This month’s Wired has an interesting article about the artist Beck and the release (and re-release) of Guero. Unlike traditional music release cycle, this body of work was released:

a) online as an unfinished mix that was leaked in late 2004; (b) as the official 2005 Interscope CD release, which contained most of the tracks on the leaked version plus a few new songs; (c) as the deluxe CD/DVD edition, complete with seven bonus tracks, a surround sound mix, and interactive video art to accompany every song; (d) in one of the many unauthorized fan mashups floating around the Net; (e) not as Guero at all, but as Guerolito, a commercially released companion piece featuring remixes by Diplo, Adrock, and Boards of Canada.

While I am a fan, you might be wondering why I am writing about Beck here. The thing that captivated me about the article was the way that the artist described his relationship with “the suits” at his label:

Does your label, Interscope, ever balk at your ideas?

Actually they’ve been great about everything. The labels are trying to figure all this stuff out just like everyone else, and I feel fortunate that I’ve been able to do so much experimenting to see what works. I’ve also been lucky because I signed a unique record deal back when I started that allowed me to try out a lot of weird things and even record different types of albums for different labels. I think that set me up nicely for where things are currently headed.

Isn’t all that repackaging just about making ways to sell more product?

I guess that’s part of it, but for me it’s more about giving the music legs, giving people new ways to experience it. There are so many ways to integrate technology into music; I can’t wait to see how the opportunities end up being put to use.

Why This Is Interesting

Recently, I talked about the culture wars that I see over the horizon as demographics begin to take over the workplace. In this context, think about the relationship between Beck and Interscope that I mentioned above. It is a creative partnership between an artist, his audience, and a business that is mutually beneficial. This is the face of innovation, smiling at us from just a bit down the road.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 29th, 2006 at 5:01 am and is filed under Systems Integration, People, Relationships, Understanding, Enterprise Web, Mashups, Culture, Millenials. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.