#I understand music and writing are also artistic mediums but I was thinking tangible mediums | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

hkomsul · 3 years

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SPP_iteration_02

1. Project Statement

Working Project Title: Lexicon of Love?

What is your project about?

My project is about words. More specifically, my favorite words. These words include, but are not limited to: catharsis, subsequently, tangible, iridescent, juxtaposition, wordly and otherworldly, ambiguous.

What are your project's theme(s) or conceptual underpinnings? I’d like to explore experimental digital anthropology with this project. Visceral, confusing, and grounding.

What is your project's "elevator pitch"? Think of a phrase or 1 sentence maximum.

I want to make a digital scavenger hunt, that consists of multiple projects of various mediums, and use their titles to tell stories about love.

What is your short, project description? Write a 200-300 word paragraph that addresses four of the five essential questions:

This project is my chance to finally create a digital body of work that represents all of my skills, as well as explores topics of contention for me. I’ve recently realized that I can combine the themes I’ve studied in my minors (anthropology/humanities) into the creative field of my digital media major. I want to make people, including myself, feel something. My target audience is other digital artists. This project is inspired greatly by net artists and the general idea of having a digital legacy. Some artists that inspired me directly are Jon Bois and Molly Soda, however each individual project within this project also has its own inspiration, of course. The how of this project is honestly still rocky. There will be at least one project to include in the project being made per week, the risk with this is falling behind.

2. Motivation:

I like the idea of my project, I really do. But theres some part of me that knows i already need to pivot. I’m doing this project because I want to create something in every medium I’ve learned (or as many as I can) within my time in undergrad. So ultimately, I’m doing this project for myself. I’m exploring my own capabilities and expressions of those capabilities. I’m holding myself accountable to actually create, and I’m forcing myself to tell a story (something I feel I struggle a lot with, unfortunately). This project is for my own growth and self-understanding. In terms of what I’m trying to convey outwardly, I want to be a random link on the internet that once/if you stumble upon, is a treat and an experience. I love confusing and almost ominous things on the internet. “how did you get here? who made you? why do i care?” and I want to create one of these experiences myself.

I am willing to commit to this project but I really think i need to pivot in my presentation of the project in order to make sure I actually focus on the content and story.

3. Influences

As mentioned above I have various influences. Injury reserve, Lido, Jaden- these are sonic inspirations and influences. Susan Sontag, Anne Carson and Jenny Holzer are some conceptual influences. Jon Bois and Molly Soda are web/net art influences.

My inputs are my family life, my culture, my religion and perspective on my own religion. My inputs are my friendships, and the love that I experience in them. My inputs are failed and successful romantic relationships. My inputs are my experiences and struggles with mental health, specifically in relation to self love (in this case).

4. Target Audience

My target audience is other digital media artists, and potentially those looking to explore love. I want someone to see the page, understand that there are connections everywhere- i want to document my perception of love and share it. I want to open up a conversation within the viewers head. I think digital media artists are best to receive this story in through this multi-medium approach because the project itself plays into that realm.

5. Related Projects

http://wellnow.wtf/enter/index.html

this seemed like a doable example of layout maybe for final presentation

https://www.instagram.com/subwayhands/

https://projects.jennyholzer.com/exhibitions/jenny-holzer-mass-moca--/gallery#1

These related projects, although related, arent necessarily competitors. I’ve been having a difficult time finding competitors, I really think the closest I’ve come across is :https://www.sbnation.com/a/17776-football and in comparison to mine, there are a lot of missing mediums.

I’ve also been thinking about incorporating some other platforms like making an instagram account to house certain projects

6. Resources:

My accountability group as well as the whole senior project class, classmates across different classes...as well as the IDM community as a whole.

the internet is a huge resource as well. there will be some material costs, but generally low. I am predicting $200 most for prints and shipping tools potentially, and under $100 for music production software.

softwares include: adobe creative cloud (which i already have), glitch softwares like EbSythth, and code applications. I also will be using a camera to record video aspects.

GOAL (30 days) = have the whole project planned out and in the making

Milestone (today) = finish SPP iteration _01

Tasks: Complete remaining tasks and create calendar/set specific deadlines .

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GOAL (30 days) = have material to work with while making the project

Milestone (today) = send out google form!!

Tasks: make the google form and consider what direction/how to frame questions

8. Ideation & Research

Wordlists are definitely helpful in the beginning stages, as this experience/project is fueled by semantics and word associations. I think I’m speaking way too vaguely about this project, which is a problem. I must brainstorm what medium to present it all on, and I think that would be successfully done by looking up other digital artist to draw inspiration from. I think part of me really is leaning towards a screen-recording and turning the final product documentation into a youtube video. i think there is something highly symbolic and a little fulfilling in doing that. I don’t want to get caught in a web of searching for niche art on youtube when I know I need to put my time into the actually project themselves, but that is a starting place right now.

Generally, I believe there are many places I can look to find my ideation and research but I also think letting the inspirations appear organically is better, plus I wont have to worry too much about a research binge!

9. Design and development

N/A

10. Feasibility check

I’m definitely constantly asking myself about this. there is something unattainable about this project still, and i think its boiling down to my ability to tell a story about love while simultaneously getting the projects actually done in a timely manner. I’m trying to reincorporate the notion of love languages into the project (hence name shift!) so adding another milestone/goal/task:

GOAL (30 days) = pivot concept of love stories

Milestone (today) = brainstorm brainstorm brainstorm!!!

Tasks: make lists and research more.

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geekoplanetstore · 4 years

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Can Music Ever Be Valued As Fine Art?

Introduction: The Highest Art Auction in History Recently a Christie's art sale became the highest auction in history. The sale included works by Jackson Pollock, Roy Lichtenstein and Jean-Michel Basquiat, among others and in total generated $495 million. The sale established 16 new world auction records, with nine works selling for more than $10m (£6.6m) and 23 for more than $5m (£3.2m). Christie's said the record breaking sales reflected "a new era in the art market". The top lot of Wednesday's sale was Pollock's drip painting Number 19, 1948, which fetched $58.4m (£38.3m) - nearly twice its pre-sale estimate. Lichtenstein's Woman with Flowered Hat sold for $56.1 million, while another Basquiat work, Dustheads (top of article), went for $48.8 million. All three works set the highest prices ever fetched for the artists at auction. Christie's described the $495,021,500 total - which included commissions - as "staggering". Only four of the 70 lots on offer went unsold. In addition, a 1968 oil painting by Gerhard Richter has set a new record for the highest auction price achieved by a living artist. Richter's photo-painting Domplatz, Mailand (Cathedral Square, Milan) sold for $37.1 million (£24.4 million). Sotheby's described Domplatz, Mailand, which depicts a cityscape painted in a style that suggests a blurred photograph, as a "masterpiece of 20th Century art" and the "epitome" of the artist's 1960s photo-painting canon. Don Bryant, founder of Napa Valley's Bryant Family Vineyard and the painting's new owner, said the work "just knocks me over". Brett Gorvy, head of post-war and contemporary art, said "The remarkable bidding and record prices set reflect a new era in the art market," he said. Steven Murphy, CEO of Christie's International, said new collectors were helping drive the boom. Myths of the Music-Fine Art Price Differential When I came across this article I was stunned at the prices these artworks were able to obtain. Several of them would hardly evoke a positive emotional response in me, while others might only slightly, but for almost all of them I really don't understand how their prices are reflected in the work, and vice versa. Obviously, these pieces were not intended for people like me, an artist, while wealthy patrons certainly see their intrinsic artistic value clearly.

HyperBeatQ™ Bluetooth 5.0 Wireless Mini Earbuds With Mic Charging Box So why doesn't music attract these kinds of prices? Is it even possible for a piece of recorded music, not music memorabilia or a music artifact (such as a rare record, LP, bootleg, T-shirt, album artwork, etc.), to be worth $1 million or more? Are all musicians and music composers doomed to struggle in the music industry and claw their way up into a career in music? If one painting can be valued at $1 million, why can't a song or piece of music also be valued similarly? Apparently, the $.99 per download price is the highest price a song is able to command at market value, no matter what its quality or content, and the musician or composer must accept this value as such. The financial equation looks something like this: 1 painting = $37 million 1 song = $.99 Sometimes people say that a song can change the world, but no one ever says that about paintings. So theoretically, if people want change $.99 is the price we must pay for it. Now here are a few statements that should help us clarify what the monetary or value discrepancy between painting and music is based upon. There are fewer painters than there are musicians. Musicians are less talented than painters? It is easier to create music than it is to paint. The public values paintings more than music. Paintings are more beautiful than music. Paintings are impossible to copy unlike music. Painters work harder than musicians and composers. Blah, blah, blah. Hardly anyone agrees with all of these statements and yet all, or at least some of them, would have to be true in order for the price of paintings to so greatly exceed the cost of music. Moreover, I doubt that art collectors and great painters have to deal with as much legal red tape as do musicians when releasing their work into the public domain, so why aren't the rewards equal, if not greater for musicians who have to work almost as much protecting their work as in producing it. Musicians and composers, however, actually must do more than authenticate their work and obtain accurate appraisals concerning what their work is worth, but they get paid less. The equipment costs alone for musicians is much higher than it is for painters. Maybe it's fame, and not money, musicians are after? That would explain why most musicians settle for the low pay they receive from record deals and digital downloads. Perhaps, that's also why many of them are touring more often to increase their fame and not their fortunes. But wait a minute, that's where musicians actually make most of their money from live performances and the selling of merchandise, but not the music. I guess this is why many musicians see themselves not as composers, but rather as performers and entertainers. So what can musicians do, who don't see themselves as entertainers, but instead as composers who create music as a fine art? Because they too have a strong desire to earn a living to support themselves in their chosen profession, thus there must be a specialized approach whereby they present their work to music lovers or art collectors in search of assets and curators for unique pieces to place in their private galleries. Imagine that, a recorded piece of music that few have ever heard which is displayed and played only on a specified music player in a private art gallery or collection. In thinking about how a musician can follow the example set by painters in the fine arts, I've isolated 4 principles that should help to make the spectacular financial rewards they've reached possible for the musician. So let's analyze some of the characteristics that govern the market for fine art and see how musicians can apply these concepts to their creative, production, and marketing processes. The Ideal Vehicle for Music as Fine Art Here are 4 principles and practical suggestions for musicians who want to elevate their music into the realm of fine art by following the example of the painters of the past and present. Strive to make unique music or music collections. The composer must design experiments with sound or compositional techniques. Some music belongs in the realm of the public, while other music solely belongs in the realm of fine art. It's really not that difficult to tell the difference. The difference is clear when one compares the environment of the nightclub and the music one finds there with the elevated environment of the ballet or opera and its music. The difference is not necessarily one in terms of types of music, but rather in the composer's sonic fingerprint. In other words, not everyone thinks Jackson Pollock was a great painter, but everyone acknowledges that it took him years of development to reach a point where his style could be born. It's the style of the artist or composer that will call out to the attention of wealthy patrons, the respect of peers, and the exclusive admiration of the music appreciator. In music, the style of the composer, regardless of genre, I call 'a signature sound.' It's the signature sound that music and art collectors will want to own and for that they might be willing to pay or bid up the cost of ownership to a higher price. Create a music gallery. This could be modeled after the art gallery where one or several artist put their work on display. The difference with the music gallery is that you would have a hall filled with listening rooms or stations. These showings would not be live performances, but instead will be in effect sound installations. You could also separate one hall into several compartments for different composers. The music showing would be an exclusive event provided to serious music and art collectors who actively seek out sonic experiences and buy what they like. The purpose of the music gallery would be the same as the art gallery - to give the public a sample of the artist's talent, to give critics something to write about, to have other composers comment on the work of a peer, and to create buzz in the art world. Always remember that it shouldn't be the event that drives the buzz, but the music that makes the event. Turn your music into a tangible asset. The obvious difference between a painting and music is that one is a tangible artwork and the other is not. In other words, one of the defining characteristics of a painting is that the medium and the art are one. Unlike music, where the music must be transferred onto another object such as a cassette tape, vinyl, CD, or mP3 player before it can be perceived, whereas with a painting (or sculpture) an object has been transformed into art. So how can it be or is it even possible for a cassette, CD, or download to be transformed into art? The cassette and CD are more akin to a photograph of a painting, rather than a true expressions where the medium and the art are one. So one step a musician can take to elevate their music into fine art is by making your music and its medium one. The best way that I can think of to do this is by looking to the past. Ironically, the vinyl LP very closely achieved this quality with album art, its sizing, and packaging. Let's quickly discuss some of the qualities of the vinyl LP and valuable marketing angles that I think opens up interesting approaches for musicians to turn their music into fine art at price appropriate levels commiserate with earning a livelihood. Today there are several companies around that let you customize your LP vinyl album and artwork. This is wonderful because it gives you total control over the art direction your packaging takes. This is an expressive way to bring the personality of the artist, band, or project out into physical form. Many colors are available and unique mixtures are also possible to add a dimension to your music that isn't normally possible with cassette tapes, CD's, or digital downloads. Even split colored and glow-in-the-dark vinyl are available for bold composers looking for something with a bit more flair. Etched Art and Your Album Another fantastic way to elevate the music via packaging and presentation is to consider etched art in vinyl. Etched vinyl is an image pressed into the unplayable side of your record which has a frosted appearance. The etched side does not contain any grooves or music but adds a real touch of style to your music package. I don't know if etched art can also be a hologramic look, but that would be another dimension that would enhance the visual component of your music package. Art and LP Sizes The last aspect I'd like to touch on is the size of the LP. Unlike the cassettes and CD's, which both come in a single universal size determined by the media player, LP's are played on phonographs or turntables whose arms can adjust to the different sizes of LP's. In general, LP's come in 3 sizes: 7", 10", and 12". And because the album covers have to provide a sleeve for a large surface, they correspondingly must also be large. At a minimum the 12" LP will require an album cover that's 1 square foot. That's about 4 times the size of a standard CD and anywhere from 8 - 12 times the size of cassette tape. Understanding this gives you an additional angle to design artwork for the music package. There might even be a way to design a painter's canvas which can house an LP within its frame to turn it into a cover. For those musicians and composers who possess multiple artistic talents, an original painting to accompany a music release could be another profitable approach to look into. If you think about it even further the size of the 12" LP is actually the size of a small painting. Foldable or dual LP covers are also available which provide a much larger surface with which to more greatly present amazing album art work to dazzle customers. The dual LP album cover would give you exactly a 24" x 12" surface to work with. The Non-Vinyl LP and other Miscellaneous Considerations Other more sophisticated forms of the approach I'm describing here for the LP would keep the concept of the LP at the center of the music package, while removing the vinyl as material. Ideally, the perfect substance for a fine art music LP would consist of a material that didn't warp, couldn't be shattered, that would prevent grooves from wearing out, and that would be scratch-proof. So that would mean you'd need to do your homework and find out what's possible with all known exotic substances, metal alloys, industrial metals, specialized plastics, and non-scratch surfaces to achieve the perfect substance for a fine art music LP. Moreover, this substance would play CD quality sound on any or a special turntable with a uniquely designed needle made specifically for this material and album type. If a fine art music LP were to ever come into existence it would have to stand the test of time and survive usage, storage, and travel as it transfers custody from one owner to another over decades and even centuries. These are the main reasons why owners of fine art music LP's will need to get insurance for the asset. A non-vinyl LP could also be manufactured to blow away the art collector, music enthusiast, and investor with something like an LP made of 24-karat gold or some other precious metal like silver or platinum. This one alteration could make such an LP worth a $1 million or more depending on the aggressiveness of the bidders. Overall you'll have to do some research of your own to discover what your options are and can be in order to raise your LP into the class of an investment, a tangible asset (collectible), and fine art. In the absence of the existence of this ideal substance, we must aim for novelty to achieve appeal. Exclusive Music Another aspect to explore briefly is the exclusivity factor in regard to the ownership of fine art. Not everyone can afford a Picasso, but those who can, generally, aren't willing to share it with everyone because they want exclusive ownership over the Picasso, that's part of the package of owning fine art. The way to provide exclusive ownership to interested parties is through contracts, so you'll have to hire legal advice to shape the legal framework governing ownership of a music album or music as fine art. The contract can be shaped in any number of ways according to your wishes, but basically it should state what the owner has permission to do or is prohibited from doing with the work you are selling them. You want your buyers to know that they can transfer ownership of the album to heirs or sell it to other private collectors as you can with any other tangible asset. This is part of the process of owning fine art, which they've come to expect in their dealings with galleries and other collectors, so deal with them as a professional. In addition, you'll want to legally prohibit the buyers from broadcasting or disseminating the music from your fine art LP or other media. To preserve its value the music must be kept out of the public domain and remain in the hands of those who have the right to hear it. If the owners want to talk about it and even play it for a small gathering of people as a fine art music exhibit then great, but they should not be permitted to make copies or profit from your recordings. The beauty of a limit supply and contracts is that together they will help you to track all of the owners over your lifetime and preserve the value of your work. If one of them can be found to be responsible for leaking the material out into public, you'll have a lawsuit on your hands which you should easily win. But if a leak was to happen, the value (price) of the LP might drop precipitously and demand could even dry up completely. But really what's the worst that could happen, that the price of your music ends up at the low end of the price scale - $.99 per track? A Word on Supply and Demand Similarly, the law of supply and demand must also be part of the equation for pricing your music as fine art. Basically, the law of supply and demand works like this: the greater the supply, the lower the demand and the lower the supply, the greater the demand. In other words, the more of something there is, the less it's worth and the less of something there is, the more it's worth. The law doesn't always work out this perfectly, but as a general rule it works. The problem with this law is that it only slightly takes into account mass psychology and the way demand is created, which is by advertising, marketing, and PR (public relations). Without these 3 factors working in your favor, there will be little or no demand for your fine art music LP, no matter how small your supply is. It's only when these 3 factors are working in your favor and demand is fairly high that the price of your singular or limited edition fine art music LP, CD, or digital audio files can rise and skyrocket. So become fluent with hope to employ advertising, marketing, and PR and make sure the demand is there among your target audience prior to releasing your work so that you can be certain your album receives a high bidding. A Digital Point of View Some of the ideas I've presented here so far can be applied to music in digital formats as well. For example, a limited edition, gorgeously designed iPod or alternative mP3 player with your fine art music programmed into a locked memory is one approach. For example, high-end buyers there's an iPod available that's made from 22k gold and it features an Apple logo made of diamonds, it estimate price is roughly $120,000. Something like this could work or even just a really cool looking, READ-only thumb drive could work. You just plug it in and enjoy exclusive access to an album that only one collector or a select few have in their possession. The number one problem with a digital format is that it's too easy to copy files from one device to another, which is why a locked or unhackable memory is crucial. Without the locked memory, the exclusivity factor cannot exist and undermines the creation of a fine art music digital device. 4) Put your music to auction. Part of the reason why the paintings in the beginning of this article sold for so much money is because competing bids pushed the price upward. After you've designed an amazing fine art music collection and package, you'll need to decide how to sell or auction your product. Many options for auctioning items are available but probably the most well-known is eBay, but eBay is probably not the best place to sell fine art music this way. To start it might be a good place to test the concept, but you might not reach your target clientele. Another option could be Bandcamp or Amazon, but there's no auctioning available with these companies. However, you could set a high price for downloads, CD's or vinyl LP's and sell few of them. For example, downloads might go for anywhere from $15 to $200 per track and for the album maybe the price of a mid-range painting, perhaps $800 to $2,000+. You could also set up a simple website where you present and sell your fine art music like painters, sculptors, sketch artists, wood workers, and artisans sell their work. On your site you can talk about your album on video, with a music blog, on internet radio, through interviews, on music or artists-oriented podcasts, and through articles, so that you can send all the traffic to your eBay page or personal website where all you're selling are copies of your limited edition collection of fine art music. The simplicity of this plan is that you, along with eBay as your broker, control the entire process. The idea here is as with most auctions which is to watch the bidders compete with one another as everyone watches the price go higher and higher. Name Your Price: The Radiohead Experiment The band Radiohead did something like this but differently. Instead of auctioning a one of a kind or limited edition exclusive digital album, they allowed their fans to pay what they wanted for their new release at the time. The experiment brought in mixed results but overall was a success for the band members who made more money personally than on any previous album. However, it's been reported that 38% of buyers spent an average of $6, while the other 62% downloaded the album without paying anything at all - $0. Globally, the average price paid was around $2.26 and $3.23 in the U.S. Of those who did pay something, 17% paid below $4, but 12% paid between $8 and $12. This approach is unlikely to work for lesser known artists who want to present their music as fine art. The main reason why it wouldn't is because it fails to fulfill the factor of exclusive ownership. Everyone and anyone could get a copy of the Radiohead album, therefore it's value is reduced because the quantity available was infinite instead of limited or rare, since the demand was high. NIN and a Tiered Approach Likewise, tiered fine art music packages whose prices range from a few dollars up to hundreds or even thousands of dollars is a much better way to entice collectors to buy music as fine art or music as an investment. Here's how Nine Inch Nail's Trent Reznor made a small fortune with his "Ghosts I - IV" album release. In total 5 tiers are available. The first tier offers a free download of the first 9 tracks from the album. The 2nd tier offers a $5 digital download with a 40 page PDF. The 3rd tier offers a 2 CD's with a 16 page booklet for $10. The 4th tier is a $75 deluxe edition which includes 2 audio CD's, a data DVD with all 36 tracks in multi-track format, a 48 page book of photographs by Phillip Graybill and Rob Sheridan, a 40 page PDF book, and an accompanying slideshow on a Blu-Ray disc. And on the 5th tier you get pretty much everything else on the lower tiers except you also get a 3rd book with art prints of imagery from Ghosts I - IV and each limited edition copy is numbered and personally signed by Trent Reznor. This limited edition was restricted to 2500 copies with a limit of one per customer for a grand total of $300. The $300 tier was known as the Ultra-Deluxe Limited Edition Package and is currently sold out. The financials on the 5th tier look pretty good. With the Ultra-Deluxe Limited Edition Package, we know there were only 2500 copies and that each sold for $300. So, 2500 x 300 = $750,000. Imagine what prices could have been reached if Reznor had allowed the buyers to bid on the Ultra-Deluxe Limited Edition Package. He could have started the bidding at or just below $300 and watched the prices go up from there. Interestingly, as fewer of them were available the prices might have started to get astronomical. He probably still would've sold every copy and his income might well have been closer to $1 million, but either he did a great job structuring his price scale as demonstrated by his results. And let's not forget that our equation excluded the income he generated from tiers 2 - 4, which most certainly brought his total revenues far passed $1 million. Review As we end off let's briefly review the factors that will lead to fine art music success. Strive to make unique music or music collections. To do this you'll need to experiment with unique methods, techniques, or styles that offer a signature sound. In the art world, this will be known as your sonic fingerprint. This is what art collectors will want to purchase and appreciate. Create a music gallery. Come up with ideas for how to present your new compositions at a music exhibit. It should look and feel much like an art exhibit, but be adapted for music. This might include setting up private listening stations for individual art collectors or small rooms for a limited listening audience and where auctions can occur. Turn your music into a tangible asset. Painting elevates the canvas and paint into art, whereas music can never elevate a cassette tape or CD into art. For music, the medium must be turned into art as part of the package for presenting music as fine art. Painting also elevates and transforms its medium, while music is usually transported by its medium, unless its digital, then it's all about the music. Remember what we discussed about digital formats and the vinyl LP as ideal vehicles for selling music as fine art. Above all, offer exclusivity as an essential part of the package of fine art music ownership, so find ways to guarantee this for your buyers. Art ownership is strongly based on its exclusivity, which for the collector means they are part of a very select group of individuals who have the right or privilege to receive exposure to your fine art music. If you can exclude the masses and create demand amongst a select few, then the prices you can attract will rise as few buyers try to outbid one another for exclusive ownership of your music. Lastly, use an auction system to create massive profits. Keep the law of supply and demand in mind when building your music into a tangible asset and don't forget the vital role advertising, marketing, and PR play in creating demand. There's no purpose in creating a limited supply of anything for which there is no demand. Conclusion These are by no means all of the ways in which these ideas can be applied to your situation or in these formats, but whatever you choose to do you'll need to formulate the right balance of factors that make the price of your fine art music rise. Many of you may be stunned by the extent of initial investment capital you'll require to elevate your music into a fine art collectible, which is why you'll have to amplify your people skills and take courses in sales training, marketing, investing and business. Several of the approaches I mentioned will require you to raise capital from a bank, institution such as a private equity firm, or venture capitalists to get you started, otherwise you'll need to get access to personal or small business credit at low interest rates. This will give you more time to implement your program and generate your first wave of sales. If your business plan for turning your music into fine art is solid and your sales presentation is thorough, then the money will find you as more investors see profit in the opportunity. Additionally, wealthy patrons may see your work as an important contribution to art history or your presentation may just resonate with an investor or group of investors that they may just give you money to finish your project. In either case, be business-like, get all of your agreements in writing and have them reviewed by a competent legal representative expert at intellectual property issues and financial transactions in particular. About the Author Marc Avante is a musician, sound designer, and blogger. He is also the founder of the music project called Stereo Thesis. Stereo Thesis is a prototype sound design and music studio. For additional artist info, interesting articles, news, and giveaways visit the Stereo Thesis blog at: http://stereothesis.blogspot.com/ Or to get exclusive access to FREE instant music downloads by Stereo Thesis, go to: http://stereothesis.bandcamp.com/ Read the full article

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mshai002 · 4 years

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Trevor Paglen (Huge Inspiration)

After, in the class, we saw Rita’s gallery visit, which was at the Barbican showing Trevor’s work: From ‘Apple’ to ‘Anomaly,’ I realized that this was my guy. I decided to go to his show next week at the barbican. There were only two pieces, it turned out. I went through the whole show in less than 10 minutes. I knew that his work with data and classifications is what I was interested in. He wasn’t just an artist interested in data sciences, he also had a deep aesthetic sense. The lighting, and the framing, of the ‘this is not an apple' piece, which then leads to the next one, a series of over 20,000 images starting from an apple (Trevor describes as a "nouny noun") and ending at the anomaly (he describes this as entirely subjective).

I decided that I needed to learn all about him. I bought two of his books, one, a small one on his Barbican show, and the other, a larger one about his oeuvre with multiple interviews and essays and most of his work. The following are from the 19 page long notes I took from reading the books. They led me to an idea which I will reveal in the end.

My initial idea before getting on with Trevor was to maybe create an entirely new social media platform free of all the suspicious usage of users’ data that the current option we have engaged in. In Rita’s presentation in class, her description of the apple piece in the show struck me. She said that AI sees an apple as an apple, whereas, as humans, we can see it as ‘this is not an apple’...

Trevor, in the first interview, said that he didn’t think ‘timeless truths’ exists (Trevor Paglen, Phaidon, p.12). According to him, every artist has to decide what they are mainly interested in and process accordingly, not because they are compelled by an external (institutional, for example) force.

He is an in-depth researcher with a Ph.D. in Geography, masters, and a bachelor's in Fine Art. I love this aspect of his work. Many artists like Michel Hoellebueq (French Author) proudly disdain research as something that is for inferior artists, which I find quite outdated and outright wrong. The reason for this is explained quite well by Paglen (p.13). The artist shows their audience how to see things differently, and Trevor says, seeing things around us difficult. “Everyday life is sculpted and modulated by forces that are usually quite invisible to us....” This is why research is vital; to understand how the structures around us are working and transforming in their speed. And by engaging through an understanding of the functionalities and scopes, we can see possibilities. This is precisely what I wrote in one of my previous blogs. The audiences are too scared of tech, and so cannot imagine an alternative, and I wanted to change that. However, before inspiring the viewer to believe alternative ideas, the artist herself needs to be able to see her subject to its core. Trevor says that “when I talk about learning How to see the moment we live in, I mean developing new metaphors in new vocabularies that can help us orient our perception and make sense of the world around us” (p.32). Research allows “you to think far more complexly about a subject than you can without that language.”

NSA GHCQ Surveillance Base, Cornwall, UK, 2015

My initial idea about making a functional alternative social media did not do it for me. I felt a lack of imagination in the concept. It felt reactionary at best. Trevor articulates for me what I was lacking (p.29). He says that art should not be about a strategy to accomplish this or that. “I don’t think that art does linear arguments very well at all. For example, in a lot of the visual work, I have done... I am trying to take familiar images... and suggest that they mean something different from what you think they mean.” He says that art can inspire but not relay a message, which is accomplished via writing. He says that art and literature can go hand-in-hand to drive a message home, but the art on its own “is just different.”

Investigative rigor:

I have always appreciated art that was a result of in-depth knowledge that is critically engaging, not superficial impressions. An impression is the first instinct, and relying on first instinct is extremely dangerous as it is informed by deep-set bias we’re brought up with. His work Terminal Air (2007) showcased the (US) government’s covert anti-terror operations, which flew suspected people away to far off locations like Guantanamo Bay.

As already blogged about, I work for the Uni student-run independent newspaper The Leopard. This year I became the News Editor, which means that I have to not only work on my pieces but also guide and edit others’. Paglen’s work has a lot to do with investigations. He does in-depth research into how top-secret things by the government--of the US- such as the missions carried out to kidnap and torture suspects from the country taken far off to places like Guantanamo Bay (p. 72). He said that he was “drawn to the patches--mysterious to those unfamiliar with their acronyms and iconography...” He learned the grammar of the way things are done through is research, and that is how he figured out more about the secret world (p.65). This interest transpired in his work Torture Taxi, for which he had to go through “raw documents culled from aviation records, corporate records of front companies, various declassified reports, and documents obtained from lawyers representing prisoners at Guantanamo Bay... the interlocking webs of front companies, fake identities, drop boxes, airfields, law offices, flight records, and numerous other pieces of seemingly banal information that constituted the rendition program’s basic infrastructure” (p.70). He went through all the leading companies and every single person, fake and possibly real, mentioned in the documents. He verified a list of places where actual hidden work happened and photographed them (p.72). The photographs were shot from afar zooming in. The images make one feel exactly like they look, confused by the banality and the fact of the reality behind the banality. They are quite dark. In his Barbican book, Sarah Cook writes that he is interested in seeing what invisibility looks like (Barbican, p.8).

Torture Taxi, 2013

In other words works, he shot videos of secret locations that are blatantly out in the open using a drone (p.77). He also mapped out the flight connections of various suspects being flown around a few select spots from the US. This exposure of highly salient yet openly being done things that are supposed to be hidden makes really resonate with my work in journalism. I am always trying to figure out what is going on. But over time, I’ve come to realize that there are multiple truths in any situation, various parties with numerous reasons. And I became tired of negativity. As seen in my previous blog posts, I was quite cynical and provocative with the audience. I would like to do something more balanced this year, as I am also trying with the articles I write and edit. Looking at his work can make one feel more optimistic about what can change because they know what has been happening right around them. They can talk about it, they can participate in it, they can engage with it.

Apart from political investigative matters, he’s done in-depth research on outer space use to the world too. That is political also, as it has to do with the US’s space work as a state. He has looked into how the satellites that are ‘secret’ roam the space looking everywhere along with satellites from India and China. He says that “even though they aren’t supposed to be officially there, these spacecraft have to obey the same laws of physics that everything else in the known universe has to obey” (p.128). This is important here because it reiterates the idea that what is out there that people see are arcane and mysterious is actually something they deal directly with, too, in a very tangible way. They follow the same physics as everything we know. I was writing about this before, wanting to make the arcane algorithms accessible to the people. The same philosophy as that of the founders of Git, open-source...

He then talks about how photography, his medium of much of his work. Photography was initially used for the same purposes as he uses it for. To research and capture the mysterious. The difficult parts being captured in photos were vital for the American military to find those spots which could be used for their operations. Muybridge, one of the great photographers in the US, was also working for the US military to photograph. “ Yosemite’s granite cliffs and forested valleys ” among other landscapes. Watkins, another famous photographer in the US, photographed for mining interests. Paglen points out that Muybridge was carrying a camera instead of a gun but doing the same thing: conquest for annihilation (p.130). This shows that his awareness of his own medium is critical. The photographers used their skill at uncovering mysterious places for the annihilation of those spaces. In a similar vein, through his photographs of the hidden secret operations’ locations of the US army, he is aiming for the annihilation of them.

His work is overall, highly aware of specificity. He focuses on particular aspects of a specific country. He doesn’t ever make grand universal statements as a lot of Western cultural producers do. He recognizes the smallness of his American scope. He expresses this by talking about an exercise in which you take “out all the pieces of music and languages that are familiar to you, then play the unfamiliar ones over a slideshow of the images. The “it’s a small” (p.132). He recognizes that there is so much his education in the US that has not exposed him to learn. And only someone sho dedicated to research would make such a statement about ignorance and hence the need to learn more deeply.

Machine eyes:

In thinking about what the future holds in terms of the consequences we will reap as a result of our current ‘progress,’ Trevor suggests a “kind of speculative ethical relationship...” (p.29). The progress of AI, the space debris, the consequences of anthropocentric plunder of the natural resources... Paglen also addresses the speed of information that we are dealing with daily. There is no information but doesn’t necessarily lead to thinking and knowledge creation. Sight is being detached from knowledge. This knowledgeless data consumption is precisely how AI works (p.101). Through artistic means, Paglen wants people to think expansively and imaginatively. And this coming to do with trying to speculate an ethical relationship with the future as we need, he applied ethics to our consumption as an idea materially in space (pp.135). Not thinking about the future results in cuts made in education budgets and climate catastrophe planning (p.135). He found that all the countries venturing into space were leaving behind a residue that will last for more than 100 million years. The most recent controversy was about India’s successful mission of targeting and destroying satellites in space from the ground. Imagining a future where someone will go there millions of years later and encounter that residue, he decided to create The Last Picture. The images he took and curated together were placed together in launched into space with a satellite rocket that was being launched by an agency in a city in the US (p.136). The images, he said, would be something like what cave paintings are to us today.

The Last Picture, 2012

The issue with how a machine ‘sees’ is that it sees everything precisely as it is. Trevor’s piece, Shark, Liner Classifier (2017), is a photograph of sharks that the computer is fed to see. The AI machine spewed out the image of Shark, which “looks. indistinct and abstract to human eyes, it is a Precise representation of the computer vision system” (p.33). Speaking about Machine Eyes, 2014, he says that the point mentioned before about looking without seeing, sight, and knowledge being disconnected. That is basically what machines do. Run through data, compare them, and technically parse out whatever is possible in those very reduced technical ways. This is what AI is. Sarah Cook writes that the role of the human is missing in all this (Barbican, p.13). And that is what needs to be scrutinized. I wonder if the machine, after all, is as smart as we think we are or make it?

From ‘apple’ to ‘anomaly,’ 2019

In the Barbican book, Paglen explains how his work was dealing with AI. AI systems are developed by a few technology companies. And those companies, in the west, have a very limited worldview. Their perception of what means what is the basis for the ‘training set.’ This set contains classifications of representations. His work here is looking at a data set called ImageNet, which was created by professors at Stanford and Princeton. ImageNet took a gameset from WordNet, in which the collection of “words and concepts and scraped the internet for images that they thought would illustrate them...” then labeled those images. This set was created between 2009 and 2011 and wasn’t updated since. This means that the data set created by a couple of people in the US with a very limited worldview at a specific time was used. The collections were literally frozen in time and a particular place in terms of meaning. Paglen wonders how we could be shaping the softwares based on such data. He says that the creation of this data is entirely unethical (Barbican, p.41) because of its specificity. I think that the problem here is that the training set’s vision is very narrow and frozen in a specific time and place. So its claim to universality representing all humans everywhere is not valid. Pardo, Paglen’s interviewer, says that the basis is “outmoded” with subjectivities that are relationally subjective.

Paglen finally says: If we’re already looking at public training sets that have bad politics built into them, one can only imagine what is going on behind closed doors.

This sparked an idea in my head. What if we see what things will be like if the data set was created by people with good politics?

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chrisbittensite-blog · 4 years

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The Music Gallery: Can Music Ever Be Valued As Fine Art?

Introduction: The Highest Art Auction in History

Recently a Christie's art sale became the highest auction in history. The sale included works by Jackson Pollock, Roy Lichtenstein and Jean-Michel Basquiat, among others and in total generated $495 million. The sale established 16 new world auction records, with nine works selling for more than $10m (£6.6m) and 23 for more than $5m (£3.2m). Christie's said the record breaking sales reflected "a new era in the art market".

The top lot of Wednesday's sale was Pollock's drip painting Number 19, 1948, which fetched $58.4m (£38.3m) - nearly twice its pre-sale estimate.

Lichtenstein's Woman with Flowered Hat sold for $56.1 million, while another Basquiat work, Dustheads (top of article), went for $48.8 million.

All three works set the highest prices ever fetched for the artists at auction. Christie's described the $495,021,500 total - which included commissions - as "staggering". Only four of the 70 lots on offer went unsold.

In addition, a 1968 oil painting by Gerhard Richter has set a new record for the highest auction price achieved by a living artist. Richter's photo-painting Domplatz, Mailand (Cathedral Square, Milan) sold for $37.1 million (£24.4 million). Sotheby's described Domplatz, Mailand, which depicts a cityscape painted in a style that suggests a blurred photograph, as a "masterpiece of 20th Century art" and the "epitome" of the artist's 1960s photo-painting canon. Don Bryant, founder of Napa Valley's Bryant Family Vineyard and the painting's new owner, said the work "just knocks me over".

Brett Gorvy, head of post-war and contemporary art, said "The remarkable bidding and record prices set reflect a new era in the art market," he said. Steven Murphy, CEO of Christie's International, said new collectors were helping drive the boom.

Myths of the Music-Fine Art Price Differential

When I came across this article I was stunned at the prices these artworks were able to obtain. Several of them would hardly evoke a positive emotional response in me, while others might only slightly, but for almost all of them I really don't understand how their prices are reflected in the work, and vice versa. Obviously, these pieces were not intended for people like me, an artist, while wealthy patrons certainly see their intrinsic artistic value clearly.

So why doesn't music attract these kinds of prices? Is it even possible for a piece of recorded music, not music memorabilia or a music artifact (such as a rare record, LP, bootleg, T-shirt, album artwork, etc.), to be worth $1 million or more? Are all musicians and music composers doomed to struggle in the music industry and claw their way up into a career in music? If one painting can be valued at $1 million, why can't a song or piece of music also be valued similarly? Apparently, the $.99 per download price is the highest price a song is able to command at market value, no matter what its quality or content, and the musician or composer must accept this value as such.

The financial equation looks something like this:

1 painting = $37 million

1 song = $.99

Sometimes people say that a song can change the world, but no one ever says that about paintings. So theoretically, if people want change $.99 is the price we must pay for it.

Now here are a few statements that should help us clarify what the monetary or value discrepancy between painting and music is based upon.

(1) There are fewer painters than there are musicians.

(2) Musicians are less talented than painters?

(3) It is easier to create music than it is to paint.

(4) The public values paintings more than music.

(5) Paintings are more beautiful than music.

(6) Paintings are impossible to copy unlike music.

(7) Painters work harder than musicians and composers.

(8) Blah, blah, blah.

Hardly anyone agrees with all of these statements and yet all, or at least some of them, would have to be true in order for the price of paintings to so greatly exceed the cost of music. Moreover, I doubt that art collectors and great painters have to deal with as much legal red tape as do musicians when releasing their work into the public domain, so why aren't the rewards equal, if not greater for musicians who have to work almost as much protecting their work as in producing it. Musicians and composers, however, actually must do more than authenticate their work and obtain accurate appraisals concerning what their work is worth, but they get paid less. The equipment costs alone for musicians is much higher than it is for painters.

Maybe it's fame, and not money, musicians are after? That would explain why most musicians settle for the low pay they receive from record deals and digital downloads. Perhaps, that's also why many of them are touring more often to increase their fame and not their fortunes. But wait a minute, that's where musicians actually make most of their money from live performances and the selling of merchandise, but not the music. I guess this is why many musicians see themselves not as composers, but rather as performers and entertainers.

So what can musicians do, who don't see themselves as entertainers, but instead as composers who create music as a fine art? Because they too have a strong desire to earn a living to support themselves in their chosen profession, thus there must be a specialized approach whereby they present their work to music lovers or art collectors in search of assets and curators for unique pieces to place in their private galleries. Imagine that, a recorded piece of music that few have ever heard which is displayed and played only on a specified music player in a private art gallery or collection.

In thinking about how a musician can follow the example set by painters in the fine arts, I've isolated 4 principles that should help to make the spectacular financial rewards they've reached possible for the musician. So let's analyze some of the characteristics that govern the market for fine art and see how musicians can apply these concepts to their creative, production, and marketing processes.

The Ideal Vehicle for Music as Fine Art

Here are 4 principles and practical suggestions for musicians who want to elevate their music into the realm of fine art by following the example of the painters of the past and present.

1) Strive to make unique music or music collections.

The composer must design experiments with sound or compositional techniques. Some music belongs in the realm of the public, while other music solely belongs in the realm of fine art. It's really not that difficult to tell the difference. The difference is clear when one compares the environment of the nightclub and the music one finds there with the elevated environment of the ballet or opera and its music. The difference is not necessarily one in terms of types of music, but rather in the composer's sonic fingerprint. In other words, not everyone thinks Jackson Pollock was a great painter, but everyone acknowledges that it took him years of development to reach a point where his style could be born. It's the style of the artist or composer that will call out to the attention of wealthy patrons, the respect of peers, and the exclusive admiration of the music appreciator. In music, the style of the composer, regardless of genre, I call 'a signature sound.' It's the signature sound that music and art collectors will want to own and for that they might be willing to pay or bid up the cost of ownership to a higher price.

2) Create a music gallery.

This could be modeled after the art gallery where one or several artist put their work on display. The difference with the music gallery is that you would have a hall filled with listening rooms or stations. These showings would not be live performances, but instead will be in effect sound installations. You could also separate one hall into several compartments for different composers. The music showing would be an exclusive event provided to serious music and art collectors who actively seek out sonic experiences and buy what they like. The purpose of the music gallery would be the same as the art gallery - to give the public a sample of the artist's talent, to give critics something to write about, to have other composers comment on the work of a peer, and to create buzz in the art world. Always remember that it shouldn't be the event that drives the buzz, but the music that makes the event.

3) Turn your music into a tangible asset.

The obvious difference between a painting and music is that one is a tangible artwork and the other is not. In other words, one of the defining characteristics of a painting is that the medium and the art are one. Unlike music, where the music must be transferred onto another object such as a cassette tape, vinyl, CD, or mP3 player before it can be perceived, whereas with a painting (or sculpture) an object has been transformed into art. So how can it be or is it even possible for a cassette, CD, or download to be transformed into art? The cassette and CD are more akin to a photograph of a painting, rather than a true expressions where the medium and the art are one.

So one step a musician can take to elevate their music into fine art is by making your music and its medium one. The best way that I can think of to do this is by looking to the past. Ironically, the vinyl LP very closely achieved this quality with album art, its sizing, and packaging. Let's quickly discuss some of the qualities of the vinyl LP and valuable marketing angles that I think opens up interesting approaches for musicians to turn their music into fine art at price appropriate levels commiserate with earning a livelihood.

Today there are several companies around that let you customize your LP vinyl album and artwork. This is wonderful because it gives you total control over the art direction your packaging takes. This is an expressive way to bring the personality of the artist, band, or project out into physical form. Many colors are available and unique mixtures are also possible to add a dimension to your music that isn't normally possible with cassette tapes, CD's, or digital downloads. Even split colored and glow-in-the-dark vinyl are available for bold composers looking for something with a bit more flair.

Etched Art and Your Album

Another fantastic way to elevate the music via packaging and presentation is to consider etched art in vinyl. Etched vinyl is an image pressed into the unplayable side of your record which has a frosted appearance. The etched side does not contain any grooves or music but adds a real touch of style to your music package. I don't know if etched art can also be a hologramic look, but that would be another dimension that would enhance the visual component of your music package.

Art and LP Sizes

The last aspect I'd like to touch on is the size of the LP. Unlike the cassettes and CD's, which both come in a single universal size determined by the media player, LP's are played on phonographs or turntables whose arms can adjust to the different sizes of LP's. In general, LP's come in 3 sizes: 7", 10", and 12". And because the album covers have to provide a sleeve for a large surface, they correspondingly must also be large. At a minimum the 12" LP will require an album cover that's 1 square foot. That's about 4 times the size of a standard CD and anywhere from 8 - 12 times the size of cassette tape.

Understanding this gives you an additional angle to design artwork for the music package. There might even be a way to design a painter's canvas which can house an LP within its frame to turn it into a cover. For those musicians and composers who possess multiple artistic talents, an original painting to accompany a music release could be another profitable approach to look into. If you think about it even further the size of the 12" LP is actually the size of a small painting. Foldable or dual LP covers are also available which provide a much larger surface with which to more greatly present amazing album art work to dazzle customers. The dual LP album cover would give you exactly a 24" x 12" surface to work with.

The Non-Vinyl LP and other Miscellaneous Considerations

Other more sophisticated forms of the approach I'm describing here for the LP would keep the concept of the LP at the center of the music package, while removing the vinyl as material. Ideally, the perfect substance for a fine art music LP would consist of a material that didn't warp, couldn't be shattered, that would prevent grooves from wearing out, and that would be scratch-proof. So that would mean you'd need to do your homework and find out what's possible with all known exotic substances, metal alloys, industrial metals, specialized plastics, and non-scratch surfaces to achieve the perfect substance for a fine art music LP. Moreover, this substance would play CD quality sound on any or a special turntable with a uniquely designed needle made specifically for this material and album type.

If a fine art music LP were to ever come into existence it would have to stand the test of time and survive usage, storage, and travel as it transfers custody from one owner to another over decades and even centuries. These are the main reasons why owners of fine art music LP's will need to get insurance for the asset. A non-vinyl LP could also be manufactured to blow away the art collector, music enthusiast, and investor with something like an LP made of 24-karat gold or some other precious metal like silver or platinum. This one alteration could make such an LP worth a $1 million or more depending on the aggressiveness of the bidders. Overall you'll have to do some research of your own to discover what your options are and can be in order to raise your LP into the class of an investment, a tangible asset (collectible), and fine art. In the absence of the existence of this ideal substance, we must aim for novelty to achieve appeal.

Exclusive Music

Another aspect to explore briefly is the exclusivity factor in regard to the ownership of fine art. Not everyone can afford a Picasso, but those who can, generally, aren't willing to share it with everyone because they want exclusive ownership over the Picasso, that's part of the package of owning fine art.

The way to provide exclusive ownership to interested parties is through contracts, so you'll have to hire legal advice to shape the legal framework governing ownership of a music album or music as fine art. The contract can be shaped in any number of ways according to your wishes, but basically it should state what the owner has permission to do or is prohibited from doing with the work you are selling them. You want your buyers to know that they can transfer ownership of the album to heirs or sell it to other private collectors as you can with any other tangible asset. This is part of the process of owning fine art, which they've come to expect in their dealings with galleries and other collectors, so deal with them as a professional.

In addition, you'll want to legally prohibit the buyers from broadcasting or disseminating the music from your fine art LP or other media. To preserve its value the music must be kept out of the public domain and remain in the hands of those who have the right to hear it. If the owners want to talk about it and even play it for a small gathering of people as a fine art music exhibit then great, but they should not be permitted to make copies or profit from your recordings.

The beauty of a limit supply and contracts is that together they will help you to track all of the owners over your lifetime and preserve the value of your work. If one of them can be found to be responsible for leaking the material out into public, you'll have a lawsuit on your hands which you should easily win. But if a leak was to happen, the value (price) of the LP might drop precipitously and demand could even dry up completely. But really what's the worst that could happen, that the price of your music ends up at the low end of the price scale - $.99 per track?

A Word on Supply and Demand

Similarly, the law of supply and demand must also be part of the equation for pricing your music as fine art. Basically, the law of supply and demand works like this: the greater the supply, the lower the demand and the lower the supply, the greater the demand. In other words, the more of something there is, the less it's worth and the less of something there is, the more it's worth. The law doesn't always work out this perfectly, but as a general rule it works.

The problem with this law is that it only slightly takes into account mass psychology and the way demand is created, which is by advertising, marketing, and PR (public relations). Without these 3 factors working in your favor, there will be little or no demand for your fine art music LP, no matter how small your supply is. It's only when these 3 factors are working in your favor and demand is fairly high that the price of your singular or limited edition fine art music LP, CD, or digital audio files can rise and skyrocket. So become fluent with hope to employ advertising, marketing, and PR and make sure the demand is there among your target audience prior to releasing your work so that you can be certain your album receives a high bidding.

A Digital Point of View

Some of the ideas I've presented here so far can be applied to music in digital formats as well. For example, a limited edition, gorgeously designed iPod or alternative mP3 player with your fine art music programmed into a locked memory is one approach. For example, high-end buyers there's an iPod available that's made from 22k gold and it features an Apple logo made of diamonds, it estimate price is roughly $120,000.

Something like this could work or even just a really cool looking, READ-only thumb drive could work. You just plug it in and enjoy exclusive access to an album that only one collector or a select few have in their possession.

The number one problem with a digital format is that it's too easy to copy files from one device to another, which is why a locked or unhackable memory is crucial. Without the locked memory, the exclusivity factor cannot exist and undermines the creation of a fine art music digital device.

4) Put your music to auction.

Part of the reason why the paintings in the beginning of this article sold for so much money is because competing bids pushed the price upward. After you've designed an amazing fine art music collection and package, you'll need to decide how to sell or auction your product.

Many options for auctioning items are available but probably the most well-known is eBay, but eBay is probably not the best place to sell fine art music this way. To start it might be a good place to test the concept, but you might not reach your target clientele. Another option could be Bandcamp or Amazon, but there's no auctioning available with these companies. However, you could set a high price for downloads, CD's or vinyl LP's and sell few of them.

For example, downloads might go for anywhere from $15 to $200 per track and for the album maybe the price of a mid-range painting, perhaps $800 to $2,000+.

You could also set up a simple website where you present and sell your fine art music like painters, sculptors, sketch artists, wood workers, and artisans sell their work. On your site you can talk about your album on video, with a music blog, on internet radio, through interviews, on music or artists-oriented podcasts, and through articles, so that you can send all the traffic to your eBay page or personal website where all you're selling are copies of your limited edition collection of fine art music.

The simplicity of this plan is that you, along with eBay as your broker, control the entire process. The idea here is as with most auctions which is to watch the bidders compete with one another as everyone watches the price go higher and higher.

Name Your Price: The Radiohead Experiment

The band Radiohead did something like this but differently. Instead of auctioning a one of a kind or limited edition exclusive digital album, they allowed their fans to pay what they wanted for their new release at the time. The experiment brought in mixed results but overall was a success for the band members who made more money personally than on any previous album. However, it's been reported that 38% of buyers spent an average of $6, while the other 62% downloaded the album without paying anything at all - $0. Globally, the average price paid was around $2.26 and $3.23 in the U.S. Of those who did pay something, 17% paid below $4, but 12% paid between $8 and $12.

This approach is unlikely to work for lesser known artists who want to present their music as fine art. The main reason why it wouldn't is because it fails to fulfill the factor of exclusive ownership. Everyone and anyone could get a copy of the Radiohead album, therefore it's value is reduced because the quantity available was infinite instead of limited or rare, since the demand was high.

NIN and a Tiered Approach

Likewise, tiered fine art music packages whose prices range from a few dollars up to hundreds or even thousands of dollars is a much better way to entice collectors to buy music as fine art or music as an investment.

Here's how Nine Inch Nail's Trent Reznor made a small fortune with his "Ghosts I - IV" album release. In total 5 tiers are available.

The first tier offers a free download of the first 9 tracks from the album.

The 2nd tier offers a $5 digital download with a 40 page PDF.

The 3rd tier offers a 2 CD's with a 16 page booklet for $10.

The 4th tier is a $75 deluxe edition which includes 2 audio CD's, a data DVD with all 36 tracks in multi-track format, a 48 page book of photographs by Phillip Graybill and Rob Sheridan, a 40 page PDF book, and an accompanying slideshow on a Blu-Ray disc.

And on the 5th tier you get pretty much everything else on the lower tiers except you also get a 3rd book with art prints of imagery from Ghosts I - IV and each limited edition copy is numbered and personally signed by Trent Reznor. This limited edition was restricted to 2500 copies with a limit of one per customer for a grand total of $300. The $300 tier was known as the Ultra-Deluxe Limited Edition Package and is currently sold out.

The financials on the 5th tier look pretty good. With the Ultra-Deluxe Limited Edition Package, we know there were only 2500 copies and that each sold for $300. So, 2500 x 300 = $750,000. Imagine what prices could have been reached if Reznor had allowed the buyers to bid on the Ultra-Deluxe Limited Edition Package. He could have started the bidding at or just below $300 and watched the prices go up from there. Interestingly, as fewer of them were available the prices might have started to get astronomical. He probably still would've sold every copy and his income might well have been closer to $1 million, but either he did a great job structuring his price scale as demonstrated by his results. And let's not forget that our equation excluded the income he generated from tiers 2 - 4, which most certainly brought his total revenues far passed $1 million.

Review

As we end off let's briefly review the factors that will lead to fine art music success.

1) Strive to make unique music or music collections. To do this you'll need to experiment with unique methods, techniques, or styles that offer a signature sound. In the art world, this will be known as your sonic fingerprint. This is what art collectors will want to purchase and appreciate.

2) Create a music gallery. Come up with ideas for how to present your new compositions at a music exhibit. It should look and feel much like an art exhibit, but be adapted for music. This might include setting up private listening stations for individual art collectors or small rooms for a limited listening audience and where auctions can occur.

3) Turn your music into a tangible asset. Painting elevates the canvas and paint into art, whereas music can never elevate a cassette tape or CD into art. For music, the medium must be turned into art as part of the package for presenting music as fine art. Painting also elevates and transforms its medium, while music is usually transported by its medium, unless its digital, then it's all about the music. Remember what we discussed about digital formats and the vinyl LP as ideal vehicles for selling music as fine art.Here

4) Above all, offer exclusivity as an essential part of the package of fine art music ownership, so find ways to guarantee this for your buyers. Art ownership is strongly based on its exclusivity, which for the collector means they are part of a very select group of individuals who have the right or privilege to receive exposure to your fine art music. If you can exclude the masses and create demand amongst a select few, then the prices you can attract will rise as few buyers try to outbid one another for exclusive ownership of your music.

5) Lastly, use an auction system to create massive profits. Keep the law of supply and demand in mind when building your music into a tangible asset and don't forget the vital role advertising, marketing, and PR play in creating demand. There's no purpose in creating a limited supply of anything for which there is no demand.

Conclusion More

These are by no means all of the ways in which these ideas can be applied to your situation or in these formats, but whatever you choose to do you'll need to formulate the right balance of factors that make the price of your fine art music rise. Many of you may be stunned by the extent of initial investment capital you'll require to elevate your music into a fine art collectible, which is why you'll have to amplify your people skills and take courses in sales training, marketing, investing and business. Several of the approaches I mentioned will require you to raise capital from a bank, institution such as a private equity firm, or venture capitalists to get you started, otherwise you'll need to get access to personal or small business credit at low interest rates. This will give you more time to implement your program and generate your first wave of sales. Visit

If your business plan for turning your music into fine art is solid and your sales presentation is thorough, then the money will find you as more investors see profit in the opportunity. Additionally, wealthy patrons may see your work as an important contribution to art history or your presentation may just resonate with an investor or group of investors that they may just give you money to finish your project. In either case, be business-like, get all of your agreements in writing and have them reviewed by a competent legal representative expert at intellectual property issues and financial transactions in particular. http://www.chrisbitten.com

Marc Avante is a musician, sound designer, and blogger. He is also the founder of the music project called Stereo Thesis. Stereo Thesis is a prototype sound design and music studio.

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saberessinfronteras · 6 years

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Einstein was an Artist: How Creativity Actually Works

Einstein inspired a paradigm shift in physics not as a scientist but as an artist. Our entire construct of the world depends on language. What we see isn’t what the universe has defined, but what our brains have learned to label. English distinguishes a scientist as someone who systematically learns about a part of the natural world and uses that knowledge to describe and predict it. An artist, on the other hand, is defined as someone who creatively produces. These labels are important. They’re not perfect, but they allow us to differentiate between the different aspects of our reality. The harm occurs when we use them incorrectly. When it comes to categories like science and art, we have a tendency to presume mutual exclusivity. Einstein may have been a practicing scientist with a focus on theoretical physics, but that doesn’t mean that he wasn’t also an artist. In fact, we can easily argue that more of his success was attributed to his creativity than it was to his underlying knowledge of the field. There are many smart and knowledgeable scientists. Rarely, however, are they capable of producing work that shifts our entire understanding of the world. That requires an entirely new way of looking at things. You don’t have to play the violin or write a poem to be an artist. It’s simply about producing, and the quality of what you produce is largely dependent on creativity. Believe it or not, there isn’t as much to it as you might think. 1. Don’t Wait for Inspiration to Get Moving There are many misconceptions about how breakthroughs are made. It’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking that they’re suddenly inspired — like the often told story of the moment the fall of an apple led Newton to discover gravity. In a slight way, they do happen, and sometimes, sporadically. That said, if your sole tactic is to sit and wait for inspiration to strike, then you’re almost always setting yourself up for failure. Dr. Mark Beeman leads the Creative Brain Lab at Northwestern University. He uses brain scanners to conduct research studies to understand the creative process. In his own words: “Although the experience of insight is sudden and can seem disconnected from the immediately preceding thought, these studies show that insight is the culmination of a series of brain states and processes operating at different time scales.” Simply put, eureka moments occur because of the work leading up to them. Action stimulates inspiration more often than inspiration stimulates action. 2. Treat It Like an Unsexy Job Doing creative work isn’t sexy. It’s about setting a schedule and just doing it. In 1902, Einstein got a job at a Swiss patent office. He had searched for a teaching position in the preceding years with little luck. This forced him into an inopportune and uninspiring place relative to his interest in physics. During his time there, however, he chose to manage his day so that he had a disciplined balance between the hours he spent on the job and the hours he dedicated to scientific work. He was deliberate in his commitment to creation, and the fruits of his labor led to the Annus Mirabilis papers. Scientists call it the miracle year. It would inspire the formulation of the two fundamental theories in physics: the theory of general relativity and quantum mechanics. Had Einstein waited for the right moment, the world might not be where it is. The best way to create is to treat it as a job. Pick a time, show up, and produce. 3. Seek Relationships Between Existing Ideas At its core, creativity is just a new and useful way of combining old ideas. It isn’t imagined out of thin air, and it isn’t completely abstract. It’s a fresh way of making sense of the existing components of reality that have yet to merge. In 1945, Einstein wrote a letter in response to a survey by a French mathematician who was trying to understand the thinking patterns of famous scientists. It can be found in Ideas and Opinions, a collection Einstein’s writings, and in it, he speaks about his process. “The words or the language, as they are written or spoken, do not seem to play any role in my mechanism of thought.The psychical entities which seem to serve as elements in thought are certain signs and more or less clear images which can be ‘voluntarily’ reproduced and combined. It is also clear that the desire to arrive finally at logically connected concepts is the emotional basis of this rather vague play with the above-mentioned elements. But taken from a psychological viewpoint, this combinatory playseems to be the essential feature in productive thought — before there is any connection with logical construction in words or other kinds of signs which can be communicated to others.” If you think about creativity as the ability to develop meaningful connections between existing parts of your reality, you can start to realize that creativity isn’t just reserved for the likes of Mozart and Picasso. It’s something that impacts all of our lives, and it’s something we all practice. Hone your mental inventory of knowledge and let it mingle in absurd ways. 4. Be Willing to Produce Subpar Work Like anything else in life, the only way to master creativity is to put in work. The difficulty, however, lies accepting the production of subpar work. Nobody likes to fall short of expectations, but it’s all the more daunting when it comes to creating because the result is a tangible output, like a painting or a book. One way to challenge this difficulty is to realize that we’re not the only ones that produce bad work. When we see a great creation by a genius, it’s useful to remember that they worked on more than just one piece. They produced a lot of really unsexy work that no one talks about. Over the course of his career, Einstein published over 300 scientific papers and about 150 non-scientific papers. An archive of his non-published work contained more than 30,000 unique documents, and he wasn’t always right. In Brilliant Blunder, Mario Livio predicts that about 20% of Einstein’s papers contain mistakes of sorts. A byproduct of his effort to think in unconventional ways was that his work was sometimes imperfect. 5. Compromise Today for Tomorrow Extraordinary results require extraordinary commitment. That’s the secret. John Hayes is a professor at Carnegie Mellon University and he once did a study to analyze thousands of musical pieces between 1685 and 1900. He was curious about how long it took for a musician to produce world class art. He narrowed it down to 500 masterpieces by 76 composers. By mapping out a timeline for each individual, he looked at when a piece was produced. Outside of only three artists, every composition was written at least a decade after they started to take their work seriously. In follow-up studies of poets and painters, he found the same result. He termed this “The ten years of silence” — a period with a high production of work but very little recognition. To cultivate creativity, you have to not only build the courage to produce bad work, but you also have put in a lot of unrewarded time to create great work. All You Need to Know If an artist is someone who produces something new and novel, then few people in history fit the bill like Einstein. Artistry was the source of his genius. This is what his story can teach us: I. Don’t wait for inspiration to get moving. Creativity is a process. Even the seemingly sporadic insights — like the ones we get in the shower — rely on what came before them. Inspiration doesn’t just strike for no reason. It relies on a consistent pattern of work that sometimes manifests itself in the form of those rare moments. To truly practice creativity, commit to a schedule, show up, and get to work, whether you want to or not. II. Seek relationships between existing ideas. Nothing new is completely original. Creativity is simply about producing something using a combination of the existing elements of your reality. Start by developing a mental inventory of relevant knowledge, work to connect the dots, and then support those connections with a logical structure. III. Produce a large volume of work. Creativity doesn’t work unless you do.Produce in the face of failure, and produce in the face of subpar results. It’s easy to forget that not every piece of work created by a genius was all that great. A lot of it wasn’t. It’s just not talked about. Creating bad work is necessary in order to uncover great work, and it all takes time. Mastering creativity is in itself an art, and like any art, it can empower you. The internet is noisy I write at Design Luck. It’s a free high-quality newsletter with unique insights that will help you live a good life. It’s well-researched and easy-going. Join 20,000+ readers for exclusive access. CreativityLifeLife LessonsSelf ImprovementEntrepreneurship One clap, two clap, three clap, forty? By clapping more or less, you can signal to us which stories really stand out. Follow Zat Rana Medium member since May 2017 Playing at the intersection of science, art, and business. I write to reduce noise. www.designluck.com. CNBC, Business Insider, World Economic Forum, etc. Follow Personal Growth Keep Learning. Keep Growing. More from Personal Growth Bad Habits You Must Break Immediately to Improve Your Life in the Next 100 Days Thomas Oppong 11K More on Self Improvement from Personal Growth 3 Ways To Attract The Mentor You Truly Want Nicolas Cole 1.4K Also tagged Entrepreneurship Your Company’s Culture is Who You Hire, Fire, & Promote Dr. Cameron Sepah 8.1K Responses Be the first to write a response… Alessandro Cerboni

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acerboni · 6 years

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Einstein was an Artist: How Creativity Actually Works

See on Scoop.it - Bounded Rationality and Beyond

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satedblr-blog · 7 years

Photo

How did you get the name CrixBlue?

-”I got my name, because as I was writing my name, Cris, I accidentally misspelled it and wrote Crix. And my favorite color is blue.”

How would you describe your music?

-The first word that comes out of their mouth is “Pop.” *Lifts head up from what I’m writing* “Really? No way. I would not have guessed that.”

They insists, yeah! They say the love pop music.

But then there are also other influences in their music: Melodic Experimental. Trap/Synth/Drums. Loves minor keys, even though they don’t want their music to sound depressing.

What is your relationship with music, your music? Creativity? The Creative Process?

-Choosing Sound. Melody, counter melody, bass, drums. “Musical Adlibs.” Carly Rae Jepsen and Dev Hines of Blood Orange (formerly, Lightspeed Champion) have a song together called “All That” and that is kind of the epitome of Crix’s music. Pop but also pretty different.

How long have you been doing music? How did you start?

-Started freshman year at Kennesaw State 2012. Tyler the Creator was a big influence because of his “normalcy” in how he made music. Not expensive studios or whatever. He used garage band. Inspiring. And his honesty. He has such an energy and is simply himself. It’s organic. Kinda depressed. Relatable.

Have you ever played any shows? Experience during shows? What kind of venues?

-They tell me that they don’t know how to perform. I would like to try to do something with visuals, and to try and do open mic sometime.

I say they should do some live paintings!

Musical topics?

Their inspiration comes from their life. Honesty. Seeking honesty maybe in music? They say they want to make Lullabies. (That is so dope to me!)

Instruments?

-Keys. Produce. GarageBand.

How has your music progressed?

- “I have a mini keyboard now.” More quality. Drum kits. Makes music on phone a lot because it sounds better ironically.

Goals in Music?

Well known locally, maybe. In the musical scene but maybe covert. Collabing with people? Social anxiety can get in the way of the process of music; making music and putting it out there comes with a lot of Intimacy. Involve poetry in music more.

On the new iphone update, you can record your screen and they want to do a tutorial of GarageBand. Feels everyone should be able to make music this way.

(I love this, because I hate when people are snooty about making music. People will go “Damn, everybody wanna make music these days! Everybody thinks they’re a creative.” I hate that, everyone creates, this is what it means to be a human. I just read an article on music therapy where the person in charge MAKES her patients make their own music. Being creative is cathartic, and the fact that Cris wants to share the accesibility of music making says a lot of about them.)

What kind of (new) music do you like?

The video they have been watching/listening to non stop this week. [M/V] SVT Leaders. Carly Rae Jepsen. KPOP, alternative/thrash rap, Rock, NY RAP. Folk. Chaotic Sounds (Brings Peace Somehow) (Princess Nokia, Wikkie, Ratking)

Favorite/Most Meaningful of your songs?

-Yellow

-My time

-Green and O

Sloane Kemp as Interviewer Crixblue as Interviewee

Other Stuff?

Crix is trying to switch up up the mediums of art, so that they don’t get burnt out. At one point they almost quit. They would also like draw, watercolor, and poetry as well.

Cris has the floor:

Through music they want to converse with people. And have an open dialogue. Make words, make conversation with their music. Which is really also just good music. When Crix is happy, they want to make a song of it --so they can make it last. Make feelings tangible. Have access to them right away.

“Stuckin” (This is one of my faves)- People love it for the honesty: “Stuck in my skin and I’m feeling out of place. With a tampon on my waist in my pocket...Doesn't make me really feel whole. But my body’s amazing though.”

“Should Have Been Reading”--in college and depressed.

“T told me I could be any color,” --referring to Tyler, the Creator saying if he could be any one color it would be Yellow. For happiness, but Crix would be their perfect shade of brown.

“Trash Bag” is another example of a song where it made them feel vulnerable. Its invasive feeling to just put these kind of songs out, often times just lets their girlfriend or friends here it. They wrote it down in their dorm when they were supposed to writing a paper.

Sloane’s Thoughts:

Crix is a really down to earth person and relatable as an artist..depression, (social) anxiety have big presences in their life, they still cling to happy. That’s what they wanna bring other people. They want to evoke comfort and a humanness in their music. Crix says they have a hard time writing sometimes, which is surprising! It’s crazy because it doesn’t appear that way and you would think that if someone actively does a thing, then it just comes naturally. I really loved what we were talking about in terms of pop music, because when you hear that term, what often comes to mind is basically “Popular Bullshit.” But although it’s short for “popular,” and sometimes what’s popular definitely comes across as bullshit, it’s also about the elements of the sound. The upbeat, the simplicity of joy, etc. This is why at first, I was surprised to hear this was their overall sound definition, but later came to understand how that relates to their story. Wanting to share good feelings.

Sloane Kemp as Interviewer

Crixblue as Interviewee

#crixblue interview

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hkomsul · 3 years

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SPP_Iteration_01_cont.

1. Project Statement

Working Project Title: Lexicon of Love?

What is your project about?

What are your project's theme(s) or conceptual underpinnings? I’d like to explore experimental digital anthropology with this project. Visceral, confusing, and grounding.

What is your project's "elevator pitch"? Think of a phrase or 1 sentence maximum.

I want to make a digital scavenger hunt, that consists of multiple projects of various mediums, and use their titles to tell a connected and cohesive story about love.(?)

What is your short, project description? Write a 200-300 word paragraph that addresses four of the five essential questions:

2. Motivation:

I am willing to commit to this project but I really think i need to pivot in my presentation of the project in order to make sure I actually focus on the content and story.

3. Influences

4. Target Audience

5. Related Projects

http://wellnow.wtf/enter/index.html

this seemed like a doable example of layout maybe for final presentation

https://www.instagram.com/subwayhands/

https://projects.jennyholzer.com/exhibitions/jenny-holzer-mass-moca--/gallery#1

I’ve also been thinking about incorporating some other platforms like making an instagram account to house certain projects

6. Resources:

My accountability group as well as the whole senior project class, classmates across different classes...as well as the IDM community as a whole.

softwares include: adobe creative cloud (which i already have), glitch softwares like EbSythth, and code applications. I also will be using a camera to record video aspects.

GOAL (30 days) = have the whole project planned out and in the making

Milestone (today) = finish SPP iteration _01

Tasks: Complete remaining tasks and create calendar/set specific deadlines .

8. Ideation & Research

Wordlists are definitely helpful in the beginning stages, as this experience/project is fueled by semantics and word associations. I think I’m speaking way too vaguely about this project, which is a problem. I must brainstorm what medium to present it all on, and I think that would be successfully done by looking up other digital artist to draw inspiration from. I think part of me really is leaning towards a screen-recording and turning the final product documentation into a youtube video. i think there is something highly symbolic and a little fulfilling in doing that. I dont want to get caught in a web of searching for niche art on youtube when I know I need to put my time into the actualy project themselves, but that is a starting place right now.

9. Design and development

N/A

10. Feasibility check

GOAL (30 days) = pivot concept of love stories

Milestone (today) = brainstorm brainstorm brainstorm!!!

Tasks: make lists and research more.

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