I’ve been meaning to post something about Susan’s work for years, mostly as an exemplar of how record companies can find a place for themselves in the age of Post-Scarcity Entertainment.
Record companies do not make music. It’s a puzzle that this should need repeating as often as it does. Record company people often don’t even like music. Record companies make packages of music (which they do not make) and design and dream, deception and delerium. The coming of music downloads doesn’t change any of that, except that the music can, to a greater or lesser extent, be obtained without the rest of it. Anyone can pick the music out of the air, if they take the trouble to find out how (and if you don’t know how, trust me: it’s easier than you imagine) and the question remains is, how much do you want to own the music in concrete form, with packaging? Revenant is run by people who not only know and love their music, they also understand that to prosper through the self-inflicted crisis which is afflicting the music business, their package has to be desirable in itself.
