Co-creating music
& Oliver Gaymond
We were really interested in hearing about the Raveonettes latest approach to finishing their new album. They’ve posted demo versions of their tracks online and are inviting fans to provide feedback, offer suggestions and essentially help co-create the final version before the official release.
This isn’t the first time co-creation has taken place in the music industry…
Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo also did this, co-writing a song with fans through YouTube. A lyric would be suggested and then built on by the community, he would continually post new versions of the song with people making further suggestions for lyrics, progressions etc. Over time all the different parts of the song were completed and it was released to the world.
Just a few months ago, Gary Go, a singer from London, asked his Twitter followers to suggest lyrics and he then created a song from their contributions.
Here’s what we really think about this…
Sharen: Personally, I think this is quite an interesting approach and I’m sure interesting sounds and lyrics will come about through the co-creation approach. However, as a music fan, I think this would only work for me with particular types of music.
With dance music or some rock/pop songs where the music is more interesting than the lyrics, I probably wouldn’t really be bothered about how the song came together.
But it’s not the same for me with lyrical music. I love some of my favourite bands (Radiohead, Arcade Fire, Elbow and many more) because of their lyrics more than their sound. The teenager inside of me still believes that when I listen to a song with powerful lyrics, I’m actually getting a glimpse of the artist’s inner emotions. If I knew that the lyrics were actually generated by several people from around the world that have probably never met, I think the magic would be lost a little.
Oli: While I can see the benefits of these approaches, I think my musical snobbery makes me hesitant to endorse it. It could easily be seen to condone treating music as a product that can be constructed, rather than an art form of self-expression.
Tags: Co-creation, Media
This entry was posted on Monday, 22 Jun 2009 at 11:15 am and is filed under Co-creation, New media.
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June 23rd, 2009 at 1:30 pm
Two other precedents worth mentioning are:
1. Marillion, one of the first to share full tracks with fans to allow them to create their own mixes which end up on a special fan album – a great example of the fan economy in action.
2. Einstuerzende Neubauten, who use a fan subscription-based club to generate funding for self-released albums and where early mixes, tracklistings and tracks are shared with fans for comments.