Artists
Andy Patterson
Biography
Andy’s first foray into the world of music was back in the days when people still called him Andrew.
At the age of 8 he was plucked from the classroom of a North East England primary school, as a reward for passing a listening test which hinged upon guessing the number of instruments he could hear in a piece of music. He began on the cornet (small trumpet), soon realising that the electric six string was much cooler. After much begging, he got one as a Christmas present aged 10 and a half. Fast forward 8 years and the boy (still Andrew) is about to leave for university down south. The years of schooling have brought him much in the way of knowledge and certificates, a brief dalliance in am-dram (less said about that the better) and a ‘mediocre’ talent across a number of instruments (head of music c1999 – thanks…).
He journeyed south, where he has stayed ever since, to begin a degree in Music and Sound Recording (Tonmeister). He earns the degree and acquires a beer belly and a nickname (Andy). Countless performances as one part of the duo FINe and dANDY with Fin Barnes, along with the hosting of an open mic night on the university campus, are the musical highlights-along with singing and playing banjo and singing in a trad. jazz ensemble with a fellow Geordie on sousaphone. Graduation brings a BMus(Hons)(Tonmeister) title (as yet unused) and the realisation that a job is required, his first job being a trip to Versailles to record a small gig organised to combat world poverty (LIVE8).
He has since worked on archiving projects for a few household names, along with recording monthly gigs at an iconic London Eaterie for the wireless. He has co-produced 2 albums with Colin Vearncombe at his studio in Ireland, has performed engineering duties for Scottish hitmaker Gerry Rafferty and is an ‘expert’ listener for a commercial research organisation. He also has links to the world of film music where he performs technical surgery on equipment for Hollywood composers .
Abubilla came about through an introduction made by a fellow Tonmeister (cheers Davros – still owe you a pint). He loves the music/pizza combination that Abubilla offers.
Latest Blog... View more blogs from Andy Patterson
The future of Music Distribution?
Written by Andy Patterson
So, this morning, an email popped into my inbox at Abubilla Towers, and I thought I’d share its contents with you:
http://www.brandedmedia.net/blog.php?id=1207583053916721439
For those shy of clicking on links away from AM, Branded Media are offering free plastic boxes to accompany branded USB sticks ordered from them. The offer is not extraordinary in itself, and is only for the month of September, but the interesting thing here is the idea of packaging a USB stick like a CD or album. Immediately I am hit with a multitude of possibilities of how this can help with the release of an audio product. A few of these are:
1. Your release need not be confined to being just audio. You could include all manner of things on the USB stick. Including videos, lyrics, artwork..the list goes on. If you can save it to disk, and it has a small enough file size then it can be included in the package.
2. Its a physical product. A lot of music consumers are still worried about downloading. The industry’s all out battle with the ‘torrenters’ and a few years back the ‘Napster’ generation (before it went legit), has in some way created pariahs, in the same way that drink-drivers (a once socially accepted and excepted norm) and smokers have been treated. While I’m not comparing drink-driving with downloading tunes without paying for them, the effect is the same. Mass media coverage of ‘industry experts’ suggesting that the downloaders are killing the industry is misleading and wrong. What they actually mean, is that the record companies don’t see the profits they used to, but anyway, am getting off topic here… Legal download sites have begun to turn the tide, but still people are still wary of giving credit card details over the internet for what amounts to a file. A physical product may go someway to rectifying this.
3. Its a new unique idea. One of the things people say is that ‘The internet killed the music business’. In my opinion, this couldn’t be more wrong. I can write a track, upload it and someone in Australian can be listening to it the same day. While this does nothing necessarily for content quality control, the playing field has leveled amazingly. As a result, everyone and their sister are making music. The key now is to make it stand out. This could help with this.
But…albums (not Abubilla) have been offered on USB sticks before and the idea has never really taken off, for a few reasons I think:
1. Longevity Once you have loaded the album onto your computer, you’re not likely to need the stick again (although I do except that the stick is a good backup – like a CD, and that you basically create a branding opportunity without trying.. people will carry a USB stick around in their bags, but not a CD generally..)
2.Usability You can’t just plug the stick into a player and hit play (again, some devices may do this, but there isn’t one in every home and office in the land).
3.Quality there are still audiophiles out there, who will not touch any kind of audio file. They want a CD. partly through
4. Price I’ve no idea on this one. Will ask Branded Media for a quote, but when we investigated Playbuttons we found them to be too expensive. The Playbutton is though, a great idea, and one which we may look at again in the future.
So, a few interesting theories there.. and a bit of wildly veering off topic. I’ll update the blog with the price when I find out. I can’t see the next Abubilla album appearing on USB stick, but then, who knows.. maybe it will be a packaged USB drive that lands on your doormat.
By the way King Henry’s Tears is available now on iTunes.. We’re in the process of updating the Abubilla Music site, so it hasn’t appeared as of yet on there, but will soon..
