TW #26 — Faces in the Crowd: the column's manifesto (Kal Zakath)
The announcement of "Faces in the Crowd" (FITC), "a new weekly feature of TraxWeekly" by kal-zakath (John Townsend, Inferno Productions), meant to help unknown composers "make a name for themselves". Nobody is interviewed; this is the column's statement of purpose, format and application procedure.
Key claims#
- Why: "because of the sheer volume of music being released these days" people "resort to just FTPing the music of the 'big name' musicians" and "many of the unknowns are just left in the dust". A hornet Demonews review "does little to help the no-name composer" — a
***or***+rating "hardly guarantees that people will give it a listen". A little press "in a respected music scene newsletter" can build a reputation. - Weekly format: (1) a small info article about a little-known composer; (2) a short interview about tracking style and influences; (3) the composer's release listing; (4) an e-mail address for comments and criticism.
- How to get in: e-mail Kal Zakath (jtownsen@sescva.esc.edu, or 'jtown' on #trax) with name, handle, group and optional details (age, location, school); FTP locations of one or two releases; a time for a small IRC interview. "Don't worry that your music is not good enough … If your music shows some reasonable potential, I'll be more than happy to help to spread the word."
- Signed "Kal Zakath / Inferno".
Practical takeaways#
- Getting heard in 1995: upload to the Hornet archive, put an e-mail address in the tune, ask for an interview.
Notable quotes#
- "many of the unknowns are just left in the dust." — Kal Zakath.
Relevance#
Origin and format of the FITC series, which carried most of traxweekly's interviews from #27 through 1996; the ratings-as-discovery problem for tracker-scene-history.