Indieoma

With tracks like Generation Gaming; “The sun’s blazing – what wonderful weather for gaming” Dan Bull writes the kind of songs which would see older Daily Mail readers despairing about the state of the youth of this country. Of course, in our modern world “gaming” is not restricted to being an indoor activity, per se, but that’s beside the point.

Last year, Dan created a stir when his open letter to Lily Allen; “Dear Lily”, went viral in the aftermath of the pop princess’s anti-file sharing outburst.

But is he really completely pro-file sharing, and if so how does he plan to make a living from doing what he loves?

1) Are you full time music maker? Do you think “musician” should be a form of full time paid employment? Can it be financially viable? How?

DB: I’m not a full-time musician, but if musicians can find ways to make a living out of their craft then that’s great. The only thing I’m against is enforcing backwards laws in order to cling onto an obsolete business model. I think the future for musicians who want to make money is live performance, commissioning and licensing of their recordings.

2) If you make money from playing live rather than selling records/downloads? (Your 1st album was given away as a free download) Do you think that this is only practical for a solo artist who doesn’t need to involve other people who will also want to be paid?

DB: I don’t play live at the moment so I don’t make money from that. All the money I’ve made musically has been from people buying my CDs and MP3s, or sending me donations. From talking to other musicians though, it seems that live performance is the most lucrative avenue for musicians, even when the funds are split between a group of people. The days of recorded music having any real value are over, now people want to connect with and experience the artists directly.

3) Why do you think people don’t want to pay for new music?

DB: I actually think that people are willing to pay for new music, but a lot of people are tired of being messed around by the industry with its unfair pricing, heavy-handed approach to copyright, and foolish schemes such as embedded digital rights management and overblown lawsuits against mothers whose kids have been sharing files without their knowledge. If an agreeable business model can be worked out, which sees fans paying a fair price for music and artists being paid fairly, then everyone will be happy.

4) A fair price…

DB: …would be reached by a consensus between people that buy music regularly. Although at the moment I think that the way forward is perhaps via subscription style services. There’s so much music easily available now that people want to own a lot more than they used to, so subscriptions or discounts for multiple downloads would certainly entice more users into legal channels of acquiring digital music.

5) Although technology is available to a wider number of people now it increasingly seems that to really “make it” you have to “sell out” far more than previously. Sponsorship, corporate gigs etc. Any thoughts?

DB: It’s definitely an easier path to the top if you accept those kinds of deals, but I don’t think it’s the only way. As long as there are people innovating and exploring new ways to find audiences and entertain them then I think there will still be plenty of successful independent musicians.

6) Does intellectual property really count for nothing? And at what point does file sharing go from beneficial to damaging? Or is it only ever beneficial?

DB: File sharing may well be damaging to record labels’ bank accounts, but that shouldn’t factor into the moral argument. The reason I am pro-filesharing is that I don’t think you can rightfully claim ownership of an idea and say that other people are not entitled to share that idea. And being as a music file isn’t a physical object but just a sequence of ones and zeroes, then making an identical sequence of ones and zeroes shouldn’t be thought of as stealing.

Restricting the free flow of ideas between people can’t be beneficial to creativity, and if it hinders creativity then surely it will hinder musical output. Some of the most popular and critically acclaimed music today is based on sampling and building on other peoples’ music, even though legally this music isn’t supposed to exist.

7) Do you plan/listen to albums as complete works (Debut album, Prelude suggests that you do) or are they just a collection of tracks?

DB: Safe is my first album, and I definitely intended it as a concept album. When I was writing and recording it, I pictured it as a kind of film with each track being a scene leading onto the next. I think the best albums are ones where the songs are connected by a theme or a mood. Dark Side of the Moon and OK Computer were two of my biggest inspirations for Safe.

8) The new tracks sound a lot more laid back than the debut album…

DB: The tracks I’ve put on YouTube are really promotional tracks that I put out to keep a buzz going while I’m working on my next serious release. I think of it like a novelist publishing articles in a magazine while he’s working on his book. The next album is going to be a little bit more upbeat than Safe, which was the product of a dark time in my life. I don’t have a release date or a title for the next album yet, I’m just letting it happen at its own pace.

9) Do you think that “new” technologies such as streaming and downloading are all good?

DB: The only bad thing I can think of is that they have taken away the value and specialness of recorded music. Albums especially used to be treasured objects. People only owned maybe a few dozen, whereas now everything’s immediately available in unlimited quantity. Overall though, I think we’re in a better place now than when record labels monopolised everything.

10) Where do you see your place in music? Would you sign to a record label? Pay a radio plugger and press officer, or are you committed to going it alone entirely. If so, how successful do you think you can be?

DB: I would certainly sign to a label if the terms were right, and if I had enough funding I’d use it to promote my music. But it doesn’t really matter, as long as I can keep making music and share it with people that want to hear it. Anything beyond that would be a great bonus.

11) Do you think we’ll see a time where popular music is created almost without human involvement for example; a computer takes the place of role Stock Aiken and Waterman would have played?

DB: Maybe some time in the far distant future when computers are ridiculously advanced, but I think in music and in most art, there is a human element that’s never been replicated by a machine. Art comes from somewhere else than numbers and logic, and computers don’t really work that way. Computers are brilliant tools but there still needs to be somebody in control of the tool.

12) How did you get started? What were the records that made you want to make music and how did you go about collecting necessary equipment to do it at home?

DB: I’ve always loved music, and I first started making my own music at about the age of twelve, with a program called Magix Music Maker. I made dance music inspired by Fatboy Slim and the Chemical Brothers. When I was a bit older I formed a rock band called MatronsApron, and when they went their separate ways I moved back to computer music, and started recording raps. I listen to loads of different music (The Smiths, Eminem, Outkast, Lee Scratch Perry, Pink Floyd, Radiohead, Bob Marley) so I tried to create my own sound by meshing all those influences together, and that’s how I ended up making my first album.

I did send it to a few labels but didn’t get any response, so I had it pressed up myself and released it 100% independently. It got good feedback under the radar and I carried on putting promotional tracks on YouTube. The first track to really get attention was “Dear Lily”, which I wasn’t expecting at all, but it went viral and I got something like 80,000 views overnight. I earned more money from my music that weekend than in the previous entire year, which shows that you don’t need a major label and a PR budget to get heard, just a song that strikes the right chord at the right time.

Find out more about Dan Bull and his music by visiting his myspace.

Links to the other Digital Economy Bill and Piracy And Pieces Of Eight posts:

Digital Economy Bill Feature Intro

Simon Indelicate – Digital Economy Bill

The Indelicates – Corporate Records Business Model

Stop Disconnection Demo – 24th March 2010

Dan Bull – An Interview – How does a pro-filesharing musician plan to make some cash?

Piracy Feature Intro

Julia Indelicate – Bands And Branding

Chris T-T – The Ballad Of Simon Indelicate’s Christmas Fudge

Simon Indelicate – Fudge Really Has Nothing To Do With It

Matt Stockman – Introducing Sharabang Records – a record label which gives songs aways for free

Ric Rawlins – Pirate Radio And The Internet

Ric Rawlins – Film Review – The Boat That Rocked

Mike Watson – Think, create share, consume, share, create: Liberalise creative freedom. Free Liberalism