Marketing and Packaging World Music

Scrolling down on the website of Sublime Frequencies , you will find represented a wide array of albums, many constructed and arranged in a hodgepodge fashion, sold with a heavy emphasis on the aesthetic and the exotic, using splashy-colored pictures and even flashier language and broadly-sweeping terms and generalizations to grab the attention of the buyer demographic they’re aiming for. I find it interesting that the people behind this site think that ever single country they’re attempting to represent is “the most amazing/magical/groovy/mysterious/(insert gushing adjective here) place on earth” and that these are sounds which we’ve “NEVER” heard before. The mission statement of the record label Sublime Frequencies is found at the very bottom of the home page on their website. I’ve bolded a few sentences that particularly jumped out at me:

SUBLIME FREQUENCIES is a collective of explorers dedicated to acquiring and exposing obscure sights and sounds from modern and traditional urban and rural frontiers via film and video, field recordings, radio and short wave transmissions, international folk and pop music, sound anomalies, and other forms of human and natural expression not documented sufficiently through all channels of academic research, the modern recording industry, media, or corporate foundations. SUBLIME FREQUENCIES is focused on an aesthetic of extra-geography and soulful experience inspired by music and culture, world travel, research, and the pioneering recording labels of the past including OCORA, SMITHSONIAN FOLKWAYS, ETHNIC FOLKWAYS, LYRICHORD, NONESUCH EXPLORER, MUSICAPHONE, BARONREITER, UNESCO, PLAYASOUND, MUSICAL ATLAS, CHANT DU MONDE, B.A.M., TANGENT, and TOPIC.

This site represents an unsettling dichotomy of how a group of people choose to define themselves, and in turn how they end up being defined by others. One of the most ridiculous examples of an album made with a total disregard to accountability and proper representation was “Radio Java,” whose description can be seen below.

“Java is the center of Indonesian culture. Three out of every four Indonesians live on Java. It is the home of some of the most elegant musical styles to be found anywhere. To the veteran international sound collector, Javanese music is no secret. For the uninitiated, rather than going through an introductory outline of Javanese music history, I will wish you away to the internet, a library, or bookstore where you can find plenty of information on the subject. The selections on this CD are a combination of random radio excerpts sequenced in collage form and assembled in the summer of 1989. This disc is a highly unique document featuring many angles of Javanese sound finally slipping through the cracks. Among many other oddities, you’ll hear several examples of Javanese pop (from Dangdut and Keroncong to Hard Rock and Disco), news snippets, folk music, radio commercials, Jakarta DJ’s, The west Java Sundanese sound, spooky theatre extracts, and high-octane Jaipongan variations that are completely over the top. There has never been anything like this!”

Perhaps the most disturbing album description I came across on the site was the one about “Radio Phnom Penh”:

“Cambodia’s people, economy, and culture have been “re-mixed” perhaps more than any place on earth for the past 50 years. The name was even changed to Kampuchea and then back again to Cambodia. So it almost seems natural that modern Cambodian record companies have been re-mixing the old classic pop and rock tracks from the pre-Khmer Rouge era, overdubbing drum tracks, and sometimes all instruments leaving only the original vocal in tact”

Considering that the Khmer Rouge was responsible for the “killing fields” and mass genocide of 21% of the population, amounting to 1.7 million people in a four-year period (http://www.yale.edu/cgp/), to say Cambodia’s people, economy, and culture have been “remixed” is a rather large understatement. To use genocide as a marketing segue to promote the remixing of musical tracks seems highly unethical and insensitive to me.

The Putamayo record label, though it does not take complete advantage of people or grossly misrepresent them, does not give a very education view of the peoples and musics that they present.  Putamayo is a for-profit company and they have been very commercially successful with CDs widely available, even in Starbucks.  They also have a very selective representation.  They offer music that is “guaranteed to make you feel good” to an audience who they name “cultural creatives.”  The albums themselves are very broad and are not true representations of any specific society.  Some examples of album names are “Global Soul,” “Islands,” and “Acoustic Africa.”  They create very broad categories that do not really say anything about a specific peoples.  Putamayo also searches for the specific sound that they are looking for and believe will be marketable.

Putamayo highlights its focus on education with programs and CDs for children and outreach activities such as tours.  They also donate parts of their proceeds to charity.  However, this is not the case for all sales.  For example, one CD which was very popular, was partly advertised using the fact that it was helping a charity.  However, profits made directly on that CD were not donated.  Putamayo, as well as being a record lable, has stores that sell, crafts, clothing, and other such products.

Putamayo has been very successful in market their music to the masses.  They offer a very accessible version of “world music” for Western listerns.  Though they aren’t the most educational corporation, they do offer an introduction to different types of musics that many mainstream people wouldn’t generally listen to.  Much of our conversation was about dichotomy between being very commercially successful and being very informative and offering completely fair and un-romanticized representation.  Putamayo, though not the most education label, does a very good job at giving a broad and accessible introduction to many types of music.

After discussing the label and its mission we found Smithsonian Folkways to be the most ethically sound and educational label. Smithsonian Folkways Recording is a nonprofit recording label whose mission is to spread “cultural diversity and increased understanding among peoples through the documentation, preservation, and dissemination of sound.” The fact that the company is a nonprofit allows it to continue to publish and make accessible its entire music library, no matter how much they are selling. This accessibility aids the company in its goal cross-cultural education through music. Run by ethnomusicologists, the company is able to give a more of a fair, educational, informative representation of its catalog of music on its website, in liner notes, and with the names of its c.d.’s without making the music appear overly ‘exotic’- a tendency of recording labels when selling world music. Although we did discuss the companies tendency to possibly over-idealize the cross-cultural effects of music, for the most part we felt the company, in general, offers a very fair representation of the music and not only makes a great scope of music available from all over the world but also different categories of music of (poetry, prose, spoken word). One aspect the group focused on that exemplified the company’s desire to genuinely represent world was they way Smithsonian Folkways includes American music in its archives. This can help a costumer to see its commitment to its mission to connect people through musical education rather than exoticize and distance. 

Sublime Frequencies attempts to establish themselves as a label which finds the exotic and the unknown. The music they find is unique, but by no means lost to the cultures which create it, and Sublime Frequencies gives the consumer no way of surmising the truth. That presents the fundamental issue of the label; they are in no way educational. They often present information in a polarizing and incorrect manner to portray their music makers as peaceful and mystical, ignoring the violence and turmoil that these nations often face. I believe that the label simply wants to portray its self as a friendly group passing music around that was found through honest means. They of course did not acquire the music in an honest manner and are stealing from these “exotic” cultures. That could almost be forgiven if they presented the whole, true story of the culture, but as I said before, they do not. Sublime Frequencies is a crooked business which disregards those it is hurting.

Though profit-based, and therefore prone to somewhat questionable attempts to advertise itself, Cumbancha is for the most part a great label. Jacob Edgar created the company (after leaving Putumayo) with the intent of having a great variety of music on it, to expose people to the wonderful music who would not otherwise be exposed. The methods of representing artists have thus far occasionally been slightly disconcerting—the presentation of Zimbabwean artist Chiwoniso, for example, who has been presented as a sort of pan-African spiritual rebel—raises some questions of honesty. But advertising is advertising, and it is understandable that a label, especially a nascent one, would have to make itself and its artists noticed somehow. Though small and fledgling, Cumbancha shows potential to be a label that is both educating and greatly entertaining to people as diverse as the artists on the roster.

http://www.cumbancha.com/welcome.php

Founded by an ethonomusicologist and oberlin alum, Jacob Edgar, Cumbancha is a young record label that includes artists from all the world and aims to introduce diverse musical forms to people honestly. The main artists now include chiwoniso, an african artist who is referred to as “Rebel woman” in website and others. In our discussion, we found that the label is doing good intellectually in most cases and in few cases, not portraying complete and honest pictures of artists.

For example, the label is soon introducing “novalima” who plays afro-peruvian music and is currently supporting  a band “Rupa & April fishes”, that is claimed to perform music influenced by French chanson, Latin alternative, Indian music (Rupa itself being an indian name) and others forms of music. So, the label is doing great by sticking to its primary goal-to introduce diverse musics. Because, the founder is an ethnomusicologist, the basic elements that comprise an accurate way of representing album, like descriptions of artists and songs etc. are done in technical way. For example, in introdction of Chiwoniso, the technical specifications of mbira music like “interlocking” etc. are included. This gives a sense that the label is pursiung its goal in technical manner in comparison some other labels, as we discussed in class, that didn’t know anything about the original musical forms they were representating.

But, in some aspects, their works are not “idealistically” honest. They refer Chiwoniso as a rebel woman to give  senses of mysticism, urgency, power and struggle. This exaggerated description seems to be rather “unreal” actually. Furthermore, the label claims “Zimbabwe’s Chiwoniso performs entrancing and uplifting songs with ancient soul and modern spirit” (http://www.cumbancha.com/albums/rebel_woman). It’s hard to say what “modern” exactly means here. Is “ancient” spirit really “ancient” for people?

This small record brand Cumbancha is doing really good job by going beyond its size and age and taking a broad approaching in presenting different musical forms to people all over the world. Perhaps, it becomes necessary sometimes to deliberately introduce some artificial elements into original forms of music to run a profit based record label. Aside of that, the label is doing a honest job.

Sublime Frequencies is not an example of a record label that stresses the educational and informative over the exotic elements of world music.  The company seems motivated equally by profit and by an interest in sharing unique obscure music with the world.  The mission statement at the bottom of the website emphasizes their interest in world music as “explorers” while album covers and descriptions seem to promote the music as though aiming to make a profit.  This issue can be seen on a spectrum, however, and not simply an issue of making money vs. “acquiring and exposing obscure sights and sounds.”  The website has a very relaxed feel that may show a disinterest in profit or may just as easily be a marketing scheme on the part of the creators.  Similarly, the website stresses its separation from media and corporations, perhaps attempting to convince the internet-surfer that they do not have any sort of agenda. 

As for the website’s representations of the makers of the music being sold, there is a lack of information about and attribution to the artists.  They seem to lack a respect for the social context of the music, focusing text space on exoticizing the music rather than on any specifics about its area of origin.  The politics of representation come into play here, as there is a very limited view of the artists coming through.  The cover of the 1970’s Algerian Proto-Rai Underground LP includes a gun and a woman in lingerie, for example (http://www.sublimefrequencies.com/item.asp?Item_id=50&cd=1970%27s-Algerian-Proto-Rai-Underground).  The website’s creators are simply taking music they find interesting and packaging it as exotic and undiscovered, without thought to copyright or compensation.

Cumbancha, a new record label,was founded by an Oberlin College alumnus,Jacob Edgar(ethnomusicologist). The company is a profit organization,although at a small scale level and was founded two years ago.Cumbancha is a cuban word derived from west Africa,meaning impromptu Jam session.The headquaters of Cumbancha is in Vermont.

Jacob Edgar resigned from Putumayo,another record company because he felt the need to incorporate other music cultures that he felt were neither represented nor adequately represented as he wanted them to . In addition,he wantd to work more closely with the artists he had connections with in Putumayo. However,he did not cut out all links between Putumayo and his company as he still indirectly works for the Putumayo organization too.

This organization includes artists from all over the world,one of them is chiwoniso. She is an artist from Zimbabwe and has gained world recognition. The packaging of the CD is quite disservice to reality because in one of the albums,the setting is in an ocean,yet Zimbabwe is a landlocked country. We thought she packaged this CD, so as to mystify it and sort of give it a spiritual sense. Also the title symbolizes the struggle women go through to be heard,as she says,its a voice of the voiceless. The dressing,which looks Rastafarian is meant to make her look authentic and more credible with regards to what she is portraying.

There are different kinds of music,there is ska-cuban,a fusion of Jamaican sca and cuban mambo,salsa,son which earned world praise,Ethiopian folk music,Arabian Poetry,chants,biblical psalms,Caribbean rhythmns ,afro-peruvian music,the list is endless.The languages used are different,from English to Zimbabwe, to Cuban and many more.Chiwoniso uses English because it is a widely used language,thus helps people understand her better.

This record company is marketed towards,people who don’t know the existence of other kinds of music other than what they are accustomed to,helping people learn about world music and appreciate diversity.

In conclusion,our group thought that this was a good record company and there was potential for growth since it is a new company,founded by a young Oberlin alumnus. It gives a good representation on what to expect and is educative on other musics of the world,therefore we thought it Cumbancha is a good label.

Overall, our group thought the World Music Label did a good job using fair language and giving accurate representations of music and culture, with a few exceptions. We discussed the difficulty of labeling albums using language of a non-biased discourse, mainly since the label is for-profit. The discourse of exoticism is appealing and sells records, and so descriptions like “magical” were used sometimes in selling albums. Generally, though, ideas of the “primitive” were avoided, with one exception- the “Introducing Hangai” album. Here the producer’s notes described the recording session as a “primitive experience”; our group was divided, however, over whether this implied the people themselves or the creative process in general was primitive. Overall, the language was seen as questionable because it implied that the connection between artists and producer had to take place on a primitive level. In terms of representation, we discussed the difficulties of using a few songs or artists to represent an entire culture. On the Introducing… label, artists were seen as their own entities and not voices of a larger culture, and so we thought this was effective. The “Introducing Kenge Kenge” album did claim the band played “the African music”, which was a notable and problematic exception. The Rough Guides, however, tended to simplify music-cultures and represent only slices of a much more complex whole. The “American Roots” album, for example, had an album cover showing a cowboy and a rusted mailbox- perhaps a bit too stereotypical, we thought. However, the label did not claim to be a definitive, academic study of world music, and donated to charities, which we thought demonstrated a good level of social awareness. All in all, we thought the label did a better job than most, although there were a few instances of questionable language.

The motive behind Smithsonian Folkways as a record label is to keep as many types of music and sound (some of the more obscure options include background music for home movies, oral histories, language instruction, and history through song), as accessible as possible in order to expand and diversify the public’s awareness and knowledge of music from various music-cultures. This standard reflects the belief that recorded music can be an agent of social change as well as an all-around benefit to the world. To be able to achieve this, they are a non-profit company, keeping every piece of music in stock regardless of how well it sells and allowing any educational institution to connect to their website and enjoy free access to all of their music.

This is not to say, though, that they do not advertise. One link on their site leads to their new releases, and in another, “In the News,” (http://www.folkways.si.edu/about_folkways/news.aspx), the first written information is a contact person for the media. We came to the conclusion that their desire for media attention stems from a desire for prestige and to get the word out in order to spread musical educational.

Their mission affects the types of music they sell – the concentration is on representing different music traditions as they are, without any hype. This therefore excludes albums and artists that have already achieved great fame, and shifts the content of this publication company to more “traditional and roots music” and other music that is “underrepresented in the marketplace.” (http://www.folkways.si.edu/about_folkways/faq.aspx). Our group thus found the titles in Smithsonian Folkways much more authentic than most for-profit labels – the titles of music from foreign countries seemed fairly represented. Rather than being overly exoticized as a for-profit company might do, Smithsonian Folkways used the liner notes to educate about the music. For example, one world title available for sale is Ayombe! The Heart of Colombia’s Música Valentina (http://www.folkways.si.edu/albumdetails.aspx?itemid=3210). The first written statement in the liner notes is that they are “based on research by the Grupo de Investigación en Músicas del Caribe,” which translates to the Investigation Group in Caribbean Musics. What follows is a history of where and how música valentina started, its place in Colombian popular culture, its musical make-up, and much much more. The emphasis on education is clearly apparent. Smithsonian Folkways also attempts to give fair representation of the world’s music, including various genres of American music, which contributes to its authentic reputation in that it values and preserves all types of music without labeling some genres or origins as more interesting or exotic or more worthwhile than others.