From: owner-precious-things-digest@smoe.org (precious-things-digest) To: precious-things-digest@smoe.org Subject: precious-things-digest V12 #132 Reply-To: precious-things@smoe.org Sender: owner-precious-things-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-precious-things-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk X-To-Unsubscribe: Send mail to "precious-things-digest-request@smoe.org" X-To-Unsubscribe: with "unsubscribe" as the body. precious-things-digest Thursday, June 5 2008 Volume 12 : Number 132 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: [pt] tori's statement of independance [gaseous clay ] Re: [pt] tori's statement of independance [Cyndi S Crawford ] Re: [pt] tori's statement of independance [handal@r2d2.reverse.net (Richa] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 4 Jun 2008 12:08:16 -0400 From: gaseous clay Subject: Re: [pt] tori's statement of independance you know, i wonder how much effect, really, this switch from a label contract to self-releasing her music is going to have on tori's artistic vision. while i'm sure there were behind-the-scenes negotiations between tori and epic during her tenure there, she appears, at least on the surface, to have had a lot of artistic freedom already: she produced her own records, she chose the musicians, she chose the recording location, and so forth. and, on _american doll posse_ at least, there are no radio-friendly songs that stick out like a sore thumb which are the common fingerprint of major label demands for a hit single (granted, little of adp is radio-UN-friendly so perhaps that explains that). i think that this whole move to "independence" is less about *artistic* freedom than it is about *economic* freedom, specifically in light of her declining album sales and the eventual extinction of the music industry as we know it. thoughts? woj ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 4 Jun 2008 12:21:06 -0400 From: Cyndi S Crawford Subject: Re: [pt] tori's statement of independance says the Woj: "i think that this whole move to "independence" is less about *artistic* freedom than it is about *economic* freedom, specifically in light of her declining album sales and the eventual extinction of the music industry as we know it." I think I can agree with that. I don't understand, one bit, why ADP did so poorly--I STILL haven't whittled the whole album down to my favorites, and it's been over a year since it was released and I snatched it up... so that's definitely saying something. one theory that's been suggested to me is that perhaps the reason why ADP has such poor ratings is because nobody is factoring in iTunes sales. whatever the case may be, I'll have you know that when I first heard the news that she ditched Epic, I--no lie--whooped and hollered at the news. I was ecstatic. about time, Tori! :D I like to think that she'll have more control over her record sales--that is, knowing how well (or poorly) she did instead of scratching her head and guessing/assuming that more people bought it via iTunes than on the actual CD. (I'm not a fan of buying albums from iTunes and never really will be. I like to have the actual album in my hands, complete with liner notes, CD case, etc. I guess that makes me old fashioned.) that being said, I hope she doesn't abandon the CD format for her upcoming projects... and I'm really hoping we still get the ADP tour DVD. I wonder how that's going to work out... - -- Cyndi S. Crawford ____________________________________________________________ Click here for great computer networking solutions! http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL2141/fc/Ioyw6i3oHgM7KiPu0GORw0rdpSFuslpAxGzGsSYgHImNa17AarNXPT/ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 4 Jun 2008 12:40:18 -0400 From: Subject: Re: [pt] tori's statement of independance Agreed, woj. Tori has maintained a level of artistic freedom, it would seem, her entire solo career that many others don't enjoy. I'm sure there are details we'll never know, but you echo my thoughts exactly with economics being the fore, rather than creative license. In fact, what exactly could further creative license look like coming from Tori? She's fairly off the hook, in terms of philosophy, mindset and sonic fusion of the two. I'd even go so far as to say that immense break from mainstream dogma is part of what is hindering her sales, of late. She's never colored inside the lines, but she no longer honors lines. It's is awesome and I'm down with that spiritually speaking, but a lot of people aren't. The ones who got her when others didn't are now scratching their heads, and that's saying a lot. She's no longer writing about being the freak girl disenfranchised from the establishment. She's writing about there being no establishment and that being OK. Philosophies aside, her last album being rare exception, those big words and heavier thoughtforms just haven't synthesized with the music the way I would have hoped, and so I've heard around the green tea cooler. Maybe she's a Zappa in that regard. There's a reason he was bigger in eastern nations. I'd love to be dazzled by whatever Tori comes up with, however. And stop following me, woj. - -- ~S. Kelley Harrell, C.Ht. Author of Gift of the Dreamtime: Awakening to the Divinity of Trauma Soul Intent Arts ~ An intertribal shamanic practice for Universal wellbeing ~ www.soulintentarts.com Intentional Insights ~ Q&A From Within ~ Podcast ~ www.intentionalinsights.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 4 Jun 2008 18:09:57 -0500 (CDT) From: handal@r2d2.reverse.net (Richard Handal) Subject: Re: [pt] tori's statement of independance Hello: > ToriAmos.com has been updated and > features this statement from Tori about the just-announced split with > epic and move towards self-releasing her work: Kindly forgive me for reposting this message text in full. The thing is difficult enough to understand with its challenged syntax, and the quote marks having turned to periods wasn't helping. "This is an exciting time. There will be many ways in the present and in the future for artists to cross what has become the new unchartered Music Frontier. Ways that may seem impossible today but in a months time will seem probable. There are many ways to be involved in a structure. But what kind of structure will it be and what will be the make up of it's foundation? These are important questions, so important that I've been observing many different working templates in the music business for years now. The key word here is the word "working." In some cases these structures do not work positively for some artists. Only for those who have designed the system to specifically "work" for the corporate few. Artists need not fear structure, we just have to design and partner with expansive ideas. It is time for us as artists to stop being dependent, dependent on any system that has become undependable. Only then can we help to create a new system that propagates and secures independence for each creator." As to why she's gone indie, I agree that it's mainly for money reasons. Last fall I had dinner with a dear friend while she was in town on tour, and she described how her sales had become 30/70 CDs to downloads, when her prior album from the year before was the reverse, being 70/30 CDs to downloads. In a world where an artist who has a strong following can record her own tracks and not need to deal with physical items to distribute them to most of the fans, it makes sense to keep a higher percentage of the revenue for herself. What happened to Tori's company The Bridge? They were supposedly created to help indie artists promote themselves, but seemed not to be doing much of that, and its very existence begged the question why, if Tori has a company helping artists do their own promotion, didn't she use it herself? Be seeing you, Richard Handal, H.G. ------------------------------ End of precious-things-digest V12 #132 **************************************