Gino: it's always a welcome treat when I get your mailer in my inbox... they don't come too often- rare enough that I actually forget it's out there... and each of your excurs'd-on-excursions brings me a bit more knowledge and insight as it pertains to Sampling, that alchemical artform of audiomancers...or perhaps largest example of ongoing piracy either historically orin our age of unenlightenment; the ultimate expression of the artistic ideal in a world that increasingly seems to reward celebrity more than creativity.
When I left Amherst to start college in Boston in 2000 Music Industry was my stated major. Since the "music industry" as it had existed since the advent of recording still existed at that point, it's maybe easier to understand why somebody would actively work to align themselves with such an outmoded business model. By my second semester of Freshmen year, Napster was in every dorm room. I remember that our Music Industry levels I & II teacher came in after winter break saying something to the effect of "Well, since this class is still listed in the course catalog, we'll continue reading for now. But I have a feeling that most of you will be interested in something else by the end of the year.." We neither understood his anxiety then, nor as it became clear what everyone was so worked about did we believe it could possibly have such a profound impact on an industry that was literally the picture of opulence at the time; Boys on back streets n'Syncing up with any old Britney, Christina or Jessica as Shiny-Suited weirdos in well-lit sound stages rapped over hooks proclaiming Money Ain't a Thing only to turn around and tell us that With Mo' Money, Mo' Problems were sure to follow. People will tell you that Sampling started to go away at that time, since congress had already put legislation in place the thought might turn back the tide of urban landscape voices flooding out from the untold and ignored projects and ghettos in every city of every state in this country (no matter what people tell you about 'those problems being confined to some specific and likely far-off corner from where you might be). But Sampling hasn't stopped and really never will. Hopefully what will eventually stop is the ridiculous backlash. In almost every conceivable artform on this planet since cave paintings artists have been inspired by the ones who went before them, and engaged in the most sincere form of flattery: imitation. It's never before seemed to cause so much anger and outcry as it has since African American artists who would become Hip Hop's First Generation began to use Sampling as an end-around for performance and recording in places where there was barely money for food, much less musical instruments. Anyone groaning as they read right now, perhaps wondering why EVERYthing has to be such a battle... has probably never really had to go to war just to validate their own existence on this planet.
Nowadays I still play the Saxophone, but my own infatuation with drum machines and samplers has come to dominate most of my conscious hours and thoughts so it's possible I'm just caught in a feedback loop of my own design, but I see Sampling everywhere I look these days and I don't just mean in music.
What have you done today that you couldn't have accomplished without standing on the shoulders of the ones who did it before you?
Love this damn song
Gino: it's always a welcome treat when I get your mailer in my inbox... they don't come too often- rare enough that I actually forget it's out there... and each of your excurs'd-on-excursions brings me a bit more knowledge and insight as it pertains to Sampling, that alchemical artform of audiomancers...or perhaps largest example of ongoing piracy either historically orin our age of unenlightenment; the ultimate expression of the artistic ideal in a world that increasingly seems to reward celebrity more than creativity.
When I left Amherst to start college in Boston in 2000 Music Industry was my stated major. Since the "music industry" as it had existed since the advent of recording still existed at that point, it's maybe easier to understand why somebody would actively work to align themselves with such an outmoded business model. By my second semester of Freshmen year, Napster was in every dorm room. I remember that our Music Industry levels I & II teacher came in after winter break saying something to the effect of "Well, since this class is still listed in the course catalog, we'll continue reading for now. But I have a feeling that most of you will be interested in something else by the end of the year.." We neither understood his anxiety then, nor as it became clear what everyone was so worked about did we believe it could possibly have such a profound impact on an industry that was literally the picture of opulence at the time; Boys on back streets n'Syncing up with any old Britney, Christina or Jessica as Shiny-Suited weirdos in well-lit sound stages rapped over hooks proclaiming Money Ain't a Thing only to turn around and tell us that With Mo' Money, Mo' Problems were sure to follow. People will tell you that Sampling started to go away at that time, since congress had already put legislation in place the thought might turn back the tide of urban landscape voices flooding out from the untold and ignored projects and ghettos in every city of every state in this country (no matter what people tell you about 'those problems being confined to some specific and likely far-off corner from where you might be). But Sampling hasn't stopped and really never will. Hopefully what will eventually stop is the ridiculous backlash. In almost every conceivable artform on this planet since cave paintings artists have been inspired by the ones who went before them, and engaged in the most sincere form of flattery: imitation. It's never before seemed to cause so much anger and outcry as it has since African American artists who would become Hip Hop's First Generation began to use Sampling as an end-around for performance and recording in places where there was barely money for food, much less musical instruments. Anyone groaning as they read right now, perhaps wondering why EVERYthing has to be such a battle... has probably never really had to go to war just to validate their own existence on this planet.
Nowadays I still play the Saxophone, but my own infatuation with drum machines and samplers has come to dominate most of my conscious hours and thoughts so it's possible I'm just caught in a feedback loop of my own design, but I see Sampling everywhere I look these days and I don't just mean in music.
What have you done today that you couldn't have accomplished without standing on the shoulders of the ones who did it before you?
Just sayin' ; ) Keep Spinning my Dude!
-bob moriarty