Broadcasts from a Distant Galaxy

Bite Me

2009-02-18T18:14:00.006-05:00

With a defiant nip to the tip of the Mayor's gloved finger, the people, channeled through a rambunctious little land beaver, stood up to that nagging ice queen known as Winter and boldly declared that the weather would start getting better soon. What with Obama's victory and the aforementioned pimp-slapping of Winter, change is in the air everywhere. Galaxy Smith inhaled deeply. Here's what came out:

- Turkuaz shirts will be here soon! Look for them at upcoming shows.

- Turkuaz will also be opening next month for Maceo Parker, James Brown's sax player.

- The new version of GalaxySmith.com is well on its way to being completed. Our development dudes Jeff and Eli along with your truly have some tricks up our sleeves.

- We have an intern on-board! A warm welcome to Ben, who will be assisting us online. I know you'll all get along famously.

-Josh 'I own a jumpsuit but have only used it for non-hazardous recreation' Schwartz

Here's a video of Turkuaz playing 'Getting Closer' at Bill's Bar in Boston.

Turkuaz - 'Getting Closer' Live from Galaxy Smith on Vimeo.

Keeping Up With the Smiths... and the Obamas!

2008-11-08T13:56:00.003-05:00

Okay so I sort of didn't keep my promise... I'm still not posting as much as I would like... but for good reason!

I'm back on track as far as producing and finishing these projects... Everything is sounding great and my priorities are in order ( I think). The Sex album is gonna be awesome! (If you don't know, they are a rock band from Boston who are definitely turning some heads with their authentically raucous live show, and will turn even more with this loud and ferocious new record coming out.)

I'm also working on an album for an upcoming singer-songwriter named Emily Greene. This too is coming along very nicely. It's not a Galaxy Smith project, but if anything, it has been really nice to be producing outside of that realm. It's definitely a little more straight ahead than a lot of the Galaxy stuff, but I really like that about it. And the arrangements have been a lot of fun to work on.

The only problem with both of these projects is that they have taken me far longer than I ever thought they would, and it has taken me away from other projects that are near and dear to me. However, that is nobody's fault but my own. I way underestimated the time it would take to make something truly great, which is all that I am willing to settle for at this point. In the meantime, the new Turkuaz album, new Remote Control, and a number of other projects that Galaxy was meant to produce and release this year have taken a back seat.

I think part of it is that in addition to producing, I am also engineering, mixing and mastering which slows things down a bit. But for the near future, while we are still sufficiently understaffed, I'm not trusting these tasks to anyone else.

Music aside... YES!!!! Obama!!!!!!

I've put a lot of energy into that lately as well.... and it did indeed pay off. Since Bush was elected for a second term I had basically decided that everyone can go fuck themselves and I don't really care what happens anymore. I had pretty much lost faith in the country and in our entire system.

This faith is not fully restored by any means, but it did take a candidacy like Obama's to even re-instill a glimpse of it, or to see a real possibility for change. So I and many others that I know made calls, talked to friends and family and even travelled going door to door. So anyway.... Fuck yea!

Overall things are moving in a good direction, which is all I can really ask for....

Gotta go... Josh wants to get some breakfast (if I can call it breakfast).

More coming soon....

Till next time!

- Dave "Hussein" Brandwein

2008-10-25T04:43:00.004-04:00

I love New York! I get home at 5 am and my roommate is still out.

I just had a long conversation with Taylor... It was very important... at least I think it was. If you don't know who he is, you will soon.

I promise all of you, as well as myself, that I will be blogging much more consistently from this point on, if for no other reason than to accurately document this insanity that I deal with everyday. We all deal with it... but seriously... lately I start to wonder why I even began to do this....

I really just want to make music... good music... and I know that I have an unusual ability to bring good music to the world which is so constantly demanding this service... but it's time that I finally learn how I can best harness this ability.

There are many potential paths that have been presented to me at this point in time, and it has been made abundantly clear to me that I am in no way equipped to decide which is best or most fruitful...

So the obvious choice is to do what is natural... let it flow and just see what happens...

But no.... this doesn't work

Currently I am producing 4 different albums, only two of which consist of my own music (meaning that I actually wrote it). Overall, I like to think that I do a good job... and I hope those that I work with feel the same way... but in a greater sense... I don't really care.

All I ever really cared about was my own music. And to be honest, I don't even remember how I got caught up in all this shit.

I mean... I guess I was just in a situation where we had so many good songwriters... so many good musicians... that it just made sense to put it all together. But that was so long ago now. Well... you know... two years ago. Now things are so different. It's just Josh and I living together and of course the rest of the guys nearby... and though on a conceptual level we're now more excited about Galaxy Smith as a website than ever... on a creative and musical level, there's really nothing I wanna work on besides my own music. And I must admit that I feel a little ridiculous working for myself, and within that, finding that I'm constantly working for everybody but myself.

Is this is a smart thing to make public???? NO!!!!

Does it really matter???? NO!!!!

Because I need to make things better from the inside out right now... and that's not gonna happen by piling projects on, one after another...

If anything, this confidence and faith in what we do as musicians is gonna return from re-instilling faith in the morality, concept and passion behind Galaxy Smith as a whole, and the belief that aligning all of our many interests as artists will one day pay off for our group in the form of collective recognition and understanding of our common goals and beliefs, hopes and aspirations for the general direction we move in as a creative society and a productive and positive culture.

Does any of this make any sense? NO!!!!

But anway... I won't continue to sort this all out in too much detail.. because that leaves no fun for later....

I clearly have much more to elaborate on...

I have much more inner conflict to reveal...

I have much more outer conflict to reveal...

I have a whole world of ridiculous to elaborate on....

I have nothing left...

I have everything to lose!!!

- Dave

Dave Gets Skoped Out

2008-07-10T11:44:00.002-04:00

Last month Dave was interviewed by Skope Magazine, a leading online publication covering all things digital music. Here's the transcript of the interview. You can check out the original article here.

I do not have to tell Skope readers, but the music industry and it’s brick and mortar business model is a thing of the past. People are not buying CD’s but rather downloading music right onto their ZUNE or I-Pods.

We are now seeing a rise in strictly digital indie record labels. I really wanted to get a nice insight into this trend so I called on Dave Brandwein of Boston, MA to tell me all about his digital label, Galaxy Smith records. Read on because you might just learn something.

Stoli: What made you want to start the record label initially & how did you create a buzz behind it?

Dave: Two years ago I moved into a house in Allston with three of my fellow Berklee friends and musical collaborators. We also had a crew of about 5 or 6 other musicians who came around quite regularly. We would stand out on our porch playing songs on our guitars, banjos or mandolins… singing, beatboxing, etc… or we would be inside playing the piano or listening to each other’s latest recordings or compositions (we quickly erected a home recording studio upon moving in). We were just having fun and celebrating our recent arrival to Allston. I started noticing that though this was just fun and games to us, people were really interested in what we were doing and slowly but surely people would come up to our porch or knock on our door to see what we were up to. They just wanted to hear some music and be entertained, and in those days especially, they would never leave disappointed. There was always something going on.

I began to think… If only there were a way that we could just broadcast this over the Internet, so people all over the world could tune in and just see what we’re doing whenever they want. That would be perfect. The idea of Galaxy Smith began in this way. Of course, after some time it seemed that emotions run high naturally in a community of musicians, and turning ourselves into a 24 hour reality show might shake things up a little too much. So the idea was forced to change into something else. Basically the new model was to form a website where all these musicians could display their material to anyone in the world that wants to hear it. If someone makes a demo in their room, or if we film an impromptu musical performance, we can throw it up on the site for people to see the very next day, or even that same day. Eventually this evolved into the idea of a collective comprised of many artists who all interact with each other, as opposed to a typical record label with a roster of isolated artists. This idea is more community based, and meant to represent what really goes on in our lives and in our studio. We’re still working to make the site more interactive and updatable, customizable, etc… but we’ve made a lot of progress thus far and it’s coming together nicely. That’s really where the idea came from. Since then, it’s just been a matter of figuring out logistics and working out all the kinks.

As far as creating a buzz, a lot of the musicians on the site as well as people we were associated with had a certain amount of recognition around Berklee, and access to a lot of musical communities in Boston on both the performer side and the listener side. More and more as time went on, I began to notice that when I’d talk to people about who we are and what we do, they had heard of us, and they’d either heard the music or heard good things about it. This is always a nice feeling. I think not being afraid to tell people what you’re up to and promote it is really important in getting a buzz going. It really starts from word of mouth. Of course we sticker and flyer and advertise, but essentially it comes down to what people are saying about you.

Stoli: You are an alumni of Berklee College in Boston, MA. How did your education prepare you to start your own label?

Dave: Well I suppose the reason that Berklee really did have a hand in my ability to start Galaxy Smith is that it’s really more of a school for the trade of music and the industry, rather than just focusing on the art of it or the performance aspect, as many schools do. When people hear songs that I engineer and produce, they assume that I majored in Music Production and Engineering. When I tell them about the label I’ve started, they assume that I’m a Music Business major.

When I play an original song they assume Songwriting major, or if I sit in with a band and play guitar, they assume Performance Major. The reality is that I didn’t major in any of these things. I chose a major called Professional Music, which really allows the student to get a taste of all different aspects of music and the industry. In the same semester I would be learning about contract negotiations, recording techniques, stage and guitar performance, and music theory. The diversity in my music education has really helped me to play the many roles I do in the company (artist, engineer, producer, and president/director to name a few).

Stoli: You are strictly a digital record label. Please explain a few advantages to going that route?

Dave: Well this is an ongoing debate. I really would rather not comment on whether or not CD’s are gonna be phased out in the next 5 years (they are!), but I will say that it seems like a natural progression. I’m surprised that there aren’t a lot more digital labels out there… or if there are, I’m surprised I haven’t heard about more of them.

Considering that we have our own recording studio and the ability to make good recordings, we’re already way ahead of the game. This is what people sign away their lives to major labels for - recording and distribution. So that’s the next step: Make the music available so that anyone in the world can hear it or buy it. It seems the Internet has taken care of that problem pretty effectively.

Being exclusively digital at the end of the day cuts a lot of the cost and a lot of the legwork, and it’s the way that most people are getting and promoting their music these days. It just makes sense. Essentially we can handle every step of our process from writing, recording, mixing and mastering to distribution and advertising, right from our own computers.

Stoli: The music scene is incredibly saturated now with new bands and artists coming up everyday. How do you help your artists to stand out & generate revenue?

Dave: Well I think the live show is very important. This is something that I’m really starting to realize fully for the first time and put more energy into. You can friend request all day on Myspace, and you can tell people to buy your album, but at the end of the day people need to have a real experience with the artist. They need to get excited.

One of our bands, Turkuaz, has been gaining momentum live and it’s really done wonders for us. Turkuaz is a big funk band, and the shows are inevitably always a party atmosphere. We noticed that each time we played a show, the number of people was practically doubling. It’s because they were having a genuine experience with the music and most importantly a really good time. This is what makes us stand out and what brings people back and keeps them talking about it.

The other way we manage to often stand out is the fact that each of our artists exist within this collective. It’s one of those whole is greater than the sum of its parts kind of things. The fact that we all stand together under this umbrella does not cheapen or take away from any of the music, but if anything seems to enrich it and add value and weight to it. I think this is something that more like-minded bands and artists should start considering and doing more often. When they come together and support each other, it makes all of them stronger and it benefits everyone.

Also, I try not to think of other bands or labels as competition, but rather as allies. iPods are only getting bigger and people don’t have to choose one or another. I’d rather trade links and shows with a band than try to outdo them. This helps to keep me sane as well as open to new partners and opportunities in the fast-paced and ever-growing music world.

As far as revenue goes, we have a fairly simple relationship with our artists. We don’t charge them a cent for anything we do. That’s the first step in aiding in their eventual ability to generate a profit and make a good living through music. Whatever digital sales they have we split with them 50/50 right down the middle. Our 50% obviously goes towards keeping the label running and providing those free services to the artist. Other than that we really let them do their own thing.

We’re not trying to be the gatekeeper that major labels once were. If artists wanna do other things, we’re not asking for a cut. So it’s really up to them to figure out where the rest of their profits are coming from. Along with the freedom that artists get with Galaxy Smith, they also get responsibility. They book their own shows, they print up their own CD’s and flyers for shows, and they have the right to do anything they want really to make money as long as it doesn’t violate our agreement with them. We’re not trying to make a quick buck or mooch off of success that they generate on their own. We just want to help. And realistically, we often end up providing any of those other services whenever it’s requested by the artist, if it’s in our power to do so.

Stoli: Do you feel that people will ever pay for music like they used to or will illegal downloading be here for good?

Dave: I don’t think people will ever pay like they used to… or at least they won’t pay as much, and rightfully so. I mean, out of the 20 dollars you used to spend on a CD the artist was getting almost none of that. Right off the bat the store you buy it from is making 6 of those dollars. The rest is going to all those middlemen. Distribution houses, promoters, executives (of course), etc. And for the 5% of all major label artists that were ever lucky enough to see a single royalty check for their music (labels don’t pay the artist until they recoup ALL expenses for making, distributing and promoting their album), they’re still splitting their tiny percentage with their producer who doesn’t get paid by the label.

So I think since we have found an alternate way to cut out these middlemen, we ought to also have the responsibility of finding an alternate way to price it. I happen to think that iTunes has a good model. Sure, 99 cents a song plays a role in devaluing the idea of an album, and making it too easy for people to pick and choose, but the reality is that things change and we are entering a new paradigm.

People can choose what they wanna hear. And the fact is, if they like something I think they will pay for it and support the band. The number of people downloading legally is rapidly increasing every year. And people are definitely starting to be scared of illegal file sharing programs for all the potential fines or viruses. iTunes has presented a good, safe, and quality controlled legal alternative, and we’re trying to do the same.

I do believe however that illegal file sharing will never stop in the way of people burning discs for one another, swapping files on hard drives, and of course those dedicated bit torrent users. So it is possible that something else will need to be figured out, and we’re always trying to think outside the box. I was chatting with my teacher, friend and fellow musician Livingston Taylor the other day, and we were discussing possibilities of breaking the Internet off into pieces, so musicians could be paid out based on what people were downloading for free, by the entities that provide the Internet services to them (who are actually making the money). Sort of like the way BMI and ASCAP collect money from bars, clubs and restaurants and pay out to the musicians whose material is being played or performed in those establishments. It’s an interesting idea, but certainly unrealistic for the near future. It would take an enormous amount of cooperation from a lot of different entities with different agendas and priorities. We did end our conversation however on a positive and optimistic note, believing that this problem will be solved.

Stoli: Are you for or against illegal downloading & why?

Dave: Well I suppose I’m neither. I don’t do it myself. I used to, but I feel like iTunes is safer, more reliable, cheap, and I feel much better about supporting the artist. In terms of hoping to make a career out of creating original music, illegal downloading is certainly a scary thing. However I think for the time being there really isn’t anything we can do to stop it entirely, and I’d rather people listen to the music than not listen because they don’t wanna spend the money. Instead I think the new idea is that the song is really an advertisement for the band, as funny as that may sound. Now this begs the question: What is the product?

The product is anything the band has the creativity to think up that will cause the fans to want more. On the more conventional side - live shows, T-shirts, posters and visual art, books, DVD’s, etc. I think outside of those other ways of making money, the music industry is in dire need of some innovation as far as where to direct people once they’ve got all the music for free. This is a big part of what I think about and brainstorm over everyday. What is that greater product or service? How do we keep people interested and put food on the table? I have a few ideas which I won’t disclose at this point. I think they need to be better developed and formulated before they’re attempted. But don’t get me wrong, we provide a cheap and legal option for people to purchase our music through our own website as well as iTunes, and we certainly encourage listeners to do that.

Stoli: When you are going to sign an artist what do you look for in them begore signing the contract?

Dave: Usually the relationship comes from interaction with the band or artist. It’s somebody I’ll meet through a friend, or someone I already know half the time. I just think about if they have something unique and valuable to offer to the collective. I try to keep it very quality controlled, as opposed to just signing up tons of bands. This keeps the music on the site more interesting and potent. I really don’t go out and scout bands or anything. It makes me feel a little sleazy to be honest. And it just feels sort of disingenuous. Of course, if I see something I like, I certainly don’t have a rule against it. There are no requirements though in terms of genre or style. If it’s good we’ll take it, as our current catalogue reflects.

Stoli: If a band is interested in signing with Galaxy Smith, what should they do?

Dave: I suppose the best thing to do would be to get in touch either through GalaxySmith.com, myspace or in whatever way possible. Give us a chance to hear what you do, and tell us why you think you would be right for it. Or why you appreciate our approach and our ideals in terms of the way we do things, and the way we are musically and aesthetically. Like I said before, we don’t usually go out of our way to seek out bands and artists because we like doing in things in-house and having solid relationships between everyone involved. But the door certainly is not closed to anybody. We are always excited to hear new stuff.

Stoli: Many people say that the major label will not be necessary in 10-15 years. Do you agree and why?

Dave: I don’t think it’s so much a matter of if they will be necessary or not, as much as if they’ll be able to survive. I believe that they already are not necessary, and more and more artists are realizing this every day. They can flood the media with promotions for new artists. They can hit people over the head with it repeatedly but the reality is that people are really starting to not care anymore. No one listens to the radio anymore. People can listen to what they want, and the amount of fans seeking out independent artists they like far surpasses those still buying in to the major label hype. And as discussed before, the downsides to signing with a major really outweigh any of the potential advantages. Even this new Live Nation trend seems like a feeble attempt to buy someone for their name. It makes the company look good. It’s not about the music. People are looking for quality again. They want sincerity. This is something that major labels do not specialize in. They will surely be extinct very soon. I think their only hope is to save up that money of which I’m sure they still have plenty, and buy up all the little guys emerging. I certainly hope to never sell out to them, but inevitably in a few years time they will start looking for who the money makers are, and what the price tag says. I’m just glad at this point to be the entity with unlimited potential for growth, instead of being a dinosaur searching for that final act of desperation.

Stoli: I have not bought an album in years but I buy singles everyday on ZUNE. Do you encourage your bands to produce 10-15 tracks or will singles take over?

Dave: As a producer I usually try to encourage artists to keep the song count a little lower. I have a deep appreciation for the art of making an album, and I really want that tradition to live on. However I feel that the best hope for this to happen, is to create albums that people can listen to. Anything more than 10 or 11 these days just really doesn’t get played all the way through. I’d rather someone be able to really take in the project on their morning commute. Otherwise they’re just gonna be looking for that one out of 15 tracks that they wanna throw on a playlist. It’s just another one of those realities of the new paradigm, and I’d like to say that my attention span hasn’t been dwindled down in this digital age, but i can’t. I think generating a good roster of songs at the end of the day is what is most important and will build the fanbase, regardless of the increments the songs come in.

Stoli: What can we look for from Galaxy Smith for 2008 & beyond?

Dave: Well we have a lot of things planned. We have four new artists currently in production all of whom are great. We also are in the process of doing a lot of renovation and redesigning to the site. As I said earlier we’re really trying to make it more a living, breathing entity, better equipped to handle real-time communication between the artist and the listener. We also are constantly trying to make it more intuitive and user friendly, considering that it is the point of interaction between us and our fans.

Galaxy Smith is also hoping to add three new elements and general aspects to our business and functionality as a digital entity. One of these is to feature more art and media. We coined the term “Digital Media Collective” with the idea of incorporating more video and visual art into the site. We are searching for filmmakers and visual artists to not only complement the music on Galaxy Smith, but to also be featured in their own right. I strongly encourage artists of all kinds out there to get in touch if they feel they have work that will match the aesthetic of any of our artists or the site in general. This really will enhance the creative, and community aspects of the site.

This leads to the next thing, which is building our community and message board/forum. We hope to make Galaxy Smith a place where people can talk about more than just Galaxy Smith artists. We want musicians and fans alike to use our site in the future to discuss various topics pertaining to music, the music industry, and really anything at all having to do with the arts. We also feel like it may become a good place for musicians to interact and discover each other, whether they are on our label or not. If someone needs a guitar player in their band they can post it up there. Or if they’re selling their old drum kit they can let people know. Anything at all really. I think this would be a valuable way to expand our base of listeners and supporters, while providing a useful service to the general music community.

The final thing is launching our licensing department. We are looking to have a lot more songs by Galaxy Smith artists featured in movies, television and video games, as this really seems to be the new radio. A lot of production companies and music supervisors also seem to be looking to break new bands these days, as opposed to paying big bucks for hits of the past. I think this is the modern approach to placing songs and it looks cooler for the companies to show people something new. We are very optimistic about this new division in our company though we do have a lot to learn and I think there will be some trial and error before this is a steady thing for us.

Overall we really try to keep ideas flowing all the time, and we always keep an open mind so that we can innovate and move with the changes of the industry which is undergoing a major crisis right now, while also being introduced to new opportunities. Most entities that sell music I feel have not fully realized these opportunities and that is what we as a company are trying to do more and more everyday through close interaction with our artists and with our listeners. I think 2008 will continue to be a good year for us and things will get better and better in years to come. As long as we keep our priorities straight, don’t get too full of ourselves, and most importantly continue to have fun and love what we do while making good music, we will be consistently improving our operation and contributing something good to music and to the world.

How Do You Do It?

2008-06-03T15:23:00.004-04:00

QUESTION AND RESPONSE FROM REMOTE CONTROL ON OUR GALAXY SMITH MESSAGE BOARD:

PigeonMania: How do all the artists record their music? I've heard most of the music on the site was recorded in-house. If this is true, I must ask what kind of recording set up you guys have going on? Who produces it? How do you get the music to not sound like it was homemade?

RemoteControl: The real key is spending the time and really listening. You can make an amazing recording with just a laptop if you perform well, get good sounds, try to have fun with it and remain patient. It also helps to be playing good songs.

We do record most of the music here at home on a fairly simple Protools setup. We have an upgraded Digi002 and a rather powerful mac desktop to handle everything. We've also got an assortment of pretty nice microphones and preamps, not to mention all the instruments and musical gear. But as I said, that stuff doesn't really matter. It helps, but that's not what makes it "not sound like it was homemade."

In my opinion, our music actually does sound homemade, but in the best way possible. One of my biggest fears about us having an actual studio next year in New York is that we will lose that unique aesthetic we achieve here in our home studio. I often feel that what recording studios have in pristine quality and astronomically priced gear, they can lack in personality and vibe. Now of course, almost all of the best recordings ever made were done in studios, many of which had amazing vibes and were very cool. Home recording after all is a relatively new phenomenon. I am referring though more to the type of studio that an unsigned band would go into and pay by the hour to crank our their demo. This never seemed worth it to me. I'd rather invest the money in our own gear and have all the time in the world to perfect the recordings instead of staring at a clock and arguing with eachother.

I suppose the big thing that makes our recordings come out the way they do is confidence that this is it. This is not the demo. This is the recording. And we can make it from start to finish just as good as anyone else can. Without that confidence going into it, it will never be more than just a home demo. From that point on it's just a matter of knowing what you want to hear.

Thank you for your question. If you would like to know more specifics about gear and technique in the future please let me know and I will be happy to share.

- Dave (and Gary)

Back on the Tracks

2008-06-03T11:59:00.004-04:00

Another summer has arrived. We've got a few new artists to record for Galaxy Smith as well as some new projects by artists already in the family. Summer seems to be the most productive time around the studio. I can't pinpoint exactly why that is. Part of it I'm sure is that many of the musicians involved are still finishing up their college careers and there is a much lighter workload, if any at all from June until August. That's the obvious answer, however I don't think that's the sole reason by any means.

I recently returned from a 3 week European excursion with some other members of the Galaxy Smith community. I went along with Mike and Taylor (from Turkuaz) and Jordan (from Scandinavian Halfbreeds) to Spain, Italy, Czech Republic, Germany and Holland in celebration of my long awaited graduation from college and freedom from a world based on credits and grades. Before being left with only my own system of merit for the rest of my life (which I welcome with open arms), I saw it fit to go on a bit of an adventure to see if I could learn some more about myself and the world before finally embarking on my lifelong journey. I certainly did see a lot of things, meet a lot of people and have many new experiences. Overall it was just the thing I needed to move on to this next chapter.

I did certainly expect to come back feeling refreshed and ready to work, however I did not foresee the feeling that I am now experiencing. It reminds me exactly of that of last summer. In June, July and August of 2007 we completed 4 albums here at the studio and 5 if you include the mastering of Twain's "Sleeping Tree". The productivity was not forced, but actually felt unavoidable. I suppose it would have to in order to complete that body of work in such a short time. Turkuaz - "Dollar Store", Remote Control - "Act Up" and Elijah Aaron - "Good Morning, Good Night", were all recorded, mixed and mastered here for Galaxy Smith in that time, as well as an album by our good friend Henry Quester called "Conversations With Myself" (named after a Bill Evans record). I am delighted to report that having been back from vacation only a few days I can very much feel this sensation of flowing productivity beginning to set on once again.

I suppose it's meant to happen in this way. As much as we have toyed around all year with residual ideas from last summer, and of course a plethora of new ones, somehow things have been a little bit scattered creatively. Much of the time has been spent working on the website, planning financially for next year, writing a business plan, etc. This does not provide for a wildly creative atmosphere. In all fairness we were also playing a good amount of Turkuaz shows which yielded very good results. However I feel that now is the perfect time to really begin these new projects in the studio.

We are eager to get started on the first album by our new artist "SEX". They are a hard hitting rock and roll band (I don't see many of those anymore), who has actually gotten me excited about rock music again for the first time in years. Be on the lookout for this new addition to the site. It will be loud, offensive and of course a lot of fun to listen to. We also will be completing new releases for both Turkuaz and Remote Control, both of which around the studio are anticipated to be better than the last.

Our new roommate showed me some very promising material yesterday as well that I would like to record this summer at the very least for the Dropbox, if not as its own full project. The Galaxy Smith Dropbox if you don't know, is a place where ideas, single songs, works in progress, or pretty much anything at all by our friends and associates can make an appearance on the site and is available for free listening. It's pretty empty right now but will certainly not be before the summer is over.

So overall I am glad to report that the Galaxy Smith team is back in the states, and ready for a long summer of recording music for your listening pleasure. I will certainly now be posting regularly, informing you of the experiences (hopefully all good) along the way to completing these albums. Until then... catch up on our existing stuff if you haven't checked it out -

galaxysmith.com
youtube.com/galaxysmith

Enjoy! Expect more soon...

- Dave "Ready to Roll" Brandwein

The Sweetest Fruit

2008-05-30T13:53:00.004-04:00

I heard an interesting piece on NPR the other day about the rise in entrepreneurialism among young college grads (yes, I'm a musician who listens to talk radio and yes, listening to NPR makes me feel superior to others). It seems that the music industry isn't the only one that's being turned on its head.

Our parents' generation still clings to their outdated American Dream. You go to college, get a boring, soul-sucking, reliable job for a major corporation, and spend the rest of your youthful days churning numbers as you climb up the corporate ladder. One day, if you work hard enough, kiss enough ass, and ignore your family enough, you'll find yourself with your feet perched on your $10,000 desk in your corner office with a view of the neatly trimmed corporate park your office is located in. Then you can afford to take your kids, who view you with mild contempt, and your trophy wife to the Bahamas on vacation.

This dream, in our generation's view, is dead. We all know that big companies don't actually care about their employees, who work too long and hard for not enough pay. Nowadays you're considered a rare anthropological artifact if you've been at the same company for more than eight or so years. Big companies aren't your family, they're the source of your paycheck and valuable experience that will allow you to jump to a bigger paycheck at another company in the near future.

Increasingly, people my age are graduating from school determined to not fall victim to the corporate rat race. Instead, they're choosing to shape their own destiny by starting a business of their own, or planning to work for a few years to gain experience and money before becoming an entrepreneur. The NPR show gave a fascinating stat to back this up: the number of entrepreneurs under 25 is increasing faster than the number of entrepreneurs in their mid thirties (I don't remember the exact figures but it was something like that). Young people are seeing the world around them changing at a rate never before seen, and the smart ones are figuring out how to thrive in this new world.

Now, there are certainly pitfalls to starting your own business. For one, you don't get the same perks as you would working for a major corporation, namely health insurance... and actual monetary compensation for your work. It also requires a sizable sum of money up front, which means either pandering to friends and family, pitching to investors, or getting a loan from the bank; each of these can be quite trying. Another less obvious downside is that you'll have to find your future spouse some other way, as a significant percentage of adults find their better half at work. But our generation seems intent on putting off marriage until after we've gotten the chance to travel the world, be a starving artist, start an Internet company, and experiment with beards and hairstyles. I still can't grow facial hair, so I'm not quite there yet.

So with the great freedom of starting your own company comes great responsibilities. Rather than having an overbearing boss plopping a load of TPS reports into your cubicle and telling you exactly what you need to do, you need to give yourself assignments and deadlines, goals and rewards. It's quite scary sometimes, what with the future so uncertain and not a roadmap in sight to guide you along. But as uncertain as our path may be, it's wholly ours, untainted by middle management, incompetent HR imbeciles, or a corporate machine. And as West Shell, a highly successful web entrepreneur, once told me, the only way to get the sweetest fruit is to climb out onto the limb. So even when my miniscule salary doesn't allow me to afford food, the image of that sweet, sweet fruit fills my stomach.

Is it a coincidence New York is called the Big Apple?

I think not.

-Josh "Fruit Man" Schwartz

Bring Your Dancing Shoes

2008-05-19T13:41:00.006-04:00

I had the pleasure of visiting New Orleans this past week. I went with my cousin to visit my other cousin who has been volunteering with a group called Common Ground, which focuses mostly on environmental restoration. The organization is based in the lower ninth ward, right next to where the levee broke. It was a very eerie experience to walk around this once-neighborhood, now mostly empty plots and heaps of rubble and flooded memories. My cousin and the other volunteers live in gutted-out houses and work for little if any pay. I am in awe of their determination and self-sacrifice in the name of a greater good.

But after a day of toiling away installing insulation on a house in 100 degree heat, they like to go downtown and enjoy the wonders the French Quarter has to offer. As depressed as the lower and upper 9th wards are, so thriving and lively is the French Quarter. I've always heard that Austin is the self-proclaimed live music capital of the world, and I've seen all the live music venues in Nashville, but I had never known about the amazing live music scene in NOLA. Walking down Bourbon Street, it seemed every bar had a band. Some were kickass cover bands rocking out surprisingly good versions of "Back In Black" and "All Of My Life" (though it wasn't possible live to get that hilariously-80s drum reverb that Phil Collins loves so much). Others were playing blues, jazz, rock, creole, and everything in between. There were boisterous brass bands tooting on the corner, bouncing us along the cobblestone street like wayward saints that finally came marching in. Smiles adorned every face we saw, no doubt aided by the copious amounts of alcohol flowing through the streets.

I also got to drive through the Musician's Village in the upper 9th ward. This is a neighborhood of brightly colored row houses home to displaced New Orleans musicians. In the wake of a major disaster, there are obviously plenty of things more urgent to deal with than music. There are ruined homes, ruined lives, people and animals lacking the basic necessities. It makes sense, then, that immediate aid is given in the form of food, water, and shelter, not saxophones and music stands.

However, seeing the Musician's Village and hearing the sounds of a thriving music scene made me feel much better about the future of New Orleans, and I think it's having the same effect on other people as well. More music equals more visitors equals more money being put into the local economy. Good live music lets you forget about the problems and pitfalls of your situation, if only for an hour or two, something everyone who is suffering through the brutal aftermath of Katrina deserves.

If you've been thinking about going to New Orleans, stop thinking. Go. Even if only for a few days, your visit will help the people there more than you know. If you want to help even more, link up with a volunteer group such as Common Ground (www.commongroundrelief.org) and get your hands dirty. Just bring bug spray; I came back looking like a leper, albeit a tan, happy one. And bring your dancing shoes. You're gonna need them.

-Josh "I ate alligator and rabbit in NOLA" Schwartz

The King Has Left The Building

2008-04-29T10:48:00.006-04:00

As I've mentioned before, I appreciate the restraint with which Facebook handles its commercial endeavors, restraint that was never demonstrated by MySpace (i.e. the flashing 'when are u gonna die?' banner ads for God knows what). I also appreciate the honesty that comes from having your full name displayed on your profile instead of just your first name or some awful fictional monicker that so many people display on their MySpace pages. It makes Facebook seem more real, more legitimate. However, they've now taken this a step too far in their band section.

I've been setting up band profiles for each Galaxy Smith artist and for Galaxy Smith as a whole. This involves uploading photos and videos, writing descriptions of the artists, inviting people to become fans (sorry to my friends who I inadvertently invited multiple times), all simple stuff. When I first started setting these profiles up, I was delighted to see a music player application that allows you to upload an unlimited number of songs that people can listen to for free. I imagined that, like everything else on Facebook, this application would look sharp and clean, inviting fans to listen to the wealth of musical styles Galaxy Smith has to offer. I was working on Turkuaz's page and clicked on the music player application, ready for some uploading madness that would make the band's page complete.

But there would be no uploading madness that day. Instead, I was greeted by a message saying 'your music cannot be played until you verify your page.' Hm, I supposed I can understand that. Facebook wants to make sure you have the right to post the music of this band. When I clicked 'OK' I was shown this messge: "For legal reasons, Facebook can only authorize you to upload music to your Page if you verify that you formally represent Turkuaz. Please upload a valid form of legal identification (only passports, photo drivers licenses, or school IDs will be accepted) that identifies you as Josh Schwartz.' Interesting.

I then clicked on the 'why is this required?' button, and learned that 'by submitting a valid form of identification, you are confirming that you either own the copyright to the content you will be uploading (which I don't) or that you are authorized by the copyright owner to upload that copyrighted content to your Page." Obviously the latter holds true for my situation. But how does uploading my ID prove that I have permission to upload Turkuaz's music? What's to stop someone with a fake ID from creating a fictional Facebook account, creating a band profile for a major artist, and get permission to upload their songs by showing Facebook a scanned picture of the fake ID? It all seemed a bit ridiculous, but I figured it was just a minor security precaution to cover their asses from being sued by the major record labels. I figured I'd just scan my driver's license, upload it, and be posting Turkuaz's songs in no time.

Indeed, when I uploaded my ID, I was pleased to read that the verification process would take AT MOST two business days. What I didn't realize was that Facebook's lexicon is different from the rest of the English speaking world. When the rest of us say 'two business days,' we mean 'two days excluding the weekend.' When Facebook says 'two business days,' they mean 'AT LEAST THREE FUCKING WEEKS IF YOU'RE REALLY LUCKY, EVEN IF YOU WRITE A POLITE BUT URGENT EMAIL ASKING WHEN IT WILL BE DONE!' I did in fact write Facebook an email after a week and a half, and received the following response:

Hi Josh,

I apologize for the delay. We review all of the IDs in the order we receive them, so it's likely that we have simply received quite a few IDs recently (so you weren't ready to handle the influx of bands using your new feature). We will review them as quickly as possible (it won't be quick at all). We appreciate your patience (I am not being patient, hence my email to you). Please let me know if you have any other questions (yeah, why the hell do you say it'll take at most two business days if you know damn well it will take much longer??).

Thanks for contacting Facebook (I'm actually sorry I did. I'm more frustrated now than I was before!)

Claire
Customer Operations
Facebook

Well, Claire? Making your loyal customers wait weeks to simply upload their own music onto their own band profile is ludicrous, unprofessional, and unacceptable, especially when it's just to cover your own asses. I also don't recall reading any legal jargon notifying me of the consequences I'd face if I uploaded music I didn't have the right to. And even if I couldn't upload a major band's music because the verification process is prohibitively slow, I could still create a whole profile for the band and act like I represent them.

I have an idea. Trash the whole ID verification process. It's clearly not working. Just post a notice that if you upload music when you're not allowed to do so, your Facebook account will be deleted. There. Problem solved. Everyone who uses Facebook (myself included) is so dependent on the social network to remain in-the-loop with the goings on of friends, acquaintances, and ex-lovers, that it wouldn't be worth it to post music without permission.

I usually like that Facebook acts like a benevolent king, controlling its subjects' freedoms for their own good. Now, however, Facebook is just being an illogical bureaucracy with all its unnecessary red-tape and frivolous procedures. I miss the king.

- Josh "Thank you for your patience" Schwartz

The Dotted Line

2008-04-24T20:43:00.009-04:00

In the beginning it was very simple. Record music at home... put it on the Internet... and sell it cheap. Split it 50-50, artist and label. This was the Galaxy Smith model in its earliest days of conception. No need for a business plan. No need for contracts. We don't need any money. We've got a home recording studio and an internet connection. There's the whole business right there. We're gonna be huge in no time! We're the first people ever to think of this.

Well...sometimes it does seem that we're the only ones doing this. Sure a lot of bands have an impressive online presence through which they digitally distribute their music. But a homegrown label featuring multiple artists who all work together and know each other, where everything is done in-house and is exclusively digital?... this seems to me to be something new that begs for many more participants and much more attention. It really is amazing that there aren't a million more of these things out there. It's a "Digital Media Collective," as we've started calling it in the past few months, with intentions of expanding the art forms featured on the site.

So why isn't everyone doing this? (If they are please let me know!) Contrary to what some people think when they comment on our straight-forward and simple, yet surprisingly unique business model, I would love for there to be a bunch more independent digital labels out there. I tend not to look at anything as competition in the modern day music industry. Everyone is an ally and an opportunity to expand and grow. So if we could link up and cross-promote with other similar entities, it would be a very positive thing for us in our current baby stage as a company. Maybe everyone's not doing this because it turns out it's not so easy.

Ok... so we have the songs, the musicians and the studio. We're already a few steps ahead of the game as far as most aspiring musicians out there go. What's next? Oh! A website. Ok... no big deal. Turns out I didn't know a damn thing about web design. The more I learned, the more I realized how essential a contract would be with our developers to ensure that we end up with the final product we need in exchange for our limited funds. So there it was, the first in a long series of contracts. What I didn't know was that this would be by far the simplest and easiest contract I would ever have the misfortune of reading through. That's understandable as well because it really did need to be way longer than it was, covering a much wider array of potential circumstances and be a lot more specific in its language. Though there have been some tricky times in trying to perfect this thing (there's always more to be done), we've made out quite nicely thus far and our web team has been very understanding and helpful.

Once the ball was rolling on that it was time to make the other things official. It seemed that perhaps I should make this a legitimate company. I started Galaxy Smith, Inc. around November of '06. Forming a corporation with lawyers and sorting through legal jargon and regulations was a more realistic taste of what was to come than anything I had experienced yet. Once the paperwork on that was in, the lawyers started bringing up all these crazy, foreign ideas. Artist contracts? Business plan? Stock issuance? Trademark registration? I told them they didn't understand. We are all friends. And the music is good! It's gonna be very simple. We don't need contracts or anything. That would just make things weird.

Well I was right about the last part. Contracts can make things weird when you're in a room full of friends, hoping that the company doesn't somehow get screwed over by some of the leniency, or that people aren't gonna think you're trying to screw them over with some of the more binding stipulations of the agreement. But nonetheless, I was being told from all angles that I would be insane to proceed without legitimizing the various relationships the company was about to forge with sufficient paperwork. First, getting the agreement on paper with the artists turned out not to be just a promise that we would split everything 50-50. Sure that's in there, but there's a huge amount of other things that I would have never worried about had the lawyers not said anything. Likeness rights... auditing rights... exclusivity... indemnification, the list goes on and on... Then onto bringing in other owners of the company (I figured out after a few months that I couldn't do everything myself) - vesting periods... private placement memorandums... repurchase options... performance reviews... Then bringing in advisors (turns out people with experience can be awfully helpful if you're hoping to make or raise money) - confidentiality... successors... severability... convertible notes... Where is all this shit coming from? I thought we were just selling music! I even had to make a contract with myself for the company to rent my gear and services.

So yes contracts can make things very weird, and tedious, and just plain annoying. I suppose though that in the long run it makes things less weird, because everyone knows where they stand. The contract shows a certain degree of professionalism and seriousness that can give everyone the feeling that something is really going on. It makes everyone commit to doing their part in what will make the business eventually successful. Even if it's your best friend... or especially if it is, the contract can be essential in protecting everyone's position and stake in what they contribute, and it can be a good way (odd as it sounds) to successfully differentiate between a business relationship on paper and a friendship.

Don't get me wrong... I still bounce back and forth between laughing and crying at how ridiculous these things can seem while trying to get through all 16 pages of a pessimistic, convoluted and repetitive legal agreement between myself and people who I'd trust with my life (or myself and myself as it occasionally happens). But I often have been very grateful that I've had the help of lawyers who didn't let anything go unnoticed and made sure to account for any possibility that could present itself. Already a good amount of their attention to detail has come in quite handy.

So yes, I've learned a lot more than I ever thought I would know about business and law, and I think incorporating those aspects into the nature of work that we do has also taught me an equal amount if not more about music and friendships. Overall I'm glad that this has been such a multi-faceted project that changes everyday. I'm always adapting to new situations that arise, and learning to balance legal expectations with the reality of relationships and life better and better every day. Now let's just sell some fucking music!

- Dave "The Prez" Brandwein

With a Little Help From My Friends

2008-04-13T23:22:00.007-04:00

To navigate through MySpace is to sail through waves of visual and oratory vomit, happening upon pristine islands of good design and enjoyable music from time to time. Now, I myself am an amateur designer at best, merely dabbling in HTML code and computer art, two fields people devote their whole lives to. I also am not a producer, nor do I currently have any music I created online. What I am, however, is someone who appreciates good design and good music, hence my love of the seizure-inducing ring tone banner ads and angst-ridden garage bands that abound in MySpace.

If it weren't for the good music you find if you search long enough, I wouldn't search at all on MySpace. Ol' Tom decided to give people ultimate freedom in designing their profiles. A cottage industry sprouted to supply hideous profile templates, nauseatingly clichéd quotes, and a whole slew of ring tone ads (who buys these things?)...and the people ate it all up. Now I have to submit my eyes to such heinous, often times blatantly anti-functional designs that I rarely venture into the world of personal profiles, which I find to be far worse than band profiles. Most bands at least try not to look like absolute morons.

Now that I've been designing MySpace profiles a bit for some of the Galaxy Smith artists, I'm appreciative of the freedom I have to edit any aspect of the page exactly how I please (I'll let you know when I'm good enough to fully use that freedom). That is, I'm appreciative until the next minor CSS code problem I encounter that makes a JPEG appear fifteen pixels too wide on Internet Explorer. Then I curse the very freedom I hold so dear, longing for the uniformity and simplicity of Facebook pages. Luckily for me, I take care of those too for Galaxy Smith and our artists.

Everything looks clean on Facebook. The borders are precise, the colors, complimentary. There are clear sections and subsections, and the information is always legible. But that's one of the main differences between MySpace and Facebook: the former is an empty canvas to express yourself visually and musically, while the latter is a more utilitarian tool for displaying information about yourself. On a Facebook profile, the only visual editing you do is change your profile picture and your photo albums and videos. Other than that, your power lies in the written word. It makes you wonder why Facebook hasn't become more blog-centric... yet.

One -centric Facebook is trying to become is music-centric. Bands can now create profiles where they do all the things regular users can, with a few extra specials thrown in. As with personal profiles, you can't change the look or layout. But by making an artist profile, you can get in on what could potentially be an important channel through which to communicate with the public. Don't get me wrong, MySpace is still king when it comes to musical networking and publicity. But with Facebook's popularity among 12-24-year-olds (not a bad demographic to reach), and their eagerness to beat out MySpace and other social networks as the all-inclusive, one-stop-shop social network, Facebook could start becoming a decent place to explore music and present your music to music fans.

For now, we're going to continue to develop Galaxy Smith's presence in both networks (among other places), learning little by little, along with everyone else on this fascinating infant we call the Internet, how to pay the rent with a little help from our MySpace and Facebook friends.*

- Josh "Not A Real Designer But Still A Design Snob" Schwartz

*(I don't actually make money off my MySpace and Facebook friends. You get my general point).

Do It Yourself!

2008-04-08T08:33:00.006-04:00

Yes, I remember those simpler days of being in a band - all of us huddled around my little 8-track recorder in my basement, making our first full length release, which would of course be burned onto about a hundred or so CD-R's in each of my band mate's respective living rooms. We had no idea what we were doing but I suppose that was really the fun of it. At the time it seemed as though we really had this music thing figured out. How hard can it be? I'll just keep writing these songs, I'll show them to the band, and then we all plug into this machine that records it. If we burn CD's and give them out to everyone we know, the record deal will come in no time. Then we just tour the world, sell millions of records, and develop horrible drug habits which slowly tear us apart as a band, making for a decent VH1 "Behind the Music."

So things didn't really work out exactly as we planned back in 9th grade. Turns out record labels don't show much interest if you don't play any shows, or promote yourself in any way besides pawning off your album in the hallways of your high school to your local, yet loyal supporters. As it has happened, I've had a very different experience thus far than I expected in the music business. However, I like to think that the experience I am having is significantly more rewarding than if I had just been picked up by a label that could pay my way onto the radio and MTV, putting my music into a neat little package that is palatable for the taste of the masses. That would have never worked for me.

When the realization came that high school was ending (much to my surprise it seemed I was actually going to graduate) and I was gonna have to make a decision as to what exactly I would spend my time doing, the option of music school appeared as a median between pursuing a career in music and going to college. I felt like a bit of a sellout going to Berklee (as I suppose every once in a while I still do) but I really tried to look at it as the beginning of a career in music, surrounded by a network of people and a wide array of tools that I could either use to my advantage, or of course choose not to as well. This kept me optimistic before arriving in Boston, and it's kept me sane throughout my time going to school here. I'm just about done and I've seen a lot of things at Berklee. Some things I take, and others I leave. All in all I definitely do not regret it. Instead of sitting in my room and practicing scales for four years, or transcribing the jazz giants of the past like many Berklee students tend to do, I decided to try to really get a "best of" Berklee experience and sample all that it has to offer. I've learned about almost every single aspect of the music industry as far as I can think of, from scoring films to negotiating contracts, analyzing chord structures to mixing and mastering, and I've learned it all from working musicians (though some are working more than others). So now I am at the end of it, and though I don't have that major label record deal I so longed for in high school, I have a record label of my own.

I think Bob Lefsetz would agree that I'm in a better situation now than I could have foreseen 5 or 10 years ago. I've created a platform where a community of talented and young, yet accomplished musicians can distribute directly to listeners all over the world, without signing away their rights and their ability to ever see a cent in royalty checks (I will explain more in the future on how major labels work for those of you who don't know). This new business model for music has unlimited potential for growth, and really brings us musicians closer to those "simpler" times that most of us start to assume can never resemble what an active career in the music industry is like. Had I been signed to a major label by this time, I would have already given away most of what I can potentially earn from my music to a company that has a short list of possible final acts of desperation it can carry out before its inevitable demise. Where I stand now there is only potential for the future, and possibilities for new and exciting things to happen.

So here I am once again with a band of musicians, huddled around a machine trying to make those recordings that will take us to the top. Now we just know a little more, the gear is a little better, the industry has changed and the world is a lot smaller. Perhaps it isn't so different than those "simpler" days of being in a band. And maybe it doesn't have to be. Of course because this is a business that needs to be planned and organized properly, there is work to be done that goes along with writing, playing and recording (as Josh discussed yesterday), but the idea is still the same. It's just being carried out more efficiently. There is something very comforting about the fact that all this time and experience has really not taken me away from that original goal of making good music and sharing it with the world. And you know, I think I'll have quite a story to tell when it's all over, whether VH1 wants it or not.

- Dave "Do It Yourself" Brandwein

A Simpler Time

2008-04-07T14:30:00.004-04:00

Ah, to return to those simple days when being in a band was simple. I'm speaking of those high school days, when being in a band meant jamming out once a week and rounding up your 16-year-old stoned friends to come watch your mediocre performance once a month or so. Drawing twenty people (ten of which were the bandmates' immediate family) was a success. Fliers and other promotional materials for the band were paid for by your parents and 'return on investment' (ROI) was a term uttered only in stuffy board rooms by those same parents. Back in the day, my bandmates and I would print lavish color fliers because, well, that's just what you did if you were a band (and because we sure as hell weren't paying for them). If I were working as an intern in an office, I'd sometimes print off loads of color fliers on the company dime when no one was watching. I felt like a bad ass rocker sticking it to the man in the name of music.

Now that I'm living in the (semi) real world, things aren't quite as simple. Sure, I could design and print vinyl stickers and color posters for Galaxy Smith, Turkuaz, or any other musical entity I might be a part of. But where will the money come from? For every dollar I spend on promotions, how much money will we get back in the long term, either from people coming to the show, checking out galaxysmith.com, or visiting Turkuaz's myspace page and downloading an album? Somehow, without realizing it, those once-foreign terms like ROI, gross and net profits, hell, even the term 'budget,' have crept into my vocabulary, making me feel much older than I did a year ago when the only budget I had to worry about was my bar budget at Syracuse University.

Yet along with the added responsibilities comes an added sense of accomplishment. I feel a sense of pride when people comment me on the concert posters I designed. And as we begin online marketing campaigns for Galaxy Smith and its artists (set to begin this week), I'll surely rejoice when our hit count (and hopefully download count) begins to climb. Turkuaz is going to be playing bigger and bigger shows, especially once we move to New York; now instead of worrying about the additional promotional and organizational work I'm going to have piled on me, I embrace the added work as a necessary companion to being able to rock out on stage with ten friends in awesome venues. After all, if I didn't have those additional responsibilities, I'd just have to worry about rocking out... which would really suck...

I've made a terrible mistake.

-Josh "Mr. Responsible" Schwartz

Remember to Remix

2008-04-03T02:01:00.006-04:00

So here were are...April 2nd...or 3rd rather... and Radiohead has released individual stem tracks from their haunting single "Nude" to be remixed by friends and foes alike. And yes... I am indeed guilty of being one of the many poor saps giving in and attempting to create the masterpiece that will hurl me to the top of the internet remix community...who or what-ever that is.

Radiohead are certainly not the first to pull this stunt (Beck and Trent Reznor - to name a couple) however they seem to have done it at the most opportune time and in the most prominent way I've seen thus far. The group took the spotlight in the digital music realm several months back when releasing their (originally download only) new album through their very own website which allowed fans to choose what they felt it was appropriate to pay in exchange for the music. Now, several months later the boys have decided to see what the online musical community can do with some nice ambient, yet beat-inducing audio tracks to work with. So far I can say that the frontrunners in this remix race are less than impressive in my book. I suppose the speed at which this material seems to have been created is something to take note of. In fact at this moment there have already been 234 remixes submitted to radioheadremix.com. I received the email notifying me of the situation at 5:45 PM. If my calculations are correct, (I know Josh would hope that they always are) than there have been roughly 26 remixes uploaded per hour since the "contest" has been announced. Oh... and by the way... if anybody has any idea what the reward is, please let me know ASAP.

Am I jealous? Yes I am. If I've heard correctly, (which is something I hope you count on less than I do) than Radiohead has made more off of the "In Rainbows" release, than the sum of all releases prior. Now on top of that they have figured out a way to have a huge handful of online customers pay half the price of a typical album download once again. Granted not everyone who bought the album will download these tracks. But I bet a lot of them will! And what does it cost when you have your own studio, label and server? And the new EP you've released is made up entirely of pre-released material??? NOTHING (or close to it). Yes. They have done quite a number on us. And do we mind? No. Or rather... Do I mind? NO! I just wish I were in the position to do the same.

When Radiohead released "In Rainbows" in the digitally revolutionary and logical way that they did, I was at first confused about my feelings on the situation. Here was arguably the biggest band in the world (and certainly one of my favorites), and they were doing what I thought was an original idea just about a year before. No labels. No nonsense. Musicians create their project in a recording studio. They take what they have done and they release it directly to their fans on something we call the "internet", which allows practically any customer in the world to find you and your product no matter where or when you make your attack, if they are so inclined. At first I felt defeated that I hadn't gotten the Galaxy Smith name and concept out there before Radiohead made the digital revolution into old news. After a while however, I got over the disillusion that our company would be the first to introduce fans and musicians to the idea that labels, and all the middlemen of yesteryear, are no longer totally necessary, and I became grateful that a group which I respect and value so much as artists had the insight to bring this change about in a way that immediately took more people along for the ride than we would be able to do for a long, long time.

So here I am and it's almost 3 in the morning. I've just finished working on my "Nude" remix for the night and I've decided that I can deal with not being in the first few hundred to upload a version. I suppose the contestants so far figure that the sooner they are on the radar screen, the more votes they will get and along with that, the most attention they will get from the early on-lookers of this derivative work extravaganza. I would prefer to take my time, given that I at least get something up there in the next few days. Undoubtedly there will be thousands and thousands of submissions by that point. I can only hope that the "public" voting on the tracks will be able to sort through the mess of techno junk and nonsense on radioheadremix.com, and be able to find the few tracks on there that are worthy of a good, hearty listen (whether mine is deemed one of those or not).

So without expressing too much late night frustration I will simply end this entry with a congratulations to the boys of Radiohead. You have yet again shown your uncanny ability to embrace a good situation when it presents itself, and to do it in a way that stays true to the love and appreciation of music and creativity. I only hope that we meet very soon on the digital charts (once they figure out a way to measure that sort of thing) and that we here at Galaxy Smith can enjoy similar instant artist to fan success in the near future.

Remember to remix everyone. You might just get famous! (Keep telling yourself that!)

galaxysmith.com

- "Dangerous" Dave Brandwein

Mathematical Muck

2008-04-02T21:38:00.005-04:00

Dave and I have been faced with the daunting task of figuring out the budget for Galaxy Smith for the next few years. This involves making worst, middle, and best case scenarios for all revenue streams and creative endeavors, calculating the future costs associated with working and living in New York City (the most expensive city in the country!), and a whole lot more number crunching than my brain cares to deal with. Add to the mix the fact that this is our first time starting up a company and that we're depending on Galaxy Smith to be able to eat non-dumpster food and live indoors in the Big Apple, and you've got yourself one tricky situation.

As I alluded to just before, I am terrible with numbers. I love knowing random numbers, like the number of homicides this year in Boston (15) or the number of of zeros that follow 1 in a google (100; yes a google is a number). I also love music, which is arguably nothing more than a beautiful representation of math. But when it comes to calculating numbers and combining them in complex ways, my first instinct is to ask someone else.

Fortunately Dave is pretty good with numbers, and we both really want this company to work (and know it will), so at one point we just rolled up our sleeves and dove head-first into the mathematical muck. This muck turned out to be even thicker than we'd thought; every calculation we had to make revealed two more sub-calculations, all of which had to be repeated in various scenarios for each of the next three years. There were times we spent hours on a certain calculation only to find that we'd made a minute but crucial error somewhere along the way, bringing us back to square one for the day. I know I spent a few sleepless nights haunted by the image of endless decimal places attacking me from all directions. Yet slowly but surely, inch by inch, number by number, we boldly plodded ahead.

Now that we're about finished with the budgeting process, we're actually more excited about Galaxy Smith because we have substantiated figures to back our enthusiasm. Scoffing at record label fat cats who still insist that retail prices must be high enough and artist contracts must be evil enough in order for the label to make any money, we know that we can continue to build our collective of artists and friends in a mutually beneficial way.

But I still hate math.

-Josh "Numerically Challenged" Schwartz

Start Me Up

2008-04-01T14:10:00.004-04:00

I didn't know what to expect when the thought popped into my head that fateful day to start a digital record label. In fact, I really didn't even think of it like that. I looked around my living room one night. Things were in full swing of course. Mat Davidson was chucking away on the mandolin, singing some old timey numbers... Elijah was banging on a variety of percussion instruments, and of course a whole chorus of people were stacking on the vocal harmonies pretty thick. I could hear Mike beatboxing out in the hallway, and I was suddenly inspired by the fact that what had become completely commonplace for us, this life of ongoing creativity, fun, and expression, was something that perhaps people would be interested in seeing. If only there were a way for everyone to just tune in whenever they wanted to see what we're up to. There were certainly a number of locals dropping in to say hi and check out the scene quite frequently. If only the rest of the world could do the same. Ahh yes. The Internet.

The idea really came from quite an innocent place. I just pictured a little web cam that would broadcast straight from our porch or living room to the rest of the world. This way we could entertain more than just ourselves and our group of onlookers. However as the idea developed a little more, it became apparent that I couldn't just lock all these guys in our house or chain them to the porch and make them play music all day in front of a camera, although I am eager to go back in this direction quite soon. I figured the next best thing was to create sort of a Myspace, YouTube, iTunes hybrid exclusively for our community of musicians, where we can all display our music and vision in a high-quality and aesthetically unique setting.

So now it's a year and half later and Galaxysmith.com is up and running. It was a long process with lawyers, accountants, advisors, online vendors, web designers and of course musicians. On the creative end of things I have really made the effort to keep everything as fun and natural as it was in the early days of Galaxy's conception while still maintaining a high level of productivity. And sure enough, the result has been some of the best work by many of our musicians including myself. I chose to do things on the business end in the most legitimate ways I knew how, covering everything from incorporation and trademark registration, to artist contracts (though we're all quite good friends thus far) and creating an agreement on paper for Galaxy Smith to rent my studio equipment from me. The list goes on and on and on and on... And there is still plenty more to do. I am quite happy however with our results so far. We have just recently taken on three new artists, all of which will be available on the site in the near future, and we're adding new features and "specials" (as we often like to call them) everyday to enhance the site's functionality and "stickiness".

The company along with most of its musicians will be relocating to New York after this final summer in Boston. We are welcoming the change with open arms and are confident that next year will be even more productive and fruitful than this year has been. One thing I can say about starting a company, especially a digital record label (seemingly one of the first of its kind) in this digital music revolution, is that each day is filled with surprises, good and bad, but it is always exciting and extremely rewarding. Every so often I get the feeling that we really are exploring entirely new territory with Galaxy Smith, and though we may have to push a little harder to get through to the other side, I believe that there is something quite spectacular waiting for us.

I look forward from this point on to sharing my daily experiences and adventures in this digital revolution as we expand our horizons further and further.

- Dave "The Destroyer" Brandwein

On Liquid and Lettuce

2008-04-01T12:51:00.000-04:00

I've never been a soup and salad guy. Well, perhaps for lunch, but for the longest time I would never consider going to a steakhouse and not having a large slab of barely cooked meat sitting in front of me. Then I started going to business meetings.

When Dave and I started having bimonthly business meetings with Ben, the Interim chairman of the board, I was shown a world where you can go to a nice restaurant, eat enough that you're satisfied, and not pay a fortune. The key feature of said world: ordering a soup and salad. Made famous by Ari Gold in Entourage, this seemingly unsatisfying combination is quite the opposite. Plus, this food doesn't require lots of work and concentration, as a steak would, allowing for a more productive discussion of business plans, online marketing, and our crazy night the week before.

So for all those carnivorous guys out there, let me put your worries to rest: by opting out of a steak, you can still satisfy your appetite, and your masculinity.

-Josh "Hungry Man" Schwartz

Donkeys and T.T.'s

2008-03-30T22:28:00.001-04:00

This last weekend was certainly action-packed for the Galaxy Smith crew. There was live music, undulating floors, a donkey named Francesca, and a ringing in my ears that won't go away.

Thursday night Turkuaz headlined at T.T. The Bear's in Cambridge. With mind-numbing long range speakers for a short-range room, the place was rocking quite hard. The night started out with some S.E.X., the five-piece blues rock band backed by Turkuaz's very own bassist Taylor Shell. S.E.X. is all balls and whiskey, with explosive vocals that blow you away and no-nonsense guitar riffs that bring you back in.

After With Engines (another awesome band to check out) and Il Papas played, we took the stage, the rhythm section donning their matching cream-colored dinner jackets, the horn section wearing our goofy gold bow ties, and the lovely lady singers rocking their bright red leggings that were almost as loud as we were.

Then we took to the stage, the horn section decked out in black shoes, black pants, black shirt, gold bow-ties. It was almost midnight but the crowd was strong. As soon as we started playing we all realized it was going to be one of those shows where you can't hear yourself for shit but you just rock on and hope for the best and somehow, almost miraculously, if you all put in the right kind of energy in a focused, cohesive manner, somehow it all works out.

I was amazed at the response we got when we kicked into 'Slippery People' by the Talking Heads. The horn section put down our weapons for this one and rocked some auxiliary percush with myself on the ol' tambourine. Actually ripped open a blister on my finger while playing it. There are torture devices more ergonomically-friendly than this thing. It's all metal and sharp edges, designed by someone who clearly had a sadistic hatred for musicians.

The night was topped off with an encore performance of our version of Wilson Pickett's version of 'Land of a Thousand Dances' which the whole place sang along to. Fully confident that the audience had learned how to Pony like Bony Maronie, we packed up our gear and spilled out into the street with the crowd, gallivanting about the night drunk from funk and drink ticket beers.

Friday we had a show at Hampshire College in Amherst. I had heard of the wonders of this place from Taylor, whose friend got us the gig. I must say it far exceeded my expectations. The place looks like a summer camp for adults. With its food cooperative, bio-deisel fuel farm, and friendly folks that love live music, it's truly a haven for all things hippy.

The room was the main floor of a three-story condo unit. Couldn't have been more than 500 square feet. But with some creative thinking on Dave's part, we spread out along the long wall so that no matter where in the crowd you were, you were in front of one of the musicians. Greg and I didn't have microphones but we didn't need them. We were blowing our face off to people dancing right in front of us. We must've played almost 3 hours in total. At some points the floor was shaking intensely, with beers perched precariously atop the P.A. speaker in between Greg and me which wobbled around from the undulating floor. We quickly learned that the floor was a much more suitable resting place for our beers, our payment for the night. Towards the end we were pressed against the real wall, bombarded with cavorting co-eds, beer and dreadlocks flying everywhere. It was quite a trip.

After the show we got a tour of the coolest parts of the campus. First stop was a root cellar where they store the excess homegrown produce after all the shares of food are distributed each month. We took some carrots, washed and rubbed off the dirt, and devoured them. First time I've ever done that. Won't be my last.

Then we chilled hard with some goats and a donkey named Francesca. She's wise beyond her years. Her eyes are tired but friendly, her demeanor shy yet trusting. Next we checked out some lambs, including adorable baby ones sleeping with their mothers, and some hens. After a much-needed trek to the Hess station for some late night snacks, we walked back to the house along open moonlit fields. Our stomachs full, our minds blown, we all drifted to sleep dreaming of Miller Lite, patchouli oil, and that crazy donkey Francesca.

-Josh "Sax Man" Schwartz