrewtouring.com
The term rockstar gets thrown around very easily. But if we are applying a strict interpretation of the term, we are talking about sex drugs and rock n roll. An over the top character that defies the norm. The party lifestyle of rock n roll was diminished in the 90s but one man embraced the lifestyle, the flamboyant, unique and entertaining front man of Stone Temple Pilots and Then Velvet Revolver. Scott Weiland embodied everything that was rock n roll, the good the bad and the ugly. And like many before him, it cost him his life. This is the tragic story of Scott Weiland - The Last True Rockstar
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Building a career in music is not easy. There are DIY methods to success but the best way to get your music heard is to build a team. This episode breaks down 4 key roles the serious musician should look for. What these roles actually do and how to approach these people. Share with fellow musicians. Will be doing a few more of the band advice episodes. So hopefully you get something from this.
If you are reading this, you are on a different podcast platform, or you are on spotify but you are listening to the wrong version of this episode. For the best experience, go listen to the music version of this episode on Spotify NOW!
A rant piece about the un - Australian Aussie Government dismantling art and music by considering it an afterthought. While live music venues are struggling to stay afloat, the sports leagues and casinos are thriving thanks to eased back restrictions, and it is bit hard for the federal department of arts to speak up in government because the government removed the entire department. The department that is in charge of the trains being on time is now also in charge of live music. Hows that for an afterthought. All the while Australia is addicted to gambling, 0.3% of Earths population, 20% of earths gambling! Am I the right person to be discussing Aussie Politics? I don't even live in Australia. I don't live in Australia because my career path in Australia is a dead end. I HAVE to live overseas if I want to make a viable career in Rock N Roll. If I did live in Australia, I'd be emailing my local government and saying how unacceptable it is for a 111.7 Billion dollar industry to not even have its own representation in government.
I threw away the script and freestyle'd this episode. I didn't think it needed a soundtrack or an intro. Just me and my words. In this episode I try to link the music industry to the mental health problems that sometimes plague the industry. It's a major industry full of unsafe work conditions and unrealistic demands on the very people we look up to. And don't be afraid or ashamed to talk to someone, it doesn't always have to be a doctor.
Warning this is a very boring topic, but it's important, because for the first time in a very very long time there is a technology that ensures the artist is paid first, paid barely and is continued to be paid when others profit of their success. And it's controversial. Today we're talking about selling art, not a copy of the art but the actual art.
A fan fiction album title and track list on reddit, turned into a global man hunt for clues for an album that never existed. But the album did actually exist. 3 punk rockers from Canada tricked tens of thousands of Green Day fans into believing Green Days new album would be called Magnum Opus of the Inglorious Kind.
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Many Rock bands are stuck still trying to sell CDs when today’s youth don’t even own CD players. Many rock fans boycott streaming because of propaganda articles painting half truths on an artist's income. This episode explains how pop artists are still thriving. Because they have evolved.
This episode discusses the rise of Pop Punk, how it evolved to Emo, why Emo became so big and why emo disappeared. And then how a drummer and a rapper made pop punk relevant again. Pop Punk is back being a chart topping success and now I'm too old to understand it?
In September 1986, Metallica bassist Cliff Burton and Kirk Hammett drew cards to see who would get what bed on their tour bus. That night the bus crashed and Cliff Burton was killed. This episode predicts what music would sound like in 2021 if the cards fell a different way that night. What would music sound like if Metallica never went on past Master Of Puppets
This is the unlikely story of a group of music fans who started a Facebook group and changed the UK music scene. The group has rallied a nation and helped previously local bands into the UK charts. Welcome to the New Wave Of Classic Rock
How we listen to music post streaming. A prediction podcast using only technology that exists today. We look at how we will listen to music in the near future. It gets a bit dark.
Aussie Pub Rock is a genre of music that grew out of the thriving 70s and 80s pub scene in Australia. It’s influence can be heard to this day in many new Australian rock bands. But when Australian Government and media turned their backs on the sound, it was forced to survive elsewhere. And that’s just unAustralian. On this episode we take a look at the decisions made that forced Aussie Pub Rock to find a new home.