Rickenbacker, betting on the past to ensure their future?

[cassius987]

The overall idea behind the OP is amusing to me because I see Rics on TV a lot more often than I used to when I was a freshly minted Ric owner. I don't watch very much TV, either. So my feelings are kind of the opposite, it seems to me that Ric useage is overall up with younger bands than it was 5-10 years ago. But I'm also constantly finding out that such-and-such played a Ric all this time, too. Basically, I don't think there's any scientific or even decent anecdotal evidence to suggest Rickenbacker is not connecting with the new kids on the block.

Another, broader thought: I'm not 30 yet, and already I barely know what's going on with new music and haven't really kept up (largely by choice) for the last decade. Popular music culture is getting increasingly nebulous and fractured, and I am not sure that today's megastars carry near the same weight as those of even two decades ago. Not only is it easier than ever before to find obscure music, it's also easier than ever before to ignore the most popular. I guess my point is, even if Rics are really landing with some genre or emerging scene, it would be easy for anyone to miss.

[squirebass]

Rhys, I think you make some very good points. My son has been getting his music from Spotify and Reddit and some other places that I'm not even sure I know the names of, and it is just so different from the way things were when I was growing up in the early '70s. Back then, we had a whole section of the record store for "British Imports" which often had obscure bands no one else had heard of. But that was a small selection, it was almost always English bands, and not even close to what is available now. Today, there are bands my son loads to his phone that are WAY off the beaten path, and I don't even know if any of them have a recording contract with a major label, or if that even means anything anymore.

[Grey]

Many artists release their own music directly, the advent of websites such as SoundCloud and Bandcamp as well as the general progression of home audio recording (and its accessibility) has made this much more commonplace. Bands that would otherwise not have the commercial appeal major labels are looking for can release their own music with a comparatively small investment. Of course, that's not discounting the numerous independant labels which exist to promote exactly those bands.

[jps]

Many artists release their own music directly, the advent of websites such as SoundCloud and Bandcamp as well as the general progression of home audio recording (and its accessibility) has made this much more commonplace. Bands that would otherwise not have the commercial appeal major labels are looking for can release their own music with a comparatively small investment. Of course, that's not discounting the numerous independant labels which exist to promote exactly those bands.

Rare Blend did that with 4 CDs, all recorded under our own roof utilizing various technologies from an 8 channel Fostex open reel recorder through to a Korg D1600 Mk II, and sold through their, and a few other websites such as CD Baby.

These are my old 4001V63 through my Raven Labs PHA-1 into the Korg.

[jacolyte]

As you all know, Lenny

"Lenny"? really?

[Ontario_RIC_fan]

As you all know, Lenny

"Lenny"? really?

Yup and Squiggy got one too.

[Grey]

Rare Blend did that with 4 CDs, all recorded under our own roof utilizing various technologies from an 8 channel Fostex open reel recorder through to a Korg D1600 Mk II, and sold through their, and a few other websites such as CD Baby.

These are my old 4001V63 through my Raven Labs PHA-1 into the Korg.

Hey, you guys arn't bad!

Wasen't expecting the vocals on the first track.

[strummersteve]

I always wondered why John and George (especially John) stopped using their Rickenbackers. I also noticed that the Concert for George that no Ricknbackers were used and the only one there was the one in the stand. Just an observation.

[jps]

[quote="strummersteve"...I also noticed that the Concert for George that no Ricknbackers were used and the only one there was the one in the stand. Just an observation.[/quote]
Perhaps nobody played a Rick in in honor of it being associated with George and did not want to upstage that, so to speak?

[jdogric12]

There has probably been more thinking about this in this thread than was done by anyone involved. People like that for the most part just play what they like.

[xpitt]

[quote="strummersteve"...I also noticed that the Concert for George that no Ricknbackers were used and the only one there was the one in the stand. Just an observation.

Perhaps nobody played a Rick in in honor of it being associated with George and did not want to upstage that, so to speak?[/quote]



John Hall wrote on the Corporate site :

"The instrument sat on the stage by itself as people entered the event, with just a spotlight on it. As such it was the icon for George and as such was accorded the greatest honor of the evening among all instruments present. It was a strong symbol, a silent guitar ritual or missing pilot flyby if you will. Dhani Harrison told me he set that up specially. "

So it's obvious that the 12 string Rick stood for George, so who was goin' to play a Rick with this approach ?

[Ric5150]

A few semi-random thoughts from my perspective.

As Jeff alluded to, the music industry is changing - dramatically. It's hard to say what it's going to look like in 5-10 years but it will likely continue to diverge from the corporate label model that once ruled the earth. Defining "relevant artist" isn't even a clear-cut thing right now, much less 10 years from now. I saw in an interview/article that when Petty was congratulated on how high his last release charted, he commented that he didn't really know what that meant these days [citation needed, Jake ]. Rolling Stone magazine dropped the sales charts from the back page. (That reminds me, I still need to cancel that subscription.)

"Success" in the future will almost certainly be defined by streaming 'sales'. That's likely song-based rather than album-based. The album concept will likely continue decline or disappear entirely. If we're talking about "relevant artists" with just a few hit singles, I'm not sure touring and live performances will even survive. In terms of visual performances, we could just end up with streamed videos, though the 80s video format appears to be dying. It may very well become quite difficult to determine what instruments our favorite artists play.

The othe side of this is advances in amp and instrument modeling. It's still not there, but there may well come a time when guitars are replaced by guitar "controllers". Plug it into a computer and make it sound like whatever you want it to sound like. As processing power increases, modeling will get better and better. I hate to think about it but the guitar itself could end up being replaced with keyboard inputs - I know they tried in the 80s and it fortunately didn't take, but technology will drive on and those of us who love guitars and playing them are only going to be around so long.

This may sound like a bleak picture, but the flip side is that artists no longer need record labels. About the only thing left there is that labels can pick artists and make them prominent. There will be a ton of music to sort through, some of it ****, most of it mediocre, but some of it great. With access to far more artists, the amount of great music should increase - the trick will be finding it. Algorithms like those used by Netflix, Pandora, Apple, etc. to predict what else you'll like based on what you do like will improve, so finding it will be easier.

At any rate, the music industry and music itself are bound to change significantly.

[Ontario_RIC_fan]

I look to what RIC posts on the "Rickenbacker (Official) Facebook" page. Which I infer is run by Ben Hall. (No direct knowledge mind you).

Recent posts have been about Geddy Lee playing his FG 4080, Rob Grote of The Districts with his JG 620, Tame Impala's Kevin Parker with his 335 Jetglo, Pete Townshend with his 1993Plus, Shaun White dropping by the RIC Museum to try out some guitars and Justin Hayward-Young of The Vaccines with white 330.

Many of these artists I have never heard of - but it shows the range using the brand.

Lets not forget the guitar they made for Taylor Swift recently either.

[jps]

The othe side of this is advances in amp and instrument modeling. It's still not there, but there may well come a time when guitars are replaced by guitar "controllers". Plug it into a computer and make it sound like whatever you want it to sound like. As processing power increases, modeling will get better and better. I hate to think about it but the guitar itself could end up being replaced with keyboard inputs - I know they tried in the 80s and it fortunately didn't take, but technology will drive on and those of us who love guitars and playing them are only going to be around so long.

Such a wonderful, and haunting, sound from his guitar synth.



The future is here.

[cheyenne]

Back when I started playing if you wanted any quality,you had about 3 choices, Fender, Gibson or Rickenbacker. Today, you are only limited by your imagination and your wallet. Even with so many makers out there today, I still see a lot of Rickenbackers being played. Every time I turn on the Palladia channel it seems that someone's playing one.