The New Creative Class: Will They Disrupt Music Production?
The starving artist is quickly becoming a thing of the past. And with new digital tools arriving daily and empower artists, we are seeing a birth of a new creative class: The artist entrepreneur. These producers are ditching their previous gigs for a more lucrative day job; one that balances equal parts business-know-how with artistic talent.
Guest Post by Rory Seydel on Landr.com
Meet Rich Aitken of Nimrod Productions. Over the past 15 years Rich has made music for AAA games, selling over 300,000,000 copies as well as producing for bands, film and television.
So how does he do it?
STEP 1: FIND A PROBLEM, BE THE SOLUTION
The secret to being a successful entrepreneur is knowing when to get creative and when to quickly push things forward.
“A lot of what we do is simply moving content forward. These days It’s all about being able to deliver.”
“The things I use LANDR for—this is going to sound crazy—is being able to master 500 gunshots, 7000 lines of dialogue, or 400 pieces of diegetic music that are going to be used in a video game. When I just don’t have the time or the budget to go to a mastering house.”
STEP 2: THE SAVVY PRODUCER IS A FULL PRODUCTION SUITE.
The current pace of content and consumption is lightning fast. The new producer is expected to be the artist, songwriter, recording engineer, tape-op, mastering engineer and marketer.
Which is why Rich sees value in A.I. With the right tools one person can act as an entire production house – moving projects forward quickly and economically.
“I use it all the time, especially as a placeholder, it doesn’t make sense to spend a fortune mastering a pitch that might not see the light of day – but you need your music to have a fighting chance when pitching to clients.”
STEP 3: FOCUS ON YOUR STRENGTHS, FARM OUT THE REST.
Rich could master everything himself but it’s not his main focus—he’s a producer. He still works with mastering engineers but he also uses A.I. as a tool.
“You need to embrace what’s new and find the good in it.” He says.
At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what you use to get your work done.
But without a doubt the new school producer has a leg up over those who don’t see the value of evolving technology. The full-stack producer, who can deliver a high-quality product fast, is going to be more in demand.
Rory Seydel is a musician, writer and father who takes pleasure in touring the world and making records. Rory is Brand and Community Manager at LANDR.
There is more to life than increasing its speed.
– Mahatma Gandhi
“The starving artist is quickly becoming a thing of the past.”
How can you say this? The recorded music industry is in disastrous decline, and so many artists are adversely affected economically by this. I know plenty of “starving artists”.