The music business is a fickle thing, to say the least.
It changes more frequently than Kylie Jenner’s hair colour, and is harder to get into than a club when you’re drank as fuuurrrk.
We spoke to former Van She member, Nicky Night Time (whose career is popping the fuck off at the moment), about the changing ~landscape~ of the music industry + more.
Nicky’s turned to the darker side of music in recent years. His ventures in house music have been going exceedingly well under his new mantle.
“My new single Flowers, featuring Nat Dunn, went to number one on the Aria Club Chart. It’s the third track in a row to hit number one, which is a bonus – not sure exactly what that means in terms of anything but my mum likes that fact,” says Nicky.
A little praise from your mum never hurts.
90’s kids, for instance, have witnessed a massive change in the music industry in their lifetimes.
Like, this is a legit thing that exists:
Giant asses aside, Mr Night Time shared some of the changes he’s seen in the industry and why they’ve occurred.
“Well, back when we started Van She in 2006, Myspace was the big thing – most of the gigs we got were through Myspace.”
“We sold out a show in Paris just through some conversation we had with a girl who had a blog.”
Ah, yes. We remember a time before Insta-babes as well, Nicky. When cyber-celebs needed a blog (with actual written sentences and not booty-pics) to be recognised as an influencer.
“Also, back then, Ableton – an audio program for the non music geek folk – had just sort of started to develop. Logic and Protools were what you used and all mixes were done on analog consoles to tape, then pushed onto a desktop computer for final touches. Programs like Ableton have given kids, with no prior knowledge of engineering or consoles, a platform to create whatever comes into their head – the program is super intuitive and you can go from idea, to recording, to mix, and master to publish in a day.”
Although unlikely, with programs like these you can go from 0-to-100 really fucking quickly.
“You can upload to SoundCloud, or platforms like Triple J Unearthed, and get played on radio the next day – and possibly signed. Or, better yet, set up your own label and just be pushed through whatever distribution network or company that works for the record.”
In terms of who’s in the best position industry, Nicky thinks the tides have turned.
“I think from 2006 until now, record labels have had it the hardest – especially the majors – trying to adapt and change with the rapid development of online distribution and various other tech platforms. Where once they held the power over the artist, now I feel like the scales have been set on a much more even kilter in the favour of the artist.”
Narrowing it down to the sound he works within – house/electro – Nicky’s noticed several changes.
“There are so many sub genres it’s insane.”
“Americans seem to have just lumped anything with a beat in the EDM category. For them, Trap or Maximal is in the same genre as Caribou or Jamie Jones – you gotta laugh. I mean, come on guys.”
“Now you have this thing called future house, which is kind of a derivative of that massive stadium dance music but with slightly more subtle sounds. In saying that, groups like Disclosure I think are amazing because they took an old style, or garage and house, and modernised it to music that works in a club, at home and on indie radio – in my humble opinion, I find pretty genius.”
If you’re interested in getting into the scene, Nicky’s advice is:
“Just spend as much time with your synths and samplers as you can – on planes, and trains, and at home. Just get as random as you can – there are no rules with sounds.”
Creating change – whether it’s something small like mixing up your day-to-day, or causing a social revolution – is a darn good use of your time. Nicky’s causing a ruckus in his field and so should you.
If you’ve got a decent idea for change, head over to Ray Ban’s site to help flesh that bad-boy out.
All images supplied.
