‘People think this state is a bunch of mountain man ski bums living in the forest with our animal friends’

Junior’s Cave, an online indie music magazine, just published a Nuts + Berries interview, I talk about the concept of laptop punk, why DFA Records and the Talking Heads are a big inspiration to me, and how the rest of the world looks at Colorado.

We also discussed how online music services like Tunecore, Sonicbids and Dropcards are changing the industry and creating room for acts like Nuts + Berries. Enjoy.

Digital distribution and democracy in the music biz

U.S. album sales down nearly 22 percent from last December, Reuters says. Buying CDs at non-traditional vendors like Starbucks is up, but it’s not offsetting the death of the album. Meanwhile, more than 1 billion digital tracks — tracks, not albums — will be downloaded this year, the LA Times reports. We’re returning to 45s.

This isn’t all bad. Digital music is cheap to produce and release. The Nuts + Berries EP won’t be available on CD, at least not initially. That makes me a little sad. But I’ll be able to get my songs to more people using mp3s than I could have using CDs. I’ll be selling Dropcards — credit card-sized vouchers for downloading the EP and the cover art — at shows. It’ll be much cheaper than a CD (probably $4 or $5). I’m also working to put the songs on iTunes or a similar service. I’ll be able to self-release my stuff for a few hundred bucks. This would have cost thousands to do with CDs.

I’m convinced these changes are going to democratize the music business. I can get together with a few friends and start an indie label for less than the price of a flat screen TV. And I probably will. So will lots of other musicians. Stay tuned.