JAIMIE VERNON: FEBRUARY 2013 – DISCoveries

There hasn’t been much new music to trumpet since the end of 2012, but the music’s starting to filter in slowly so today I’ve got four releases worth talking about.

One of the side benefits of having been behind the scenes in the music business for the last 28 years has been in watching artists and bands blossom in real time. I started Bullseye Records in 1985 and in 1986 I put the word out for acts to start sending me demos. I wasn’t sure who I would find – or even if I could ever sign them – but I wanted to see what the landscape was like…in both sizing up the competition where my own music pursuits were concerned and to see what direction music was heading overall.

Jaimie Vernon: Compact DISCovery – May 12

I’ve recently received a surprising number of CDs that stall out at five or six songs. It brings to mind a conversation I had several years ago with International Pop Overthrow Festival founder David Bash who, as a music connoisseur, doesn’t like EPs. I was never able to follow the reasoning – only that he will dismiss an artist’s release because it’s an unsatisfying teaser and a waste of his time. Ironically, less music means he’s SAVING time…but it got me thinking about how many acts may have been dismissed by the industry, media and fans for the same reason. Is it a perception that the artist isn’t committed enough or prolific enough to pull off a full album? Do they think the artist is lazy? Is it a perception of value for purchase price? After all, it costs the same amount of money to manufacture a CD with 10 songs as it does for six. The answer to these questions depend on the intent of the release in the first place.

JAIMIE VERNON: Compact DISCovery

It was about a year ago that some columnist at some hipster rag (Wired? Pitchfork?) predicted or, rather, insisted that CDs would be dead by the end of 2012. And because this Nostradumbass was read by non-hipsters as well, it went viral and became the discussion du jour across the interwebs. A mass

sheeple hysteria ensued that even gave pause to those making the decisions about the future of the format despite the fact that they knew it wasn’t true. Physical product still accounts for the lion’s share of overall international music sales. To eliminate the format would mean flushing half their annual profits down the drain. The labels, currently, have no plan B. They cannot survive on downloading revenues alone and so the compact disc remains.