AS HEARD ON THE ...
ALAN CROSS
For the full interview , listen to the June 30 , 2021 episode
CM : With NFTs , by definition of being non-fungible , they can ’ t be copied and all transactions can be traced . So , where is NFT technology potentially most useful for the music industry in the foreseeable future ?
Alan Cross : I think it ’ ll probably be adapted for things like concert tickets and festival passes , because the concert industry really wants to cut down on scalping . So , if a concert ticket is an NFT , then it ’ s locked to you . And if you do choose to sell it on , well then Ticketmaster or the artist or whoever will get a piece of that scalped ticket . It basically wipes out scalping from the perspective of the artist . Because if you resell a [ traditional ] ticket with a markup , well , all that markup goes to you and the artist , which is the value upon which the ticket is based , gets nothing . That ’ s one thing I see .
CM : Just a few days ago Apple Music , in partnership with Dolby , launched its new spatial audio feature , which allows you to listen to music with 3D effects via the newest iPhones and AirPods . They also launched lossless audio for Apple Music . What ’ s Apple ’ s business strategy or goal with this ?
Cross : A couple things . It ’ s a shot at Spotify , first of all , because they ’ re putting up higher quality audio at no extra price . Amazon felt the need to meet that immediately and Spotify will probably do the same sort of thing and Tidal is in trouble because they ’ ve been doing it but charging a premium for it . So , it ’ s a marketing opportunity for Apple . Secondly , it ’ s another thing to sell headphones and
if you could finally get an iPhone that will play lossless files , that would be great .
But then there ’ s another thing that I haven ’ t seen anybody talk about . When you create a new mix of a song , you ’ re creating a new master . And when you ’ re creating a new master , you ’ re creating a new copyright . So , what this may do , especially with older records , is extend the copyright on these songs that are 50 or 60 years old and threatening to go out in the public domain , and it ’ ll keep them in the hands of the people who own them right now …
What ’ s a little unclear is , if everybody is doing it , then that means that the source material – at least the WAV files – are accessible to everybody . It sounds like Apple has some kind of deal with Dolby so that they can add their special sauce of Atmos , whatever that is , and they ’ ve got some sort of exclusive deal to do it for the Apple Music catalog . But again , from what I understand , Apple is doing this in bulk and [ creating spatial audio mixes ] without the input of the people who created the music in the first place , which is rubbing some people the wrong way .
THE ROAD HAMMERS
For the full interview , listen to the June 23 , 2021 episode
CM : Over the course of making the six Road Hammers albums , beginning with the first LP ’ s concept of being a trucking album , has there been a particular goal in mind in terms of how the Road Hammers ’ sound has evolved ?
Jason McCoy : Well , when I used to write for myself as a solo artist , I had a certain lane I was in . Even when I was in high school , I wanted to be in rock bands … but I couldn ’ t sing it – I could play it but I couldn ’ t sing it . With The Road Hammers , this whole palette opened up . I could be the country guy , Clay has got this rock and roll voice that just dominates , and Chris has the high harmony and everything that just glues us all together . So , it opened up the palette , but we still had a very defined lane . It was like , this is our formula or this is what we do ; I ’ m the verse guy , Clay is the chorus guy , and Chris is the icing . But that ’ s evolved a little bit . On our new EP , on the first single , [“ The Boys Are Back At It ”], Clay produced it and it ’ s got the same thing that “ I ’ m a Road Hammer ” had … But there are other songs on there that are not quite that way .
CM : Is it easier to check your egos and be in service of the song with age ?
Clayton Bellamy : No , I don ’ t think so ! [ laughs ]
McCoy : My time is running out ! I can see the back 40 and I need to sing on all the songs I can , man [ laughs ]. But nah , I think so . I used to have this aspiration to play on all my own records and be the guitar player , but then it ’ s like , we just laid down a song , “ Give ’ r ,” and Clay laid down a solo that ’ s perfect , so why would I want to go in and mess with it ? He ’ s got rock tone for days , you know ? He turns on the amp and it ’ s his thing because he ’ s been working at that . And if I play a solo that ’ s a country thing , it ’ s not like Clay is like , “ I have to play the other half to equal it out .” And if Chris comes up with this great harmony lines , it ’ s not like the producer gets precious about it and goes , “ Well I didn ’ t come up with that .” So yeah , I think age takes off that edge a little bit . We ’ re not all 18 and trying to impress the same girl .
Listen to new episodes of the Canadian Musician Podcast every Wednesday at www . canadianmusicianpodcast . com . All episodes can be found on the website or through Apple Podcasts , Google Podcasts , Stitcher , Spotify , or wherever you get your podcasts .
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