DJ Shadow: URB Interview With Dj Shadow just after the new site (DJSHADOW.COM) relaunch
Today, three time URB cover star DJ Shadow launched a new version of his DJShadow.com website. This wouldn't be news worth reporting for most artists, but Shadow isn't most artist. The site marks the first time that a major label musician will offer his entire back catalog for download directly from his web portal. Which means you can get all of Shadow's major label releases, as well as his early MoWax recordings and lots of brand new rarities, all directly from his site. URB spoke with the DJ Hero to find out why navigating the jungle of music sales is worth the trouble.
URB: What was the inspiration behind wanting to gather all your music in one place?
DJ Shadow: The website is a funny thing for me, because you want one place on the Internet to be a source of accurate information for what you're doing. And I suppose at a certain point you also want to be able to occassionally set the record straight on this or that. You need an official home for what you're doing. You know, I'm not like a Trent Reznor where I interact with my fans on an hourly basis or even some other DJs that I know that take it so seriously.I just wanted a place where I could sell music to people, but I never liked the thought that people are coming to buy a download but then they're being sent to some another store, where I don't have control over the ads that they're seeing. I don't have any control over that end of the experience even though they're being sent there, which is how most artists on a major label, that how most people's stores run. If you want to buy downloads of that artist on their store, you get sent to any of the other third party store fronts that are out there. So, about a year and a half ago, I just started thinking well what if I was able to sell MP3s on my own store of the music that's owned by Universal and just license it from them instead. So essentially I've become my own distributor. Much like as if I was an independent label, but of course I'm not.
What about, besides the Universal stuff, will be going deeper, will you be having the Mo'Wax stuff?
Universal owns all the Mo'Wax stuff. It's interesting because I think one of the great misunderstandings (not like there's thousands of people sitting around thinking about this stuff) but I have noticed that some people thought I signed to Universal for the first time for the last album, when in actual fact I have been signed to Universal since '95. When I did the deal with Mo'Wax/A&M, A&M was part of Universal and then when A&M UK closed down in '98 all the names got passed around in a hat of Mo'Wax artists. And Island Records said 'we'll take Shadow.' In America I was on London FFRR, which was part of Universal, and then they closed that down, then I was on MCA which is part of Universal and then they closed that down then I was on Geffen for a second. And then I moved over to Universal, but somehow it got out I was signing to Universal which I thought was interesting. But in any case, all the Mo'Wax stuff is Universal anyway.
You'll be able to get your whole discography then on your site.
Yeah, my whole discography. And also tons of stuff that you know like Solesides stuff, Quannum stuff, stuff that I've done over the years that was never was released. Basically anything and everything. The only thing I can't sell on there, unless I spend a whole bunch of energy, is artists that I did remixes for or stuff that I did that appears on somebody else's record that's not associated with anything I'm involved in. That stuff would be a little tougher. I think there's one or two examples where we did manage to get some stuff like that.
Is there new material that's going to be coming down the pipe for the new site as well?
Not at the moment. There's a lot of archival stuff. I basically went through all my DATs and my cassettes and my CD-Rs and pulled together a bunch of stuff that I don't think anybody's ever heard before. I found this radio mix that I did in 1988, stuff like that. I'm not selling it at a premium, I'm selling it pretty cheap. It's just kind of like a chance for even people who think they have heard everything to be like "Oh damn, there's like hours of stuff here I've never heard before."
How hard was it to negotiate all this? You don't hear of too many artists doing this.
I actually had no clue that it was sort of something that nobody had done, really. It wasn't until the lawyers within Universal started saying "Well you know, we've never done this before so you're gonna have to bear with us here." 'Cause initially there was some resistance obviously, because it was something new. When an artist starts talking, "Hey I wanna have my own store." They're kind of like, "I don't know about this." It took like a year and a half to kind of jump through the legal hoops and assure them that we'll follow the same protocols that every other store does in terms of accounting and in terms of the way the music is delivered. And then, I was sitting there going "I don't want DRM," like a year ago and they were fighting and fighting and fighting. And then three months later, suddenly, nobody has DRM. And then it's like oh, we just wasted three months. It wasn't like I said until they started saying, "This is the first time we've done this," that we started thinking about it and researching. I told the dude that runs my site and a couple of other people, don't be saying this is the first time unless you're sure that it is. And what we've been able to figure out, it's the first time an artist on a major label has done it. But if it has happened before, apologies to whoever did it first [laughs]. At least as far as Universal's concerned, it's definitely the the first time.
What about for the fans that still want the vinyl? Have you looked into the possibility of selling hard product as well, specifically vinyl or is this strictly going to be MP3?
I didn't see much purpose in repressing stuff that came out on vinyl at some point because vinyl-heads are pretty resourceful at getting the original stuff if they need it bad enough. But what we did do is pressed up like half a dozen new vinyl projects based on the archival stuff. The physical product line called "DJ Shadow Hand-Made" which is basically taking the whole physical product thing to kind of an extreme. I mean, the vinyl is 180 gram, the jackets are this super heavy stock with a die-cut in the middle and hand stamped. It's as much labor as you can put into a physical product without it getting ridiculous. This is not supposed to be a fetishized item either, it's supposed to be listened to and enjoyed. For people who want the physical product, it's there in the kind of extreme end of the quality scale that we could feasably do.
I would imagine going through all the archives would have been, on the one hand it would be interesting and nostalgic, but I'm wondering if it was also inspirational on any level for maybe upcoming projects.
It definitely helps recalibrate you mentally as far as where you come from. There was a set that I toured behind in '99 that was kind of a the height of turntablism... I don't want to call it a trend, but you remember those days. If you were a DJ you had to be as aggressive with your scratching as possible because that was what was expected. And when I listen to that set now I'm like, damn that sure is a lot of scratching. I had totally forgotten that the set was that sort of turntablisty at one point and it was interesting for me to hear. I hadn't heard that show in probably eight or nine years. I heard it and I had to dig it off a mini disc somewhere. I think it's actually the only recording I have of that whole tour. So there's a lot of stuff like that in the archive where it was just by happy accident that there's even a recording of it to begin with. It was cool to find that kind of stuff, but at the same time I don't particularly enjoy living in the archive and I'm definitely at a point where I'm ready to move forward. Being my own archivist is not something that I aspire to, it's just something that's out of neccessity, out of a sense that, maybe somebody would want to hear this. But I'm anxious to kinda be finished with this phase and get back into looking foward, which is to me ultimately the whole point.
Is there a theme or a style that you see yourself going towards right now in the new stuff you're working on?
You know, it just changes day to day, I know that's kind of a generic answer and I wish I could be more specific. But if I gave anybody anything to hang the hat on, then when they finally get it, it's bound to be 180 degrees the other way. In one session, I'll feel like I want the sound to be really organic back or really kind of like back to the essence if you will. On other days, all I want to do is something I've never done before and push the boundaries. I mean, as long as I'm pushing my own boundaries of just making sure that I'm not covering any ground I've ever done before or settling into any comfortable musical easy chair, as far as my comfort zone. As long as I'm living outside of that comfort zone then I'm kind of okay with what I'm doing. So it just totally depends. I'm not out to antagonize anybody, I'm not trying to do anything extreme just for the sake of it at all. I'm just trying to keep myself interested and keep myself motivated to just sort of try and offer an alternative to what's out there. And that's really all I've ever really tried to do. When I did Endtroducing it was because I just felt that there was a sound that was not really being explored and I wanted to put it out there and let people debate it and give their thumbs up or thumbs down. And that's kind of been the MO all along.
Is there any project coming up, not necessarily recording, but is there like a tour coming up. What are we going to see from Shadow in the end of 09 and going into 2010?
As you know, I do tend to take a bit of little time in between major albums. To answer your question, I'll be working a lot behind the scenes, but you know I'm also a family man with two kids and a remodel of a house that's run way too long and occupies my time occassionally. I have to fight for the time to be able to work on music. I'm working all day, it's just not always on music.I think that's kind of healthy, because when I was making all the music that ended up being on Endtroducing, I was in school at the time and I'd only have like three hours a day to work on music. You kind of really have to get potent I don't sit around for ten hours a day and noodle and doodle around. When I want to make music, I have to really fight for the time to do it. And it's kind of always been that way, so that's one of the reasons I'm not more prolific than I am. But hopefully, it's also the reason that I can stand here and tell you that there's never been anything that I've done that I'm not satisfied with. So it's a mixed blessing. I am working on new stuff. Obviously at the moment I'm working on the site. And I'm also taking little digging trips as always. And seeing things and places and people, and trying to get inspiration in that way as well.
What's inspiring you right now? Anything you've discovered this past month? Other artists, things you've discovered in your digging?
Just honesty. Honesty in the music, honesty in the recording techniques and in the way someone is expressing themselves. Like a lot of people, I think, you look around at what's available for people to consume, and what's available for people to mark their identity by musically. It's not a great time right now certainly in terms of popular music. So I find myself just really latching on to things that I feel like have some truth to them and have some honesty to them and are saying something personal and saying something well and tasteful. And without giving any specific examples that's what I would say.
SOURCE
Today, three time URB cover star DJ Shadow launched a new version of his DJShadow.com website. This wouldn't be news worth reporting for most artists, but Shadow isn't most artist. The site marks the first time that a major label musician will offer his entire back catalog for download directly from his web portal. Which means you can get all of Shadow's major label releases, as well as his early MoWax recordings and lots of brand new rarities, all directly from his site. URB spoke with the DJ Hero to find out why navigating the jungle of music sales is worth the trouble.
URB: What was the inspiration behind wanting to gather all your music in one place?
DJ Shadow: The website is a funny thing for me, because you want one place on the Internet to be a source of accurate information for what you're doing. And I suppose at a certain point you also want to be able to occassionally set the record straight on this or that. You need an official home for what you're doing. You know, I'm not like a Trent Reznor where I interact with my fans on an hourly basis or even some other DJs that I know that take it so seriously.I just wanted a place where I could sell music to people, but I never liked the thought that people are coming to buy a download but then they're being sent to some another store, where I don't have control over the ads that they're seeing. I don't have any control over that end of the experience even though they're being sent there, which is how most artists on a major label, that how most people's stores run. If you want to buy downloads of that artist on their store, you get sent to any of the other third party store fronts that are out there. So, about a year and a half ago, I just started thinking well what if I was able to sell MP3s on my own store of the music that's owned by Universal and just license it from them instead. So essentially I've become my own distributor. Much like as if I was an independent label, but of course I'm not.
What about, besides the Universal stuff, will be going deeper, will you be having the Mo'Wax stuff?
Universal owns all the Mo'Wax stuff. It's interesting because I think one of the great misunderstandings (not like there's thousands of people sitting around thinking about this stuff) but I have noticed that some people thought I signed to Universal for the first time for the last album, when in actual fact I have been signed to Universal since '95. When I did the deal with Mo'Wax/A&M, A&M was part of Universal and then when A&M UK closed down in '98 all the names got passed around in a hat of Mo'Wax artists. And Island Records said 'we'll take Shadow.' In America I was on London FFRR, which was part of Universal, and then they closed that down, then I was on MCA which is part of Universal and then they closed that down then I was on Geffen for a second. And then I moved over to Universal, but somehow it got out I was signing to Universal which I thought was interesting. But in any case, all the Mo'Wax stuff is Universal anyway.
You'll be able to get your whole discography then on your site.
Yeah, my whole discography. And also tons of stuff that you know like Solesides stuff, Quannum stuff, stuff that I've done over the years that was never was released. Basically anything and everything. The only thing I can't sell on there, unless I spend a whole bunch of energy, is artists that I did remixes for or stuff that I did that appears on somebody else's record that's not associated with anything I'm involved in. That stuff would be a little tougher. I think there's one or two examples where we did manage to get some stuff like that.
Is there new material that's going to be coming down the pipe for the new site as well?
Not at the moment. There's a lot of archival stuff. I basically went through all my DATs and my cassettes and my CD-Rs and pulled together a bunch of stuff that I don't think anybody's ever heard before. I found this radio mix that I did in 1988, stuff like that. I'm not selling it at a premium, I'm selling it pretty cheap. It's just kind of like a chance for even people who think they have heard everything to be like "Oh damn, there's like hours of stuff here I've never heard before."
How hard was it to negotiate all this? You don't hear of too many artists doing this.
I actually had no clue that it was sort of something that nobody had done, really. It wasn't until the lawyers within Universal started saying "Well you know, we've never done this before so you're gonna have to bear with us here." 'Cause initially there was some resistance obviously, because it was something new. When an artist starts talking, "Hey I wanna have my own store." They're kind of like, "I don't know about this." It took like a year and a half to kind of jump through the legal hoops and assure them that we'll follow the same protocols that every other store does in terms of accounting and in terms of the way the music is delivered. And then, I was sitting there going "I don't want DRM," like a year ago and they were fighting and fighting and fighting. And then three months later, suddenly, nobody has DRM. And then it's like oh, we just wasted three months. It wasn't like I said until they started saying, "This is the first time we've done this," that we started thinking about it and researching. I told the dude that runs my site and a couple of other people, don't be saying this is the first time unless you're sure that it is. And what we've been able to figure out, it's the first time an artist on a major label has done it. But if it has happened before, apologies to whoever did it first [laughs]. At least as far as Universal's concerned, it's definitely the the first time.
What about for the fans that still want the vinyl? Have you looked into the possibility of selling hard product as well, specifically vinyl or is this strictly going to be MP3?
I didn't see much purpose in repressing stuff that came out on vinyl at some point because vinyl-heads are pretty resourceful at getting the original stuff if they need it bad enough. But what we did do is pressed up like half a dozen new vinyl projects based on the archival stuff. The physical product line called "DJ Shadow Hand-Made" which is basically taking the whole physical product thing to kind of an extreme. I mean, the vinyl is 180 gram, the jackets are this super heavy stock with a die-cut in the middle and hand stamped. It's as much labor as you can put into a physical product without it getting ridiculous. This is not supposed to be a fetishized item either, it's supposed to be listened to and enjoyed. For people who want the physical product, it's there in the kind of extreme end of the quality scale that we could feasably do.
I would imagine going through all the archives would have been, on the one hand it would be interesting and nostalgic, but I'm wondering if it was also inspirational on any level for maybe upcoming projects.
It definitely helps recalibrate you mentally as far as where you come from. There was a set that I toured behind in '99 that was kind of a the height of turntablism... I don't want to call it a trend, but you remember those days. If you were a DJ you had to be as aggressive with your scratching as possible because that was what was expected. And when I listen to that set now I'm like, damn that sure is a lot of scratching. I had totally forgotten that the set was that sort of turntablisty at one point and it was interesting for me to hear. I hadn't heard that show in probably eight or nine years. I heard it and I had to dig it off a mini disc somewhere. I think it's actually the only recording I have of that whole tour. So there's a lot of stuff like that in the archive where it was just by happy accident that there's even a recording of it to begin with. It was cool to find that kind of stuff, but at the same time I don't particularly enjoy living in the archive and I'm definitely at a point where I'm ready to move forward. Being my own archivist is not something that I aspire to, it's just something that's out of neccessity, out of a sense that, maybe somebody would want to hear this. But I'm anxious to kinda be finished with this phase and get back into looking foward, which is to me ultimately the whole point.
Is there a theme or a style that you see yourself going towards right now in the new stuff you're working on?
You know, it just changes day to day, I know that's kind of a generic answer and I wish I could be more specific. But if I gave anybody anything to hang the hat on, then when they finally get it, it's bound to be 180 degrees the other way. In one session, I'll feel like I want the sound to be really organic back or really kind of like back to the essence if you will. On other days, all I want to do is something I've never done before and push the boundaries. I mean, as long as I'm pushing my own boundaries of just making sure that I'm not covering any ground I've ever done before or settling into any comfortable musical easy chair, as far as my comfort zone. As long as I'm living outside of that comfort zone then I'm kind of okay with what I'm doing. So it just totally depends. I'm not out to antagonize anybody, I'm not trying to do anything extreme just for the sake of it at all. I'm just trying to keep myself interested and keep myself motivated to just sort of try and offer an alternative to what's out there. And that's really all I've ever really tried to do. When I did Endtroducing it was because I just felt that there was a sound that was not really being explored and I wanted to put it out there and let people debate it and give their thumbs up or thumbs down. And that's kind of been the MO all along.
Is there any project coming up, not necessarily recording, but is there like a tour coming up. What are we going to see from Shadow in the end of 09 and going into 2010?
As you know, I do tend to take a bit of little time in between major albums. To answer your question, I'll be working a lot behind the scenes, but you know I'm also a family man with two kids and a remodel of a house that's run way too long and occupies my time occassionally. I have to fight for the time to be able to work on music. I'm working all day, it's just not always on music.I think that's kind of healthy, because when I was making all the music that ended up being on Endtroducing, I was in school at the time and I'd only have like three hours a day to work on music. You kind of really have to get potent I don't sit around for ten hours a day and noodle and doodle around. When I want to make music, I have to really fight for the time to do it. And it's kind of always been that way, so that's one of the reasons I'm not more prolific than I am. But hopefully, it's also the reason that I can stand here and tell you that there's never been anything that I've done that I'm not satisfied with. So it's a mixed blessing. I am working on new stuff. Obviously at the moment I'm working on the site. And I'm also taking little digging trips as always. And seeing things and places and people, and trying to get inspiration in that way as well.
What's inspiring you right now? Anything you've discovered this past month? Other artists, things you've discovered in your digging?
Just honesty. Honesty in the music, honesty in the recording techniques and in the way someone is expressing themselves. Like a lot of people, I think, you look around at what's available for people to consume, and what's available for people to mark their identity by musically. It's not a great time right now certainly in terms of popular music. So I find myself just really latching on to things that I feel like have some truth to them and have some honesty to them and are saying something personal and saying something well and tasteful. And without giving any specific examples that's what I would say.
SOURCE