Interview with Matzge Broeckel from the German Ska Label Pork Pie Records about the effects of free downloads

This interview is part of the story “Should All Ska Music Be Free – Two Sides Of The Same Coin”. For the introduction to the article go here. If you like to read the blogger toneandwave’s stance on the subject, follow this link.

1. Since the foundation of Pork Pie (1989) more than 20 years ago, the music industry has been turned upside down. With the ever increasing circulation of mp3s the sales of physical recordings (LPs, CDs) dwindled. Today people mostly use mp3s to listen to music, which was confirmed for the Ska fans in a recent poll on joescholes.com. It’s easy to download mp3s from the Web without paying anything. Many record companies haven’t survived these developments. With which strategies did Pork Pie stay on top of things?

You have to understand that in comparison to other listeners Ska fans were quite slow in making use of mp3s. It took a FEW years until mp3s became widely accepted. Therefore we sold appropriate numbers of Ska CD’s and of course vinyl until quite recently. The strategy was to offer quality, in terms of sound and packaging. From included vinyl singles through LPs with grafitti stencils to CD booklets with lots of pages. By now there seems to be a new generation of Ska fans who exchange information about music with the help of platforms like myspace or facebook and generally take all their information from the Web. That makes informative CD booklets seem outdated now. When it comes to music we have adapted to the new ways of distributing. You can download all of the Pork Pie repertoire worldwide through platforms like finetunes, iTunes, musicload, Amazon etc. fast, in an excellent quality and legally.

2. Is it possible to tell how the sales have changed at Pork Pie? When was an album considered a success in earlier days, when today? Are legal downloads of any significance when it comes to sales?

Back then I told the bands: “Send the studio bill, I’ll pay for it.” Today I sometimes even have to leave the costs for the pressing to the bands. Fortunately the numbers of legal downloads are increasing at a two- or even three-digit rate. Still I guess we will not be able to reach the same figures as with earlier CD sales. Bands have to attune to the fact that a label is becoming a service provider that offers promotion, marketing, distribution but has to be paid by the band.

3. Are there other (i.e. musical/personal/organisational) reasons for the
changes in positioning (slimming down, if I observed correctly) of Pork Pie?

I don’t have the feeling that Pork Pie is slimming down (unfortunately neither am I myself [;-)]

Pork Pie has always released fewer albums per year than many other labels, just to make sure that we are not doing too much and getting into an assembly line mode. Now that I only have to take care of Pork Pie, after the end of mother company Vielklang, more is possible than it used to be. In 2009 alone I released albums by Spitfire, Ringo Ska, Yalkyrians and Liberator, plus the compilation “Pork Pie Spirit Of Ska – 20 years jubilee edition”. I also did the promotion and distribution for Boikot (Feier Mettel) and Blaster Master (BALE). To do more would be counterproductive.

4. What’s your impression: Are the shifts in the music industry similar in every musical style? Or does niche music in general and Ska in particular follow special rules.

Unfortunately Ska has become more of a niche product recently than other styles like Electro for example. But the sales of physical recordings are shrinking everywhere.

5. You are very active on the Web, searching for interesting bands via myspace etc. Where do you see other positive aspects for your work?

One thing that I did was start Noisy Cooking, a new form of event in which bands present themselves in a different light, to their music, image and origin: It’s a cooking show on the Web. The events so far have been a lot of fun. But the show needs to establish itself some more.

6. My impulse to ask for this interview was the fact that downloads of different albums released on Pork Pie (i.e. one by The Frits, one by my former band The Braces) are offered on the blog toneandwave.blogspot.com for free. What do you think about that? The LPs were not reissued, i.e. were unavailable. So no harm done. Or is there? How do you see that?

To be honest – even if it sounds unpopular: I think it’s out of order… Even if those people that upload the music don’t earn anything, you have to leave the decision to the musicians who, by the way, own the copyrights for the rest of their lives, even if the former label doesn’t exist anymore. Maybe the band have good reasons why they don’t want to see their songs being published anymore.

7. Have you ever contacted a blogger and/or provider of downloads and asked them to remove download links from the Web?

That could easily amount to an unpaid fulltime job with minimal chances of success. I would only do that in case of a gross rights violation.

8. Do you actively seek illegal download offers of your label’s bands on the Web?

No, see question above.

9. Which role does online radio play? Is it interesting for promo? Does it promote the attitude: “Why pay for it, if music is available for free as well?”

That’s a very problematic issue. On the one hand there are radios that offer outstanding services and present new bands, and whose slots might fall victim to budget cuts some day.

On the other hand there are thousands of web radio stations that make all kinds of music available for free 24/7. The listeners get the feeling that they would be stupid to pay for music voluntarily. A short time ago the headline on the cover of Computerbild (Germany’s computer magazine with the highest circulation) was: “Download 3 Million songs for free and legally to your computer with the software on the free magazine CD.” This is the modern version of “tape-recording from the radio”, with the only difference that you don’t have to crouch in front of the device, but thousands of songs are being stored automatically. That’s sellout and the effect is that there have to be compromises in the production of the music because the money is not there anymore. Music fans should consider supporting their favourite bands and labels by paying for music and products voluntarily.
I think the stupid ones are the bums that prefer to store terabytes of junk hard disks instead of buying something decent and giving something back to their scene.

10. How do you see the future of music labels in general and, of course, Pork Pie?

Like I already said, as competent consultants and service providers for the bands and as a brand for the fan that gives orientation, helping the fan to find the gems amongst the millions of the crap songs on the Web.

This interview is part of the story “Should All Ska Music Be Free – Two Sides Of The Same Coin”. For the introduction to the article go here. If you like to read the blogger toneandwave’s stance on the subject, follow this link.