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Re: [microsound] Ritornell takes a liberty?



>In a message dated 5/12/00 9:05:16 PM, sony_mao@xxxxxxxxxxx writes:
>
><< speaking of ritornell...has anyone purchased ritornell no. 10? >>
>
>does it look like all the others? how does anyone feel about Ritornell taking
>artistic control of cover/packaging from the artist?
>The 20-2000 series was Carsten's concept from the start, I don't like the
>control Ritornell exhibits. I think it trivializes them in some small way,
>and don't think I'd buy another, I have Kim's and it's great but something's
>missing it's like it's not his but half Kim half Ritornell.   It suddenly
>becomes part of a series was it recorded with that in mind?  so then, what's
>the them? how do they all fit together? and then, who's series is this?

you raise some eternal questions here. To understand it, you must know a
little bit about artists and labels. Artists do their thing and send it off
to various labels, they shop around for a release. If a label says 'yes',
then the negotation starts: how much do I get, what will it look like. If
there is an agreement, then there is a release. That simple. So in
Ritornell's case, I think Kim or any of the other artists were well aware
what they were looking like.
For a record label it can be important to releases certain music in a
series, to attract the known ones to the unknown ones (it's a marketing
concept, aswell as an artistic concept). What we call series here, might
just aswell defined as a label. I started Microwave Recordings label with
relatively unknown artists, but there is a very strong identical look, so
you can recognize them easily. The identical look has to do with the
similarity of the artists (which, now I've done 14 releases) isn't really
similar, but they all grasp the same ideas of microwave. By the time I get
bored with the idea, or, excuse me, if there isn't anything artistically to
add to the genre that isn't a genre, I just stop the label and add no new
releases (and wait for the revival).
To answer your last question: ultimately it's he who pays for the making
the series, who owns it. He invests ideas and money in it. Rick Public
don't have to buy it, and if an artist thinks he's a brilliant designer
(not many aren't, and I'm more then happy with others designing Goem
covers!) and can't comply with the label, he should go somewhere else where
his ideas can be realized.

oh yeah, I think Angela Lorenz is a very very good designer. She's done
wonderful things for Ritornell, Mille Plateaux and Staalplaat (what else
can I say? She made the Goem Mort Aux Vaches cover - out next month!)

nuf rambled


Frans de Waard