The sounds in the air keep changing. Film music adapts and evolves from pure orchestral works to all sync-driven soundtracks to anything in between. Electronic music switches between its core soundsystem sonicity to all samples to anything in between. Throughout these histories - spanning at least the time of electricity - opportunities present itself both creatively and from a business perspective. Such opportunities mostly have technology as the driving force. Sampling, for example, from tape splicing to lifting samples off records to the sample libraries that now abound. There is still room for innovation on this continuum.
The sonic palette
Expansion of what we understand to be music often starts with new modes of transmission and distribution. At the same time, musicians collaborating also push their sonic worlds, sometimes even to bursting. The 20th Century is full of both of these examples. On the composed music side of things, we’ve seen tonal scales evolve with Stravinsky, Schoenberg, and Boulez. Oscillators, tape recorders, and other contraptions began to allow composers to ask questions of instrumentation, harmony, rhythm and more.
Nowadays, it can feel like everything has been done. There’s plenty of sonic experimentation happening, for sure. It might just be happening at a smaller scale. Speaking to Hugh Tieppo-Brunt from the London Contemporary Orchestra, their unique signature is to work with composers to try and push boundaries and find new sounds. These collaborations happen mostly around film scores - a longtime partner is Jonny Greenwood. Originally, their work together fit the way the LCO started out. They played venues like the Wapping Power Station and the wind turbines in Farnborough - both in the UK.
These kinds of partnerships are intense and deliver beautiful results while allowing the musicians to build out their sonic palettes. It’s also time intensive. Greenwood wrote about this in 2014:
“It’s intended for concerts instead of recordings, which is a new way of thinking about music for me. It’s led me to think differently about live music. And while I regret that there’s an exclusivity to working like that, I don’t regret the time spent hearing orchestras and small string groups up close.”
If working in this setting is so valuable, how can it be extended?
The sounds of expansion
This was also a question that Hugh and the LCO asked themselves. They turned to sampling. This wasn’t a new idea. Sampling has a much longer history, of course. Orchestral Tools started in 2005 based on a similar idea of bringing the acoustic sounds of the orchestra into the hands of composers around the world through samples, plugins, and virtual instruments. The sound of the LCO, though, is unique. It stems directly from playing live, from engaging in spaces that might not offer regular acoustics.
Their first two sample packs with Spitfire Audio were indeed marketed as having the specific ‘unconventional techniques’ the LCO is known for. Their newest sample pack is with Native Instruments and shifts the focus from purely composers to also include producers. Here’s what Rachel Roberts says about the pack:
“[LCO] Producer Strings also lets you run wild with unique articulations – like cluster blooms, harmonic flickers, cascading runs, and percussive pizzicatos – and its hybrid sound sources spanning across acoustic and synthetic elements aid in expanding the creative space, so you can tap into sounds that stretch from organic and real, all the way to futuristic.”
More than anything, the first two packs almost acted like funnels for the LCO. Composers used their sounds and then wanted to try the real thing. There is, then, not just an expansion of the sound of the LCO towards many new composers and producers. It also leads to direct partnerships. For the musicians, there’s the added fees for the musicians during recording days and incremental revenues through royalties.
A fragmented world
The business model for an orchestra, or any artist, will continue to get increasinly complicated. The LCO presents a world where a nimble, artist-first, and music-first approach lead to a heavily diversified business model. Of course, there’s Arts Grants, private donations, ticket sales, jobs-for-hire, etc. Beyond that, there’s a world where the orchestra leans into tech as an opportunity to add to that core of live and film music. Tech, in this case, isn’t simply for tech’s sake or because someone like Hugh is interested in it. Instead, tech becomes a mode of operation that allows an already non-traditional orchestra to continue to expand their own and other’s sonic palettes while also augmenting their own business model.
LINKS
📻 Ad-supported streaming music hits 15% of audio share as radio loses ground (Grace Harmon)
“The change in ad-supported audio engagement is especially pronounced among 18- to 34-year-olds, a prime demographic for many brands. They spend nearly a quarter (24%) of their daily listening time with ad-supported streaming music—a 41.2% YoY increase. Meanwhile, nearly half (43%) of their listening time is with the radio, marking a 15.7% YoY drop for that format.”
✘ The whole premise of Spotify was to takeover the radio market and its ad revenues. This didn’t quite pan out. However, this study from the US shows that ad-supported streaming might finally be nibbling at the heels of radio.
💭 Dreamland is… (Lexi Radkiewicz)
“When an artist starts talking about community it feels like they have a lot to prove. It takes effort. It takes time. It takes curiosity. Cultivating community is about understanding people and their rhythms alongside believing in your own. Community begins with identity and being brave in your expression - the stronger the expression the deeper connection becomes.”
✘ Community can be a bit of a dirty word, but when done well, there’s very little that’s stronger.
🇮🇳 Inside India’s Evolving Sync Market with Believe Sync (Meg Adams)
“One major challenge is that India does not clearly separate publishing and master rights – labels often control both. This can be confusing for international players used to dealing with multiple rights holders. Understanding this structural difference, alongside India’s emotion-driven use of music, is critical to closing deals successfully.”
Megha Godwani, Head of Sync and Licensing (India)
✘ India is a fast-developing music industry. Not that long ago, it was all Bollywood driven. The copyright complex is still catching up
📎 Sora: Clipping to Cloning (Blake Robbins)
“We’re entering an era where your greatest asset isn’t your content, your audience, or your talent. It’s your willingness to let go. To become material. To accept that the best thing you ever create might be something made by a stranger, wearing your face, saying things you’d never say, in contexts you’d never imagine.”
✘ Now that UMG has settled with Udio and all the questions surrounding that, it’s good to remember that for all this GenAI stuff to work it needs data at scale. All we are is training data unless we may actively pursue otherwise.
MUSIC
Sometimes, we just need some feelgood music. Today is one of those days for me. I caught this new track by Nutty Nys on NTS’ breakfast show earlier this week and I dig it, big time.
Thanks so much for the mention Maarten :))