Pomplamoose On Making A Career While Making Music They Like
from the nicely-done dept
We've written a few times about the band Pomplamoose, who has become something of an internet sensation, but the bigger part to us (not surprisingly) was the fact that they had turned their success (mainly on YouTube) into a sustainable business model as well. Hypebot points us to a fun video interview with Jack Conte and Natalie Dawn, who make up the band, going into a bit more detail and noting that their goal is to have a sustainable business for as long as possible while making music they love without others telling them what they "have" to do:Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Filed Under: music, pomplamoose
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Very charming people.
They made me feel much better and more confident about my own fledgling musical endeavors.
I wish them well.
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In a lot of ways they remind me of Kevin Smith, media whores first, business people second, and artists a distant third.
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Yeah, Like Britney Spears or...
Oh, wait.
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You do know they write their own arrangments for covers, write their own songs, record each instrument raw(sometimes a dozen or more in one song) and record each vocal raw, right?
"I guess I kinda don't like how there's such a pedestal for music culture and especially for band culture, it just feels fake; it feels like smoke and mirrors. I feel like music doesn't have to be like that. It can be something that's very normal and very accessible." —Jack Conte
Media whores? Whatever.
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Their goal is to avoid hard work and to make a living at it. They enjoy the process, more power to them. More importantly, the goal is to make a living, not to make the greatest music ever. That's okay, they are a great example of modern times.
More power to them,let's just hope the whole music world doesn't turn into this.
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This one goes right up there on the wall next to "This only works for small bands" and "this only works for large bands".
I also enjoy the back-handed compliments of..
"For someone who likes music, music in and of itself is not hard work."
"That's okay, they are a great example of modern times."
"More power to them,let's just hope the whole music world doesn't turn into this.".
It is like a condescending head-pat from some great authority figure before waggling their finger from on high.
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If anything, it is everything that people here try to pin on the label system.
As for backhanded compliments, you got that all wrong too. For people who love music, music isn't hard work. All the hours put in is for something they love, not something they hate. They aren't filling in TPS forms and arguing with a printer than never works right, they are doing what they love, what they would choose to do with they were entirely free of any responsiblity in life. It may appear as a lot of work, but if they really love music, it isn't work at all.
Finally, "More power to them,let's just hope the whole music world doesn't turn into this.". is my personal opinion. I hope the music industry doesn't degrade down to this level, because their music isn't seemingly as important as their too cool for school 3G lifeverse and quest for a paycheck from it.
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Wow...please tell me you aren't one of those people who attacks CC-licensed musicians as "amateurs" and lionizes "professional content" instead? Because if so, that would make you a pretty serious hypocrite.
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These two may or may not be talented musicians, they are obviously capable of playing many instruments, which makes them talented in that way, I guess. But it would appear that they are allowing the money angle drive their art, making decisions based on making a living rather than the art itself.
Making money doesn't make them great musicians, it makes them perhaps business people who play instruments.
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For someone who likes music, music in and of itself is not hard work. What is hard work is making music to someone else's expectations other than your own.
[... snip ..]
More power to them,let's just hope the whole music world doesn't turn into this.
holy crap, but that's prolly the funniest thing i've ever read on here. it's like you're praying that art goes away to be replaced by corporate jingles.
seriously. i almost blew coffee out my nose laughing when i read that.
m3mnoch.
p.s. tears! i'm laughing at you so hard i have TEARS!!!
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Pomp.
This band's original music is not very good.
Do they have to pay big star artists a fee to cover their songs?
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Re: Pomp.
-- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Il-OFaFzHQM
-- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uolz7V12evc
-- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9KMgg7T_sg
See also Gulf by Jack, without Natalie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBUUOJpFg9Y
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Pomplamoose ... Now known in Australia ... by this Techdirt Article
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Re: Pomplamoose ... Now known in Australia ... by this Techdirt Article
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Worst band ever?
Many of my friends didn't even think they were a real band. They thought some suit from marketing had visited Portland once, and hired whoever he saw on the street to act like musicians.
They've been called "hipsters," but they're not even up to that. Hipsters, at least, are over-the-top annoying, so you can laugh at them (think Ear Pwr). Pomplamoose is aggressively mediocre. Their music is as vacuous as the singer's deer-in-the-headlights stare.
...Of course, they're not any worse than the Top 40 "musicians" they cover. Plus, if they can make money from music, anyone can.
Okay, rant over. Time to get back to work.
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Sarah Blasko
The best of luck.
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