Scots-born rock musician, Bob Findlay, initally humbugged the notion of what he termed “overdoing technology.”
Since returning to the music industry in later April, 2007, he seems to be leaning more towards the avenues presented by this relatively new mode of music production and promotion. I spoke recently to Findlay in regard to his first digital album release, ‘Blind Horse’, and was surprisingly enlightened by what the usually outspoken and forthright Scotsman had to say about the album, how his attitude towards the internet has gradually changed and the effect it is currently having on his musical direction.
DF: Bob, ‘Rough and Ready’ was released less than three months ago and now you’ve released ‘Blind Horse’. Why the short time-frame and why digital?
B.F: Well, you’ve almost answered your own question. The short time-frame is because of the time saved by the digital process. Once an album is recorded that’s pretty well it. There’s no physical time constraints to mess about with; cover design, CD design and so forth. All the packaging side of it is totally gone which is a huge time and cost saver. The fact that the album only has two new track, so to speak, also helped bring its’ release date forward quite a lot.
D.F: In the past you’ve been critical of companies such as iTunes and Amazon for not really backing their artists.
B.F: I have, but I missed a big point. No-one is actually an iTunes or Amazon artist. These companies are basically charging artists to use their advertising power to help promote their work.
D.F: Isn’t it possible to do this by utilising free sites?
B.F: It is but they don’t seem to have the same scope or reach. I used them, quite a lot of them, for a while and still do but they seem almost regionalised. I know they’re not but lots of artists seem to stick to the same sites come hell or highwater for reasons of loyalty or perhaps it’s a matter of familiarity or sticking to what they know.
D.F: You seem to have been fairly gregarious since returning to the industry, Bob.
B.F: I guess so, to an extent. That’s probably a bit like me in real life too. I’ve never been one to hang around the same mob for too long, for whatever reason. I’ve been with ReverbNation for quite some time as I like their setup. Soundclick seems very regionalised so I’ve kinda pulled back from there; the same with Jamwave and MusicForte.
D.F: I notice that you’ve started your own music page on Facebook. What brought this about?
B.F: It was sort of accidental, really. I’ve been on Facebook for ages but never really paid too much attention until a few months ago when a few old pals turned up there. The next thing I knew this person knew that person who knew me from wherever. It had a band application for ReverbNation which was really handy, but it was the iLike application that really threw a curve at me musically.
D.F: Why was that?
B.F: Well, I’d seen all of these big names; The Stones, Dylan, Lou Reed, The Faces, Status Quo, all of my favourites, y’know? Then I started seeing some folks that I knew from other sites, Uncle Steve, Jodi Ann, Michael Charles, Dawn Alberts, 9 Lives, The Jeff Todd Blues Band and I thought. ‘I quite like the look of that’, y’know? The little orange thumb symbol next to your name. I already had an account there but didn’t pay much attention to it, until recently.
D.F: So how did all of this bring about ‘Blind Horse’ in the way that it has been presented?
B.F: After iLike, I noticed a lot of acts had buy from iTunes or Amazon. In my ignorance I thought people could download from iLike, which they only can if it’s offered as a free download. It was around this time that I got an email from tunecore offering some special or other with regard to getting an album released via one of numerous companies. It all happened fairly quickly.
D.F: When you say quickly, how quickly do you mean, Bob?
B.F: Not quite overnight but pretty close. I had 10 songs from previous albums that had rated well and two that I felt would rate well, reproccessed & remixed them; that was it. I didn’t even bother with an album cover, I let them issue their stock-standard. It was out on Amazon not long afterwards and will be out on iTunes on the 17th.
D.F: Do you regret not doing this earlier or perhaps jumping in, when you did, so quickly?
B.F: I don’t regret doing it when I did, no. I only did it when I did because the sales of ‘Rough and Ready’ could easily justify putting something back into the music. Perhaps given the same time over, I probably would have put less songs on the album and actually gone to the trouble of designing a cover. I suppose it’s all an experiment. Next time will be different I should think.
D.F: How do you mean, Bob? We’ll be seeing another digital release from Bob Findlay, then?
B.F: Well, everything about it will be done with the benefit of hindsight. There’ll be another digital release for sure. I’m kinda hoping that’s ALL there will be, unless people REALLY want a physical CD.
D.F: So how will the next release differ?
B.F: It’ll probably only be half the size and will actually have a cover design. I’ll probably make more of a fuss about it too promotion-wise.
D.T: Why is that?
B.F: Probably because I’m closer to it than I could ever be to ‘Blind Horse’. The tracks are all fresh to me and are from a certain point in my life whereas ‘Blind Horse’ is a fairly scattered affair. I still think it stands up as an album in its’ entirety though. There’s still a theme there. The next one will be a lot more direct.
