Brian Steen…. The Interview
To say Brian Steen has a passion for music is epitome of an understatement. While he is first and foremost a fan of all things music, it permeates his professional and personal life as well.
In order to break into the industry, he started at an artist management company for singers & songwriters making just $150 a week… in NYC. However, he quickly parlayed this experience into a job as an assistant A&R rep at Wind Up Records. For the past five years, Brian has been working as a Producer at Sony Music focusing on the huge growth area in digital with a focus on developing artist ring tones.
While his day job at Sony pays the bills, Brian’s aspiration is to make his living doing what he loves as a Singer/Songwriter. While still trying to find the perfect combination for a band, Brian continues to churn out great music on his own. To get a taste of what I’m talking about, check out some of his tracks at www.myspace.com/bristeen.
Given your experience working on the digital side of the business as well as trying to make it big as an artist in the digital age, how do you feel the music industry has evolved?
As we know, everything is Do It Yourself (DIY) now. POWER TO THE CONSUMER!!! The DIY revolution comes from not wanting to be told what is or is not cool. Today’s kids make “it” (their music) and if people eat “it” up, so be it. But at least they make “it” and exercise “it”. . . and get “it” out to be seen. Most often today’s music fan appreciates what is NOT commercially plastered everywhere. They want to be unique in their tastes, so they cater to smaller, indie bands with artistic freedoms, who actually say what they feel.
As an artist, what advantages and disadvantages have you personally experienced thus far? And how, if at all, has it affected how you make music?
Great question. It takes a second to really consider, “How am I affected by the changes in today’s music business?” My initial thought was, “It does not affect how I create.” But, in truth, it does. Let me explain. On the upside of DIY, you really do get to do it YOUR unique way. That way could mean being at home with a hard disk recorder, Protools or spending bread to get into a bigger studio and have someone engineer it for you, but it’s still all degrees of DIY. There is no one else to answer to. In the end, it is YOUR product and your voice. If you have paid attention through the process, you’ll be exactly where you are capable of getting it, as far as the music side goes.
On the downside, instead of just needing a drummer, guitarist, etc., you need people who are versed in other, even more technical, areas of the arts, especially visual design. You need to have the ability to create your own media. You need to be able to design your own image and put it into a digestible format that can be accessed easily and instantly. In the old day, this would be akin to “making your own flyers,” but with your Vimeo’s, Youtubes, and Vevo’s in the world, it’s a much bigger telephone pole that you are stapling to. And it still begs the question of how do you get someone driving by at 75 mph to pay attention to your “flyer”? So now you need someone with a bit of marketing sense, and most bands don’t have that. Most don’t have someone who understands marketing trends and where the next big “thing” is coming from.
There are all of these considerations, and one might still ask them, “But how does it affect your work?” Well. . . TIME! It’s our biggest adversary.
“A relationship…that is bound only to one or two senses is bound to die.”
It used to be to make it big as a band, you had to be on the road supporting your album and growing your fan base. Now that musicians can monetize their music sales and use the internet to reach the world, what happens to the live performance? I personally know that it’s a whole different experience and creates a whole different connection, but it’s a different generation that is experiencing in different ways than we did.
I still believe that it ALL has to be about live performances. While every once and a while a record will come out that really motivates me to want to create my own great record, it does not drive me as much as “owning” a few thousand people for an hour or two the way you feel you can when performing. I still walk away from shows and say to myself, “That’s what I want to do!!! I want to rock a crowd like that.” That’s because live performances, for me, cover all the senses–the sound, obviously, the sight, the feel of others around us moving in rhythm with us . . . the taste of cold beers or stolen kisses during the middle of a show . . . the smell of smoke machines and sweat from a crowd gone wild. These things are all what make a live show a live show. It attacks more of our brain, like a more full sensory experience. I mean… it’s the difference between web-camming with my girlfriend in the UK or seeing her in person. You cannot compare the two. Sure, I love to see her face and to hear her voice. But, I can’t feel it. . . I can’t smell her hair or touch her face. And a relationship, say between a listener and an artist, that is bound only to one or two senses is bound to die. It will never be real and cannot be expected to blossom like one that has roots in all five senses. I think this is why many really great bands fly underneath the radar. Because the proof is not in a great record—the proof is in a great performance. I have never heard anyone walk away from their iPod looking to change the world.
What did I learn?
As always, I walk away from a conversation with Brian knowing more than when we started talking and with my head full of things to ponder. My biggest professional takeaway is the amazing parallel of how digital is impacting the world of marketing and music so similarly. Everyone wants to go digital, even if they don’t know exactly what that means or how to do it. Sure, you can get a clever message out and even build a following, but for most brands, and just like a great band, you have to be able to deliver in the live interaction to making a lasting impact.
Until the next time…