Where did the Studio go?

I have started playing music with a friend of mine named Tyler. Tyler is a singer/songwriter and I play violin on the songs. We start playing in bars next week. Yesterday morning, Tyler wrote a song and within one hour of completing the song, he recorded it and uploaded it to youtube, myspace, and facebook. By the evening, the song had been listened to 24 times on myspace alone.

Now granted, the song was not professionally mastered and would need some work before a final copy was released, but that is not my point in this blog. The point is that music recording has drastically changed and I think the most important aspect of this change is in idea sharing. Tyler was able to upload a song and receive immediate feedback. The hope is that the feedback helps Tyler connect with other musicians and receive suggestions on how to improve his song.

There is obviously a downside to this. When anyone can record easily, they will, and the market will be flooded even more with some good, mostly bad songs. This turns the musician into an entrepreneur where he determines the best way to get his/her music heard, judged, and recommended. We’ve all heard the stories of the Soulja Boy’s of the world who uploaded content that was “discovered” and subsequent fame and fortune followed.

It is no longer necessary to record in a professional studio. A few years ago, I was part of an album for a local grammy-nominated artist. The songwriter didn’t like any of the bass players in Atlanta, so he sent the file to a contact in the United Kingdom. The gentleman in the U.K. recorded a bass track and sent it back to the songwriter within a few hours. This makes me happy. As artists around the world post their particular niche, hopefully this will lead to the connection of the best musicians for the task. The downside is that a certain magic element of recording together and playing off each other is lost.

Stay tuned,
Erik
erikrostad.com