Finding the Rhythm

One of the advantages of DJ’ing in Second Life is that it’s radio-like, as I’ve said before. I talk about the music (probably to excess), promoting the artists, and encouraging people to actually buy the music (what a novel concept, that). But I have to say, whether it’s the record labels, legal issues, or a combination of those, the industry doesn’t always make it very easy.

I recently received a DJ promo of a song ostensibly by über-DJ Matt Darey entitled Beautiful Day. Originally released back in December, it’s apparently getting a promotional push by whatever record company is behind it. That’s all well and good, but even Darey’s own web site doesn’t credit the song to him.

The promo is credited as:  Matt Darey – Beautiful Day (Sunburst Mix)

Darey’s site credits it (mix unknown) as:  Sunburst feat. Antoine and Marcia Juell – Beautiful Day

So, what’s the deal? Did Matt record it and Sunburst mixed it, or vice-versa? Apparently the latter is the accurate credit for the song, although at this point, I don’t actually know. But between Matt’s web site, and Juell’s web site, I’m reasonably certain that my promo copy is crediting the wrong artist—and failing completely to credit the fabulous vocal work done by Antoine and Juell.

Why is this even a problem, you might ask? Who really cares? Maybe not a lot of music enthusiasts care, but if I were the original artist,  Antoine (one half the dance duo “Second Sun”), or Marcia Juell, it probably would matter to me to get noticed for the work I’ve done. It’s also hard to buy music when you can’t find the right track, and I have to believe that’s an issue for music enthusiasts and artists alike.

As I mentioned a moment ago, of particular note with the Darey song is the absence of any credit at all on the promo copy to the vocalists.  The dance genre is unique in that the “artist” and the “vocalist(s)” are ordinarily quite independent from one another. (More accurately, we might say the “producer” and the “vocalist” actually.) In my view, both deserve to share the spotlight and get the credit they deserve, so that fans of the music can actively look for more from that producer, and the fans of the vocalist can look for more of that voice. Andrea Britton and Tiff Lacey, for example, have distinctive voices, have worked with multiple producers, are extremely talented individuals, and frankly deserve their own fans. If the vocalist isn’t credited at all, how are we supposed to know? And to the industry: How are we supposed to find and buy more of their music?

Alas, this sort of outright miscrediting, confusing crediting and/or lack of crediting is hardly uncommon. A much more prevalent example of it is when artists have different names in different locales, generally for legal reasons, but occasionally for other ones. For example, Hoxton Whores out of the UK is named The Hoxtons in the US, and the only reason is ostensibly to avoid rubbing the wrong way Americans’ puritan sensibilities.  Shapeshifters, also out of the UK, is known as Shape:UK in the US for legal reasons. And as I mentioned before, the song 9 to 5 is credited to New Emotion in the UK, and Fabulous DJs in the US for completely unclear reasons. (And couldn’t they come-up with something better than “Fabulous DJs?”)

Certainly naming conflicts and trademark issues are hardly new, and are understandable. But when songs are miscredited or confusingly credited or lack proper credit, nobody really wins. And those of us who are actively helping to promote music most definitely have a harder time doing our job.