Powerman 5000 Check In

POWERMAN 5000 have posted this message on their MySpace page:

"POWERMAN 5000 is in the middle of writing music for a new record. Which has got me thinking about the best way to complete the process. I need to find a new way, I don't want to follow the rules. Music should be more like beer. Hear me out.

If you like to drink beer, you don't just guzzle one oversized beer once a year and hope that you like it, do you? Of course not! You probably find a multitude of creative ways to quench your thirst. Maybe you knock back a few at a sunny afternoon BBQ, or hit you favorite bar just around midnight. You experiment with brands that you've never tried and occasionally just refrain from having anything. In fact, the way you approach beer is more than likely the way you approach most things in life.
So why the fuck did the release of music become such an incredibly predictable and stale process? Well, I'll tell you... it is because everyone fell victim to the major label system. Even if you weren't signed to a major chances are you thought like one. Here is how that process generally worked.

Write a bunch of songs in a vacuum. Probably too many songs at once, because you thought that you had to make an album that contained 16 songs and stretched to an hour or so. By writing too many songs at once (in a vacuum), a lot of them were not that great but you used them anyway because CDs held a lot of info. In other words you were making your grand artistic statement to the specs of a plastic disc.

OK, so you have your songs written and now it is time to record them (in a vacuum). You record them in a very traditional way. Taking way too long trying to perfect what shouldn't be perfect because that is what you do in a studio, right? Drums first, then bass, then guitars... you get the idea. Then a CD gets manufactured and sent out into the world and you go on tour. Unfortunately there are no record stores left and no one gives a fuck. You are bummed and too burnt out to go on and break up the band. Well, that was a fun year, wasn't it?

Well, I say music should be more like beer and now finally it can be! Just stop thinking like a dinosaur!!

While everyone is scrambling wondering what to do about the fall of the labels, I say, rejoice and create and release music any fucking way you want! If you have one bad-ass song put it out digitally. Don't waste time writing an album... or how about a three song EP? Labels wouldn't release those because the profit margin was too low. What do you care about profit? Be the band that brings back the cassette!! Ok, well that's not the best idea but you get the point. The public has spoken and they want songs, and if you have a great album in you then they will probably want that too.

Years ago Prince stopped making music for his then label Warner Brothers because he wanted to release too much material. That seems so funny now. We live in a time when an artist could release a new song everyday if he chose to. Not to mention, releasing less content more often gets you out of the vacuum. Your fans react as you go, and you can learn a lot that way.

I'm convinced that out of this broken down system, a new breed of musicians will arise and make it all seem exciting again. If not, there is always beer.

Alright, I'll shut up. Now I've got to get to work and try and follow my own advice."

Source: Metaleater