Marten Schulp is a professional jazz and pop bass player and and works as a magazine editor for (amongst others) the Dutch music magazines Musicmaker and De Bassist. He has MAs in both Arts and Culture and Electric Bass. In his academic works he has focused on the music industry in the digital age and the influence of technology on music production.


In how far do you think the digitalization of music has had an influence on the identity of musicians and the practice of music making and marketing?
Have you experienced this being a musician yourself?

Absolutely a big influence. A lot of the musicians I know personally have developed themselves into fanatic web animals the last few years. They are actively maintaining MySpace pages or equivalents on Hyves, OngekendTalent or any other web services for bands. I saw relatively closely how a fellow musician, drummer Martijn Soeterbroek (who lives near Maastricht) launched his rock band 21 Eyes Of Ruby. …They kept putting out new EPs, albums, songs, kept the growing fan base informed about gigs, prizes they won and support acts they played, and gave away a lot of music. But never without creating a little big buzz every time they had something new to be proud of. I dare to say it worked. They have a huge fan base and play big name festivals. This band in my eyes had proved that a group of musicians nowadays can at least reach the level of popularity they deserve, if they work hard. This band deserves it because, well, they can play, write and entertain, are talented - of course you can have different opinions about some of this.

But 15 years ago, you had to either be lucky and get a big record deal, or throw in a hell of a lot of money, or choose not to do it and be sure to get nowhere. These three options were available for people with either no talent at all, little of it or (very) much talent. Nowadays, anyone can at least live up to his potential, if he does the work that's required. Of course the luck factor isn't gone in the music world too and the taste of the audience will always remain as unpredictable as it ever was. Anyone remember The Ketchup Song?

How do you see the future of the music industry and especially the artist in the age of digital music and the web 2.0? What will definitely change and what will stay the way it is?

…I still think any new development in digital technology and web 2.0 will, when it comes to music culture, be accompanied with and will be embedded in the local, the live, the worldly and the real. Maybe with the exception of electronic artists whose music only exists in speakers or headphones. …Lots of artists say that performing is becoming even more and more important to them - witness the advent of 360 degree-contracts. And I think that in a lot of genres the days of the tangible music medium - a nice album with a beautiful sleeve - are not counted. People will gather in web communities - for what? They do lots of digital and 2.0 stuff and experience and consume their music as virtually and as online as you can imagine, but they also exchange album covers and discuss which stylus sounds best on their record player or when they will meet at this or that concert and which sausage stall on the festival site makes the best hot dogs.