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I recently presented the case at two very different music conferences with extremely interesting results.

At this years AES http://www.aes.org/events/128/ i was lucky enough to share the stage with:

Paul Jessop, Consultant IFPI/RIAA

Simon Hutchinson, PPL

Chris Clark, British Library Sound Archive

George Massenburg, P&E wing, NARAS

Malcolm Atkin, Archive Consultant and chairman of APRS

John Spencer-BMS Chace

The panel, entitled ’After the Ball – Protecting the Crown Jewels’ set out to address not only the issue of crediting peoples work but something i had not thought about before; the archiving and protection of the musical recordings themselves.

John Spencer presented a very interesting website developed in conjunction with the US library of Congress. The simple online programme included many fields to input data with tie-ins to all the major collection agencies and labels around the world.  Unfortunately the site is not yet public so you can’t see the detail he showed myself and the AES but it seems to be a possible way ahead. Check their website here http://bmschace.com/archive/index.html.

After John’s presentation the panel kicked in.

Malcolm Atkin made some very interesting observations regarding his work at Abbey Road on archiving and restoring media from the last 50 years. Of course inevitable the much maligned 2 inch tape proved to be the most reliable medium to back up to with 50 year old tapes still fully playable.

The entire digital domain did not fair well, the ubiquitous hard drive proving the worst with an average 80% failure rate after only 5 years!! Better get all those sessions on DVD then (sadly not much better)!

Also sadly lacking in the modern digital world are the recall notes normally associated with the sessions. With tape machines came tape op’s whose job involved making detailed notes regarding the recording, track listing and recall of the technology involved in capturing a performance and sound. With the advent of digital, tape ops/assistants (if they actually are on a session) now make tea and not much else. Without these notes it will be that much harder to dissect and understand todays recordings in years to come.

An obvious example of how this has educated and inspired is Kevin Ryan and Brian Kehews book Recording the Beatles http://www.recordingthebeatles.com/

The Beatles recordings are obviously some of the most sought after sounds and the knowledge of what went on within the hallowed walls of Abbey road can only be shared thanks to the detailed notes made by the assistants and engineers on the sessions, a point certainly backed up by Chris Clark from the British Library.

The concept of flattened masters arose. With so many Pro Tools sessions floating around of the same track and with many often being worked on by different engineers a finished, flattened session becomes even more important. How are we to know what constitutes the Lead vocal if the session turns up with 50 lead vocal tracks?

I was bought up with making decisions due to the constraints of tape. With the unlimited track count in digital sessions are often 200/300 tracks large. This must ultimately fall to the job of the Producer.

Simon Hutchinson made a very sad point. 200,000 titles in the PPL database have no song title and no artist name. Who owns them, played on them, owns the copyright, publishing, etc? All royalties for those tracks are therefore suspended. Again without the inclusion of credit data these titles will almost certainly remain unclaimed.

PPL are also in the process of updating their website to hopefully address these issues.

I made the point of this info helping to inspire and educate future generations (see original post) and the need for it to be attached to the listening experience. I also pointed out the demise of the Thank You credit, another loss no one had thought about.

George Massenburg raised the concept of Education. Educating not only the producers, engineers and musicians but also the labels and publishers. There are courses galore for engineering but none to teach the concept of data inclusion and archiving. Incentive is an issue. Could there be a financial incentive?

Who will pay for all this work in the first place? Could we persuade people to apportion a % of their earnings in the same way we do for their pension?

All very interesting points. I left there with more concerns and even more questions unanswered although it was great to see such eminent heads also as passionate and involved as i am.

I then jetted off to Ibiza for the IMS http://www.internationalmusicsummit.com/

I had been asked by Pete Tong to address the convention regarding this issue. On the whole I got a very healthy response with the usual reply “Why has this been allowed to happen?” “It’s because we’ve let it slide and it’s our job to rectify it” comes my reply.

The dance community have always been at the forefront of change and were certainly one of the first to embrace the digital age. Of course with its accent on the DJ a few people couldn’t understand why crediting musicians, mastering and all was so important although of course the bedroom brigade were very understanding. A few pointed to the Blog as being the modern equivalent. Of course I argued once again that we shouldn’t have to rely on the witterings of some unconnected 3rd party to safeguard the future accuracy of our work. On the whole a very satisfying event

Both conventions have made me realise that we now need to go further than I initially thought. Up to now I was content to push for the simple yet comprehensive and accurate info to be included in all future digital mediums. I now realise that we will need to offer more. Credits on records are not interesting enough and not an incentive enough.  Modern technology and the internet offer a far more comprehensive and exciting option to inspire and educate. Therefore we should take up the mantle and look to novel ways to involve this and much more.

Thats the only way we are going to sneak this info on board is by providing more incentive for the industry and public alike.

TommyD

When was the last time you looked at the credits on an album?

If you’re like me and the 300 MILLION other owners of MP3 players, it’s probably a while since you checked the credits of any album. If you own one of the 9 billion songs that have been downloaded from the Apple iTunes store, there is no way of knowing the answer to any of the questions listed above.

In fact, there is no information relating to the Recording, Musicians, Equipment, Publishing or Thank You’s on any downloadable MP3.

When I first started buying records (vinyl in those days!), one of my favourite pastimes, while listening excitedly to my latest acquisition, was to review the packaging, marvel at the artwork and scour the credits on the inner sleeve.

Ahhh the credits…. Who wrote what? recorded where? and played that Gibson double neck?

The credits drew me in, befriended me, gave me a more personal slant on the music. If I saw a familiar name in the Thank You’s, it felt like I’d been given a secret pass (backstage?) into the bands world. It also gave me blagging rights over my mates as too who knew what, a forerunner to the pop pub quiz perhaps?

From credits, I learnt about the genius of engineers like Bruce Swedien and Tom Dowd, Producers like Nile Rogers, Hank Shocklee and George Martin as well as countless back room musicians and songwriters. These people sparked my imagination to set forth on a path to inspire others, the way they inspired me.

If someone created something wonderful, be it the drum sound or the front cover, then I wanted to know everything about that record and those that had been involved and helped these amazing slabs of art come to life.

The record companies, producers and artists took great pains in correlating this information and making sure it was documented accurately and for all to see on the backs of records and CD’s and for good reason. Of course it’s great to see your name in lights but, more importantly, they knew how imperative it is to stand proud next to the work you’ve done.

It is safe to say that credits help to inspire the making and performing of all future music

Although these same credits are there for all to see on any modern CD release, they are restricted solely to CD’s. Even when you take your CD and burn it in the computer, the credits will not be transferred.

When you download a track from iTunes, it includes ‘meta data’, which provides only the Artist, Track name, Album name, year of recording and genre. There are no spaces for engineer, producer, studio, etc. And let us not forget sleeve design, photo credits, mastering, A+R, or even the label’s name…the list is endless.

Meta data is just simple text.

CD sales are on a steep decline and it is quite possible we will see the demise of the CD within the next 3 years.

This will leave the world of credits in a dire place.

There are websites, e.g. www.discogs.com, where you can find all kinds of info, but its all too disorganized and more importantly its not connected to the listening experience.

It seems strange that, in this world of mass communication and assimilation of info, we are now in a position where we know less about the music we’re listening to then ever before. With iPhones and their ilk, there is a huge opportunity to incorporate a myriad of fascinating information, e.g. interviews with the artist or producer, studio notes or observations from the writer. Imagine spicing up a boring bus commute with an in depth interview with Quincy Jones or Rod Temperton while listening to Thriller.

There are other important issues with the lack of information on recordings. For many years, album credits have been a useful reference for, amongst others, PRS, BMI, PPL, etc. to facilitate the payment of lost royalties. As recording royalties subside and performance royalties increase, a guarantee of who played what on an album becomes a very important source of income for musicians, as well as the Inland Revenue!

Myself and my fellow members of the MPG feel this issue should at least be debated out in the open with a view to garnering the opinions of all those involved; artists, labels, audience and sales alike.

MPG member and winner of this years MPG and Brits Producer of the year, Paul Epworth agrees:

“While a lot of this is information is widely available via the wonder of the web, too much of it is missing and far from accurate. There needs to be a resource that gives the next generation of musicians, producers and artists somewhere to go to find out who to follow!!”

Credit information needs to be incorporated into the listening experience and made accessible for those that wish to know it, need it, and most importantly be inspired by it. We should be proud of the work we do. If we’re not, who will be?

Our fore fathers understood that, why can’t we?