Hard News: Changing Times
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Finlayson/Coleman, broadcasting commission/Nz on Air, pollywog/dubmugga who gives a shit whats in a name :) ?
Wheres the court case at ?
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It shows in the album stats you put up and when you apply that to singles and vids hardly any of it will stand the test of time. Yeah sure it got on air for about all of 2 weeks so it met the criteria but then...nada and so it should be.
I think, as Simon Grigg has bluntly pointed out (I'm sure he'll be along soon) that the most obvious indictment of the choices is the Kiwi Hit Disc samplers -- which used to be reasonably good and are now a matter of finding the two good tracks on the disc. But you can blame the radio programmers who help choose those tracks for that.
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There's clearly complexity in the way music and broadcasting (and they are not the same thing) are funded and organised. Current tussles over copyright seem relevant, as is this court case.
No one is saying the system is working well. We are lucky to have some of the people who know a lot about all this in this community. The rest of us perhaps need to breathe and take the time to read the source material - or I'd say we're in for a lot more bold italics.
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Hard to see how 200 50k grants are justified in a world of home studios and downloadable music. Maybe nz on air should be more about promoting artists online and subsidising gigs. (Taxpayer funds drug fueled rave shock horror )
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Hard to see how 200 50k grants are justified in a world of home studios and downloadable music. Maybe nz on air should be more about promoting artists online and subsidising gigs. (Taxpayer funds drug fueled rave shock horror )
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NZ On Air also does things like Nick Ds excellent travel/music show (forgive me, I'm hopeless on names) doesn't it? That represented a good mix of modern media at work.
With respect to the unit cost of the albums - surely the point is that you can't predict who will be successful and who won't. The Gin Wigmores bring down the average cost for everyone else. Are you trying to say that it is SO obvious that some of those funded won't make a return on the investment that they shouldn't have received grants in the first place? -
Thanks for doing this Russell, I had desperately hoped that the piece would prompt debate, and thus far it seems to be doing just that.
One thing I'd like to re-iterate from the piece is that the sales figures quoted represent only a certain part of an album's sales - not, for example, those sold by artists at gigs, which for a big-gigging artist like McLaney can be far more than they sell in stores.
I put those figures out there not to to draw attention to specific artists, to name and shame, but to say that those are very much the norm for New Zealand albums. In the absence of a Soundscan organisation operating in the public eye those figures are pretty hard to come by for the average person (in some ways I feel like part of your being funded should be audited and publicly available sales figures), which can lead to the perception that local artists are more successful and sell more albums than they do in reality.
And given that they're funding commercial artists, some degree of commercial success would be desirable, surely?
This is why there's a frequent beef from artists who don't get funded about the same names cropping up again and again. I see merit in the oft-voiced argument that if you're given a $50,000 grant to make an album that then doesn't get any critical or commercial success (or yield radio hits), perhaps the next one you make should be entirely funded by you or your record company. put your money where your mouth is, and all that. -
One thing I'd like to re-iterate from the piece is that the sales figures quoted represent only a certain part of an album's sales - not, for example, those sold by artists at gigs, which for a big-gigging artist like McLaney can be far more than they sell in stores.
Good point. I'll add that to the post.
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I defy you to point out a band that sounds like The Phoenix Foundation from anywhere else. Or The Chills for that matter. Or early Enz.
I know I was being provocative (have I been taking lessons from Robbie?) but I think it is a legitimate question. You hear it in The Phoenix Foundation; I don't (but I hear echoes of Arcade Fire and Grizzly Bear). I hear it in the Patea Maori Club and Little Bushman. I don't know if that makes it less or more valid. But don't worry, for I do follow NZ music (bought a The Eastern CD just recently and have just sent off for a copy of Buffalo)
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I know I was being provocative (have I been taking lessons from Robbie?) but I think it is a legitimate question. You hear it in The Phoenix Foundation; I don't (but I hear echoes of Arcade Fire and Grizzly Bear).
Well, we don't live on an island in a cultural sense. But the thing is, an earlier generation of New Zealand music had a significant impact on the development of "indie" music in America. Ask Pavement. So in a sense, we're hearing some of ourselves played back to us.
And we could certainly debate those "echoes" you're hearing -- the Phoenix Foundation formed six or seven years before either Arcade Fire or Grizzly Bear!
FWIW, I hear the Fourmyula in Buffalo.
I hear it in the Patea Maori Club and Little Bushman.
So it doesn't count if it ain't Maori?
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FWIW, I hear the Fourmyula in Buffalo.
Quite, it's spookily like those wonderful bands that Peter Dawkins, Howard Gable and Alan Galbraith used to produce in EMI's Wellington studio for HMV, or, from Herne Bay, this:
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Hard to see how 200 50k grants are justified in a world of home studios and downloadable music.
Maybe they could get Pharmac to branch out and negotiate for a nationwide site license for pro-tools ... or even better spend the money getting some local hackers to produce an open source replacement
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I hear it in the Patea Maori Club and Little Bushman.
I think we underestimate just how different and odd our indigenous pop, no matter the race, sounds to foreign ears, or at least the stuff that, as Russell points out earlier (did I say that? If I did I agree with myself, and the current batch are getting worse, most of 125 is absolutely awful), is unlikely to make the KHD.
Even some of the hits are uniquely ours. Savage's record sold so many ringtones in the US because it was very odd to American ears and hit the novelty buttons, not because it was carbon copy US hip-hop, which is why the album didn't work.
That difference is our strength and NZ on Air has, by virtue of the way it selects acts to fund, spent most of the 2000s trying to squash that.
How many US produced and utterly bland Boh Runga tracks do we really need on hit discs?
Which is why I also take issue with Mark Kneebone when he says:
You have to match the production levels of Powderfinger, Eskimo Joe, Grinspoon, those big Australian radio bands, Vanessa Amarosi or whatever. You have to have that too.
and I grimace at the endless notes on the KHDs where we are cheerily informed that faceless band x recorded their album in LA with BigNameProducer (insert some inane US band name they've produced) as if it's something that they should be proud of and a reason that radio should play them.
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Hey, Duncan has kindly given the go-ahead to post the PDF of the whole story.
It's here.
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. . . from Herne Bay . . .
Would that be Eldred Stebbing? Marvellous production, but for me that song will always be the freakishly phenomenal Aphrodite's Child, with Demis "Songs of the Humpback Whale" Roussos, and Vangelis, way back before Chariots of Fire:
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I think, as Simon Grigg has bluntly pointed out (I'm sure he'll be along soon) that the most obvious indictment of the choices is the Kiwi Hit Disc samplers -- which used to be reasonably good and are now a matter of finding the two good tracks on the disc. But you can blame the radio programmers who help choose those tracks for that.
No, you can blame NZ on Air for 10 years of funding criteria that has made artists who want a hand up conform to strict guidelines that attempt to satisfy radio programmers who's tastes reflect the same muck we get from overseas.
It's the Dawnraid Deceptikonz rocker girl thing. Having to compromise their artistic integrity for commercial support from a taxpayer funded body. Fund the player not the game.
An artist shouldn't have to second guess themselves to think 'shit i better write a radio pop song', moreso now when commercial radio is dying.
(in some ways I feel like part of your being funded should be audited and publicly available sales figures)
and publicly available radio logs to see just how popular you are in terms of actual plays and video logs to see how much airplay your video got and was it enough to warrant the grant ?
and BTW did those funded albums take into account possible double dipping through...
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Hmmm. Paul McLaney has sent a displeased, but polite, note taking issue with his quoted sales figures in the magazine and, consequently, in my blog.
I gather he has sent what he regards as the correct numbers to Sam and Duncan, and I'll happily run them here if that's what he wants to do.
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Would that be Eldred Stebbing? Marvellous production, but for me that song will always be the freakishly phenomenal Aphrodite's Child.
Yep, Eldred, who, with the less mentioned, but no less deserving, John Hawkins produced or mentored over 350 singles over a decade and half, so many of which were killers.
He really took that original Aphrodite's Child tune to quite another place.
Hell, he even managed to produce a good Gray Bartlett record or two.
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Simon you nailed it. As Russell mentioned earlier, this notion that to sound 'New Zealand' you need to be Maori, or play 'Aotearoa Roots' to sound different to overseas artists is a massive oversimplification of the point. When Collapsing Cities sing about party pills - that's something only New Zealanders can relate to. When Mareko raps about South Mall - that's geographically specific. Young Sid's new album talks about how TV3 made him a spokesperson for the Killa Bees - each part of that near inexplicable for anyone not from here.
And yes, I'm well aware that all the artists cited above (all of whom have been critcised for sounding too American/English at various stages) have had NZ on Air funding. I think you can make strong cases for all three. It's the sense that the nature of the funding is bleeding the life out of projects that bothers me. I interviewed Devolo a year ago, and loved most of his LP, but Rocker Girl is crazy bad. the kind of song which would only ever happen in a system which allows radio this much say over what's created, at the expense of all other worthwhile measures of a project's success. Radio is why so many of our artists who've been so urgent with their first EPs take the $50k, run straight to a US studio with the 'big name' producer, come back to have the album fail by the standards they've set up for themselves and never regain that momentum before gradually disappearing from view (The Bleeders, anyone?)... Only the careerists survive, and it's just not healthy. -
Hell, he even managed to produce a good Gray Bartlett record or two.
Hush! Mention not his name Simon, lest he appear!
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I can't think of one reason as a music fan why NZ On Air should be retained, in any form
course I'm not funded, which seems to be the dividing line in the argument
for just a few I am sure I can be convinced its all good
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The gatekeeping role handed to commercial radio programmers seems to be a weak point, to say the least.
There are ways now to get audiences involved in helping determine where funding support could go - alongside some multi-disciplinary expertise so it's not wall-to-wall pop/rock.
Can't pick winners any more than in other fields, but a wider range of tracks, clips, performers and creators deserve a crack at the limited support to reflect the variety of our nation's voices. And perhaps make that more in the form of mentoring, professional services and global marketing (including online and other channels) rather than just a wad of cash.
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The figure I've received from Paul and Mikee at Loop is 1233 for Edin. If that's correct then the unit cost changes to more like $50. Still a fair whack of cash, but much less than the one quoted.
As of today I've received no other disputes, which isn't to say that I won't.
In defence of my not double-checking the figures with the respective record companies - it's certainly something I considered, but knowing that it's the policy of most if not all NZ record companies not to release sales figures made me decide against it. Plus how would you ever know if the figures they gave me were accurate? And what's their incentive to release accurately low figures for public scrutiny, given the likelihood those figures might be used insome quarters to justify funding cuts (which I'm against) rather than new funding strategies (which I'm in favour of)?
It's a mess, and you can certainly argue I could have gone about it in a different way. But I felt like the debate needed to be had, and the numbers would aid it. -
Hi,
late entry - I've been working.
I think its easy to forget (or not know if you weren’t around/interested) how the NZ Music Industry has matured over the past couple of decades –1995 – 2005 in particular was an incredible ‘coming of age’ (not the only one, but the one we are talking about here). Technological improvements made producing and distributing music easier. NZoA (a.k.a. the Broadcasting Commission) started supporting commercial radio to adopt local music which saw that increase from 2% in 1996 to around 20% on air by 2005. The support for video production to get NZ music onto television worked (when there were outlets), AND contributed to professional and business development in that craft area – e.g. would Chris Graham (just as an example) been in a position to help Homebrew for free if there had not been NZOA support for so many of the previous projects he has worked on? (not to mention we would have missed out on one of the most hilarious media campaigns to come out of NZ if NZoA had funded Homebrew – but that’s not the point)
All of those initiatives (and some other stuff) improved the public’s regard for music both as an art or cultural activity and as a business – which was assisted by the New Zealand Music (Industry) Commission’s (as well as some Trade and Industry work) supporting the ‘business’ of music – leading to an increase in the number and abilities of music managers – crucial to making the business sustainable and professional enough to foot it, esp. in other markets.
These factors contributed to a revitalised public pride in local music by 2005-ish, and it became a potentially viable business in New Zealand for the first time in a long time. Musicians have many more options now than 20 years ago.So even if you don’t like all of the music which receives funding and gets commercial radio/TV airplay, having that (ideally) return a profit, but even just creating turnover – allows the other types of (alternative/niche interest – however you want to label your preferred non-pop/commercial) music to benefit from some of that infrastructure.
That’s not to say everyone should agree with all the decisions made – can’t imagine it - or that things couldn’t be better. In some ways NZoA has been a victim of its own success in achieving some goals ahead of schedule, but not being able to (for the legislative reasons RB mentions) and/or perhaps not taking the opportunity to address the ‘now what?’ question. (to be fair NZoA is far from alone within the music/media industries on that.)
And that’s the bit that still needs the hard work… it would be interesting to hear some constructive suggestions to that end.
The most common one is to reduce the $$ funding per album – logical given the actually cost of recording most NZ albums nowadays, and because the current $50,000 threshold must make even the larger NZ Indie labels (which release ~80% of locally produced music) unlikely to be able to match funding 1:1 as is required. But this would undermine the purpose of that NZoA funding, which is to encourage internationally-owned major labels to invest in NZ music (which they have no need or responsibility to do), so that it is available to be played on the radio/tv, and maybe overseas (that last bit hasn't really worked out though).
The advent of C42 (alongside Juice) which will play NZ music videos will re-fresh the video investment for a time – but as we’ve seen, those outlets come and go.
But how to deal with the fact that what plays on the radio, and what music people buy is incresingly less likely to overlap? … you can’t hold back the tide. So how could NZoA usefully refocus? Online will certainly be a big part of that.
Then perhaps the major issue is (still) the challenge of music copyright in the online environment (as detailed in the useful Brown & Dubber report linked above.) … it would be excellent to see NZoA (re-focused towards 'NZOnline'?) or some other body take a leadership role in addressing this on behalf of the NZ public.
It can be done – e.g. what NZonScreen has achieved in making archival NZ audio-visual content legally available to the people who paid for it – amazing. (Larry Parr’s recent related piece is interesting too. http://www.script-to-screen.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/naw_discussion-paper.pdf).
Imagine what could be achieved if online music copyright clearance for non-commercial/public service NZ content was approached in a collective way? We really would be able to see and hear NZ through every screen.
Yeah man, bring it on!
Civilian Disclaimer: it is quite probable that these - my personal opinions - are not held by my employer.
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Hey, Duncan has kindly given the go-ahead to post the PDF of the whole story.
It's here.
Fuck me, it's like i could have written that, though not quite in so delicate terms, cos i been saying the same shit since i effectively got blacklisted by Brendan Smyth in 2001.
Even so it's a damning indictment of his time at the helm. And trying to fob off his incompetency on a court case from the last 2 years....pffft straight up classic BS passing the buck.
So what's up with the court findings. How will it impact any review ? ?
To think in between I could have repped alot of shit hot tunes and artists possibly even Homebrew as well when i first made contact with them a few years ago.
oh well theres always the future to look forward to...maybe
cheers Duncan. Heres some tunes/artists from back in the day i helped and couldn't help :)
http://pollywannacracka.blogspot.com/2007/05/reflections-of-8ft-women.html
Can't pick winners any more than in other fields,
Some of us can. It's called having impeccable taste :P
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