You don’t have to be an economist, nor Thom Yorke or even Guy Hands to spot it. Open a newspaper, turn on the radio, read a blog: there it is in front of you in numbers and in quotes and in column inches. The music industry is in ‘crisis’, the music industry is in ‘freefall’, the music industry is in ‘turmoil’. Sales are down and piracy is up. These are troubled times.
The 'troubled times' we read of is the steady fare of mainstream print newspapers (also experiencing a fall in revenues, mainly from loss of advertising but also from sales) and is the flag hoisted by IFPI, MPAA, BSA, CAAST, FACT, FAST, IDSA (and all the others) when issues of music distribution in the digital age are discussed in the public arena. But what it the real issue here. It seems Phantom Channel have their eye on the prize when it comes to how to do business in the Internet age:
Perhaps the most wonderful discovery that’s come about from the birth of Phantom Channel, is just how many breathtaking, exciting and creatively dextrous artists there are out there, operating under the music press radar in studios and bedrooms across the world. It’s thrilling to be able to present these artists under the Phantom Channel banner and we know you’ll be just as thrilled to hear them.
One can read these words as streamed content from the Phantom Channel label massages your ears (for free!!). Pluse there are links to the Phantom Channel Slast.fm site, with downloads and streams embedded as a widget on the site. There is also a link to their MySpace page (only 144 friends but I am sure it will rise) where one review extract states:
'Came across this netlabel (Phantom Channel) on my journey's today and was very impressed by the quality of the music, super deep and considered drones, digital detritus and dense atmospherics. They have one album at the moment, a compilation made up of nine tracks by different artists. You can download the album from their release page' (Thor @ Lowlife Recordings)
The one album done by the label so far Phantom Channel presents - part 1 is available as a full legal download from the website. This is tones of sound in slow waves that wash over the listener in a sort of slowed down La Monte Young warm treacle black crescendo with gongs, tonal blips and bells. Very nice on a Sunday Morning.
My advice is if you are currently involved with a music/sound label or are a puveryor of such music yourself, take a look/listen/feel at Phantom Channel and even if the music is not your cup of chai, see how it can be done in these 'troubled times'.
Note: This is the 1000th entry for the Soulsphincter blog!!! Happy Happy Happy. Great days ahead.
1 comment:
Honoured to be part of your 1000th entry and thank you for your kind words
Michael
Phantom Channel
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