vs.
Coolfer recently linked to an in depth article in the New York Times about indie musicians who makes a decent living by communing with their fans online. Its focus is primarily about a man named Jonathan Coulton and the community that has developed around his “create a song a week” experiment. It’s an interesting article which gives insight on how to grow and monetize an artist’s fan base. Mr. Coulton will not be taking limos anywhere, but he certainly makes more than the average A&R scout.
You can read all about it here.
Sex Drugs and Updating your Blog
What I found interesting about the article though is a side note at the end of the article about one of the top rated unsigned band on MySpace; Scene Aesthetic.
Scene Aesthetic is an Everett Washington band that writes decent songs which connect with angst filled teenagers. For a long time Scene Aesthetic and Second Hand Serenade sat together atop the MySpace unsigned charts. They were the same band to me, much like the Cider House Rules and Snow Falling on Cedars is the same movie to me even though they have nothing to do with each other, because they both came out around the same time and have similar sounding names. Now Second Hand Serenade is on MTV, after becoming the pet project of Daniel Glass, and Scene Aesthetic is in the New York Times. What a difference a year makes.
I’m not going to rip on Scenes Aesthetic just because I personally don’t connect with their music. People out there obviously do. The article talks about how they receive messages telling them how the bands music got someone through tough times. Who knows, maybe if my best friend in high school had Scene Aesthetic to listen to instead of Stabbing Westward then he wouldn’t have tried to drive his car off a cliff (with me in it) after a particularly bad breakup. I do however connect with Scene Aesthetic vocalist Andrew de Torres’s other band Danger Radio.
Danger Radio is a throwback band, they are clearly 80’s influenced but not any particular part of the 80’s. Sometimes I want to compare them to New Wave, sometimes to Bon Jovi (Hair Hard Rock), and sometimes to Fall Out Boy (which isn’t from the 80’s but if your lead singer’s other project is also one of the biggest Emo Artists on Myspace it is an inevitable comparison) I don’t think you can pin down their sound. Their latest track, has a kind of boy band feel to it, in the sense that it is well written and has a pleasant melody, but they add a shouting chorus to make it their own. Danger Radio manages to be an experimental band, without featuring an experimental sound.
It is interesting to see two essentially baby bands driven by the same artist.
First compare sounds:
You can read all about it here.
Sex Drugs and Updating your Blog
What I found interesting about the article though is a side note at the end of the article about one of the top rated unsigned band on MySpace; Scene Aesthetic.
Scene Aesthetic is an Everett Washington band that writes decent songs which connect with angst filled teenagers. For a long time Scene Aesthetic and Second Hand Serenade sat together atop the MySpace unsigned charts. They were the same band to me, much like the Cider House Rules and Snow Falling on Cedars is the same movie to me even though they have nothing to do with each other, because they both came out around the same time and have similar sounding names. Now Second Hand Serenade is on MTV, after becoming the pet project of Daniel Glass, and Scene Aesthetic is in the New York Times. What a difference a year makes.
I’m not going to rip on Scenes Aesthetic just because I personally don’t connect with their music. People out there obviously do. The article talks about how they receive messages telling them how the bands music got someone through tough times. Who knows, maybe if my best friend in high school had Scene Aesthetic to listen to instead of Stabbing Westward then he wouldn’t have tried to drive his car off a cliff (with me in it) after a particularly bad breakup. I do however connect with Scene Aesthetic vocalist Andrew de Torres’s other band Danger Radio.
Danger Radio is a throwback band, they are clearly 80’s influenced but not any particular part of the 80’s. Sometimes I want to compare them to New Wave, sometimes to Bon Jovi (Hair Hard Rock), and sometimes to Fall Out Boy (which isn’t from the 80’s but if your lead singer’s other project is also one of the biggest Emo Artists on Myspace it is an inevitable comparison) I don’t think you can pin down their sound. Their latest track, has a kind of boy band feel to it, in the sense that it is well written and has a pleasant melody, but they add a shouting chorus to make it their own. Danger Radio manages to be an experimental band, without featuring an experimental sound.
It is interesting to see two essentially baby bands driven by the same artist.
First compare sounds:
Now look at their stats.
Scene Aesthetic
Plays 15,675,896
Profile views 5,139,426
Friends 187,465
Danger Radio
Plays 707,517
Profile views 285,586
Friends 16,176
One band clearly stands out numbers wise and in my own opinion the other stands out musically. I belive that Danger Radio’s song Party Foul is a hit. I don’t hear that in Scene Aesthetics’ music. Scene Aesthetic is more of a career band; they have developed a nice following of 180,000 friends. Thsi is nothing to sneeze at, but nothing spectacular as it is roughly what Cartel was recently complaining about as the membership of their core fan base.
Which band will end up being more successful? Only time will tell, but these are two bands and one artist that I’m going to keep my eye on. Whether or not anyone jumps at Scene Aesthetic, (or if they even want to be signed) may depend heavily on the ability of Second Hand Serenade to prove MySpace bands can cross over and sell records at traditional retail. Danger Radio was already rumored to be pursued by several major and indie labels. I hear that their SXSW showcase was not well received though. From the sound of their demos they may need more work playing together, which is understandable if the lead singer is splitting his time between bands.
The wise thing may be for a label or management company to just sign Andre De Torres to a deal which encompasses all his projects. Why make a kid this talented choose.
Scene Aesthetic
Plays 15,675,896
Profile views 5,139,426
Friends 187,465
Danger Radio
Plays 707,517
Profile views 285,586
Friends 16,176
One band clearly stands out numbers wise and in my own opinion the other stands out musically. I belive that Danger Radio’s song Party Foul is a hit. I don’t hear that in Scene Aesthetics’ music. Scene Aesthetic is more of a career band; they have developed a nice following of 180,000 friends. Thsi is nothing to sneeze at, but nothing spectacular as it is roughly what Cartel was recently complaining about as the membership of their core fan base.
Which band will end up being more successful? Only time will tell, but these are two bands and one artist that I’m going to keep my eye on. Whether or not anyone jumps at Scene Aesthetic, (or if they even want to be signed) may depend heavily on the ability of Second Hand Serenade to prove MySpace bands can cross over and sell records at traditional retail. Danger Radio was already rumored to be pursued by several major and indie labels. I hear that their SXSW showcase was not well received though. From the sound of their demos they may need more work playing together, which is understandable if the lead singer is splitting his time between bands.
The wise thing may be for a label or management company to just sign Andre De Torres to a deal which encompasses all his projects. Why make a kid this talented choose.
2 comments:
If you like Danger Radio, I think you'd enjoy The Lives of Famous Men, they're dancey as well.
http://www.myspace.com/thelivesoffamousmen
I agree, I like Danger Radio much more than The Scene Aesthetic. I actually heard about Danger Radio first. Since i live in Seattle i have seen them live many times and are amazing. Andrew is a fantastic singer in both bands, but Danger Radio is a lot more fun. I honestly had no idea how much more popular Scene Aesthetic is, in my mind they are second to Danger Radio.
Hopefully Danger Radio comes out on top. Here in Seattle, they seem to be already there.
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