Guilty Pleasures
We’re having an ice storm in the Center of the Universe this morning. Good day to be old and vested although it’s not really the thrill you think it’s going to be. Especially the old part.
The last time Master Salvage and I took a meeting in the S21 Starbucks HQ the subject of guilty pleasures came up. You know what I mean, Steve and Eydie, Karen Carpenter, Alvin and the Chipmunks. But, applied to non-pop music. David confessed that there were parts of certain Michael Nyman pieces that sound pretty darn good. I owned up to an affection for Hovhaness. Now, it’s your turn. What’s your guilty pleasure.
I sure hope nobody says Philip Glass. I’m listening right now to a new recording of Music with Changing Parts (Orange Mountain) by the brilliant English group Icebreaker. No need to be embarassed about liking this one; it’s as good as it gets.
Tom, I’m not expecting anything to happen. I was just glad this big name dude liked my music. He wrote me several emails over the weeks asking about various pieces. The important thing for a composer in my situation, is just to get on these folks scopes and get heard.
Getting $$$ behind my ass will come later. Hahaha… 😉 We’re all reinventing how this stuff works now with online promotion so maybe things are more fluid than what you suggest. Right now I just want people in power, people anywhere – just to hear my music, and come to recognize my style etc. whether they feel guilty or not!
And on that web promotion tip – you guys should check out AudioScrobbler’s label promotion stuff if you see yourselves in that system. It lets you upload MP3’s that link right into their listen tracking system for more previewing or actual downloading. You too can be somebody’s guilty pleasure!
‘We love your music – we just never play that kind of stuff.’ A famous orchestra’s new music coordinator told me that last year! I was flattered.
All due respect, I wouldn’t be so flattered. Talk’s cheap, especially in the orchestra game. I’ve never been performed by a “new music ensemble” so I can’t speak for that scene but I can tell you that with orchestras the power resides entirely with publishers, artistic administrators & music directors (in that order.) If you don’t have a publisher with an ongoing financial stake in your work or an orchestra administration that has put real money into a commission (and preferably it’s both) it’s very unlikely that anything is going to happen.
The IRCAM/jazz thing on the other hand is very flattering IMO. Congrats on that one.
Judd asked would you like or not like your music to be considered someone’s “guilty pleasure”?
To paraphrase Austin Powers, ‘Do I make you feel guilty?’ 😉
I get quite a few responses to my music when I contact or talk to contemporary ensembles/directors of such that ‘We love your music – we just never play that kind of stuff.’ 😉 A famous orchestra’s new music coordinator told me that last year! I was flattered.
When the web first started around 1994, the website coordinator for IRCAM asked me for permission to put a copy of my piano piece BlueStrider’s MIDI file up at their site. I was shocked! When I finally found it – it was in the jazz section! Guilty pleasure I assumed…
I would love to be somebody’s guilty pleasure. In fact, I would wonder about any composer that wouldn’t want that. Music that isn’t fundamentally designed around the delivery of pleasure is pathetic, IMO. Guilt is in the eyes of the beholder… so…
Is there a translation available for the gibberish-impaired?
Ah…the discoveries that await ye. As a Seattleite..I can say..I DETEST Starbuck’s. They burn their coffee. Of course, Rick Bayless–burger boy seller–ruins Mexican food and Emeril “I’m too fat for my own good” is reduced to selling hot dogs and meatloaves (properly pluralised, don’t you know EH) TO THE steaming masses that make up this…thiss…over..yawn rated East Coast
Wobby Yon Jah Yeggs and Y ahbutts
Runcible Spoon
…would you like or not like your music to be considered someone’s “guilty pleasure”?
Fine by me.