Did I mention, this movie has it all! The 3 Gs: Guns, Girls, and Giant Monsters. Don't know that I need to say more, but for those that need convincing, take into account that it is a Mamoru Oshii film ( The same guy responsible for the groundbreaking "Ghost in the Shell", Avalon, and perhaps less well known, but no less intriguing and bizarre "The Red Spectacles" (1987). The music was done by Kenji Kawai. http://www.kenjikawai.com
Check out the trailer:
Kaijusonic - Release Delayed
Recently, on a professional Industry group, someone posted the question, "Whatever happened to all the pioneering record labels?" I thought I would try and give some perspective on that topic here.
There is one problem that has always been a problem in this industry..but even more so today:
Investment and operating capital, or just plain simply: MONEY! For years I have been trying to set the framework for just such a pioneering label. I did some A&R consulting for a label in the past and got to see first hand the pretty ugly financial truth to operating a label. From that vantage it's quite easy to see why there aren't a million pioneering labels out there. Problem #1: Distributors don't pay fast enough, or at all. Shelf space is finite, subject of fierce competition, and being downsized and out-dated more each day. And returns can crush a label owner and come unexpectedly at any time from a distributor.
Now, during this technological 'weeding out' phase where all these new "models" for distribution and marketing (iTunes, etc.) are competing for dominance in the market, we are in an odd flux where no one is quite sure what the rules are, and, as usual, the established "powers that be" are fighting desperately to regain control of and/or co-opt the innovations that were created specifically to circumvent their system in the first place.
Right now most people with the entrepreneurial spirit, experience, and technical capacity to run a label are busy throwing down in their craft and maintaining financial solvency. IMHO a couple of things need to coincide to create the circumstances that can foster a successful "Pioneer" or alternative label:
1. Money: But that's not enough on its own... you could give someone 100K to get operating and when that money ran out and they were waiting to get paid by distributors, the repo men would already be coming gut the label's office.
2. Research and Experimentation: New distribution methods and their roles in the emerging evolution of this industry need to be studied and paid attention to. A new label pioneer will have to be clear on how they are going to divide their energy between divergent markets and distribution methods.
3. Cooperation: A community of Artists and Labels being innovative and proactive in marketing (viral and otherwise). Artists have got to get over the notion that getting signed to a label means having everything done for you, and Labels need to be in tune with the Art, Artists, the audience, the markets and the money side simultaneously, if a label is to be more than a part-time expensive, time consuming hobby with every bit as many liabilities as a major label (a lawsuit for copyright infringement looks exactly the same when it arrives on your desk as when it arrives at Sony...only difference is the average indie label doesn't have an army of attorneys on retainer. To really make a splash that gets sufficient marketing attention (even for a niche market) it requires co-mutual and creative partnerships and activity that moves that agenda forward with grace and purpose.
4. A Market (with enough disposable income to be customers):
However odd or eclectic one's "niche" might be, a label has to find their market and get them to the door with cash in hand.
5. Luck: Yup, good ol fashioned luck…to be in the right place at the right time, to meet the right people, to sign the right Artists, to hit a market trend just before the ride is about to begin with a quiver full of just the right arrows to hit that mark.
So while this laundry list of the complications and obstacles to running a successful label seems daunting, there are some, myself included, who are working to stir the air enough to start creating the conditions for that perfect storm…In this economic environment however, the process becomes even more lengthy and challenging, no matter what clever angle you come up with. The prize will go to those who have the time, passion, skill, money, and perseverance to weather the economical and technological storm that is creating our current condition, and to be lucky enough to create or choose a business model that works.
Here’s wishing the best of luck to all those taking the time to make the effort!
T. Reed – TAO X Productions - Nightmare Sound Laboratory
STRANGE WORLD ~ COOL HEAD
Taking on an Economy & Industry in Flux
For a lot of us (inside and outside the music and entertainment industry), this has been a strange and harrowing year fraught with economic adjustments and new challenges.
The music business has been undergoing a dramatic shift for at least a decade and still hasn't come to settle. More than ever, it has been incumbent upon creative entrepreneurs to carve out their own paths, and while it is true that artists now have many more tools and resources available to them to become more self-sufficient in business and production, it doesn't change the level of time, effort, and skill required to find a comfortable place in the industry.
While it's easy to see how one might feel like everything is falling apart, a far more valuable position to take would be to consider this a time for recalibration, reevaluation and evolution . This economic readjustment is, and has been, coming for some time now. New methods and mediums are still fighting for their role in the new economy, and, as always, some will flourish and some will fade.
What many of us who are working as freelance, self-employed creatives can take some heart in, is that things have not essentially changed that much for us. We wake up every day without any absolute guaranty that the jobs will be there, the projects will be paying and plentiful. Everyday is a challenge to find the work and keep things rolling even when it isn’t readily available.
Do I have any definitive answers? No. Who does? This is a great big recalibration long overdue and it is coinciding with massive technological leaps and shifts that have made the ground floor unstable for all kinds of businesses including the entire” Recording Industry”…
Remember that song “Video Killed the Radio Star” (The first MTV video ever!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWtHEmVjVw8
Yup, they were talking about the same kind of industry shifts back in 1979.
Every artist, era, market and circumstance is different, so there are no definitive answers.
I can only tell you the way I’m dealing with these times and inform you of the outcome of my experiments and efforts as they unfold. As I dive into this "Strange World", my motto is to keep a cool head, and figure out how to turn adversity into advantage.
The one thing that having less work than one might like provides, is the space and time to realize and address a lot of unfinished aspects of both the business and creative ends that tend to get left behind when the clock is always ticking on a client’s project. Of course one must prioritize making sure all ends are met, but we can all take an inauspicious time and use it wisely to set up for a win further down the road. Do more studying, research, and social media networking. Take steps to make your studio cleaner, more ergonomic, and efficient. Learn those keystrokes that could save you valuable time on your project work. Cut those new demos that you’d been meaning to get around to. Cut up and file those field recordings that are sitting on your media shelf and turn them into valuable organized assets in your sample library. Put together an improved and upgraded web interface. Talk to some new people and brainstorm. The list can go on and on, and many of these tasks don’t even require capital, just the will and the time.
Maybe now is just the time to take on new challenges. Attempt to achieve the unlikely… Yes, why not? What have you got to lose? There is no amount of moping, complaining or worrying that will ever float a boat, so if the old formula isn’t working try something new.
If you have faith in yourself, now is the time to invest it. If you don’t, then now is the time to earn it and get it! A lot of us have hidden masterpieces - novels, movies, songs, etc. locked up inside, waiting for the day when we have enough security and time to pursue them…All an illusion that never seems to arrive no matter where you are.
Perhaps the best time is NOW!
For myself, I’ve taken on a tall plate from the ‘all of the above’ column. This year I finished a screenplay in the action comedy genre, written with a collaborator/colleague and long time friend. We have now begun preparing a business plan to support that effort. With several music projects, a new compilation CD project (Rise of the Retrobots), and some sound design for a short film all on my plate in October, I have a lot to do and look forward to updating you with the results as these, and other projects progress.
I’d also like to hear your stories and experiments of surfing the entertainment industry during these strange and uncertain times. Feel free to share your appropriate stories, ideas and experiments as comments to this article.
Here’s wishing you all the best in your creative endeavors and careers.
T. Reed - Composer/Sound Designer/Music Producer
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