Dec 1, 2001 12:00 PM

You Can Drive My Car

I'm surprised that none of Robert Porembski's students tried to extend his analogy to its illogical conclusion (October 2001 “Feedback”). If he'd asked for my keys (MP3s of songs I've written), I'd have said, “No need for the keys, I've got an unlimited supply of cars just like it sitting right here, motor running; it's all yours. Take it. Let me know how you like it. It took me about two hours to make it on a garden-variety PC and a few peripherals in my bedroom. I borrowed a lot of the parts from other people, but it clones just like the luxury models. It's not a Mercedes, but I guarantee it will get you from point A to point B just like the expensive models do.

“If you like the car, keep it. I figure, if you like driving my car, you like me. Send me whatever you think is fair. Now, I know some folks won't drive just any old car: They want a car that took months to make it into an exotic manufacturing laboratory. But I'm here to tell you that I can make just as good a car at one-thousandth the price.”

It seems to me that the same artists who are screaming “intellectual property theft” the loudest are the same ones with the biggest PR budgets to ensure that their songs are in heavy rotation on the hot FM stations and music TV. In other words, they're giving you a free sample, and the difference in fidelity between your average, urban FM/TV audio and your average Napster MP3 is not that significant.

I'm not saying that artists aren't entitled to compensation for their efforts, but assigning a monetary value to a lossy copy of something that can be obtained freely is not the way to do it, and Napster replacements are already up and running anyway. Regardless of whether they're giving away freebies or not, if Big Music wants to stop this “theft” of music over the Internet, then they will have to admit that the value of the music is determined primarily by the whims of the listener, and not some accountant, or even the artist. What is a song worth? What makes one copy more valuable than another? Is there some algorithm or formula to nail it all down? No, the listeners decide. If you get too nickel-and-dimey about it, the listener will definitely take his money elsewhere.
Artie Turner
Via e-mail

Those Were the Days

What has happened to the music today is a crime! A couple of years ago, I visited my former record producer Bob Crewe at his home in L.A. We talked about the music that is being recorded today, and he said, “I am very worried about what has happened to the music industry, and what the music that is being created today has turned into.”

At that time, he told me that Lauren Hill just did a hip hop version of his song “Can't Take My Eyes Off of You,” which he originally produced for Frankie Valli. Just yesterday, while having dinner in a restaurant with my husband, who is a professional guitar player as well as an inventor, we heard the Lauren Hill remake.

Let me say this: The lady has her own style of singing, she is very pretty, but she killed the song. Hip hop just doesn't cut the mustard.

I hope that the school systems will bring back the music and start to teach the children of today how to really play an instrument, how to really sing in the school choir, without wavering and whining their way through each note that they attempt to sing.

When I was active as a recording artist and I was in the studio cutting a record, Bob Crewe made sure that I hit every note on the head, and sang the songs that he wrote for me so that people would hear and remember both the melodies and the lyrics, long after they stopped playing on the radio. This was the way it was for me and other artists at that time.

Although some of the new female artists have good, strong voices, such as Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, etc., if they didn't yodel and whine their way up and down the scale of notes, I wonder if they could sing a song straightforward, without cheating to hit the notes right on, one at a time.

Thanks for your honest article. Let's hope that by some miracle, the younger generations will one day start to make real music again.
Diane Renay
Via e-mail

Fond Memories

I would like to thank you for the heartfelt tribute you gave to Bill Nisselson (“Current,” August 2001). I've worked as a freelance systems installer for Sound One on and off since 1988. I can honestly say that Bill always had a wonderful attitude, disposition and a kind word when helping people, whether they were clients or staff members. The last time I saw Bill Nisselson was in January 2001 on the elevator while we were going to our jobs on our respective floors. The picture you published is exactly how I remember him — smiling, saying, “How ya doin'?” to whoever was on the elevator at the time. If you have already received letters from the Sound One staff, please add mine to the list. He will always be missed and always be in our hearts.
Nancy Albino
Systems installer
New York City

Some Folks Do Go Both Ways

I'm wondering if anyone else noticed the two totally opposite opinions expressed in different sections of the September 2001 issue of Mix?

First, I read Paul D. Lehrman's “Insider Audio” column, which I always enjoy and feel a connection with. He wrote, “Today's underground musical heroes are not singer/songwriters…they're remixers, rappers and DJs who build fame by taking other people's creations, slicing and dicing them, ranting and chanting on top of them, or stringing them together…Yes, there is craft in this kind of composition, but it pales when compared to the true act of making music.”

Then, flip over to the interview with Dave Pensado. “The idea of taking a record, putting it on a turntable and creating something new out of that was captivating to me. I truly see no difference in the skill in doing that and the skill in sitting at a piano and playing Mozart…in terms of the talent and creativity, I see no difference.”

I'm not sure why I point it out exactly. Just something fun that caught my eye.
Michael Nickolas
www.studionineproductions.com

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