• Beethoven, Mozart and Bach -
top dogs
• Classical Period - 18th
century
• Concerts = $$$
• Only time to hear their music
• Composers/musicians
regarded as artists
pre-1938
Alex Steinweiss
• First Art department
head of Columbia
Records
• Designed first album
covers
• Golden age of Jazz
• Graphic, poster
intention
Rick
Griffin
Stanley Mouse
• Surfer + Surf Art
• Read MAD Magazine
• Close with The Grateful Dead
• Designed their albums and
posters
• leading psychedelic poster
designer
• San Francisco based
• influenced by Rick Griffin and Art Nouveau
like Alphonse Mucha
• Hippie art and psychedelic stuff
• befriended Journey, Grateful Dead &
made posters and albums covers for them
• Music Industry is screwed in the 21st cent.
• CD sales suck, people just stream and
steal
• Musicians aren’t valued as artists, nor are
albums valued as art largely
• Different ways to handle this situation
In Rainbows (2007) was
released for digital
download “name your
price”
• First time a large
band had done
something like this
Trent Reznor
released Year Zero in
2007
• Album was paired
with a remixed album
and video game
(poster from the
game)
Those two artists adapted one way,
compromising and using the system
Did it devalue their art, to give it away for
free?
Were these attempts to gain respect as
artists or to play into the failing system?
• Once Upon a Time in
Shaolin
• One record, on tour to
galleries, museums, etc.
• Only time you can hear it is
if you pay to hear it in the
gallery
• Restore music as high art
“History demonstrates that great musicians such
as Beethoven, Mozart and Bach are held in the
same high esteem as figures like Picasso,
Michelangelo and Van Gogh”
“The idea that music is art has been something
we advocated for years” -RZA
Will this trend continue to spread?
Will more albums see limited releases and
be treated as works of art?
Will the public support this concept?
Me:
yes yes and no