Can You Run the Music Industry without Musicians?

We will now find out

It’s hard not to be impressed by online label Red Note Records—at least at first glance. The company launched on YouTube in November, and has already released more than two thousand recordings!

The company is staunchly committed to the jazz idiom, putting out hundreds of albums in just the last few weeks. But I know a bit about jazz—and I didn’t recognize the names of any of musicians or bands.

Source

As it turns out, none of them are real.

“Ensemble names and personnel listings in earlier releases function as formal and narrative devices,” according to the label’s YouTube page, “rather than documentation of specific recording sessions or individual performers.”

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Even so, the artist rosters still sound vaguely familiar—typical performers are called Miles, Hawkins, Coleman, etc. Jazz fans will recall actual music stars who bore those same names.

The album covers have a persuasive vintage look, even with some evident wear-and-tear on the margins, as if they had been part of a record collector’s personal archive for many years.

Sometimes the musicians even look familiar. When I saw Red Note recording artist “Jackie Donaldson” I couldn’t help but be reminded of Dave Brubeck. In fact, the entire cover design feels like a rip-off.

Dave Brubeck’s Jazz Red Hot and Cool album from 1955 on the left and a Red Note recording of ”Jackie Donaldson” on the right.

Or check out this Red Note artist, who bears and uncanny resemblance to modern jazz piano great Bud Powell, who died back in 1966.