Transcript of Metronome Magazine (February 2007 issue) interview with Gino Foti
by Shaun McNamara
In much the same way that Gino Foti approaches his blend of instrumental fusion, mixing progressive rock styles akin to Rush, Yes, and King Crimson with an emphasis on World music and Jazz, he also embraces a progressive ethic in distributing his music, and in setting up his internet-based independent record label - Net Dot Music. His story moves beyond the current formula of independent and internet-based music distribution into alchemical synthesis that takes a firm hold on the true possibilities of the internet. Where formulas for distribution and management arise and grow in tired similarities, Gino takes a new approach that offers open yet complex scalability and modularity. Perseverance is a key theme for his marketing strategy.
Not only has Gino created his own record label, in his own format, but he also simultaneously released the culmination of 2 years worth of work as 4 separate CDs. Having listened to all 4 CDs, I can say with confidence that they are as different from one another as if he had recorded them over a 10 year period - a surprising feat for a 4 volume work, completed from concept to pressing by one man. Aside from the guitar skills of his Electrum band mate, Dave Kulju, on songs from Sphere of Influence and Orbis Terrarum, as well as some excellent piano work from Chris Rossi on tracks from the same two albums, Gino played all bass guitars, MIDI bass guitar, keyboards, loops and samples.
METRONOME: Tell me about how NetDotMusic came into inception.
Gino: I play in a band called Electrum, and we formed in 1996. We released our first CD in 1998. It was tough marketing it, and it was our first attempt at even trying to market and promote a CD. When we found out that there was pretty much no interest in signing us from any labels, even at the Indie level, we also discovered a huge online network of Progressive rock dealers and distributors. So, the obvious next stage was to start a record label. I decided to do it myself, so NetDotMusic, right now, is mostly a vanity label for my music, but in the future I hope to expand and have a large instrumental artist roster where the artists would have as much control over their music as possible, with Net Dot Music retaining just a very small percentage to operate and promote the roster.
METRONOME: With a direct line to the indie and Progressive dealers and distributors online, why go so far as to create a record label at this point? Did you also feel that there was something lacking that you couldn’t bridge independently without forming the solid instrumental concept of Net Dot Music?
Gino: There’s a bit of pride involved. I always wanted to have my own business, and I thought that it would be something in a technical area since that’s where my college education is based. Music has always been a hobby, but I take it very seriously.
Another part of the reason for forming Net Dot Music was that among Progressive rock listeners, there are still a lot of people that aren’t into the instrumental side of the genre. When they talk about Progressive rock, they’re talking about bands like Yes, Rush, King Crimson, and Marillion - or bands whose influences are clearly from the 70s, with lots of mellotron and vocals laced with themes concerning wizards, dragons, and fairies, and all that stuff. On the other side of the spectrum are the Jazz fusion guys. If you’re talking about lots of legato techniques and improvisation over Jazz-oriented chord progressions, there’s a specific audience that are into it - listening to guys like Al Di Meola, John McLaughlin, and all the big names in that realm. When Art rock influences are incorporated, that audience starts to become disinterested. What I was trying to do is find a niche between those two genres of progressive music, focus on instrumental compositions, and eventually bring in more artists that do that type of music.
That’s why I use the term - Instrumental Fusion - to define what I’m going for as a concept. It’s tough to define what we do anyway, but you have to call it something. You have to have keywords so that people can find you. So, I decided on "Instrumental Fusion". It’s a pretty good buzz word to get people in the Prog rock and Jazz fusion camps to find me. Now, with my solo releases, I have to add World music to that mix.
METRONOME: The four releases you sent me - Sphere of Influence, Bhavachakra, Orbis Terrarum, and Vedic Mantras - definitely have a prominent World music flare. In listening to Sphere of Influence, and hearing all the bits and pieces you played, including bass guitar, MIDI bass, keyboard, loops and samples, I could hear not only a Middle Eastern feel, but also African influences, and beyond.
Gino: I was born and raised in Sicily, so I listened to music from the Mediterranean for the first 9 1/2 years of my life. They do have a definite Mediterranean/Middle Eastern type of feel, especially on Orbis Terrarum. That was pretty much the focus for Sphere of Influence and Orbis Terrarum, which I call my primary releases. The focus was on blending diverse influences from Jazz Fusion, World music, Prog rock, and also European Classical, which was what I grew up listening to, with complex arrangements and having the bass guitar as the prominent instrument on most of the tracks.
There are very few gaps in my music collection. I don’t listen to a lot of modern Country because pretty much everything has been homogenized and crossed with Pop music. Then there are really bad fusions like Rap and Country or Rap and Metal. I don’t listen to them because I really can’t connect with it. I try to listen to music that has an intellectual component to it whenever I can, or whenever the bands are actually presenting that component. Neil Peart lyrics are interesting to me, even though they’ve changed quite a bit, and I personally feel they’re not as strong as they were back in their heyday. Lyrically, most Prog rock is much more interesting than what I have heard from the singer/songwriters at Harvard Square, for example, strumming their guitars and singing, pretty much, about the usual fare of lost loves, with very simple rhyming schemes, and three chord progressions. It just doesn’t speak to me on an intellectual level, and sometimes not even on an emotional level.
METRONOME: There definitely is a niche for Prog bands out there, as we see bands like Dream Theater, Spock’s Beard, and Porcupine Tree release viable efforts and create a consistent following that sustains them. Where do you see yourself fitting in, with the indefinable quality that your music and mind-set personifies.
Gino: Unfortunately, I don’t see myself as a good fit. Marketing these releases has proved to be much more difficult than I thought. I’ve carved out a niche between the World music, Jazz Fusion, and Prog rock factions, and there is a very small overlap between the three for me to take advantage of. Bands like Dream Theater, Spock’s Beard, and the other ones you’ve mentioned - even though there’s a lot of fusion in their sound, they do sit more in one camp than the others. Additionally, they’re touring bands. They’re professional musicians. I don’t gig out, even locally. It’s tough for me to get my name out there. If I were to perform these releases live, I’d have to hire four or five other musicians that are as dedicated to it as I am. Then you have to find a place to play. It would probably become a "pay to play" effort. It’s a huge waste of time, money, and energy.
I pretty much use niche retailers and dealers online that have a built in audience of Fusion lovers to distribute my music. I tend to do much better on those sites because they provide me with highly targeted listeners. It’s much better than just uploading MP3s to sites like Garageband or Soundclick, in fact, I’m probably the last musician who doesn’t have a MySpace page. For me it would be a complete waste of time. If I was doing Hip-Hop or Electronica, or if I was gearing myself toward an American Idol audience, then I could market myself differently. I think it’s important for all musicians to promote themselves to a targeted audience depending on their specific styles and artistic vision. That’s what I’m trying to do.
METRONOME: Wow, that’s a bold statement, and I like it. Everyone is always so hot and heavy for MySpace that it just seems like the thing to do. But then there we are back to the formulaic attitude that independent music distribution was trying to cast off with distance from the big record labels.
Gino: I’ve looked into MySpace and it’s a zoo to begin with. I just don’t see how it works. You have a thousand friends, and each one of your thousand friends has a thousand friends, but I’ve never heard of success stories coming out of MySpace, stating that being on there was the prominent thing that helped me land a record label deal, or that I’m selling CDs because of it. Some of the bands are probably selling MP3s, but everyone is doing that. Most people would rather go directly to the artist’s site or to iTunes.
METRONOME: On your Web site, www.netdotmusic.com, you have a Music Links section that offers a wealth of links to independent and Progressive rock dealers and distributors. How do you engage those companies, like The Laser’s Edge?
Gino: I contact them through email or by phone. Some of the names are pretty well known, like Ken Golden over at Laser’s Edge, and Larry Kolota over at Kinesis. They’re established and a known quantity. I like to look through their artist roster and see if I fit in with what they’re distributing. I’ll give them a call and send them a CD with a brief bio. Then I make a wholesale deal with them. Every deal is a little bit different. Some will pay you up front and some only want to do a consignment deal.
I can remember when CD Baby was just getting off the ground. I think CD Baby was two months old when we (Electrum) joined up with them, and I think Derek Sivers was running it out of his apartment. That’s how far back I go with online distribution. Even at the time, with a CD that wasn’t that great a quality, I managed to get distribution in about 20 countries. It can be done solely through the internet. It was much easier back then, but like anything else it takes time, money, energy, and perseverance.
METRONOME: You say it was easier back then than it is now?
Gino: There just weren’t that many sites, total. MP3.com was probably the biggest thing at the time. There were maybe two top tier sites and five or six second tier sites. Then you would have all these sites that would appear and disappear as fast as you could bookmark them. Now there’s probably a dozen top level sites.
METRONOME: And you feel that because of the depth and breadth of it all that you get lost in the mix?
Gino: Also, with the advent of software samplers and virtual instruments - programs like Acid, etc., and all the commercial loops and samples, anybody with a PC can put together 8 loops in 5 minutes and they think they’re musicians. It all adds to the noise, and certainly a place like MySpace doesn’t help, except for a small percentage of musicians. For the ones like me, it’s just a lot of static.
METRONOME: So how do you address that static? Do you just cast yourself into the music and say, hey, I’m just going to put out the best quality I can and persevere as much as I can, or is there a marketing plan other than you outlined for permeating across countries and finding these distributors.
Gino: I try to stick to my marketing plan and I don’t let what other people are doing affect me. Now there are a lot of books out there about how to sell a million CDs on the internet, which is just ridiculous. It’s great for the people writing the books, but it pretty much doesn’t help anybody else. I stick to my marketing scheme, and when I hit a brick wall I just change direction.
With my current releases, I mistakenly thought that the same listeners who liked the Electrum CDs (men in their 30s, 40s, and up who grew up with the same influences as I did, and also typically play a musical instrument) would like my solo works, but the reception was actually lukewarm. So I changed the marketing strategy around a little bit, and now a good deal of my sales are coming in from college-age women, which is really surprising, given all the testosterone-fueled playing, especially on Orbis Terrarum and Sphere of Influence. Somehow they connect with the ethnic sonorities much better than the men do. The added bonus is that they tend to make more contact with me through email to provide feedback, telling me how much they like the CDs, which is something that the overwhelming majority of men don’t do, including myself.
To evolve the musical transition from Electrum to his four CD solo project, Gino took two years off from work starting in 2004 so that he could not only concentrate on the music, but also to get his chops up, especially on keyboards. Throughout their 10 years together, Electrum had always devoted great effort into creating something different with each new song and between their two CDs. No small feat for three guys who live 125 miles apart from each other in two different states.
After their second release, Gino began working with ethnic loops, like doumbeks and some of the African drums. The sounds resonated with the Mediterranean music of Gino’s youth, but his band mates hadn’t been exposed to much World music and the new ideas met with a lukewarm response. Collectively, Electrum thought about composing and arranging a couple of pieces that would integrate everything and create an Electrum-style project, but when everyone got busy with work and life in general, the next project stalled. As time went by, Gino kept working with the loops and samples, and found that he eventually came up with over 100 sketched out compositions. He felt that it was time to do something and decided to produce as many releases of the compiled music as possible in the shortest amount of time.
