native noise musing: The Art of the Music Biz

It's 2010 and the music industry is on the brink of something special. Miraculously, while it is undoubtedly the worst of times for major labels and contemporary music sales, the era of the fan is making its tour de force. The combination of the ease of music production, its availability, and the innovation and acceptance of MIDI and electronic technologies, as well as the proliferation of the music blog has revolutionized the music game. While musicians can now spread their music easily through Facebook, Myspace, and the "Blogosphere," up and coming bands face the challenge of making a name for themselves among the throngs of the ambitious and hopeful indie world.
As has been proven throughout history, competition breeds innovation. One way new bands have begun to try and separate themselves from the quickly multiplying music field has been through traditional visual art and fashion. While it is certainly true that there has always been a connection between music and art via the album cover, flier, advertisements, music video or what have you, now more than ever emerging musicians are attempting to bridge the art and music worlds to achieve notoriety.
This new artistic focus has manifested itself in a few different ways. The first, and probably most successful of them has been strengthening of the connection between world famous art museums and emerging music. In 2009 alone notable art museums including: The Whitney Music of American Art, The New York Metropolitan Art Museum, The Los Angeles Museum of Natural History, The Guggenheim, The Getty Museum, The Armand Hammer Museum, and others showcased intimate evenings with emerging musical acts such as Vivian Girls, Dan Deacon, The Dodos, Chairlift, Yeasayer, Atlas Sound, tUnE-yArDs, Deerhunter and others. Using low prices, art exhibits and unique and intimate stages, (the Natural History Museum shows set up camp in the famous diorama room, giving you the once in a lifetime chance to rock out next to Woolly Mammoths and Saber-Tooth tigers) museum shows have been quickly selling out by catering to the interests of the young hipsters eager to save a few bucks and prove their worldliness.
Musicians themselves are beginning to push the boundaries of art to make a name for themselves. No one doubts the "indie" movement's close ties to art and fashion as well as its members common predisposition toward bold and often borderline ridiculous choices in that sphere. As the influential leaders of the movement, musicians are beginning to develop their art and style to make a name for themselves while ensnaring fans. It was the Avant-garde covers of Animal Collective's "Merriweather Post Pavilion" and Grizzly Bear's "Veckatimest" that demanded attention across music blogs before what would become two of the most important music releases in the Indie world were even released. In similar fashion, in order to gain momentum for what would be their anticipated second full length "Odd Blood," Yeasayer filmed a hipster art snob wet dream for "Ambling Alp," the pre-released shining star of the album. Recently, the “Music Tee” has even been developed by the likes of Mos Def and the Afternoons, displaying album art and track information on a handsome V-Neck that upon ordering also entitles you a copy of the full length. Today, new music news and media circulates about as efficiently as the human circulatory system. Eager not to miss a beat, hip savvy music fiends find solace in the attention new bands pay to innovative visual stimuli, and reward them through endless discussion, and most importantly, internet diffusion.

The development and use of art has certainly been successful in building support for new bands, after all, It was only a matter of time until indie world began to see new faces. On Thursday, indie kings Animal Collective were showcased in a one of a kind juxtaposition of music and art at Manhattan's famed Guggenheim Museum. Transverse Temporal Gyrus included a 3 hour performance that included not only music, but projections, costumes, and props to assert a complete artistic ambiance to the crowded audience of successful middle aged socialites, eager to once again bring meaning and relevance to their pretension. Young rimmed glasses owners, mismatched sock wearers and folded jean lovers beware, your beloved band is making strides to capture the hearts of the new frontier of indie music. The tuxedo clad hipster arch nemesis is catching on to this whole movement, and you needn’t look any further than Vampire Weekend’s conquering of the Billboard charts, Dirty Projector’s recent standing ovations at Walt Disney Concert Hall for proof of a series of coming attacks from the middle aged artsies hoping to reclaim their relevance in the music world.