Category: QandA

Every month, the Fingertips Q&A sends five questions about the state of music in the digital age to one actual, working musician. Way too much time and space is taken up online by pundits, writers, and other sorts of talking (writing) heads who think they know where the music industry is headed. I’d much rather hear the thoughts and feelings of the people creating and performing the actual music.

This month, Andrew Spencer Goldman, who is the mastermind and driving force behind the Brooklyn-based Fulton Lights, answers the five questions. Fulton Lights has been featured twice to date on Fingertips, in February 2007 and September 2008. Fulton Lights has a brand new EP entitled Healing Waters, which you can listen to and find out more about on the Fulton Lights Facebook page.

The latest musician to sit down and answer a few questions about the state of music in the digital age is Brooklyn’s Brian Sendrowitz, front man and songwriter for the informal collective known as Beat Radio. The interview is now online; and if you go to the bottom you can also catch up on past interviews you might have missed.

The July Q&A is now online and features Ryan Hahn and Taylor Rice of the L.A.-based band Local Natives, who take turns answering questions about the future of music in the digital age.

The latest Fingertips Q&A is online, featuring St. Paul-based singer/songwriter Haley Bonar, who answers five quick questions about the future of music. With a dreamy smile on her face.

Every month, the Fingertips Q&A sends five questions about the state of music in the digital age to one actual, working musician. I’ve gotten to where I’d much rather find out what someone who’s out there trying to earn a living wage in the music industry thinks about all this stuff than read the bloviations of one more blogger or technology expert.

This month I’m delighted to get some perspective from singer/songwriter Jill Sobule. Although she started recording albums long before anyone was even dreaming of a digital music scene (her first record came out in 1990), Sobule emerged this year at the cutting edge of music industry innovation when she released an album, California Years, that was funded entirely through fan donations. Aiming for $75,000, she ended up with $89,000. The very music industry honchos who would traditionally ignore an artist as witty and idiosyncratic as Sobule might now learn a thing or two from her.

This month’s Q&A features musician and writer/blogger David Harrell. Harrell is front man for the Chicago-based band the Layaways; he likewise is founder of the blog Digital Audio Insider, which takes as its subject matter “the economics of digital music.” So he’s something of a ringer for the Q&A, which monthly asks musicians five questions about the state of the music industry here in the digital age. The guy knows what he’s talking about.

The Layaways have been twice featured on Fingertips, in February 2005 and November 2008.

This month, Fingertips fires off five questions about the state of the music industry to Joey Barro, a singer/songwriter from Southern California currently doing musical business as The Traditionist. When he’s not showing off his extra three arms (note photo to left), Barro is also front man for the Antiques, based in Los Angeles. Season to Season, the debut album from the Traditionist, is being released this month on Better Looking Records. “I Know My Ocean,” a song from that album, was featured on Fingertips in January.

The Fingertips Q&A was launched in August with the express intent of allowing actual, working musicians the chance to talk about the state of the music industry in the digital age. This is not intended as a comprehensive discussion; each time I ask five (relatively) simple questions, all having something to do with making sense of what popular music in the 21st century is about. Easy!

This month we welcome aboard Dave Derby, of the band Gramercy Arms, whose song “Automatic” was featured on “This Week’s Finds” in December. The band released its self-titled debut album in November, which featured a number of indie rock semi-celebrities, including Matthew Caws from Nada Surf Joan Wasser of Joan As Police Woman. You may know Derby better as the front man of the Dambuilders, a Boston-based band that gained a footing on alternative rock radio in the ’90s. (In the photo, Derby is second from the left.)

The latest installment of the Fingertips Q&A is now online, this one featuring Shane Nelken, front man for The Awkward Stage. While previous Q&As have prompted some thoughtful ramblings on the state of the music industry, Nelken will have none of that. He doesn’t ramble; he goes straight for the punchline. Once I convinced myself he wasn’t making fun of my questions, I realized how funny his answers were. Although he probably was making fun of my questions. Check it out for yourself on the main site. And that’s the MegaSaurAss himself, second from the left in the picture.

The latest installment of the Fingertips Q&A is now online, this one featuring British composer/arranger/pianist and sometime vocalist Mark Northfield. Northfield’s haunting song “Zero” (he did in fact sing on it) was featured on Fingertips back in July, and I must say the gent has more going for him than one spiffy song. His startlingly thoughtful responses to five questions about the current and future state of the music industry are well worth checking out if you’re interested in such things, or might be someday. Read the Q&A here, and find out more about Mark Northfield on his web site. The cat has no web site, to the best of my knowledge.