Don't Stream, It's Over

“Don't listen to Spotify.” That was Ed Kuepper's advice at the Making Records That Matter panel at BIGSOUND this afternoon. After admitting he's “ambivalent” about the music streaming service in response to an audience member's question, the Brisbane-based musician – a founding member of the Saints and the Laughing Clowns, who also has an extensive solo catalogue - said he preferred the days when more effort was required by fans to discover good music. He also questioned the amount of money artists made from such services.

The panel – The Tea Party's Jeff Martin, producer/engineer Nick Didia, EMI's Scott Horscroft, producer Steven Schram and facilitator/Time Off editor Steve Bell – were discussing memorable albums, with The Beatles the most common act mentioned. Martin credited George Harrison's Within You Without You as the song that inspired his lifelong fascination with world music, while Kuepper said it was Love Me Do that made him decide to become a musician with I Am The Walrus blowing his mind as a kid (he was also a big fan of the Monkees).

Horscroft, a drummer, had his life changed by hearing Jimi Hendrix and the legendary guitarist's drummer Mitch Mitchell. DiDia said the most memorable album he has recorded was his first with Bruce Springsteen, The Rising, while Schram told of working on an Art Of Fighting record where pregnant band member Peggy Frew, while recording some backing vocals, announced she was having her baby, drove home and gave birth on her couch.