29 May 2006

Plumbers around Europe (IX): Junk, bad name, bad day

Christoffer Lundquist's record company is "Junk". Yes, it is really junk. You can read about it in their official website. Laugh and learn about selling records nowadays.


What a day! If your company is named Junk, you might have guessed that this would happen. But I was somewhat surprised when I entered Junk office this morning and found that the whole place smelled like shit. No. I take that back. It smelled o-f shit. My fellow office friends were concerned too. They didn’t look happy at all. Neither did I, after a few minutes. Guys from the building came and opened all vents, everyone tried to find where the smell was coming from. After five hours, we still have no idea. It is almost impossible to work here today. I brewed lots of coffee and poured it into large plates, which I placed around the office. I thought: maybe it will smell like coffee instead. It didn’t work. I opened all the windows. It got cold and started to rain like hell. Now: I want you to feel sorry for me.
Anders Mildner (Junk Musik)
Anders Mildner


Honestly, I am SO amused by this story that I can’t even feel pity for you. Once I would start feeling pity, I would spoil all the fun and trust me, this story is simply too good for ending up in a commiseration ... Tip: coffee can’t beat shit. try one of John Peel’s “Perfumed Garden” radio shows from the pirate station Radio London back in the 60’s… You must have the cd’s somewhere…If you haven’t gotten them, then I will right feel pity for you. hahahaha…God, what a story!

Adela Toplean
Adela Toplean - A_T_ blog




It might be a dead mouse inside the wall (unless you have solid concrete walls?) that’s causing this. i had the same problem in the studio two years ago. After a week of following the decomposing mouse’s smell developing, my french artist and musicians and myself couldn’t stand it anymore. it was the worst ever, believe me. So I got a builder to tear down (!) the wall where we agreed the smell emanated from only to discover it was the wrong wall. it took three weeks for the smell to go away. It peaked over a TWO-WEEK PERIOD. Ask David, he has experienced the dead studio mouse smell himself. My thoughts go to you on a day like this, my friend.
Chris Lundquist (Junk Musik)
Christoffer Lundquist - Junk Musik



Poor poor you. Dead mouse smell is no good…
David Birde (Junk Musik)
David Birde - Junk Musik



That’s actually what one of the guys from the building said: “this might be a dead mouse”. wow. this doesn’t feel so good…. Getting the house owner to tear down a wall sounds like project that will take a looooong time… PS: What did the rat-session sound like?
Anders Mildner (Junk Musik)
Anders Mildner



Learn from A_T_:s wise words: Coffee can’t beat shit!
Jens Jansson (Junk Musik)
Jens Jansson - Junk Musik



Could be a brilliant opportunity to take up cigar-smoking. Mixing business with pleasure…
Magnus Börjeson (Junk Musik)
Magnus Börjeson - Junk Musik



OK, I am not a specialist in mice-caught-in-junk-walls, but shouldn’t he (the dead Micky I mean) get dry in a few days and stop spreading shitty smells within such a graceful place as Junk office probably is? … are you guys serious with breaking the wall (possibly the wrong one …)? I think there was a mouse in the Berlin wall, that’s why Reagan shout at Gorbachev “TEAR DOWN THIS WALL!” This Junk happening is just a little bit of history repeating…
Adela Toplean
Adela Toplean - A_T_ blog



And the Pink Floyd epic The Wall is of course about a mouse. Roger Waters blames his mother, his wife, his teacher, himself but all in all it was just another mouse in the wall…
David Birde (Junk Musik)
David Birde - Junk Musik


I just got home after a Skåne-holiday, so this is just a quick one – but interesting. More than half of EMI:s profit now comes from downloads. At our Junk meeting last week, we found out that we too had sold more downloads than we thought. We wouldn’t complain if we reached EMI levels, though.

Anders Mildner (Junk Musik)
Anders Mildner


That’s a surprise indeed….but a nice one. Personally i love itunes Music Store. But they MUST get rid of the thing that stops you from copying yuor downloads to more than five hard drives. In ten years I’ll have to buy all my music again considering how often i change computers. And that’s an outrage of course. Well ... I can chose to unregister my songs when you change computer. Still…it’s technical, complicated and feels just cheap. Like the situation with DVD regions. The business are going about this the wrong way i think. And I’m not at all a defender of the piracy situation, i think that’s all wrong - but understandable nevertheless.
Chris Lundquist (Junk Musik)
Christoffer Lundquist - Junk Musik



The big question that every company should ask itself from now on: Why should my customers pay for something that does less? Before, every product was aiming for MORE: extended cd:s, more functions, more information. Today, every product aims for LESS: more copyright protection etc. This is something the customers won’t buy. Why should they pay for things than can perform less? Everyone expect things to move forward.

Anders Mildner (Junk Musik)
Anders Mildner


If anders is right, then I might say that we could soon expect (or are we already witnessing it?) a sort of muffled, weird and silent conflict between artists and their own record companies…The first one is still “more”-oriented, whilst the last one is definitely focused on “less”. Some of the copy-protected discs have a low-quality sound (i.e. strange noises when you expect least) which is an “artistic damage” after all that the record company doesn’t see as an immediate danger; I’d like to believe that the artist cares about how his music sounds in my stereo, it’s about the overall impression that the album leaves on me after all… In my opinion it’s not only about what the customers are willing (or not willing) to buy, but also about the concrete music that the artist himself had been agreed upon (against or according to his will). The customer will always feel that the artist is answerable for a lame quality of the item because the customer ONLY cares about the music written on that cd and sees any alteration or restriction as being a harm done to the music he wants to listen to. As for me, I still feel that a product with too many “less”’s looks negative. And it throws a certain displeasing light on that particular artist.

Adela Toplean
Adela Toplean - A_T_ blog


I think that conflict already exists (between artists & record companies), but i haven’t noticed a reduced sound quality. One thing you have to keep in mind though, is that the itunes solution (with five licenses) was the ONLY way that apple could get the big five to agree with downloads AT ALL, so in the long run, it might be looked upon as a step forward anyway.
Anders Mildner (Junk Musik)
Anders Mildner

1 comment:

LJdM said...

This is the funniest topic ever in junkmusik.com

I miss Anders' posts