Elliot Aronow Talks to PSFK

Elliot Aronow is a blogger, editor, and marketer with many deep ties to the independent music community. A former editor at the music and lifestyle publication, The Fader Magazine, Aronow has consulted for brands including MySpace, MTV, Interscope Records, Sony/BMG, and Nylon Magazine and worked closely with artists including Gnarls Barkley, Kanye West, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Wolfmother, the Locust, and Gogol Bordello. He is currently the Creative Director and A&R chap for new music start up RCRD LBL.

What are you doing right now? What’s new and how are you reacting into the changes happening in the music industry?

I am currently working as the Creative Director/VP of A&R for RCRD LBL: a network of ad supported online music labels and blogs offering free, exclusive music and content from marquee and emergent artists and independent record labels. RCRD LBL was founded by Peter Rojas (Engadget/Weblogs Inc.) and Downtown Records (Gnarls Barkley, Cold War Kids, Spank Rock) and will launch in Nov 2007.

There’s too many changes in the industry to list here, but one thing that I feel RCRD LBL is reacting to is the need for a trusted filter that blends the best parts of a well curated-blog and a record label.

I would say that helping to launch RCRD LBL is how I am engaging this change in the landscape.

We hear a lot about technology changes - but what’s changing in terms of genre and mood in music

One thing that I find very exciting about the musical climate right now is that peoples’ “audio palettes” have become a lot more refined, or least more open. To my ears, fans today like weirder stuff—stuff that would have been considered way too arty ten or fifteen years ago to get any big time exposure. Artists like Animal Collective, Battles, Diplo and even Kanye West all come to mind.

Another thing is that rather than focusing on one specific genre of music, I feel as though niche music fans are interested in a much wider array of musical styles than ever before.

As someone who grew up on a steady diet of hardcore/punk and fanzines during the late ‘90s, I only recently realized how much great hip-hop/house/dance, etc I missed out on from back then because, generally speaking, when you went deep with a genre, it precluded you from exploring the other great genres that were out there in a really engaging way. I mean, there were only so many cooler older brothers and college radio DJs back then. Now, there are thousands of blogs championing the music they love.

And so long as there are pockets of people with good taste and an excitement for sharing info/songs about artists they are into, I think it’s going to create some interesting experiments in terms of what gets noticed and embraced by fans.

What/who are a few of the artists/musicians/companies/people that are embracing the changes in the industry and promoting innovation and creativity?

In terms of artists and labels, I think of folks like White Rabbits, Dave P and JDH, Dirty Bird Records, Battles, Diplo, The Social Registry, What’s Your Rupture and The Subjects all have their hands in creating or promoting amazing music that is deserving of a much larger audience. I’m really excited to see what all of them do next in 2008 and beyond.

Thanks, Elliot!

RCRD LBL