I think R64 vol 2will also need careful marketing: in that people who buy a CD for a tune still pretty much don't expect large amounts of original
material. This is why I let people download the whole of Dreamscapes in lo-fi (though I really ought to update all those clips and put hi-fi ones
of Dreamscapes as well). Renaming all the tracks was also a clue, too. And saying "this is not a remix CD". That pretty much covered it
By now I was hoping that some of the arrangers would have developed a musical following of their own (such as Glyn, for example), so there could be a gradual transition to original material from musicians people trust: which is another healthy way for the scene to develop outwards. Makke's
album is an example of that: it's a Makke album which only coincidentally
remixes SIDs. That makes it not a remix album, but something which
is more general. That also makes it imperative to try and find other
outlets: a quest which is still going on, workload notwithstanding.
The problem is the remix thing is a double-edged sword: sure, if you get it
right there's a ready audience you don't have to persuade, but on the
other hand, different standards are applied to this musical sector than
any other: no one argues that record labels should stop releasing
records because the stuff on mp3.com is so good, and no one argues
that record labels are releasing too much stuff generally ("You've
got too many acts on your label: stop it!!"). But then, they're
not all trying to sell to the same bunch of people every time (which is a problem even if you only release one CD a year).
But I guess blurring
the line between "remix" and "track which has the same name as a game
but very little of the tune left" mostly leaves the listener with a sense
of betrayal, unless it's done really well. Output64 gave me this feeling
in spades.
Another point I'd make is that if you took a poll, you wouldn't
have a clear consensus as to what CDs should exist, and what shouldn't,
and the alternative isn't necessarily that the tracks would be put on RKO.
You'll find that many of the tracks on the CDs wouldn't have existed at
all if they hadn't a CD project to attach them to. The argument on
the other thread boiled down to "stop releasing CDs I don't like",
which is a crappy argument because (a) how do you know what that
person likes without creating the CD for them to judge?, and
(b) everyone likes different CDs. One of the whole points
about developing a range of stuff was so that everyone would like at
least something, and the people who were being ignored by the
BIT series would have something else of quality to listen to. I'm sure
there's now nobody who doesn't dislike at least one C64 remix CD,
or at least not like it. Nexus was a controversial one, even though the
covers were straight covers: it still suffered from the track listing thing.
But, there's no easy answers. We just muddle along, and accept that
there will be some CDs we like better than others. And if you can bring
yourself to buy the ones you don't like for the greater good: well, then
that makes you saintly, and deserving of a place in Hubbard heaven
For the record, the next release after Sidologie won't even be a remix CD. And after that there's the following CDs.
Makke (not a remix CD, and not claiming to be, more an experiment)
CD featuring FTC and others (next year)
BIT 4 (next year)
... and then just BITs, pretty much. Unless Larsec does that concept
album! (Lars: did you get the CDs yet?).
I will also be doing some more New Age CDs when I've got the New
Age website up and running, but they won't really be C64 related
at all. Well, OK, they might, but only peripherally.
Incidentally, just for the record, here's the list of CDs which I actually
commissioned:
BIT 1
BIT 2
BIT 3
Karma64
Crystal Dreamscapes
Sidologie
Instant Remedy
The ones that "turned up" (i.e. it wasn't my idea, but the
CD was worthy of release)
Nexus 6581
PPOT
Remix64
Galway Remixed
R64 Vol 2
Input64
Output64
As you can see, this looks less like a concentrated plan to flood the
market than a lot of people getting very enthusiastic about doing CDs.
Chris
LOL!!
he,he,he