*Note: This is still a developing concept that we will be live-editing on this page over the course of the next few months, so please don’t hold us to anything yet! Eventually, we will integrate use of Google Wave, allowing for a fully-interactive way to exchange thoughts and ideas on the development of digit.iLL.Funk. In the meantime, feel free to leave your edits, suggestions, and ideas in the comments section.
Authors: Drizzletron | Dahlak | N.i.C
digit.iLL.Funk is an open-source-inspired approach to music that incorporates listener interaction in the inception, creation, and promotion of music. Through digit.iLL.Funk, iLL-Literacy seeks to develop a method of interactive music exchange that places a higher stake in community ownership – and ultimately free distribution of music.
The Open Source
Although digit.iLL.Funk is a term that iLL-Literacy has coined to categorize our music, it is not our attempt to be different. Rather, it is our move to create a more inclusive and community-oriented method of interacting with music. The Digit.iLL (Interactive Listening & Living) experience is a genre we subscribe to that has less to do with the sound of the music itself, and more the way in which it is approached. As a result, digit.iLL.Funk is a denomination in the belief that an open-source way of living can lead one to their highest material and creative potential.
The term “Open Source” refers to a democratic method of production in which a certain extent of the general community has access and ability to modify, alter, and contribute to an idea. Inventions such as Wikipedia, Wordpress, Twitter, and even Barack Obama’s campaign are examples of the Open Source being put to use for information, journalism, communication, and governing. If you own a blog, Facebook account, or used Craigslist, you have participated in the Open Source. As the internet continues to give people access to unprecedented access to information and relationships the Open Source will prove to be more and more instrumental to human interaction in the digital age.
Music & the Open Source
Music has had a tumultuous and interesting relationship with the Open Source. While the music audiences have always been on the cutting-edge of using the Open Source as a means to discover and distribute music (i.e. the original Napster, Limewire, New Music Cartel), musicians themselves have often fallen behind, and even blatantly gone against this form of progress. Throughout the past few years, artists who have opposed filesharing as a form of interactive music – such as Metallica and Madonna – have been met with fierce opposition from the public, while artists who have embraced it – such as Trent Reznor and Radiohead – have not only formed intuitive ways to connect with their audiences, they have paved the way for a new and much more dynamic method of music interaction.
Us Be iLL
Since journalism’s Open Source revolution broke open with the rise of blogs and new media, we’ve been exposed to an exponentially larger amount of information than even just 5 years ago. While some sources may be more reliable than others, what remains certain is that, once the average person was given the ability to publish information to the public consciousness through their phone or computer, we can now experience the world through a more personal lens than ever before, more quickly than ever before. What this tells us is that good journalism can come from anywhere – not just the most funded, supplied, and distributed source out there.
We believe the same goes with music. Even as a collective that has toured the globe since 2006, it took us until 2009 to acquire the technology, equipment, and knowledge to develop our first record, iB4the1.1 satisfactorily. It was a necessary but painstaking process that involved dealing with closed doors, funding limits, and deprivation of information. It seemed that, while music in its essence is meant to incite congregation among individuals, the music business might not be as inclusive. But why? As curious observers in these economic times, we noticed a major contradiction: Music – an industry that claims to be at the flames of destruction – is also an artform that is flourish, diversifying, and advancing at unseen rates. Perhaps record sales have been plummeting not because of the economy, or higher exposure to bootlegs and leaks, or hip-hop “dying,” but rather the fact that the listener is getting more engaged, knowledgeable, and talented. And being so, why would anyone shell out $15 for an album when they – if they had the resources – could make a better one? In the same way that Open Source journalism freed the journalist from limits set by assets and distribution, we believe that everywhere exist talented musicians who remain unheard because of how difficult it is to find support in beginning and maintaining a pursuit in music.
Do iLL Yourself
Our development of digit.iLL.Funk begins where we are – and that’s in the beginning. For the past year we have been tracking our progress in transitioning from a strictly performance-based group to a recorded one, and in developing our first project – a sort of a firsthand look at the triumphs, disappointments, and lessons from an independent start-up band’s experience entering the music world. In the meantime, we have also introduced a series called “Do iLL Yourself” which exposes the basic but hard-to-find essentials to forming a viable artistic presence. Some examples are:
Our goal is to expand the musical community, obtain and share information about creating a musical presence, and ultimately unearth the potential of music without limitations.
Free the Music
At the risk of simply jumping from an obviously-sinking ship, we as iLL-Literacy have committed to always provide a free method of obtaining our music. While this doesn’t mean that our music won’t eventually be distributed to traditional sales outlets, what it does mean is that opportunities to purchase our music will simply be opportunities – and that free access to our music is prioritized, publicized, and encouraged. We have chosen this route for a few reasons:
1. You don’t owe us anything. Music is a natural resource. The sequence of noises we develop are simply rearrangements of what already exists. We simply invite you to hear things differently. Why would we charge you to listen?
2. We don’t owe you anything. When someone commits any act with payment as the direct outcome, they are in one way or another catering their service towards obtaining that payment. While that’s fine for many things, we don’t want to expose the creation of our music to that factor. By offering the music for free, we in return are free to develop our work however we’d like. Whether or not you like it won’t affect how we eat.
3. We are all contributors. Our record is not the result of a mythical “gift” anointed to us as the “chosen ones.” We’re just very passionate about what we do, and we obsessively cater to our craft. Any beauty and inspiration that can be found in our music is a direct reflection of the influences in our lives which includes other music, and our experiences with our listeners. Our conversation after the show, or our email interaction, or an indirect contact are all occurrences that may have sparked the creation of a musical experience.
4. We’ll survive. It’s now no longer a secret that record sales don’t necessarily amount to money in the pocket of the artist. With that being the case, in a world where fewer and fewer people are purchasing music in the first place, a pricetag simply serves as a barrier between the artist and the listener. For the past few years we’ve made our living as fulltime artists through touring, and with the improvement of our live show, expansion of our media networks, research funding, and development of innovative merchandise to complement our music, a 99¢ MP3 or $10 CD appear less and less to be necessary means towards meaningfully sustaining ourselves.
WHY the Funk?
The above descriptions capture the essence of the digit.iLL philosophy, but where does the funk come in? Conveniently enough, funk music is what we as a collective have gravitated towards not only because of its loose musical structure and welcoming of creativity, but in its philosophy towards living and creating.
At its birth, funk music was an early fusion of existing sounds from rock, soul, and jazz. Openly borrowing aspects of each and boldly animating them, to this day it fluidly moves between the realms of a genre and a sound. Anything can be funky, in a way that things can’t be equally “rocky” or “rappy” (let’s ignore the argument of “jazzy” right now. anyway, who refers to themselves as “jazzy” in 2010?). This fluidity was the direct result of funk being true to its uniqueness and innovation as well as respectful of what influenced it into existence. As a result, funk has infiltrated all realms of music in ways that are both natural and innovative, all at the same time. In this way, by identifying with funk we are given creative license to possess a base identity while still remaining transient among genres.
Funk (Funkadelic “Who Says a Funk Band Can’t Play Rock!!”):
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Funk in Rock (Red Hot Chili Peppers “Jungle Man”):
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Funk in Hip-Hop (Big Boi ft. George Clinton & Too $hort “Fo Yo Sorrows”)
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Funk in Electronic (Fat Boy Slim ft. Bootsy Collins “Illumination”)
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It comes as no coincidence that pretty much all of those examples are in some way connected to George Clinton and P-Funk, perhaps the most influential force to digit.iLL.Funk. With the rise of hip-hop, George Clinton was among the first to not only welcome the use of his music for samples, he also expressed an openness to allowing hip-hop to influence his musical process. In the same way that our sound is heavily influenced by the collective’s animated and bouncy sounds, we also find common ground with the “free your mind and your ass will follow” view of life. We swear to tell the funk, the whole funk and nothing but the funk.
Theory to Action
While the thought behind this is still in development stages, our first public campaign in support of it is the digit.iLL Network, an effort to join the few artists, writers, and observers we have access to. While still in its infantile stages, it contains what is essential to the formation of any identity of note – real people.
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