Lars, Lars, Lars...

Some of you may have seen this doing the rounds, but I thought it was worth putting the spotlight on. In a recent interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich had this to say.

"We want to be as free a players as possible ... We've been observing Radiohead and Trent Reznor and in twenty-seven years or however long it takes for the next record, we'll be looking forward to everything in terms of possibilities with the Internet."

So Metallica now likes the internet? :) Welcome to the club - if Lars can be brought around then I'm convinced that there must be a future in this thing... Don't get me wrong, people are allowed to change their minds, I just like pointing it out when it happens [please extend the same courtesy to me]

So now that some of the major players in this industry have caught on to this digital distribution thing what does that mean for the record companies? What about the independent artists for whom this was going to be a massive saviour? I for one am happy with the embracing, the more people like Trent Reznor and even Ulrich who embrace digital distribution the more indie artists will begin to see it as a viable alternative to physical media - it's true, even the most independent among us are allowed to have major label heroes :)

The other thing I wonder about is, what would define success in the digital realm? For NIN it's probably 100,000 copies - for people like you and me... 100? 1000? I'd be interested to get some comments about what you guys are using as a benchmark. Who wants to go first? :)

Monkey Face

So... One Proud Monkey is on Facebook. Don't you think now would be a great time to become a fan? :)

Well...

Become a fan!

Some answers

Just thought I’d answer a few questions I’ve been getting about the requirements for uploading your music.

First of all, all the songs you submit will require an ISRC or International Standard Recording Code. These are free and you can get them [in Australia] from ARIA. Contact me if you’d like more info.

Each product, i.e. a single, EP or album will also require its own barcode. There are many places that you can get a bar code from, some are more reputable than others. Some places are charging quite a bit as well. I am currently looking into having One Proud Monkey provide bar codes at a very reasonable price, again, get in touch if you have any questions.

Now get out and make some music :)