The Little Ones Blog
04.18.10
on Kick Ass, music licensing, and stuff…
Licensing music is such a weird thing as a band. On one hand, if you compare the number of artists in the world (???) to the number of actual licensed works (???), I’m sure you’ll find a ridiculous disparity. And although I don’t have this mystical ratio, I think it’s a pretty safe assumption. Another thing to consider are the amount of tv production companies that license music in perpetuity and use, use and re-use for when piecing together new off shoot sports news segments, or the latest reality tv show background music for when girl x and guy y are hitting it off, etc etc… Ya know, I’ve had the weird fortune of seeing it from a licensor perspective as well as licensee. On one end seeing the offers and when taking a look at it from a several year perspective, realizing how rare the opportunities actually are… and then from the licensee perspective and seeing first hand the sheer volume of pro-active solicitations from people wanting to send in music in hopes of landing a spot on something.
Anyhow, once you thrown those licensing dice, established that point on the come out roll, and found yourself on the receiving end of that offer… what do you do? do you leave it up or take it down? do you align yourself with that number? Once you get that rare opportunity (and for the record this doesn’t mean bags of gold or anything) you have to take into consideration… is this something you want your name associated with? Several years ago, Ed and I were doing a podcast interview with Paste magazine at ACL. Afterward we got copies of the latest issue and left the festival to hop a plane to somewhere I can’t even remember anymore. I read the issue from the festival to somewhere mid-flight and in there was an interesting interview with Jack White. In the interview the interviewer addressed his recent Coke TV ad at the time. Now I should preface this with the fact that the majority of the article was about recording the last album and how things like the internet and TVs are just distractions when in the studio. In fact, there’s one line I still remember to this day…”Who wants to hear: is there wifi in this studio? when trying to record an album”. My point being is that the the gist of the article was how he’s a purist when it comes to recording and music in general. The guy isn’t just focused, he surrounds himself in his art. Back to Coke ad… he was obviously asked the question because, and I think most would agree, it seemed a lil out of character for him. And his answer? simple, direct, to the point and logical. “I drink coke. Do you drink coke?”. Huh.
Anyway, from a band perspective, it’s a rare thing. And in last year or so, we’ve had some pretty great luck with this topic in general. From Yo Gabba Gabba to the recent Kick Ass, I personally feel like I’m living out my childhood fantasies. I’ve been a comic book nerd since I was 12. From Chris Claremont’s writing (for X-Men) to discovering Adrian Tomine in my adulthood, to finally be associated with something, and a Mark Millar comic at that, well…
I can now go pee myself.
till next time true believers,
-ian/lilonez
07.31.09
LEISURE
07.31.09
Work
07.27.09
Bee Gees Rhythm Machine
I am wondering why toy makers don’t make interesting toy instruments anymore. I was doing a bit of surfing last week and I stumbled on the Bee Gees Rhythm Machine. The toy was released in 1978 and features a rhythm section and an octave wheel. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw it.
If you are interested in checking out some more interesting toy instruments you should visit the miniorgan website.
xEdward
07.23.09
Don Letts and The Punk Days
Very interesting snippet with Don Letts and the punk days. It’s amazing how two worlds can meet.
ed
