I’ve recently become fascinated with the work of Ernst Haeckel, a German artist/biologist active around the turn of the century. His book ‘Kunstformen der Natur’ (German for ‘Art Forms of Nature’) contains a series of 100 lithographs, each arranging groups of disparate species into striking, unified compositions. Each plate is laid out as a collage, freeing the animals from their natural contexts – absent this constraint, the natural symmetries between different types of animals is astoundingly revealed.
The drawings are unquestionably beautiful, but more interesting are their philosophical underpinnings, and the application of those modes of thinking to our daily practice as digital artists.
From Olaf Breidbach’s preface of Prestel’s recent repackaging of Art Forms of Nature:
“In this profusion of symmetrical series, which seem to stem from the workshop of a brilliant designer, a fundamental formula for living things shines through for Haeckel. The many forms brought together in his work appeared to him to be a series of variations of simple constellations of symmetry. His depictions of them embrace a succession of complexities in which he saw the mechanics of evolution at work. His ‘Art Forms in Nature’ seeks to reproduce such constructions. Every plate in this work is an example of Haeckel’s notion of a principal unity of all living things. Each one of these illustrations – which for the uninitiated observer are at first only highly ornamental – was, for Haeckel, proof of his thesis. For him, the individual form, its inherent symmetry, documented Darwin’s notion of the evolutionary development of all living things..”
Catch that? Form is a documentation of evolution? It was an effective blending of science and nature, and his public ate it up. So what does it have to do with you?
Haeckel worked in the time of Art Nouveau and the birth of Darwinism – two ideological systems linked by their blurring of natural form and structure. As opposed to the theological perspective that living things came into existence in unchanging form due to divine will, the Darwinian perspective saw man as merely the current iteration of nature’s development. This line of thinking brought man much closer to nature – art nouveau synthesized this philosophy into an art of organic naturalism, realized in the decorative work of Gustav Klimt and the sculptural architecture of Gaudi, to name just a few. With these philosophies, the gulf between art and science became not only navigable, but irrelevant – art and science were merely opposing sides of the same coin.
If you’re a digital artist, there’s a similar philosophical chasm that has to be reconciled. Art is the expression of creativity, and creativity is a fuzzy, impossible-to-quantify thing. It would follow that, if the 1’s and 0’s realm of digital art is binary (and the context of art must mirror its content), digital media is unsuitable for rendering naturalism (the argument doesn’t really hold up as a snap your fingers, the art world changes-type thing, but for describing the way incremental technological changes have affected art, it’ll do). This is what we see in many forms of art today. The use of auto-tune in music gives the majority of our pop an artificial perfection. Video games tend towards increasingly stylized characters. We drive boxy cars down precisely aligned grids of roads. These forms of design mirror their digital production mechanisms, standing unified in opposition to naturalism.
But just as Haeckel saw the divide between science and nature irrelevant, so do I posit is the divide between naturalism and modernism in digital media. It’s a false choice – the more interesting places of artistic exploration are where digital/scientific/functional techniques and analog/naturalistic/formal patterns – merge and push each other forward. Examples?
- Frank Gehry, through the use of the program CATIA, construct the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao as less structure and more sculpture.
- Some of the textures in Dan Deacon’s Bromst album are generated by connecting a MIDI output to a player piano, allowing the piano to play lines that are physically impossible for a human. (There’s an awesome video of this here).
- Robert Lazzarini’s Skulls series uses digital technology in hyperrealist sculptures of typical objects, skewed out of proportion. Looking at them almost makes you dizzy. (fascinating article about Lazzarini’s process here)
Each of these pieces leverage the best aspects of digital and analog technology – digital control and scalability, with organic feel and connection to history. I’m eager to explore these ideas more in my future sound and design work. Thoughts? Examples? Counter-examples? Holler in the comments.
Open Mics – they’re a good way to practice performing, but let’s face it, the process blows. You wait for a long time, perform to a bunch of people who are likely drunk or not listening, and get no useful feedback out of the process. But – there’s a better way.
I’m forming a new group, a collective of sorts – The San Francisco Songwriters Collective – think of it as a humane mix between a book club and an open mic. The ground rules:
- The group meets regularly every two weeks
- Each member performs 1-3 songs at each meeting
- After each performance, every member in the group gives objective (like filling out a comment form) and subjective (like ‘I want to hear more Skynyrd’)
- The person performing has to listen to all comments before reacting/answering questions
It’ll be a great way to network with other songwriters, keep your own gears turning, and get individual criticism from like-minded people. Interested? First meeting will be on February 8th. Let’s do it.
I’ve been looking at the new Shearwater limited edition package (elements of which are depicted above) for their forthcoming record, and it got me thinking – what’s better than making money off of selling music? Making more money off selling music.
It’s no surprise that deluxe packages are big business in music. Take a look at Trent Reznor’s numbers for his Ghosts I-IV release in 2008 – in the first week the album made $1.6 million off of 781,917 transactions using a tiered release model. At the high end of his pyramid was the deluxe package which, at $300 for a limited edition of 2500, sold out within a day. Do the math. Deluxe packages make good financial sense (we discussed this before).
Here’s the rub though – after the fanboys/girls have parted with their $300, what are they left with? In the case of Nine Inch Nails, a photo book and some beautiful Giclee prints – in the case of the Flaming Lips, ‘a popcorn box with “real Flaming Lips popcorn stuffed inside of it,” an “Eat Your Own Spaceship” bumper sticker, a replica of the tickets from the screenings of the film earlier this year, trading cards of the band’s members, and a t-shirt.’
What are your audience left with when they buy deluxe packages? At best, a book they’ll occasionally refer to. At worst, a bunch of useless shit that will be admired briefly for novelty value, then consigned to a deep, dark section of their closet. As the people that are buying these are most likely the artist’s best off and most loyal acolytes, the opportunity to more effectively proselytize to them is huge, and in most cases missed.
A few questions to ask yourself when designing bonus materials
Does it enhance the brand? – This is a no-brainer – the bonus material should legitimately improve the experience of consuming the featured content. If it doesn’t enhance the experience of the content, it should enhance the strength of the brand – bumper stickers, etc. are fair game if they’re beautiful.
Will it last? – Artistically – is the piece a worthy thing of art in its own right, enough so that it people will save it? Is it something you would look at more than once? Physically – is it sturdily constructed? Is it beautiful?
Is it fun? – Just because something is functional doesn’t mean it can’t be fun.
Is the experience cohesive – While the bonus material has to stand on its own, it should be cut from the same cloth as the content it’s ‘improving’. You should embrace a single experience.
Pulling the onion back one level deeper, the best kind of bonus content is interactive content.
Mastodon included a score in the release of their album ‘Crack the Skye’.
A bonus package could include a picture book that has time indications where pages correspond with different sections of music.
A bonus package could grant you access to an online community where you can interact with the artist.
Make your stuff useful.
Make your stuff beautiful.
Make your stuff last.
So you’ve written your bio, done your song insights, and written your fact sheet – you’ve basically done everything you possibly can to tell somebody that your music is completely awesome. But what if people don’t exactly find the praise you’ve lavished on yourself entirely objective? Enter quote sheets.
You see this concept everywhere. Books often begin with a few sheets full of snippets from glowing reviews – movie trailers frequently include lists of film festivals the movie has appeared in. In music, quote sheets perform the same function – to provide external sources of credibility. And remember – for these quotes to provide credibility, the sources you’re quoting should come from somebody who has some name recognition. So who can these quotes come from? To start:
- Writers from publications
- Other musicians
- Staff at radio stations (DJs or program/music directors)
- Bookers or live performance folks
- Engineers or producers you’e worked with
- Record store managers
- Bloggers
As you gain momentum (hopefully) the cachet of your quote sources will improve and the length of your press features will increase – make sure your press materials always reflect the latest and greatest. Presentation is easy – when you’ve got a decent list together, arrange them in descending order of prominence.
My Strategy
These sources work well for 99% of quote sheets. I’m planning on pursuing as many outlets as possible to get quotes from people with name recognition to the general public, but, as context is everything (and because I think it might be interesting), I’m also going to solicit quotes from people whose occupations match the focal points of my songs. Getting prominent people to rave about my music would of course be sublime, but a good quote from a trucker about ‘The Trucker’ would be an intriguing addition to my quote sheet.
The purpose of a press release is to whet the editorial appetites of the news media – tastemakers, journalists, upright bloggers, and anybody else you want interested in your material. To do this, press releases have to be three things:
Interesting – Press releases should be written in a style that’s equal parts compelling and brief. Use your audience’s time wisely – quickly draw them in, hit them with information in descending level of importance, and leave them itching for more.
Relevant – Don’t send press releases for kicks – it dilutes the strength of your brand. Send press when you have something to say, like when you have a new release, updated tour dates, a new promotion, or a major change in your website.
Timely – Send out releases with enough time for media outlets to actually use it. Lead times for media outlets vary from hours to months – best to be conservative and let the importance of the item focused on in the release inform when you send it out.
Specific – Do yourself a favor and make sure any deadlines, locations, and other clarifying information are clearly spelled out,
Concise – Assume your audience will read 40% of your release (if that) and skim the rest. Structure accordingly.
Formally, press releases are structured very simply:
A slug line introduces the content in a headline that is concise and attention-grabbing.
The lead specifically states the purpose of the press release and serves as an abstract for the piece as a whole. Importantly, it also has the hook – the specific line or phrase designed to catch your audience’s attention.
The body includes all of the supporting information, organized in descending level of importance.
The closing summarizes the press release, repeats the critical information, and clearly provides contact information for further inquiry
Ideas for Echo Bloom press releases:
– Play with language – write them more in the style of a 1930’s carnival ad then a 2000’s art project
– Play with the content – Do a releases tied to each song that hype odd tie-ins (like ‘The Trucker’ used as the theme music for the 2009 Annual California Monster Truck Rally)
Any more thoughts? Hit me up in the comments!
I spent quite a bit of time defining the visual iconography for Jamboree and scheming how it could be exploited throughout the packaging and marketing of the project. As discussed previously, I decided to represent each piece on the album with a distinct visual image. To formulate and implement visual ideas for each piece, I collaborated with the accomplished documentary photographer Gregg McNeill. We had two main goals – capture sympathetic images (images that allowed a connection between the viewer and the image) and to maintain a holistically shared aesthetic consistent with the rest of the project. We collected images over the course of six shoots using a variety of cameras – polaroids, pinholes, and Gregg’s ‘Frankenholga’ – and amassed a sizable library of Jamboree-related images (and a bunch of keepers).
So now the application. As with all press kit components, there is a digital and an analog component. Here’s my plan for each:
Digital – Losing the spatial constraints of physically presenting pictures opens up a raft of possibilities for digital images. First, the basics:
Images should consistently be applied to an artist’s main site, social networking sites (MySpace, Facebook, etc.), and EPK resource.
Lend a hand to people who will hopefully write about you by offering images in a press section of your website in multiple high resolution, non-lossy formats (a decent guide is here)
Nothing too earth shattering there – but if we consider how Web 2.0 technology enables distributed web representation, digital images become much more interesting. Web 2.0 media sharing sites like Flickr encourage multi-threaded access, enabling casual fans to browse your images based on tags, widening the top of your funnel (more on this soon). Those same images can be remixed and resurfaced on your personal site through the Flickr API.
Physical – Physical images should be presented in a manner consistent with the artist’s treatment. Make a flipbook, make a little family album – make it interesting.
MY STRATEGY
I started an Echo Bloom Flickr page and uploaded, tagged, and annotated a large selection of images Gregg took (about 5-10 images per song, as well as pictures from the cover shoot and the recording sessions). These images can be viewed within the Flickr network, as well as on EB.com where they’ll be surfaced through the Flickr API.
A subset of images will form the basis of a persistent header throughout the EB.com website design
A press-specific section of the site will allow downloads of the digital press kit and image resources, in multiple flexible formats
Song-specific images will be surfaced in an interactive media player
Images can serve as the design backbone for HTML-based email campaigns
The Media section of the EB.com will pull images from Flickr into a dynamic slideshow
An analog-like strip of images will be sent along with physical press kits:
I’m spending New Years with family in San Juan, and while hiding from today’s drizzles I’m finally finishing up this year’s best of 2008 list. Enjoy!
1 – Bon Iver – For Emma, Forever Ago
Cut from a single, worn piece of cloth, it’s hard not to think of For Emma’s delicate birth in a snowy Wisconsin cabin as you listen to Justin Vernon’s collection of winter heartbreak hymns. If you don’t feel it, you’re not human.
2 – Girl Talk – Feed the Animals
Who knew Metallica and Lil Mama sounded so perfect together? The genius in Feed The Animals is that it simultaneously inspires sample-identifying geek-outs and spontaneous acts of dancing like an idiot. It perfectly represents the state of internet art both in its cut and paste aesthetic and its flexible release strategy (nicely thought out, if not as wonderfully executed). Still not getting it? Check out Wired’s spiral graph of ‘What it’s all About’. That’s, well…what it’s about (sorry).
3 – Fucked Up – Chemistry of Common Life
This was the year I got into hardcore, and it was strictly because of this album. Chemistry of Common Life is the perfect mix of shoegaze and experimental hardcore – a perfect blend of arrangement, distortion, and raw aggression. Check out the group thoroughly living up to its name, trashing an MTV studio while performing Chemistry’s Twice Born.
4 – Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes
Fleet Foxes is equal parts Jethro Tull, Beach Boys, and Allman Brothers Band – beautiful four-part harmonies, lyrics about misty forests, and just the right amount of grit to be authentic. And they kill live – check out Sun it Rises, White Winter Hymnal, He Doesn’t Know Why, and Blue Ridge Mountains.
5 – Vampire Wekeend – Vampire Weekend
I resisted this one for a loooong time. It all seemed a little too fratty/twee for me. But damn – afropop done by skinny white college kids never sounded so good.
Other honorable mentions:
- Sigur Ros – Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust
- David Byrne and Brian Eno – Everything that happens will happen today
- Shearwater – Rook
- Okkervil River – The Stand-ins
- Helms Alee – Night Terror
Also – Topspin has compiled a wonderful list of 2008 favorites and desert island picks chosen by the staff – and MetaCritic has compiled as many Best of 2008 lists as they could find into one meta-list – very cool stuff.
Bios and fact sheets are both lovely, but the focus of any effective music promotional materials (unless you’re the Pussycat Dolls) is the music itself. At first blush, this sounds pretty straightforward – throw in a copy of the CD, and check it off your list. But as with everything, the presentation of your materials informs how they are received and consumed. So – two things to keep in mind:
Don’t waste people’s time – the people you’re delivering your CD to are (hopefully) very busy. Each additional click or extra layer of packaging they have to hack their way through to get to your music is another chance for them to move on to something else. Present your music efficiently, and perhaps more importantly…
Present the most flattering picture of yourself – I know, all of your songs are great. But pick your best, your Big 4, and lead with them. If the reviewer is really interested, they’ll check out the rest of it anyway. And get some external feedback before you decide which songs should represent your project. Your friends often have a surprising amount of objectivity (I know – after chatting with my friends, I decided to drop The Weather Forecaster in favor of The Businessman)
Some more ideas for presenting your music (think of these as being similar to the Special Features on a DVD):
Listening Guide – Make a ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’-style guide for how a reviewer should listen to your album. That way they can skip to your Big 4, get additional details about each song, and have a richer listening experience. You could even have different courses – the Experimental course, the Acoustic course, or the Deep Cuts course.
Audio commentary – Sit down and wax poetic about your tracks. What inspired them? What happened during the recording?
Sampler CDs – A sampler CD is a subset of the best tracks on an album, interspersed with those tracks’ audio commentary. These are incredibly useful to send to reviewers, or to to give out at clubs.
Here are the audio commentaries I recorded for Jamboree’s Big 4:
The Businessman
The English Teacher
The Prostitute
The Preacher
The highest form of navel-gazing, writing about yourself in the third person is something most people (hopefully) have little experience with. The best place to start is looking at exterior examples – so here are some artist biographies, arranged completely subjectively in terms of star power:
If you browse a few, you’ll see that the tone and style of an artist biography is as variable as its subject. Some are serious, some are flowery – some self-penned, others written by marketing types. But the same two decisions go into each of them:
What you say – The content of your biography varies depending on the audience. Music professionals (like booking or A&R folks) need measurable specifics on your background, accomplishments, and goals. Regular listeners want an insight into your world.
How you say it – Biographies are a direct reflection of the artist, and as such their tone should mirror their subject’s image.
After thinking about it for a while, I decided that there’s no real good way to address the needs of multiple audiences in one document – so I wrote two bios. The listeners bio (destined for the ‘About’ section of the website) is in first person and contains a mixture of relevant info about me and and some brief, general thoughts about music. The professional one addresses issues more more specific to music professionals. Here’s the goods:
Listeners Bio
The Short Answer
Name: Kyle Evans
Location: Los Angeles
Occupation: Artist/Programmer
Echo Bloom?: My musical nom de plume, and the repository for my blog and multimedia workThe long Answer
My name is Kyle Evans and I’m a Los Angeles based multimedia artist and programmer. I created the Echo Bloom site originally to house writing and recordings documenting the creation of my first solo album, ‘Jamboree.’ As the music component evolved and took form, I took Echo Bloom as my moniker and began releasing music under the name. The website is now an even split between an investigation of new tools for creative process, and an outlet for my music and multimedia work – my own little sandbox.
On August 20, 2008 I released ‘Jamboree,’ a series of character studies that explore and celebrate American identity in the 21st century. The music was decidedly Americana, but ran the stylistic gamut – there’s a funk song about a President, a folk song about a prostitute, and a metal song about a preacher. One early review described it as “like Edward Hopper set to music: dark, sparse and compelling.”
My heroes employ a type of reductive clarity in their work. John Cage and Edward Tufte – Tom Waits and Leonard Cohen – Jeff Mangum and Marshall McLuhan. Each speaks with a clearly defined, singular voice. It’s a method I admire and attempt to practice in my own work.
I reside in L.A., where I recently moved to take a position as a flash developer at Topspin. I’ve previously worked as a research scientist at NPR, a ranchhand in New Mexico, and a busboy in Florida. My favorite Beatle is John Lennon.
(n.b. – ‘Short Answer/Long Answer’ shamelessly aped from Tycho/ISO50’s excellent bio)
Press Bio:
Kyle Evans (Echo Bloom) is a Los Angeles based multimedia artist and programmer whose debut solo release, ‘Jamboree,’ has been described as “like Edward Hopper set to music: dark, sparse and compelling.”
The album was inspired by the life’s work of the 20th century German documentary photographer August Sander. Between 1920 and 1948, Sander created a photographic taxonomy of his native village in portraiture, dividing people into groups by occupation (there were skilled tradesmen, artists, the last people, etc.). ‘Jamboree’ takes a similar, but distinctly American approach, telling the stories of, among others, a lonely businessmen at the end of the world, an English teacher caught in the grips of a torrid affair, and a shattered prostitute pondering the fading memories of her life. The songs are explorations and celebrations of life in the beginning of the 21st century – and as much as the pieces are reflections of their subjects, each song is completed only by the perspective given to it by the person listening. As Sander himself once said, “I never make a person look bad; they do that themselves. The portrait is your mirror. It’s you.”
‘Jamboree’ was recorded in a frenetic three-day session in the Washington DC metropolitan area by an accomplished team of jazz session musicians. Evans (guitar, vocals, and production) was joined by Jason Mattis (bass), Shareef Taher (percussion), and Dan Roberts (keyboards). The album was recorded at Omega Studios by Scotty O’Toole. The album is available in a variety of online retail stores and at the Echo Bloom website – http://www.echobloom.com.
The bios are mostly there. The press piece is still a pinch dull, so I’ll probably keep hacking away at it (any suggestions? Hit me up in the comments). But for now – on to the music section of the press kit.
The first section of a press kit is the biographical information (the people you’ll be marketing to will no doubt want to know who’s pulling the strings). Writing a biography of yourself can be a bit daunting, but fortunately there’s a great way to get started – making a fact sheet. Fact sheets are exactly what they sound like – brief, biographical elements condensed into easily digestible bullet points (they’re frequently used as quick references by people pressed for time). They contain the following information:
- Band or Artist Name
- Musical Style
- Location
- Names of Band Members and Instruments Played
- Background Information
- Current Activities and Plans
- Contact Information
They’re way less intimidating than writing a biography, and a quick and painless way to start the ball rolling on a press kit. As the Echo Bloom press materials will be distributed to both physical and digital media, I designed two versions of the press kit. One is a PDF that contains links to relevant sites (pictured below), and the other is a physical copy with all of the links spelled out.
Step 1 – piece of cake. Next, the bio.
