MetaFilter posts tagged with galaxie500

"...the ways in which musicians are screwed have changed qualitatively, from individualized swindles to systemic ones."

anazgnos — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 13:42:10 -0800

"The "Tugboat" 7" single, Galaxie 500's very first release, cost us $980.22 for 1,000 copies-- including shipping! (Naomi kept the receipts)-- or 98 cents each. I no longer remember what we sold them for, but obviously it was easy to turn at least a couple bucks' profit on each. Which means we earned more from every one of those 7"s we sold than from the song's recent 13,760 plays on Pandora and Spotify. Here's yet another way to look at it: Pressing 1,000 singles in 1988 gave us the earning potential of more than 13 million streams in 2012."

Making Cents: Damon Krukowski of Galaxie 500 and Damon & Naomi breaks down the meager royalties currently being paid out to bands by streaming services and explains what the music business' headlong quest for capital means for artists today.

When I started making records, the model of economic exchange was exceedingly simple: make something, price it for more than it costs to manufacture, and sell it if you can. It was industrial capitalism, on a 7" scale. The model now seems closer to financial speculation. Pandora and Spotify are not selling goods; they are selling access, a piece of the action. Sign on, and we'll all benefit. (I'm struck by the way that even crowd-sourcing mimics this "investment" model of contemporary capitalism: You buy in to what doesn't yet exist.) But here's the rub: Pandora and Spotify are not earning any income from their services, either. [...] Why are they in business at all? The answer is capital, which is what Pandora and Spotify have and what they generate. These aren't record companies-- they don't make records, or anything else; apparently not even income. They exist to attract speculative capital. And for those who have a claim to ownership of that capital, they are earning millions.

Let's get slow

ardgedee — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 21:02:15 -0800

It's been a hectic and exciting week and it's barely half over. Let's slow down and take a trip over the ocean... Little connects the following bands aside from being called slowcore. Regardless of how how much or little noise they make, they share the ability to conjure atmospheres of danger and mystery out of little more than playing rock very, very slowly... Galaxie 500 has been retconned into being slowcore, songs like Tugboat helping their rep. The appropriately-named Codeine had a great song in the early 90s with Loss Leader but only lasted for a couple albums. The brothers Kadane have had a fruitful career, first with Bedhead (The Dark Ages) and later with The New Year (Disease). Ida takes a folksier approach in The Weight of The Straw. And coming from nowhere, Sister Ray offers a good, strange ten minute long video called Death. Low is one of the best and longest-lived of them all, making quality music slowly for fifteen years. So here's Sunflower, Words from their first album, Point of Disgust, Because You Stood Still, and a remarkable live performance of Murderer.

"She gave me two choices, and five days to decide. Either Britta would leave Luna or I would pack my things and move out."

item — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 11:40:13 -0800

Dean Wareham (of the bands Galaxie 5 0 0 and L u n a) writes openly about his affair with Luna's bassist, Britta Phillips (best know in some circles as Jem from Jem and the Holograms). Excerpted in Men's Vogue from Wareham's upcoming autobiography Black Postcards: A rock & Roll Romance.

The best band you've (maybe) never heard of...

docpops — Sat, 27 Nov 2004 22:46:30 -0800

The best band you've (maybe) never heard of... Dean Wareham, formerly of Galaxie 500, gives his top ten reasons for retiring the band. With sounds rivaling and reminiscent of Velvet Underground, Mojave3,and LLoyd Cole, Luna bids farewell.