Celestial Music of the Crowds.

June 12, 2010 6:16 PM

Offering up a bass track, a guitar track, and a drum track as the common fodder, Wired.com invites remixes from its readers and runs a crowdsourced music experiment. Note for those producing solo in their hovels/studies/caves/garrets/cubicles, and those looking for new sports through which to sell concert tickets and t-shirts: the artists of the future are inclined to organize into teams.
posted by darth_tedious (11 comments total)

Um... not really meaning this to be as snarky as it's going to sound...

Haven't musical artists been organized into teams for, like, centuries? Choirs, orchestras, jazz combos, rock bands, glee clubs...
posted by hippybear at 6:19 PM on June 12, 2010 [1 favorite]

> Haven't musical artists been organized into teams for, like, centuries?

Sure.

What I find fascinating, though, is the Web's ability to radically accelerate and extend self-selection. In a sense, it's the oldest story on The Internets, but it's also the Gift That Keeps on Giving... because as the tools for organizing and optimizing spread and become ever more simple, accessible, and free/cheap, everything becomes ever more quickly and thoroughly optimized.
posted by darth_tedious at 6:30 PM on June 12, 2010

Haven't musical artists been organized into teams for, like, centuries? Choirs, orchestras, jazz combos, rock bands, glee clubs...

Yeah, but those are artifacts of a failed paradigm. See, when it's done today, it's brand new and valid.
posted by Thorzdad at 6:31 PM on June 12, 2010 [1 favorite]

I should probably clarify: the results of the contest are actually in the third link.
posted by darth_tedious at 6:41 PM on June 12, 2010

So, I'm a drummer, and they already included a stupid computer beat? Blah. Think I'm going to hang out with some, you know, actual musicians.
posted by monospace at 6:41 PM on June 12, 2010

The belief that one can hoard, not just trade secrets, inventions, or even knowledge of regular business practices, to maintain an advantage in any field, has become increasingly ridiculous.
posted by StickyCarpet at 6:41 PM on June 12, 2010 [1 favorite]

I thought the results were weak.
posted by unSane at 7:30 PM on June 12, 2010

A lot of the remixes from the stems released by Trent Reznor of NIN songs have been pretty strong.

A lot of them are shite, but there's enough quality there to make me believe that it's a wise thing to let the public play with your music.
posted by hippybear at 7:43 PM on June 12, 2010

It's an experiment creating a new (for many, if not for people of the Dolby/Beatnik era, or people on lists like microsound) way to bringing people together for mutual projects ... which can only be beneficial for many voices which would otherwise go under-heard, under-recognized. (I can recall one such talented voice popping up a decade ago in Turkey ... a guy who went on to win awards and a pro career because his gifts were heard online by people in a position to recognize them.)

If the results were weak (I thought the 'Tripwired' piece was quite good considering what they had to work with), that's partly owed to the choice of materials people had to work with ... and to the low # of entrants. It's a start.

In the past such projects were done by mailing lists and with 1 or 2-month timelines. The day is approaching (see here e.g.) when stuff like this will commonly be done live, online, with day or two timelines ... and an audience - probably some very large audiences.
posted by Twang at 2:25 AM on June 13, 2010

Don't forget to grab the Wired CD from a couple years ago.
posted by Evilspork at 5:54 AM on June 13, 2010

I thought all five mixes were pretty well done.
posted by empath at 7:35 PM on June 13, 2010