© 2009 Dead Sexy Magazine. All Rights Reserved.
Sixteen Sixteen
Writer J.F. Thibault
Photography Emily Rothenbucher
I can’t think of any other invention over the past century that has had a larger worldwide impact than the Internet. As cliché as that sounds, it is undeniable the Internet has been an extremely powerful tool of change. Could you really imagine a world without instant access to information, without Google, without Facebook, and without a plethora of porn right at your fingertips? The Internet has globalized us, it has connected us, and it has arguably made us better people despite the porn, or who knows maybe because of it. Most importantly, I think its greatest achievement is that it has fueled people to be more creative and has created a larger playing field to display this creativity.
However, have we gone too far? Is the fact that we can now download essentially anything we want, movies, television shows, and music, a detriment to our creativity? The music industry has been greatly affected by downloading. Record sales over the past decade have dropped dramatically and mega record corporations are losing billions of dollars a year and many are going out of business. But I wonder, is this necessarily a bad thing?
[left] From left, Chris Ploss, Mark Sandford, Scott Nelson
The members of SIXTEEN SIXTEEN, a collective of musical and visual artists in Montreal certainly don’t think so. The founding members Mark Sandford, Chris Ploss, and Scott Nelson, believe “we shouldn’t look at the Internet as a tool for taking value away from artists, but instead as a means to give an artist incredible range, since it allows access to many different people as opposed to those just in your city." They have created their own website, sixteensixteen.org, named simply after their address, where they distribute music from their bands for free or donation. Their philosophy is pretty simple, as Mark Sandford puts it, “if someone is no longer going to buy a Radiohead record for example, what makes them want to buy one of our records?” In giving their music away, Chris Ploss argues, “we are appealing to a much broader audience and in the end that creates value. The more people that are exposed to our music, the greater the chance of people being interested in it.” They believe the timing in receiving value for their music has changed. The major labels relied heavily on C.O.D. (cash on delivery) in which they would get the value immediately upon purchase. But in today's method, the value comes at a different stage. When you're giving it away, the value comes later, either it be through concert sales, merchandising, or branding, etc.
I’ve known guys at Sixteen Sixteen for quite some time now and I’ve seen how they developed the idea of the record collective from their band FLUXUS, which is still one of the primary bands at Sixteen Sixteen. They recognized they had all the tools necessary to take on a project that could go further than just a regular band, whether that be recording, promoting or playing live. Scott Nelson, a computer science student, created the website and developed some unique software that enabled them to distribute their music on the site. Chris Ploss is the musical mastermind behind the operation. He produced several of the albums available on the Sixteen Sixteen site. Mark Sandford is in charge of promoting the bands and exposing Sixteen Sixteen as much as he can. The music at Sixteen Sixteen is pretty diverse. Fluxus, Latin for “flow”, has experienced several musical changes over a short while, but their goal primarily has always been to make you dance. As the band describes it, “think of the Talking Heads taking you on a field trip to Studio 54, but it turned out to be rock club in the end." Line Spectra is another Montreal band featuring three girls who provide a tasty dose of rock’n’roll. Sixteen Sixteen also contains three New York based bands, Kites in Space, Caution Children, and Radio the Ape. There is no formal business arrangement and no contract;, the bands simply share the same enthusiasm for distributing their music for free and feel Sixteen Sixteen is a viable way to get exposure and hopefully get value for their art.
The band Radio the Ape recently came back from playing a benefit concert in Los Angeles, called the International Day of Peace put on by the Jane Goodall Foundation. Fluxus and Line Spectra are frequently playing shows around the Montreal scene and Kites in Space and Caution Children are regularly playing shows in and around Ithaca, New York. On top of that Sixteen Sixteen features several visual artists, each with their own unique style and media, but they share the creative passion that surrounds the Sixteen Sixteen collective.
Although Sixteen Sixteen was only launched at the beginning of last spring, the collective quite happy with the ways things are progressing. With some mentoring from a music business insider, the guys from Sixteen Sixteen are carefully charting their way in a business that changes almost weekly.
I’ve always been fascinated by the Internet. Despite the fact it can give rise to utterly ridiculous phenomena such as “Rickrolling” and the resurgence of Chuck Norris, it also can be a powerful creative tool. Every generation has had a different outlet; first there was radio, then came television and MTV, and now we have the Internet. Progressive innovation is the key for anything to be successful and as Mark puts it, “this is the way the world is now spinning, why not spin with it?”
1616 Interview by J.F. Thibault
