(clockwise, from 9 o'clock: Eric Atria, Chris Hillman, Travis Atria, Stacie Atria)

THE FINGERTIPS Q&A Morningbell November 2009

Every month, the Fingertips Q&A sends five questions about the state of music in the digital age to one actual, working musician. Way too much time and space is taken up online by pundits, writers, and other sorts of talking (writing) heads who think they know where the music industry is headed. I'd much rather hear the thoughts and feelings of the people creating and performing the music. For November, the Gainesville, Fla.-based band Morningbell kindly agreed to give the questions a spin. The guys have been featured twice now on Fingertips--this past September and also in May '07. Doing the talking here is Eric Atria, who plays bass and, yes, theremin. His brother Travis is lead singer and guitarist, his wife Stacie plays keys. Drummer Chris Hillman is no relation to them nor, it seems, to the Chris Hillman who was in the Byrds. Morningbell's latest album is Sincerely, Severely, which was released in September. Q: After all is said and done, what's your favorite thing about digital downloads? What's your least favorite thing? A: As cliche as it sounds, digital downloads are the future of record company survival. With profits dropping, something has to give. In my opinion, one easy sacrifice for a small label is distribution. If your music is readily available to anyone with a computer, why stretch your resources and inventory out across the world? My least favorite thing about the digital format is that it removes the importance for an artist to present an album as a total package. We always try hard to make our albums aesthetically as well as sonically pleasing. Some bands like Of Montreal make their packaging total works of art and design. With digital, you get no identity of the band besides a tiny thumbnail of the album cover and the songs. Also, a hard copy album is meant by the artist to be played in that order. With digital, songs end up on mix playlists, or as stand-alones if the whole album isn't purchased. Q: There's an idea floating around that says that music should ideally be treated like a utility, like water and electricity--that it'll be "on tap," everyone pays a little each month and gets unlimited access. No more paying by the song or album, in other words. How does this idea strike you? A: Musical communism?? It's tough to answer that question as a smaller independent band. First and foremost, we want our music to get out there, so we're not terribly concerned with every illegal download or file sharing setup. On the other hand, if we were a really big name, it would be rather frustrating to see those who don't assign value to our work. If the average listener only knew the amount of work and effort (not to mention money) that went into producing and creating each song, they'd be less hesitant to shell out the 99 cents that iTunes wants for it. I think this question really hinges on the type of listener. If you're satisfied with what MTV and top 40 radio feeds you, you're probably not interested in a band like us. But if you actually like searching for new things and discovering bands, I'd hope you'd be more willing to pay for the product. Q: How has your life as a musician been affected--or not--by the existence of music blogs? A: Music blogs are an interesting phenomenon in many ways. First, as with anything on the internet, it's hard to figure out what works for some and what doesn't for others. Why do certain ones get big or more respect than others? Regardless, I think we've seen some greater exposure as a result of being on various blogs. I feel like I could ask the exact same question as #2 to any successful blogger out there. Why is reliable information devoid of value these days? (Ed.: Good question!) Q: What are your thoughts about the album as a musical entity-- is it dying? Or are reports of its death greatly exaggerated, as the old phrase goes? A: Recalling themes from my answer to the second question, I'd have to say it depends on the listener. For the majority of listeners, the album as an entity is definitely dying. We have a friend whose mother only listens to her ring-tones. She once drove from Kansas to Florida listening to the same four 60 second ring tones on repeat the whole way here! Can you imagine? We still value the concept of an album and feel that pacing is an art form in itself. I feel that was a great focus of our most recent record. The album is 14 songs long, and they're all over the place stylistically. They could only work together if we found the proper order, and I think we did. I have great respect for a band/musician when they can write some killer songs and place them in the proper order on an album. Two important pacing issues I always reference are 1) The perfect last track and 2) the inexcusable first through fourth song. To me, a perfect last track needs to sum up the album, but also needs to tuck you into bed. It's gotta be the most beautiful song on the album, but not in an obvious manner. It's gotta leave you certain that the album was wrapped up clean and tight. It needs to say "THE END." The other example I just mentioned usually has to do with a totally unnecessary instrumental opener. Ambulance LTD had a pretty solid album a few years back, but the first track is completely instrumental and completely unnecessary. Another good example is Thriller. "The Girl is Mine" was clearly a huge publicity gimmick and undoubtedly a selling point in the record company's eyes, but putting it third on that album is inexcusable. You hide that thing a little more than half way through and no one complains. Q: A lot has been made of the assertion that in the future, people won't buy music, and artists will make a living only via performance. What are your feelings about that idea? A: It's kinda frightening. But then again, most bands do that anyway. I think bands have always done that. Don't you remember in the Johnny Cash movie how June Carter came over to Johnny's house while he was all doped up on pills saying how she needed to go back on the road so she could make some money? I really think you're only going to feel your record sales if you're Tom Petty or Radiohead. Otherwise, I can't imagine the record label is paying you too much on your earnings. Previous Fingertips Q&A interviews: Kinch (October 2009) Andrew Spencer Goldman (Fulton Lights) (September 2009) Brian Sendrowitz (Beat Radio) (August 2009) Local Natives (July 2009) Haley Bonar (June 2009) Jill Sobule (May 2009) David Harrell (the Layaways) (April 2009) Joey Barro (The Traditionist) (March 2009) Dave Derby (Gramercy Arms) (February 2009) Shane Nelken (The Awkward Stage) (January 2009) Mark Northfield (December 2008) Mike Reisenauer (Pale Young Gentlemen) (November 2008) Brad Armstrong (13ghosts) (October 2008) Dirk Darmstaedter (September 2008) Jonatha Brooke (August 2008) © copyright 2009 Fingertip Productions