This is a text written by Jean-Marc Lederman most will know from his work with projects such as Fad Gadget, The The, Gene Loves Jezebel, The Weathermen, Ghost & Writer and most recently Mari & The Ghost.

In this era where everything seems to revolve around making fans on Facebook and how, as a band, you can influence them enough to listen to your music and maybe, maybe, they'll like it so much they'll part of 0,99€ to get a 4 mins long mp3, one can wonder if several factors put together haven't finally decide that recorded music is officially no longer a sustainable way of making a living for an artist and that it is indeed time to expand from thinking your music as something only planned for an auditory experience..

We all thought for years that piracy was the reason music wasn't selling no more and we blamed torrents and Russian sites, then came the question around the price of a CD compared to its online equivalent and not so long ago exploded the streaming enigma (sell less upfront and accept a dire dime for a stream for more markets to explore?) while several pointed out that computers and phones and tablets were cannibalizing the meager income of the punters... To be honest, no one can really come with why's and how's, we just know that sales are crippled and when some famous Belgian industrial band tells you that they make more doe in one concert than in releasing one record, you really need to stop hiding from the obvious truth: people aren't into recorded music no more.

So, how does one combat the mass inertia and that lazy "like button push" that seems to be all the crowds do these days, how do you bring people to at least make them aware you're an artist with a sonic vision and you want to share it with them, even for free ? Cos this is the dilemma of many bands: it's one thing to be able to make music, it's another one to make it known and then to have people actually experimenting it. Is there anything one can do, as an artist, to have their music come across these days ? It seems music on its own will, more often that not, be welcome without much enthusiasm and little sales and even when given for free on the usual sites where every other bands also place their music, your music won't attract crowds. The 'older' generation won't be too interested in new bands and the new one doesn't care about CD's or digital download: you need to get where they are: in games, in front of their phone, inside their tablets and on the computer...

I'm not one with a solution but this happened to me recently: I did a soundtrack for a (free) casual game (genre dedicated to non-hardcore fans, people who play with Angry Birds or Candy Crush for five minutes then do something else) and it's been out for 5 days and it has already been downloaded more than 100.000 times and counting and the game is top 10 in the USA ! My music has been moved more in these 5 days than in more than a decade. Ok, the music on the game isn't exactly the soundtrack for "The Girl With The Dragon Tatoo" and the game isn't exactly "Assassin Creed territory" but the point is: people heard it and some might develop an interest and discover my more "extreme" music.

It's hard to get into videogames music as, like every niche around music, it's flooded with people doing it for free but the point is maybe in how your music cannot be only music no more, it benefits to be associated with images as it makes people realize there's more than just the notes and the beats. And to be able to offer that, you need to branch out and try to have your music synch with images and/or games and/or movies or TV. Sure, it's 'chasse gardée' but if you really believe in the images your music creates in people's minds, it's maybe time to find people who can help you there...There are zillions of small companies developing apps for the medias of today and if you fight hard enough, you may get a break and do some sound effects or a small theme or an in-game part for an app or a game or a documentary.

All I'm saying is: stop thinking your music can only be heard as it can also be seen and work so you can have it placed in such an environment... And when sending your resume to companies, do attach your music to visuals cos this is what works these days. Stop thinking stereo, think 16/9 and PS3 or mobile apps.