Saturday Morning Music Club

Here’s the latest:

http://www.smmcmedia.com/2010/06/02/smmc-a-brief-mission-statement/

The concept behind SMMC is relatively straightforward. It is our response to the question “what, exactly is an album these days?” A question a lot of people have been asking for a while. Well the truth is, we dont know any more. There is no answer. In the old days of not so long ago, an artist or band would spend weeks, months or years recording an album that would become a release – an event on a specific day, the release date – mostly as a result of the promotional and marketing strategies of the record labels.

Specific physical realities gently outlined the scope and limitations, and most importantly the length of the recordings that were released – through the various vehicles of vinyl, 45′s and LP’s, double albums, eight track, cassettes – then CD’s, which gradually allowed for more and more music to be included, and finally downloads.

Downloads changed everything, in particular that magic word “unbundling” which means that specific songs from albums could be handpicked by the customer. Until then the only way to get individual tracks from albums had been through buying 7″ singles or EP’s, CD singles, cassette singles, then compilations. Or of course, recording off the radio and then the TV, which a lot of people will remember.

“Unbundling” meant that the concept of the “album” would change forever. A band could record a whole album, but find that only a few songs from it were being bought online. Of course the physical CD was, and still is, available – but the focus gradually changed. “Why buy the whole album when you can just get the tracks you like? Unless its ‘Dark Side Of The Moon’, why bother?!” The sad truth is that there is a lot of logic behind that statement.

But we believe an artist should be free to work within the realms of this new thinking, rather than in spite of it.

SMMC Media, the very small sphere of influence behind Saturday Morning Music Club, believes that we are offering a tailor made service borne of the desire to operate within the chaos of the new musical consumer landscape, and outside of the physical constraints of the CD, in a way that will benefit the artist and the consumer. Not only that, we believe that we can extend the experience and enrich it – which brings us back to how it started, the Saturday Morning Music Club where each week is an event, there is no one “release date” as such.

We believe in being true to the artist and being true to the consumer. We do not believe that we are reinventing the wheel, nor do we believe that we are being dramatic, drastic or revolutionary. We simply want everyone who comes our way, whether artist, fan or consumer, to be able to enjoy the experience of music and all it has to offer.

Chris Difford - New Release - Cashmere if you can

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