Untitled

1
International Meetings
page 03
Global encounters
page 04
Michael Beinhorn
page 06
Patrick Wikstrøm
page 10
Keith Harris
page 13
Artist Talks and Masterclass at RMC
page 18
Johan Haarberg
page 20
Scott Cohen
page 24
John Parish
page 28
Dominic Murcott
page 32
About RMC
page 34
Editor: Thomas Borre
Text contributions by: Henrik Sveidahl, Rasmus Rex, Jesper Bay, Morten Büchert,
Jacob Anderskov, Henrik Marstal, Thomas Borre and Dominic Murcott
Layout: Siegel Design
Translation: Scandinavian Text Service
Photo: Bjørn Bertheussen
Print: NofoPrint A/S
First edition: September 2015
Copies: 300
Copyright © 2015. All rights reserved. Text and photography contained herein may not be used
or reproduced without the express written permission of RMC.
The views and opinions expressed in the articles are those of the authors and
do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of RMC.
2
International
Meetings
Music is a global, artistic form of expression unfolding in all societies at all times. At The
Rhythmic Music Conservatory (RMC) we feel it is important that our activities make an impression
on the world. The Conservatory has a vision: we want to be among the leading educational
institutions in the field of contemporary rhythmic music. The students receiving an education at
the Conservatory and the knowledge being acquired through research and development must
contribute to the field on an international level. This is a very ambitious goal for a relatively small,
arts educational institution up here in the frozen North. However, it is one that we feel is realistic
and in recent years we have been working towards that goal.
During the last handful of years RMC has entered into several binding, collaborative partnerships
with leading European educational institutions. This has resulted in joint study programs, joint
projects and courses, in addition to collaborative research and development work. At the same
time we’ve strengthened the international marketing of the study programs and increased student
mobility, which means that today RMC has more international students than ever before. This has
made a positive contribution to the development of an international study environment and an
improved educational experience for the students.
In order to strengthen the quality of the Conservatory’s work and support the goal of taking the
institution to the highest international level, in recent years RMC has carried out seven International Meetings. To this end we have invited several international authorities in their respective
fields to visit RMC for a few days. It is these meetings you can read about in the following pages.
Working on presenting and facilitating International Meetings these last few years has – besides
the enriching experiences we have had with our guests – provided RMC with the opportunity
to test various meeting formats to ensure they serve a fruitful purpose within the institution. We
will now build on this experience as we establish a group of international honorary professors. In
relation to this, RMC recently announced that American Thurston Moore, who is mostly known as
the singer, songwriter and guitar player in the influential no wave noise rock band Sonic Youth,
will be joining the faculty as an honorary professor. This effort will be supplemented with lengthy
Artist in Residence stays and an increased frequency of Masterclasses and Artist Talks. The
purpose of this activity has been to give the students, faculty staff, management and interested
members of the public access to the latest and most relevant knowledge within a field that is
constantly changing.
Happy reading!
Henrik Sveidahl, Principal
3
Global
encounters
It is essential for RMC to develop an international environment at
the school, both among teaching staff and researchers.
by Thomas Borre,
International Meetings
Coordinator
This is why RMC has developed a dynamic
meeting format that focuses on facilitating meetings that are relevant, with international capacities
having a communicative impact within the
academic environment at RMC. We have chosen
to go with a descriptive label and have called the
meetings International Meetings.
International Meetings at RMC contribute - from
different academic and artistic perspectives - to
a form of ongoing, global exploration of the world
around us. Using a specific guest as a jumping-off
point the meetings focus on the development of
music and music life in an international perspec-
4
tive. This is absolutely essential when working with
contemporary music and the constantly changing
conditions and trends that develop and frame all
aspects of music life: the creation, performance,
production, distribution, communication and use
of music is in a constant state of flux. The only
thing we know with any certainty is that everything
keeps changing ever faster.
The meetings are also held in order to reflect RMC
in an international context. They are designed
to contribute to the endeavour of running and
developing an educational institution that focuses
on an ever-changing art form.
Concept development
It was important to design a meeting format that
would get people involved, that would engage
students, teachers, management and all others
interested in culture and music. And with the latter
group in mind, it is an increasingly important goal
for RMC also to serve as a cultural institution and
a relevant meeting place for those interested in
music life.
All International Meetings held from December
2012 to May 2014 were therefore based on the
following four components:
• Meeting with a select group of students
• Meeting with a select group of teaching
staff members and/or researchers
• Meeting with RMC management
• Public speech (Artist Talk, Masterclass
or Keynote)
Each meeting ran over a few days and was
facilitated by a local host from RMC’s teaching
staff. These hosts are the authors of the texts you
can look forward to reading in the following pages.
It was important that the meetings had a
communicative impact on central academic and
artistic environments across the Conservatory’s
departments, and research and development
environments, including Music performance,
Music Education, Sound Engineering, Music
Management and Songwriting. (Read more about
RMC’s study programmes at www.rmc.dk/en/
educations.)
Industry: Music in the Cloud, which analyses the
structural changes in the music industry brought
about by the introduction of digital production and
distribution.
You will also meet Keith Harris from England.
Drawing on his extensive experience he elaborates, among other things, on the role of the
artist manager manoeuvring between commercial
interests and artistic preferences.
American producer Michael Beinhorn shares his
opinions and music production experience as a
learning experience.
Artistic research is a comparatively new phenomenon in this country and is a growing area of study
and research at RMC. Johan Haarberg talks
about the Norwegian experience within this field.
Bristol-based John Parish can also be found in
the pages of this publication. He tells us about
the role of the producer and the importance of
presence in music.
Scott Cohen is, among other things, interested
in the myth of DIY and takes as his premise the
endless availability of content that makes attention
a scarce resource.
Finally, Englishman Dominic Murcott has contributed a guest article. He works at Trinity Laban
Conservatoire of Music and Dance and in this
capacity he elaborates on his views comparing the
two institutions after his visit at RMC.
About this publication
It was also important that the content of the
meetings could be shared in one form or another,
and this publication is a result of this objective. It
offers some snapshots of the starting point and
themes of the meetings.
This publication offers - in words and pictures - a
select view of seven different International Meetings. The texts vary from essayistic efforts to more
journalistic features.
On these pages you will meet Swede Patrik
Wikstrøm, who is a researcher of Music Industry
Studies and author of the book The Music
5
Michael
Beinhorn
Finding a unique voice and a personal approach
By Morten Büchert,
Assistant Professor
I first heard about Michael Beinhorn being in
Denmark from a student who had been assisting
him on the new Mew album, scheduled for release
in 2015. Beinhorn was in Denmark for about a year
and I was fortunate to meet with him on several
occasions so I asked him to teach a class in Music
Production and hold an Artist Talk at RMC.
During our meetings, we talked primarily about
education and what it takes to work in the music
business today, as seen from the perspective
of the artist, engineer and producer. Drawing on
his professional experience with a huge range of
6
international artists, and in diverse musical genres,
Beinhorn‘s background provided a solid basis for
the discussions which took place.
One of the key goals of RMC is to provide
students with the knowledge, tools and methods
to enable them to develop their own careers in
music, something that is accomplished through
tuition and exposure to a range of views on
current subjects. The following is a selection of
quotes based on topics either written down or
recorded during our conversations, and also from
his interaction with students:
”This isn’t a job. If you enter the business with that
in mind you’ll soon learn otherwise. It has to go
beyond want... You have to have a need...”
Q: How do you develop a sustainable career?
A: I started out in a different environment ( in
the ‘80s and ‘90s). In today’s music business, if
you want to produce records you have to be a
particular kind of crazy because there really is no
way to sustain a career. Financially, it isn’t feasible
and if you look at life pragmatically - meaning
black or white, or I have to make money or not
- then you are heading in the wrong direction.
This isn’t a job. If you enter the business with that
in mind you’ll soon learn otherwise. It has to go
beyond want... You have to have a need... You
can’t say, “Maybe I want to be a record producer
today”. The feeling has to be intense, and it has to
be inspired work.
I get to work with people, who might be famous
and recognised, but they’re probably just as
crazy and nuts as you are and perhaps come with
issues that you, as a record producer, have to
deal with. That’s when it becomes trying and really
does test you.
When I got into production, I was inclined to be
quite honest – but I had to learn it the hard way
and, in a way, learn to be very diplomatic. I come
to it from my perspective. I have to contribute to
the recording as much as I can, and in any way
possible, whether that be engineering, songwriting
or whatever. I know I’m not the best in my field,
by no means, but I know I’m better than most, so I
use my abilities where they are needed to fulfill the
artistic vision.
Q: How do you develop that vision?
A: The vision usually springs from my immediate
response to the music, something that turns into
something greater inside my... - it’s almost like
I’m a pregnant mom. It’s never a fixed vision I’m
trying to capture - it’s a starting point and it might
change course. Sometimes what the artist comes
out with isn’t a vision - it’s more of an idea rather
than something that’s more abstract and more
emotional. I understand music from a deeply
personal perspective and I don’t try to analyze it.
About Michael Beinhorn
Beinhorn began his professional career in the early 1980s as
a musician (keyboards) in Bill Laswell’s band, Material. He
had the opportunity to work on Herbie Hancock’s ‘Future
Shock’ album featuring the single ‘Rock It’ that went directly
to #1 on the Billboard chart. This was the release containing
DJ-scratching from a record player. Michael Beinhorn
has been producing albums since 1981. He has worked
with artists such as: The Blizzards, Korn, Marilyn Manson,
Soundgarden, Soul Asylum, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Hole, The
Verve Pipe, Raging Slab, Ozzy Osbourne, Social Distortion,
The Golden Palominos, Foam and Black Label Society. He
has recently finished production on another record with the
Danish band, Mew.
7
”Everyone should leave the recording process with
a new set of tools. If you don’t, in my mind, you’ve
completely missed the point of why you were there”
Q: What do you demand from a band
or an artist ?
A: Everything! If someone is going to make a
record, they will live with that product for the rest
of their lives, and that’s a really long time. If it’s
your view that the music will live on forever, you’ll
have a different approach to it. It’s actually very
simple. My expectations are so high because
of the longevity of the product and what others
expect of me.
Every stage in in a recording project, in my
opinion, has to serve the process. It doesn’t serve
me and it doesn’t need to serve the artist in the
long run. You’re part of something much bigger
- like something is actually happening and you’re
part of it.
Q: What’s your view on live performances?
A: The energy and synergy is totally different.
In the studio you’re taking people out of their
element where they play together, and putting
them in a room and sticking them under a
microscope. People, in general, don’t play as well
as they normally would, so putting them under the
microscope is.... It’s really hard to do, replicating
that feeling of something being done live, with
all that excitement, on a recording. In a club
everything is loud and everyone has a monitor,
there’s a crowd of people getting drunk - it’s a
different dynamic. And you have to be aware of
that when recording and choosing what approach
to cut the tracks.
Q: What’s your take on technology and all the
new options open to us today?
A: Technology is fantastic, but at the same time,
I pity all of you [students] who don’t know or
understand how to work within a very narrow
range of limitations. Thinking outside the box
forces you to learn what the box looks like. It
forces you to think in ways different to what
you’d normally do. Today, with all the options at
hand, it’s too easy to get off track and lose focus
on what you’re trying to do... like trying to get a
record made that has meaning and some kind of
emotional resonance, a record that somebody
is actually going to listen to. That’s one of the
About Morten Büchert
Assistant Professor at RMC. Working both in the studio and with concerts, Morten Büchert has
been contributing to music performances since 1996. He began his career as a musician but on
discovering that he had very good engineering and production ears he decided to leave.
In addition to music production, he has worked as an independent consultant for a variety of
organisations, including Roskilde Festival, Copenhagen Jazzfestival, LiveNation and Danish
Radio and maintains an extensive international network. Over the years he has worked with
artists such as DR Bigband, Ivan Lins, Kitty Wu, N*Grandjean, Marcos Valle, Nikolaj Bentzon,
Toots Thielemanns, Hanne Boel, Povl Dissing, Puff Daddy, and Tom Harrel.
8
problems that arises with stuff being too easy. I
love technology, but don’t use it as an excuse for
poor performance.
Michael has no formal education in music
production but has strong views on learning and
sees recording as a learning experience:
Although Michael Beinhorn loves recording
equipment, one of his central beliefs is that
working with music is about working with people
and perhaps that is one of the most important
things to learn through education:
”Everyone should leave the recording process
with a new set of tools. If you don’t, in my mind,
you’ve completely missed the point of why you
were there. And this is beyond a job, it’s beyond
anything else. It’s a mindset because you have
no idea what you’re going to meet when you
enter the studio. Also, sharing what you know is
paramount. I see sharing as an obligation. I’ve
learned from others who also learned right under
the gun.”
”It’s people who make these songs and you have
to interact with them and understand them while
at the same time understanding yourself. What is
it that you want? What is it that you’re trying to
achieve in this process in order to get the results
you want?”.
9
Patrick
Wikström
International meetings and
international research networks
by Rasmus Rex,
PhD Fellow
10
Over the last few years, RMC has dramatically
increased its efforts to achieve its ambition of
producing research in the fields of music education and music industry studies. The first step in
this process is the enhancement of qualifications
among the institution’s staff to accommodate
the level of skilled research that has been
implemented through three PhD fellowships. By
summer 2015, RMC will have 4 faculty members
holding PhD degrees. However, conducting
research at an international level requires not
only the formal competencies of the individual
researchers, but also an international network
of research colleagues. This is especially true
for a small institution such as RMC, where the
diversity in research fields and the limited size of
the research group imposes natural limits on the
feedback, inspiration, critique and collaboration at
the highest level.
In addition to the formal objective of developing
and benchmarking the educations programs
offered by RMC in relation to other international
artistic and educational environments, the international meetings have also had the important effect
of establishing contact with international research
networks. The meeting with Swedish music
industry scholar Patrik Wikström is a case in point
of such a contact.
Wikström was invited because of his influential
book The Music Industry: Music in the Cloud,
which analyzes the structural changes in the
music industry brought about by the introduction
of digital production and distribution. He identifies
three underlying trends in the reorganized
industry.
1) The transition from distribution models
where control was central to models where
connectivity is a central feature.
2) As a direct consequence of this, business
models are no longer based on music as
a product, but rather based on music
as a service.
3) Digital media act as a democratizing force
that erodes the boundaries between
amateurs and professionals.
When Wikström visited RMC in December 2012,
this analysis was the basis for both his public
lecture at RMC and the subsequent Q&A session.
An equally important part of the program was an
informal discussion concerning the PhD project
that I had embarked on a few months earlier.
Although the research topic and methodology
was, at that time, still not fully developed, the
discussion revealed significant overlaps between
our scholarly interests and perspectives, and
Wikström invited me to follow up on the discussion when my project was more clearly defined.
In spring 2013 I was presenting a paper at a
conference in Toronto and I used the contact
established with Wikström when he visited RMC
to arrange a visit to Northeastern University,
where he was then Associate Professor in Music
Industry Studies. As Music Industry Studies is a
very narrow field of research in Denmark, with very
few scholars, this was an invaluable opportunity
to engage in in-depth discussions with an inter-
”Even though digital communication
makes international contact more
easily accessible, the establishment
of personal relationships is of far
greater importance when building
a research network”
nationally acknowledged researcher in the same
field. This helped shape central decisions on the
methodology and theoretical foundation of my
PhD project.
Furthermore, Wikström introduced me to
Professor and Chair of the Music Department,
Anthony De Ritis, who expressed interest in
extending the collaboration. A few weeks later
I had a Skype conversation with De Ritis and
Graduate Program Coordinator Richard Strasser
and they invited me for an extended stay at
Northeastern University as a Visiting Scholar for
a three-month period in 2014. Wikström had by
that time relocated to Queensland University of
Technology in Australia, but the initial contact
established through the international meeting at
RMC had facilitated contact with a much wider
range of researchers within my field than would
have been possible in Denmark. The Music
Department at Northeastern University alone
includes eight full-time faculty members in Music
About Patrik Wikström
Patrik Wikström is Principal Research Fellow at Queensland University of Technology (Australia).
He has a background at Northeastern University (USA), Karlstad University, University of Gothenburg
and Jönköping International Business School (Sweden). His research focuses on innovation and
change in the creative industries. Wikström is, among other things, author of The Music Industry:
Music in the Cloud.
www.patrikwikstrom.com
11
”I was given the
chance to discuss
my project with
researchers at Harvard
University and
Microsoft Research
Center”
Industry Studies, which provided discussions and
feedback for my project from a diverse array of
perspectives ranging from the legal and technological to cultural aspects of musicians’ conditions
in the digital media ecology.
In addition to scholarly discussion, the visit also
included guest lectures on different graduate
courses in the Music Industry program. And even
after my return to Denmark, I have given a guest
lecture via Skype.
Relocating to Boston for an extended period
also offered the opportunity to take advantage of
my new colleagues’ networks in both academia
and industry. Through these connections I was
given the chance to discuss my project with
researchers at Harvard University and Microsoft
Research Center. The common denominator for
the contacts established during my residency as
Visiting Scholar at Northeastern University is that
they were based on a series of personal introductions, each of them leading to face-to-face
meetings and discussions. Even though digital
communication makes international contact more
easily accessible, the establishment of personal
relationships is of far greater importance when
building a research network.
From an institutional perspective, the ‘international
meeting’ with Patrik Wikström offers an interesting
example of how this type of activity can be used
not only to benchmark and develop educations
at RMC but also to build international networks
that support research activities at an international
level, even for an institution with a small research
environment.
About Rasmus Rex
Rasmus Rex Pedersen is a PhD Fellow researching Music
Industries at Rhythmic Music Conservatory and Roskilde University.
His research analyzes the changing conditions for professional
niche musicians in the digital media ecology.
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Keith Harris
The Interpreter
It is a manager’s job to act as a link between the artist on one side and
the artist’s commercial partners on the other. And it takes more than
a digital paradigm shift to fundamentally change that, according to
Keith Harris who, besides his work with Stevie Wonder and others is
also known for his poignant views on the fast-changing music industry.
by Jesper Bay,
Part Time Teacher
at RMC
Keith Harris is the man to go to if you want the big
picture of the development in the music industry
over the last 40 years, where he has played an
active part of it. At first working at record labels
such as EMI and Motown and later as a manager
for several successful artists primarily within the
soul and R&B genres.
He is a fixture as a guest at many international
music business festivals and conferences, and
every year he tries to survey, understand and
foresee what the industry is moving towards. He
has graced the Spot Festival with his presence
since the 1990’s as a moderator, panellist and
speaker but also as a manager and talent scout.
On October 3rd 2013 Keith Harris was a guest at
RMC. In part to share his thoughts on education
within the field of music – among other things
Harris helped establish England’s first industry
education in 1991 at the University of Westminster
in London – and in part to talk about his
experience as a manager and his views on the
challenges the industry currently faces.
13
”99% of what a manager does
is to get rejected”
The Role of the Manager
It might come as a surprise that Keith Harris,
who is the chairman of the esteemed think tank
MusicTank and a former chairman of the English
managers’ trade organization Music Managers
Forum (MMF), doesn’t think that the manager’s
role has changed significantly despite genre
fragmentation and the onset of digitalization in the
mid-1990’s.
- A manager is a kind of interface between art
and commerce, so like any interface you are
interpreting between the artist and the business.
You have to understand both sides and what they
mean in order to make it all work. The manager
has gotten busier, but the basic principle is still
the same, Harris says.
The role of interpreter naturally demands that you
speak both languages. And Keith Harris finds it
to be absolutely crucial that as a manager you
really understand artists and how they work. He
illustrates his point by quoting a Warner Brothers
executive he had lunch with in L.A. after having
been in the business for 20 years:
- He said something to me about artists that
made me think, ’Why didn’t somebody tell me this
20 years ago? That could have saved me a lot
of time.’ What he said was, ’Let me just explain
about artists - artists are different from the rest
of us: Think of them as a computer motherboard.
They have on their motherboard two chips that the
rest of us don’t have. Those chips are talent and
creativity. Unfortunately, the motherboard has a
finite size, so in order to have those two chips on
there, you have to take two chips out. And the two
chips that were taken out are logic and gratitude’.
I thought that’s really interesting, and it shortcircuited a lot of things as a manager.’
What is Talent?
Most would probably agree that talent is the most
important component in any artistic career. But
what is talent and where does it come from? Is it
a special congenital gift as the dictionary would
have it, or is the reality of it much more complex?
Thanks to his many years of experience Keith
Harris is quite sure: Talent comes in many forms,
he explains.
- ’As a manager you are looking for at lot of
things in a package. Quite often you have people
who have some of the components, but not all,
and there is a difference between being good and
being great. In artists, what you are looking for in
one package is creativity, work-ethic, and then
that certain something that makes them a star,
sets them apart: Charisma.’
As an example Harris mentions the 1990’s global
pop phenomenon the Spice Girls:
- ’They couldn’t sing, couldn’t dance, however their
talent was that they would work really hard, and
they had a knack for knowing the right things to say
About Keith Harris
Keith Harris started in the music industry in 1974 working for Transatlantic, a small independent UK label.
In 1976 he joined EMI Records where he initially worked for several in-house EMI labels in the promotions
department. He then joined Motown becoming General Manager. He left in 1978 to work with Stevie
Wonder and became Operations Manager for his companies.
In 1982 he formed his own management
company and was involved in the management of various UK based artists, while also continuing to
represent Stevie Wonder. He joined PPL as a Director of Performers Affairs in 2006, he is a Senior Fellow
of the University of Westminster School of Music and a former Chairman of the MMF, the managers’ trade
body, and the Chairman of MusicTank. Keith Harris was granted an Honorary Doctorate by the University
of Westminster in November 2007.
www.keithharrismusic.co.uk
14
to generate headlines. They stopped being a major
force because they didn’t have the whole package.’
When talking about talent, one simply has to ask
about Keith Harris’ long-standing collaboration
with one of pop history’s greatest and most
durable talents, Stevie Wonder, who, more than
50 years into his career, most recently could be
experienced at Roskilde Festival 2014. How does
Harris see Wonder’s talent on a normal work
day?
- ’Well, there is nothing ’normal’ about Stevie. I
have seen his show hundreds of times, and I’ve
never seen the same show twice. At some point
he will change something. There is no ’normal’
and there is no ’normal day’. You approach a
normal day on tour because you have a routine,
but the rest of the time there is no normal. One
of the things that is probably neglected is how
hard he works. He still does voice-coaching, and
he spends time warming up everyday, and 1½
hours after the show he still meets people and let
them take his picture because he recognises it is
important to them’, Keith Harris explains.
He started working with Stevie Wonder in the mid
1970’s at the English branch of the record label
Motown. Motown Records had since the 1960’s
been the completely dominant soul and R&B label,
representing iconic artists within the genre like
Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross, The Supremes, Smokey
Robinson, The Commodores and Rick James
among others. In 1978 Keith Harris moved to Los
Angeles and during the following four years he
was the head of Stevie Wonder’s own companies.
The Manager’s Job
Back in London he’s been running his own
management agency since 1982, and he still
represents Stevie Wonder on this side of the
Atlantic. During his now more than 30 years as
a manager he’s worked with successful artists
like Junior Giscombe, Junior Tucker, Omar and
Lynden David Hall among others.
”In the new digital environment we,
the people, are the slowest interface,
we have to do everything in real time”
15
”If something isn’t working you must realise that
first of all, the artist isn’t ever going to blame
himself, second of all, the record company also isn’t
ever going to blame itself”
A video clip on YouTube from the Edinburgh
industry festival Wide Days in 2012 shows Keith
Harris saying: ’A manager has two jobs: One is
to be rejected and the other is to be sacked’. Is
that just a good one-liner to satisfy the crowd or is
there some truth to it?
- ’If it was that bad, I wouldn’t still do it,’ Harris
says, and he adds: ’But again, it is true. What I
said was that 99% of what a manager does is
to get rejected, and certainly when he’s starting
out, because then you’ve got an artist – whom
hopefully you really believe in – and you are
trying to get something from people who don’t
necessarily need your artist. You play them the
music, take them to a gig, but if they don’t like it,
you just start over the next day and keep going.
But most of the time people turn you down
because you don’t have that much to offer at that
stage. You have to be persistent, and you have to
get used to being rejected and realize that most of
the time it’s not personal, it’s a business decision.
In terms of getting sacked that is true as well.
But the reason that happens is because the
relationship between the manager and the artist
is an interface, and you are in the middle, but you
don’t have any kind of solidity. If an artist doesn’t
want you to manage them you can’t really keep
on managing them. When things break down, the
commercial entities - the artist and the company
who have a commercial relationship which is
normally based on a contract that is fairly rigid
- change the piece in the puzzle that they can
change.
If something isn’t working you must realize that
first of all, the artist isn’t ever going to blame
himself, second of all, the record company
also isn’t ever going to blame itself. So what’s
the piece in the puzzle that you can blame and
change? That piece is the manager in the middle,
16
and they hope that by changing the management
they will revitalise the relationship and start over.
As a manager you can’t take it personally – that’s
the reality of the commercial relationship that you
are in. You stand between two entities trying to
translate, and if the translation breaks down it is
always going to be your fault. They bring in a new
translator.’
The problem is the business model
As a manager and Director of Performer Affairs
at PPL (the English equivalent to the Danish
organization Gramex) Keith Harris follows the
development in the industry closely. And he thinks
the discussion about streaming that has been
going on in the industry in recent years and – not
the least – about the artists’ royalties, is partially
mistaken and largely based on the fact that the
industry itself is far ahead of the audiences.
- ’As an industry we think that the public is
ready to move when we are ready to move – the
same applies right now. There is a debate about
streaming; is it going to take off? Actually, we’re
too soon, I know in Sweden there’s been decent
penetration and in other countries it is starting
to take off, but globally most of the public are
not ready to move on to streaming services’,
Keith Harris says referring to subscription based
services like Spotify.
The real problem actually lies elsewhere, he
thinks. It lies in the business model that became
the foundation for, among others, the world’s
most popular streaming service YouTube: ‘You
take people’s copyright and use it to build a
business that can then be sold before you ever
compensate the copyrights that you took. When
YouTube first started they put up all kinds of
’content’, as they like to call it, which included
people’s music, films, television shows and so
on without taking out licenses. Google came
along and bought YouTube for $1,3 billion, and
the people who’d been using all the copyrighted
content said: ’Thank you very much’. They haven’t
paid anything to the people whose work they
have used, but they are now very wealthy people.
YouTube is just one example of this business
model, and it works because it was fashionable –
and still is – to believe that anybody who wants to
be paid for their copyright is some kind of greedy
business head who doesn’t deserve anything’.
The value that is created within the digital
paradigm has been more about making a few
innovative entrepreneurs rich very quickly rather
than creating a new, sustainable distribution
model that benefits the entire value chain, Keith
Harris argues. And the question is if Spotify and
the other subscription based music services will
change that.
Harris acknowledges that at least Spotify pay for
their use of the music to the record labels who
in turn pay royalties to their artists. But basically,
he doesn’t think that Spotify and similar services’
business model is very different from that of
YouTube: ’I think they will end up selling, and
the reason I am saying that is that at the moment
their business model doesn’t add up. All the
money raised for this project is the end product
of venture capitalists. Venture capitalists are
not just interested in music, they are interested
in money. Venture capitalists don’t wait for 20
years, they want to be paid back. Now, the worry
for artists is that in the meantime the royalties
they are getting are very small. For the copyright
owners – the record companies – what Spotify did
was that they gave all the record companies an
equity stake, a share of the company, so when the
company gets sold, they will all be paid off. The
artists won’t. So that’s the big issue with Spotify;
when that payoff comes, how are you gonna
actually pay the people who built the service for
you?
The Fight for Time and Attention
Keith Harris’ second major worry about the current
state of the market is the development among upand-coming artists. The problem here is the huge
amount of new music that the easy access to
digital distribution has made it possible to release.
The numbers speak for themselves: Every week
the PPL registers 10,200 new titles on average. So
while it has never been easier to get your music
out, it has never been more difficult to be heard,
Harris explains.
- ’At the very bottom end of the scale, and this
is the bit that actually worries me, a lot of new
artists are being sold what is fundamentally a lie
as the audience won’t be able to find you. There
is simply too much noise, and the business world
gradually defiles back through some kind of gate
keepers who draw the line between amateur and
professional – and by professional I mean that
which is worth your while, worth your attention’.
There is simply not room for everyone, Harris
thinks, because everyone is competing for the
audience’s limited time and attention. - ’In the
new digital environment we, the people, are the
slowest interface, we have to do everything in real
time. Everything else you can speed up – you can
download an album however fast you want to,
but we cannot speed up consumption. If I want to
listen to an album which is 40 minutes long, I have
to sit down for 40 minutes and listen to it. I cannot
say ’oh, I’ve only got 10 minutes, so I’ll do it really
fast’. The competition point is therefore very much
about time. And it is difficult for people without
access to a promotion system to get time and
attention from others’, Keith Harris rounds off.
About Jesper Bay
Jesper Bay currently teaches the course Communication & Marketing at Music Management at RMC. He’s the
manager for Danish artist Asbjørn and works as a consultant in the culture industry, consulting in the fields of
strategy, PR and business development. Following a career of more than 20 years in the Danish music industry
from 2003 to 2010 Bay was Director of Communication and Marketing for the trade organization of music
companies in Denmark, IFPI. Bay holds a Master’s degree in international business communication.
17
Face to face
with the artists
by Thomas Borre,
Coordinator, Events and
Domestic Partnerships
Over the last few years RMC has increased the frequency of Artist Talks
and Masterclasses. This is a result of the Conservatory’s ambition of
strengthening international relations and invigorating RMC’s position as
a cultural institution for the many parties interested in music.
Artist meetings are about creating inspirational
moments. Face to face. They’re about offering a
global perspective. The meetings often focus on
a current international artist and are offered as
an extra-curricular activity for the students at the
Conservatory.
The meetings are also open to anyone with an
interest in music and in this way help strengthen
the Conservatory’s position as a relevant meeting
place for players within the field of music. This
is important when one works with rhythmic,
contemporary music which is a performative art
form based on a solid tradition of skill and culture,
where the creative approach is at the core.
18
Thomas Borre, who coordinates these artist
meetings, has this to say about the open nature of
the meeting format:
”Artist Talks and Masterclasses at RMC are about
facilitating intimate artist meetings in order to
bring insight, perspective and inspiration. The
artist meetings stimulate an international environment around the Conservatory. They are also
a way of maintaining a close, ongoing dialogue
with the local music venues as the reason for the
featured artist being in town is usually a concert
event.”
King Ayisoba (GH)
Thomas Knak (DK) & Mad Professor (UK)
Wildbird & Peacedrum (SWE)
Examples of Artist Talks @ RMC:
To assist in the planning of Artist Talks and
Masterclasses, RMC has put together a group of
curators consisting of students from the different
study programs. They help to ensure that the
events are current and relevant to all departments.
About the formats:
Artist Talk … is a form of live-on-stage interview focusing on topics such as creative work
processes, sources of inspiration, the effect of
digitalization on the basic conditions of musicians,
collaborators, managing a career and similar
topics. Artist Talks are always moderated by a
member of the teaching staff at RMC, a local
music journalist or a student.
Duration: 90 minutes.
Masterclass … is an interactive format typically
involving the artist demonstrating his artistic
practice. Some form of interaction with the
audience might occur. Masterclasses are hosted
by a member of the RMC teaching staff.
Duration: 90 minutes.
Ariel Pink (US)
Cooper-Moore (US)
David Longstreth (Dirty Projectors) (US)
Dan Deacon (US)
Dean Blunt (UK)
Ellen Fullman (US)
Future Islands (US)
Greg Saunier (Deerhoof) (US)
Jacob Kirkegaard (DK)
Jerry Bergonzi (US)
Joan As Police Woman (US)
Kindness (UK)
Mikael Simpson (DEN)
Mike Skinner (UK)
Trentemøller (DK)
Tore Johansson (SWE)
Troels Abrahamsen (DEN)
Mad Professor (UK)
Masta Ace (US)
Wildbird & Peacedrum (SWE)
Zeena Parkins (US)
Examples of Masterclasses @ RMC:
Bernd Klug (A)
Cameron Deas (UK)
Emmett Cohen & Jake Goldbas (US)
Ghosh & Sengupta (IND)
Jean-Michel Pilc (F)
Jerry Bergonzi (US)
Joey Calderazzo & Jeff ”Tain” Watts (US)
John Ruocco (NL)
King Ayisoba (GH)
19
Johan
Haarberg
Artistic Research
In recent years at RMC the focus has been on the notion of Artistic
Research. This plays a substantial role in the qualitative development
of the conservatory’s studies and is therefore a prerequisite for the
institution’s competitiveness in an international context.
by Jacob Anderskov,
Associate Professor
When focussing on the term Artistic Research, it is
natural to focus on the other Scandinavian countries where work on this practice has been carried
out for years. The Norwegian Johan Haarberg, in
particular, is a key player in this field. He visited
RMC in May 2014 to share his direct experience
within the field.
In Sweden and Norway, 3rd cycle programs have
long existed (PhD, Doctorate or equivalent) within
the field of Artistic Research – formalised in
Sweden, and without a formal degree in Norway.
Here it works as a form of ’artistic research grant’
with a great deal of freedom and with an average
starting age notably higher than that of the gradu-
20
ates. For various reasons, such a system is yet to
be established in Denmark, and on an education
policy level it would seem that there is still a long
way to go. This is one of the reasons why, in 2013,
the Ministry of Culture started encouraging the
artistic educational institutions to send in grant
applications for larger Artistic Research projects
directed by staff members. Apparently, the idea
is to have significant Artistic Research activities
among the staff members before any 3rd cycle
studies can be established. So the current regulations under the Ministry of Culture could easily be
interpreted as the first steps towards establishing
3rd cycle programs at the artistic educational
institutions.
Norwegian Perspectives
On studying the approach to Artistic Research in
other countries, it soon becomes clear that the
Danish model is much closer to the Norwegian
model than those of our other neighbouring countries. This might have something to do with the
fact that in many other countries Artistic Research
– and often also the whole artistic education
field – is a part of the university system, while
the artistic educational institutions in Denmark
are completely autonomous. RMC is an independent institution under the Ministry of Culture.
This means, for example, that where a Swedish
”artistic doctoral student” is often encouraged to
include rather large amounts of academic literature in her process, her Norwegian counterpart is
encouraged to do almost the exact opposite.
In addition, the funding of the Norwegian Artistic
Research program is approximately ten times
greater than that of Denmark. And the Norwegian
Law for Higher Education - according to Haarberg
– has defined Artistic Research as “equal to Scientific Research” since 1995, with the argument that
“Higher Art Education needs to have the same
opportunities (as scientific education) to develop
high end (Cutting Edge) competence within our
fields”.
With a new Danish Artistic Research system,
which is still in its critical, preliminary phase and
has content criteria comparable to Norway, it
seemed natural to invite Haarberg to RMC to
share his experience of the Norwegian Artistic
Research system he guided for over ten years.
During his visit at RMC Haarberg met both the
Conservatory’s management and – encouraged by
the author of this article – a select circle of leaders
of projects the Ministry of Culture had chosen to
fund. In addition, a public event was held for a
wider circle of interested parties, primarily staff
members at the other artistic educational institutions that either carry out or coordinate Artistic
Research.
The general goals of the Norwegian
program have been to:
• Stimulate and develop a culture for,
and focus on, artistic research within
the sector nationally;
• Support such development within
the institutions;
• Maintain artistic relevance as central
to the activities;
• Strengthen the discursive dimension and
artistic research based on insight and
cognition which is only possible to attain
within the artistic fields;
• Stimulate interdisciplinary communication
and contact about artistic research;
• Become internationally oriented
and recognised.
The focus has been on the following
dimensions:
• A clear foundation in artistic practice;
• Creating new artistic perspectives and
contributing to the development of the
art field;
• Contributing with reflections on
content and context;
• Contributing to the articulation of and
reflection on methods and forms of work;
• Advancing critical dialogue within one’s
own professional environment but also with
other relevant professional environments;
About Johan Haarberg
Johan Haarberg has extensive experience creating framework conditions
for higher arts education and artistic research. He is the former Director of
the Norwegian Artistic Research Programme, a national, interdisciplinary,
government-funded organisation created to stimulate the development of
artistic research in higher arts education in Norway. He was previously the
Director at Bergen National Academy of the Arts (1996-2009).
Current vice president of SAR, the International Society of Artistic Research.
Board member at the brand new Stockholm University of the Arts.
www.johanharberg.com
21
”As artistic educational institutions across
the Western world become increasingly
project driven, many studies have focused
more on the students’ ability to manage
projects, reflect and create well-argued
papers and oral project presentations”
At first glance this would seem straightforward, but
given my experiences attending Artistic Research
conferences throughout Europe I would claim that
Norway has been more successful than any other
country in ”maintaining artistic relevance within
the field” and creating a ”clear foundation in
artistic practice”. And one is tempted to say that
without this, there’s no point to any of it.
As artistic educational institutions across the
Western world become increasingly project driven,
many studies have focused more on the students’
ability to manage projects, reflect and create
well-argued papers and oral project presentations.
Clearly, there’s nothing wrong with nurturing these
skills also, but it has been my experience that
both the authors of the study regulations as well
as teachers and external examiners must be very
careful not to allow mediocre artistic expressions
to pass simply because they are wrapped in a
thorough presentation.
During his visit, Haarberg informed us that in the
Norwegian system an unsatisfactory artistic result
will lead to the rest of the project not receiving a
grade. This means that the project fails no matter
what reflections on the project are presented.
This is a much needed and relevant approach
compared to some of the education and research
practices within the field of Artistic Research that
I’ve experienced across Europe.
Another approach that may seem straightforward
- but isn’t always - is the program’s insistence on
projects having an impact on and relevance to the
field. This can most easily be demonstrated by
asking if it is ’only’ the artist (the student) who has
become a better artist in the course of the project,
or has it also resulted in a more significant work of
art and developed some sort of knowledge from
inside the process, which will benefit the field?
It seems clear that for staff members who carry
out Artistic Research this work should be of
relevance to the field besides its purely aesthetic
dimension. But I would like to suggest that if
this is not the case, students on the 2nd or 3rd
cycle might benefit from focussing primarily on
becoming better artists and letting all ambitions of
creating relevant, shareable new knowledge take a
back seat. In other words, this requirement might
not be as easy to apply to everyone as it sounds.
About Jacob Anderskov
Associate Professor at RMC. Pianist, composer, and bandleader from
Copenhagen, he has released close to 20 albums as a bandleader
and
About Jacob
Anderskov
co-leader since his debut in 2001. Currently working onAssociate
the Artistic
Professor at RMC. Pianist, composer, and
Research project Habitable Exomusics.
bandleader from Copenhagen, he has released close
www.jacobanderskov.dk
22
to 20 albums as a bandleader and co-leader since
his debut in 2001. Currently working on the Artistic
Research project Habitable Exomusics.
Its own discipline
In terms of the goal of strengthening the discursive dimension of Artistic Research, it is important,
as stated before, to remind that the discursive
dimension only becomes relevant if it is based on
an artistic process at the highest level. In other
words, the discursive dimension should not – in
the Norwegian model – be viewed as an academisation of the artistic processes. Artistic Research
is not, despite the political ambitions of creating
structural, political and economic conditions that
resemble those of academic research, merely a
’diet version’ of the humanities. It is its own discipline, which must be carried out and evaluated on
its own terms, allowing great room for diversity. I
recall Henrik Frisk saying at a conference (quoted
from memory) that ”Artistic Research should
not mimic the methods of science, humanities
or sociology unless it turns out to be relevant to
the individual project. In ten years it might just
as often be science that borrows methods from
Artistic Research as the other way around”.
When discussing the written work, and the
question of whether academisation of the artistic
process will be an unintentional consequence of
the considerable focus on Artistic Research, it
is also worth quoting Haarberg once again. He
notes that after ten years of the Norwegian grant
program an evaluation was carried out, and one of
the clearest recommendations was that students
should write LESS, spend LESS time on the
written work and that this work should be LESS
academic.
This perspective is enormously interesting at a
time when the Danish system is still in its infancy.
Are we ready to learn from the mistakes of Norway
or do we have to make those same mistakes
ourselves? Listening to the Ministry of Culture’s
Committee on Artististic Research in Denmark, the
answer to that question is not very clear.
Artistic
Research
“Kunstnerisk Udviklingsvirksomhed” is the Ministry of
Culture’s official term for Artistic
Research. This is quite new as a
ministerial effort in Denmark.
In the official definition in Denmark, Artistic
Research is ”an integrated part of the artistic
process which leads to a publicly accessible result
and is followed by a reflection on the process as
well as the result”. It is a requirement that ”the
artistic practice and the accompanying reflection
on it, which makes up the artistic research, is
carried out at the highest level” and that, in
addition to the artistic outcome, a report must be
available which describes:
• the position of one’s own artistic practice
in one’s own artistic field both nationally
and internationally
• how the project contributes to
development within the field
• critical reflections on the process and
the outcome
Furthermore, it is a requirement that the ”reflections on the artistic research be publicly available
and permanent”.
In conclusion, these are Haarberg’s main points:
Artistic Research works best when it has a strong
foundation in artistic practice, when the projects
hold direct relevance to the field and have a clear
context, and when the outcome of the projects are
shareable and accessible to the public.
And, above all, when the art in itself is at the heart
of everything.
23
Scott
Cohen
Skate to where the puck will be
by Thomas Borre,
Head of Programme
@ Music Management
Digitalization has quite evidently contributed to significant changes
in the cohesiveness of the music industry. London resident Scott
Cohen, the man behind the world’s first digital music distribution
company The Orchard, shares his knowledge and experience, with
topics such as D.I.Y., the Attention Economy and North American
hockey as a jumping-off point.
“There is something about the whole terminology
that surrounds conservatories. You have to be
aware of that when you try to reach out to the
world. It’s a term with many different connotations,” says Scott Cohen somewhat warningly,
referring to the fact that conservatories as institutions within the field of music have not always
had the greatest reputation in self-taught musician
circles and in the commercial music industry.
Cohen is visiting RMC. When he speaks about
music education, it’s obvious that he’s interested
24
in how these institutions can be connected with
the world around them. During Cohen’s visit at
RMC in the fall of 2014 he points out several times
the importance of collaborations - be they artistic
or institutional.
Cohen has a close relationship with Copenhagen.
He’s visited the city countless times, among other
things in the role as manager of Danish duo The
Raveonettes who reside in the US. One member
of the group is a former student at RMC. Over a
couple of days, Cohen meets students, teachers
”There is something about the whole terminology
that surrounds conservatories. You have to be
aware of that when you try to reach out to the
world. It’s a term with many different connotations”
and the Conservatory’s management. At the
end of his stay he gave a public keynote speech
entitled ”Losing My Religion: Is There Anything
Sacred About Music?”. This was an occasion
where other music-interested parties in Copenhagen had the opportunity to meet an international
music industry professional.
D.I.Y. is a myth
In meetings with students the conversation
focused, among other things, on the concept of
D.I.Y., a phenomenon dating back to the punk
movements of the 1980’s, that really has gained
momentum riding the digital tidal wave that has
completely transformed the global music economy
and the relation between artists and their audiences. Digital technology has set us free, and the
possibilities for artists to interact with their audiences directly seem endless. However, availability
does not equal visibility. “D.I.Y. is a myth,” Cohen
states. He elaborates further:
“Artists today have access to a vast number of
possibilities, but you have to know how to use
them. The market and the business that musicians
work within is far more sophisticated and complex
About Scott Cohen
Co-founder of digital distribution company The Orchard. He started the company with music
veteran Richard Gottehrer in 1997. As a well-recognized public speaker and lecturer Cohen
travels the world evangelizing new business models for the digital age. Cohen manages the
Danish band The Raveonettes and the American all-girl band The Dum Dum Girls. He also works
with The Deer Tracks, Queen Kwong, Fallulah and Dan Owen. Cohen is a visiting professor at
London Metropolitan University and sits on the British Phonographic Industry Council.
25
”If you’re creating stuff and you want to make it your
career, I think you fundamentally have to understand
what business we’re in. You need to create your
content differently. Not just your messaging”
than in the past. That’s why you need experts.
You need managers, people working with PR,
digital and social media. You need a team around
you. You can’t be an expert in everything,” Cohen
claims, although he moderates this statement by
saying that there are a few exceptions to this rule.
Digital pioneer
When it comes to digitalization in the music
industry, Cohen is a true pioneer as evidenced,
among other things, by The Orchard, which was
established by Cohen and Richard Gottehrer in
the mid-1990’s. It was the world’s first digital
music distributor. Today The Orchard operates
in 25 countries and roughly 20 % of all digitally
distributed music goes through the company.
Cohen tells of the beginning of his company:
”At that time there was a lot of log on, log off.”
Cohen adds that he, with the help of several
interns from New York University, took the
first baby steps wrestling with 28.8K modems,
chatrooms and direct music file distribution.
Almost ten years later phenomena like Facebook,
4G mobile broadband, Spotify and YouTube
started to emerge, a clear sign that the pace of
change is rapidly growing. A fundamental paradigm shift as Cohen calls it. A shift that calls for a
completely different way of working with music. Or
content, if you like: ”We’re talking about music as
content. And all the stuff you’re doing as content.
If you’re creating stuff and you want to make it
your career, I think you fundamentally have to
understand what business we’re in. You need
to create your content differently. Not just your
messaging,” Cohen states.
Can I have your attention, please
Concurrently, Cohen points out that attention is
among the scarcest resources in the digital age.
And music, as we all know, is not. This is evident
in both Spotify’s and YouTube’s vast selections
of music. As early as the beginning of the 1970’s,
Nobel laureate economist Herbert Alexander
Simon spoke of this phenomenon, which he called
the Attention Economy.
“...in an information-rich world, the wealth of information means a dearth of something else: a scarcity of whatever it is that information consumes.
What information consumes is rather obvious: it
consumes the attention of its recipients. Hence a
wealth of information creates a poverty of attention and a need to allocate that attention efficiently
among the overabundance of information sources
that might consume it.” (From “Designing Organizations for an Information-Rich World”, in Martin
Greenberger, Computers, Communication, and
the Public Interest, Baltimore, MD: The Johns
Hopkins Press, 1971).
About Thomas Borre
Cand Comm., Roskilde University. Works as the Head of Programme
at RMC’s Music Management programme. He’s an associate
professor. Borre is also the manager of Danish pianist and composer
August Rosenbaum. Borre has, among other things, worked as a
communication consultant at IFPI.
26
Herbert Alexander Simon foresaw a world with
an abundance of information long before Twitter
feeds, Facebook posts, YouTube videos, emails
and so on.
Cohen explains: ”In our world today it is not about
getting things, getting products. It’s about getting
someone’s attention. That’s the true value. There
is more than 10 million band profiles on Facebook,
and you want to have somebody’s attention?
Everybody wants your attention. This is the new
world we’re living in, a full on competition for
people’s time.”
As stated earlier, availability and visibility is not
the same thing, and Cohen emphasizes that
music as content is not only in competition with
all other music, it also competes for the attention
of consumers with pictures of delicious lunches
on Instagram, quirky cats on YouTube, films on
Netflix, apps and everything else that we can
access on our tablets, smartphones and laptops
without any trouble.
comes to creating and maintaining substantial
and economically sustainable music careers.
Cohen emphasizes that it’s of vital importance
to embrace change as a fundamental condition
of the industry. In conclusion he mentions the
famous Canadian hockey player Wayne Gretzky,
who had his heyday in North America in the
1980’s. Wayne Gretzky was affectionately known
as the Great Gretzky, and when he retired from
professional hockey, people frequently asked
him: “What made you so great?” He replied with
a simple statement: “A good hockey player plays
where the puck is. A great hockey player plays
where the puck is going to be.”
”Artists today have access to a vast
number of possibilities, but you have
to know how to use them”
The Great Gretzky
When Cohen analyses tendencies in the development of the music industry, he doesn’t put forth
categorical claims of universal solutions when it
27
John Parish
A producer of the heart
by Henrik Marstal,
Associate Professor
Through the years I’ve followed Bristol-based
producer John Parish’s deeply original work
as a producer for acts like Eels, Giant Sand,
Jenny Hval and above all P.J. Harvey, and I’ve
been fascinated by his clankety, understated,
concise, fragile, bumbling, fractured, naïvistic
and disturbing productions that seem to be so
present. It is productions which have inspired me
in my own work as a producer in many ways.
As a part of John Parish’s visit at RMC over a
few days in May 2014, I arranged a master class
for some students in the songwriting programme
whom I supervised on their end-of-semester
projects. Seven or eight of the most indie-oriented
of them agreed to participate. I asked each of
them to bring a song with a hand-out of the
28
accompanying lyrics. This could be a finished
production, a demo or just a sketch. It just had to
be something the student could stand by fully and
wholly and allow to be subject for artistic critique
by John Parish.
We have most of a day at our disposal, and the
feeling of having plenty of time clearly suits John
well. After I’ve introduced him briefly we get down
to it: The first student hands out, a bit nervously,
the lyrics to everyone, plugs the computer in the
PA and presses play. We all listen focused to
the song, and when it is over John merely says:
“Beautiful. Can I hear it one more time?” Then we
all listen again, and John once again speaks. This
time he delivers an eloquent, loyal and constructive criticism of what strikes him as a listener and
a producer, including perspectives on what could
be sharper or less diffuse. After half an hour of
comments and questions we move on to the next
student’s song, and something similar ensues.
None of us are bored at any time, including John.
As the day progresses a picture emerges of how
John thinks as a listener, musician and producer:
At times he is impressed with both the inventiveness and accuracy in the songs. On the other
hand, though, he would like to see a bit less of
a safety net below them; more risk-taking, more
savagery, more openness to those glimpses of
insanity that always emerges from the corners of
the music if one listens closely. First and foremost
he would like to see more of a celebration of
the beauty in the timbre of a careening vocal,
a dragging kick drum or a monotonous rhythm
guitar. And he would also like to see a greater
recognition of the fact that music ultimately has its
own will that one ought not stand in the way of but
merely bend to.
A picture also emerges of John as what I would
call a producer of the heart. That is all that
matters, he says: That presence. Everything else
is less important. Far too much music is created
as if it was a crossword puzzle to be solved, he
explains. And far too little music is created with
a genuine intent to express the ’here and now’ in
sound.
The day after the master class I held a public
artist talk with John Parish, i.e. an interview with
him about his work and his views on music and
”Far too much music is created as if it
was a crossword puzzle to be solved,
and far too little music is created with
a genuine intent to express the ’here
and now’ in sound”
music producition. The talk took place in front of
an attentive audience consisting of students and
other interested parties from Copenhagen’s music
scenes. More than fifty people showed up, in part
because the largest music magazine in Denmark
had published a piece about the talk.
Ahead of the interview we eat lunch together
where we get ready for the talk and decide which
topics to focus on. We also choose which songs
I will play excerpts from during the talk. When we
sit down on the sofa to begin the interview, John
is in a brilliant mood. He is a bit self-conscious
about being the centre of attention, but his
professionalism makes him look like someone just
doing what any music aficionado would hope or
expect of him in that situation. In other words he
can deliver when it is needed of him.
About John Parish
An English musician, songwriter, composer and
producer. He has made soundtracks for several
films and released a string of solo albums. He is
best known for his long-standing collaboration
with P.J. Harvey, both as a producer and as a
musician. He has also produced albums for Eels,
16 Horsepower, Goldfrapp, Jenny Hval, Kira Skov
and KT Tunstall. He lives in Bristol.
www.john-parish.com
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He is a bit self-conscious about being the centre of
attention, but his professionalism makes him look
like someone just doing what any music aficionado
would hope or expect of him in that situation.
John tells us about his youth in punk era-England,
about insisting to his parents to be a musician at
any cost, and about his first bands in the early
eighties. He also tells us about the enormous
coincidences that eventually landed him in the
producer’s chair and about becoming a better
person through working with music. He also tells
us about his work as a solo artist, composing,
among other things, for film scores, and he tells us
about his collaborative work.
When we touch upon his work with P.J. Harvey he
says: “She’s from the same small town as me, a
town not far from Bristol. Back in the mid-eighties
I had a band, and it was going quite well, and one
day after a concert I met this 16-years-old girl,
who handed me a demo tape. The songs were a
bit rough around the edges, but there was some-
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thing about that voice. It sounded so mature. I
was fascinated by that voice so I let her become a
part of my band. We kept in touch when she went
to London a few years later and had made a major
break-through with her first albums. In 1995, she
asked me to produce her album To Bring You My
Love. And since then we’ve more or less stayed
together.“
John co-produced and played on two of her most
weighty albums, White Chalk from 2007 and the
Mercury Prize-winning Let England Shake from
2011. John was also in the band when P.J. Harvey
blew up the Arena stage on the Roskilde Festival
on a late Friday afternoon that year.
Together with the audience, we listen to the
opening song from White Chalk, ’The Devil’.
Afterwards, John tells us that even though the
song lasts less than three minutes, it took half
of the overall studio time to record it. I ask him
why they did not give up instead of stubbornly
trying again and again, and he answers that they
just couldn’t give up on the song. It was just too
important, so they would rather keep on trying
until they succeeded. And that stubbornness
payed off.
In the last few years, John has also worked with
a few Nordic female artists: The spectacular and
inscrutable Jenny Hval from Norway and Dane
Kira Skov. That is why we have arranged for her
to be present at the talk, and during the last 30
minutes she joins us on the sofa where the three
of us talk about the collaboration between her and
John on the album When We Were Gentle (2013).
It is exciting to see and hear Kira speak so eagerly
about her collaboration with John, about her
trust in his judgment and about the joy of making
good and meaningful music. John tells us about
the recording process and about daring to trust
one’s first instinct even though others in the studio
disagree with him. They both seem to think that
the collaboration was successful, and I notice that
both of them are grateful for the experiences they
shared.
After John and Kira have answered questions
from the audience, we finish up the session. John
is still in a great mood, and one hour later, when
I follow him and his wife to the taxi that will take
them to the airport, he tells me that he would like
to come back to the conservatory some day and
pick up where he left off. But it is not going to be
in the near future, he adds. There are simply too
many projects and jobs to do. “But come see me
in Bristol some day,” he says smilingly.
While I watch the taxi leave I realize that I forgot
to ask him about that particular vocal sound he
so often succeeds in creating: That echo-driven,
double-tracked vocal sound, which is so wellknown from his P.J. Harvey productions, and
which is so different from anything else I know. It
is an inscrutable vocal sound that is also featured
on other productions of his. It is that vocal sound
I’m thinking about now while I write these words
with White Chalk playing on the stereo.
About Henrik Marstal
A Danish musician, producer, songwriter and author. He has worked with several Danish artists,
and lately he has mostly focused on the electro duo marstal:lidell. He holds a PhD in Musicology,
and he is an associate professor at RMC. He lives in Copenhagen.
www.marstalogkoch.dk
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Dominic
Murcott
The lesson was all talk, no drumming
In October 2014 I travelled to RMC for a four day
Erasmus teaching exchange. I work at Trinity
Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in
Greenwich, London, where my main role is Head
of Composition. Trinity Laban (TL) was formed in
2005 when Trinity College of Music, a traditional
conservatoire, and Laban, a centre for contemporary dance merged. It has approximately 600
music and 400 dance students. About 560 of the
music students have performance as their principal
study and 40 study composition. The performers
divide further into 85% classical and 15% jazz, and
then subdivide into voice or specific instruments.
While this genre-specific approach to instrumental
teaching can produce players of the very highest
calibre, it can also produce inflexible musicians
who are poorly prepared for a business whose
demands are changing at an exponential rate. In
tackling this problem, TL is rapidly developing a
name for itself as a place where artistic integrity
and entrepreneurialism are core values alongside
playing skills.
by Dominic Murcott,
Head of Composition and
Music Technology
@trinitylaban
About me
If asked to give a brief description of what I do I say I am a composer. However
my work includes composing, teaching, managing, playing drums and tuned
percussion, curating concerts and events, musical direction, production, sound
engineering, academic writing, film editing, photography and public speaking.
This variety of roles has emerged from an unorthodox journey from underground
Even though classical music has produced some
of the most demanding and provocative art of
the last century it remains remarkably resilient to
change. As an art form it seems split between a
self-elected responsibility for preserving the past,
and a medium for contemporary expression (with
the preservationists making up the majority and
holding the purse strings). Its performance traditions remain blissfully unaware of its own sense of
theatre, and transgressions from the concert-hall
norm are still unusual and generally sidelined.
I have spent a number of years developing a
composition department that encourages students
to see themselves first and foremost as contemporary artists. They are exposed to artistic thinking
from outside the self–referential obsessions of
classical music, while learning to enjoy the infinite
possibilities of working with superb classical
musicians. This invariably leads to examining the
tension between musical genres, and the problems
of combining them. We have resisted any temptations so far to teach popular music as a principal
study, but as the boundaries between genres
break down it may be only a matter of time. It was
with these thoughts in mind that I visited the RMC.
Aside from the delight of the location, the travel to
college each morning by ferry, and the hospitality
of the vibrant staff and student community, the
visit provoked two clear areas of contemplation.
The first focused on educational/artistic strategy,
the second, to my surprise, was entirely political.
jazz and punk drummer to leading a composition department at the heart of the
classical music establishment. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this pathway
to others – it might have been much easier to have a formal musical training as a
child – but it has allowed me a privileged view of a number of musical communities as a relative outsider. My constant search as a composer is for a personal and
authentic identity. My teaching is focused on encouraging others to find theirs.
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I was delighted to find that artistic intent, exploration and experimentalism was not only prevalent,
but firmly underpinned the philosophy of the
college. As soon as popular music becomes
formally studied, it is always in danger of losing
some of its vital naivety (not only would Meg
White have failed to gain a conservatoire place
as a drummer, but to try to improve her chops
would have been to completely misunderstand the
function of her role in the White Stripes). Sitting
in on a drum lesson, I expected to be enthralled
by technical brilliance having earlier in the day
heard several superb drummers practicing. Instead
I witnessed a lesson where a student’s whole
musical strategy was being challenged by a guest
who was not a drummer at all, but a musical
experimentalist and philosopher. The lesson was
all talk, no drumming. This highly irregular drumming lesson appeared to be in keeping with the
policy decision made a few years earlier to accept
only those students who showed most potential
as artistic leaders. Good technique is required
but only to further their own art. If their own art
demands a highly specialist set of playing skills,
even if these skills were not particularly flexible,
then the student could be accepted. Those with
amazing chops but the wrong personality might
be rejected. One danger with this plan is the loss
of control of instrumental distribution. Could the
college function if one year there were no bass
players? This issue mirrors similar discussions at
TL, but the need to create functioning orchestras
still dominates recruitment policy for performers.
The composition department however is free of
these restrictions and there appears to be a correlation of approach with the RMC. There is also an
affinity in terms of musical breadth. During my stay
I worked with a number of classes and led some
specific ideas across genres, playing examples
from Bach, Bill Bruford, Caetano Veloso, Aphex
Twin, Penderecki, The Beach Boys, Abdullah
Ibrahim, John Zorn, Conlon Nancarrow and Elliott
Carter. I was pleasantly surprised that there were
always at least one or two students nodding in
recognition.
The atmosphere at the RMC is more relaxed than
at TL. No doubt a number of factors are at play
but the lack of fees and a subsidence grant mean
that most students don’t need to earn money while
studying. This was the same in the UK 30 years
ago. The current UK government has hiked the
yearly college fee to £9,000, and provided a loan
to cover it. After a four year bachelor degree at TL
students can expect to amass debts of at least
£60,000, which they may still be paying off into
their 50s. A large percentage of students are doing
some kind of job to limit their loan, reducing their
time to study and vastly increasing stress levels.
In comparison with the Danish systems I find this
highly depressing. The UK government appears
obsessed with the US system which promotes the
belief that the individual, rather than society as a
whole, is the only beneficiary of their education.
By coincidence I met a woman from Chicago on
the flight out who told me that she represented the
‘American Dream’. Born to a poor family she defied
class and race barriers to win a place at a top US
University, and now a good job. Her working life
has been dominated by repaying her college loans.
Over $100,000 still left to pay off. Was it worth it I
asked? She didn’t answer.
”Good
technique
is required
but only
to further
their own
art.”
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About RMC
Rhythmic Music Conservatory
Rhythmic Music Conservatory (RMC) offers the
most advanced education available in rhythmic
contemporary music – a multifaceted concept
that embraces widely diverse forms of expression
in such genres as rock, pop, jazz, hip hop, heavy
metal and electronic music.
Rhythmic contemporary music is a creative and
performative art form that builds upon a solid
foundation of professional and cultural traditions,
and in which the creative approach is central.
At RMC, rhythmic contemporary music means
openness, curiosity, challenge, diversity and
open-mindedness.
In addition to providing music education at the
highest level, RMC also operates research and
development projects in the Conservatory’s core
areas. The Conservatory also helps to promote
musical culture in Denmark in general, and acts
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as a meeting-point for all of the stakeholders in
the music industry. RMC provides a framework for
a diverse range of public artist meetings, concerts,
seminars, conferences and symposia.
At RMC, rhythmic contemporary music means
openness, curiosity, challenge, diversity and
open-mindedness.
RMC is located in Holmen in Copenhagen, amid
beautiful waterside surroundings, and in the heart
of a vibrant artistic educational community that
also includes the Royal Danish Academy of Fine
Arts’ Schools for Architecture, Design and Conservation, the National Film School of Denmark and
the Danish National School of Performing Arts.
The Conservatory’s unique physical setting offers
all the facilities one would expect of a modern
academy of music of the highest international
standard.
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Rhythmic Music Conservatory
Leo Mathisens Vej 1
DK-1437 Copenhagen
Tel. +45 4188 2500
E-mail: rmc@rmc.dk
www.rmc.dk
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