An open letter from Alan Wilder

[stubbie23]

Side-Line has posted a rather interesting letter from Alan Wilder (Recoil/ex-Depeche Mode) entitled "Music for the Masses - I think not". It gives a look at Alan's views of the current state of the music industry and where he feels it's headed. An interesting read.

[Nautilus]

That is a great memo. Alan shows that he is not still just making music but is also acutely aware of the state of the music and the industry. He has been a purist of sorts from the start and it was a shame to see that his personal music efforts were for the most part completely ignored by the DM contingent.

Recommed everyone read the entire piece even if not everyone will agree with everything there...

[duhb]

ok ok but is he contributing on the new dm album? j/k
cool article though seems a bit heavy on the tech detail of mp3 and compression etc.
the point about art is dead on

[Centurion]

I think that piece is very similar to what he has been saying for a while and it is interesting to read the details of how he releases material and the whole Mute to EMI and so forth relationships deals. What I am not sure of is whether this is an interview or what prompted the letter, just missing that part of it I guess.

[AMuse]

That is cool and all just seems sort of over the top on the details and stuff. Maybe a lot more of what is popular or not today is attributed to how people feel in general. Plus outside of the people that are into the technical side of music who really cares if they like the songs how they were mastered or whatever.

[MiscGenius]

i am not so sure
i am glad that he is all setup from the dm royalites
or whatever but it would be nice to make a
record that actually does some of what he used to do
like "catchy memorable songs" would be a good start

[Trentreant]

Who is Alan Wilder?

But seriously, not trying to stir up anyone's panties or anything but I would say that to "judge" the "state of the music industry" today accurately you would have to be an active, successful player in said industry or at least a recent operator in same and not a relative recluse rehashing or reliving other days long gone by relative comparison.

That said, I enjoyed reading his views and articulation of the situation at hand - I am just not sure how much of it actually would float in the "you must make money to be in the music 'business'" world of today which is totally screwed btw.

Short point, whatever they music industry is doing now it is probably just exactly all that they can be doing to try and keep both the art and the money in line to have a business in any shape or form.

[Red and Shiny]

I dunno.

Article kind of makes it sound like everyone is dumb and has no musical ears or just part of a herd mentality. Maybe true in many cases but not in all.

[Vicky]

Yada yada yada and all that, but I wish he would do his thing on the new DM album and set things straight once more. Old argument and ask, I know.

[ProAudioX]

That is quite a bit of detail on the technical issues in music. The facts about compression squashing music dynamics as a pattern in produced music has been known for a long time. And it is not just due to dance music since if you listen to disco from the 70's those recordings are not being forced into the ceiling and actually breathe and have a good range of signal, and can still rock the dance floor.

I think the general issues in the industry are not really related to what people are doing on the mixing and mastering desk for the product but what has happened to the market in general. Not really necessary to say some of the same stuff that has been said on this forum and others as we all know why the biz is failing.