Thursday, January 29, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Mercury

Music: Money changes everything

Prog house duo John Creamer and Stephane K get practical

By Mike Prevatt

It seems New York-based electronic music producer/DJs John Creamer and Stephane K are hoarding a bunch of new tracks. It's been almost two years since their last mix CD--Compiled and Mixed, for British producer/DJ John Digweed's Bedrock label--and three years since they conquered clubland with a swath of ubiquitous (and acclaimed) remixes. However, they've been hesitant in releasing their work, given the state of the music industry.

"They're starting to trickle out now," says Creamer, slightly hungover but still chatty and busy working with the quieter Stephane in their New York studio. "We've been working for a year on all original stuff, [with] a couple remixes here and there. We have tons and tons of shit. You have to be so careful; the industry's not doing so well. Bootleggers are out. The industry gets bad, and people start bootlegging your shit because they need money."

It's one thing for the Big Five recording labels to suffer losses at the hands of bootleggers and file-sharers, who freely distribute and download copyrighted music online. It's another when independent dance labels see few people buying their 12-inch vinyl singles and compilations CDs, for those smaller imprints aren't usually linked to billion-dollar corporations that own the Big Five. Many have gone under, unable to move more than a couple thousand copies of their releases. For Creamer and K, who record for such labels, the file-trading phenomenon is unwelcome.

"It's a load of shit," says Creamer. "It's harming everything. It's just a bad, bad thing that someone thinks they should have [music] for free. I'm not opposed to the occasional CD burning, but downloading 5,000 copies of our records...in dance music, we don't sell millions. We're not millionaires. This isn't hip hop.

"When you download 5,000 copies of a dance record, you're basically lowering the sales to zero. Now, a good indie label record sells one to three thousand [copies], if they're lucky."

It's saying something that Creamer and K are worried about the sales of their productions, given the outstanding success the two have enjoyed in the past--particularly in 2001, when the duo was commissioned to do several remixes that became massive club hits. Progressive house--a subtler alternative to the more bombastic and melodic trance genre, which exploded in popularity in the late '90s and into 2000--became the preferred style of music in London and later New York. As a result, Creamer and K enjoyed huge success that year with their deep 'n' dark reworkings of Kosheen's "Hide U" and Iio's "Rapture."

Shortly after that, Digweed, who helped make progressive house more popular, appropriately incorporated the duo's remix of Satoshi Tomiie's "Love in Traffic" into his well-received Global Underground: Los Angeles mix album. Projects with Sinead O'Connor and New Order followed, as did releases of their own (including Creamer's unforgettable "Fuck Sonnet," on Compiled and Mixed).

Nowadays, Creamer and K turn down several remix offers, as expected: Their track record has earned them the right to be choosy about what they produce, and for how much. Whether it's creatively or professionally centered, the two men have their priorities straight.

"You're not going take a project for $2,000 when you know you could be offered $20,000," says Creamer. "But if something's really amazing, and the back-end deal is set up nicely, then you can work on stuff for low money--or, if you have a feeling it's going to be a hit record and do so much for your career. You prioritize money and career."