MEDICINE DREAM: Technology gives Native pop-rock fusion band an
outlet to enjoy indie freedoms.

For most of us, downloading music from the Internet is either a convenience or a mystery. Either way, we don't mull it over too much. But if you're a musician, the Internet age is forcing some serious rethinking.

Take Medicine Dream. One of Alaska's most successful bands, the Native/pop/rock fusion group has been in business for 10 years, performing regularly in the Lower 48 -- most recently with country star Randy Travis at the big Choctaw Indians Annual Summer Fair in Choctaw, Miss. -- as well as across the 49th state. Along the way, they've picked up a Nammy, the Native American Music Award, for their music video "In This World."

 

This week, their third album, "Learning to Fly," was nominated in the Best Rock CD category for an Aboriginal Peoples Choice Music Award, the Canadian version of the Nammys. And they got a contract with a record producer. Canyon Records of Phoenix released their first two CDs, "Mawio'mi" and "Tomegan Gospem."

 

But "Learning to Fly," which will be unveiled at a CD-release party tonight, won't be on the Canyon label. It's an independent production. The Internet is a major reason for the
switch. "With the advent of electronic downloading and iTunes, labels are kind of becoming archaic," says Medicine Dream percussionist/vocalist Steven Alvarez. Which may be a good
thing for artists, he adds."When you sign with a label, unless you're a major name, the
label owns the copyright to your master tapes. It's almost like you lose copyright of the masters," he says. "Artists received their compensation off sales and royalties, but labels got the bigger piece of the pie."

Working with the label has benefits, he says. They pay all the costs of production and manufacture -- though the artist, of course, pays it back through sales. And, in the days of brick-and-mortar outlets, they were needed to distribute the records to stores, though Canyon, a minor player, really didn't have much clout, Alvarez says.

 

While the band could grant use of its music for nonprofit purposes, any kind of commercial use had to go through the label. Producing the new CD themselves gives the members of Medicine Dream more control. "For example, we're talking with a local production company about doing another video," Alvarez says. "They want it to sell
the business. What we get is a video, produced at no cost. With a label, you don't have that flexibility."

Another reason for making the switch, he says, is creative control. "We used to send rough cuts to Canyon. They'd say, 'This is good, but we'd really like to see the band head in such-and-such a direction.' Paul (Pike, group leader and lead songwriter) would have to argue with the producers."

With distribution switching from store shelves to the Web, Alvarez says, the band decided to go independent. "We think this will be better for us." Is there a downside?Alvarez says, "The bad thing about it is that we have to pay all the upfront costs ourselves."

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MEDICINE DREAM "LEARNING TO FLY" CD RELEASE PARTY is at 7:30 p.m. today at the Alaska Native Heritage Center. Tickets, $15, $10 for seniors and students, are available at Metro Music and Books by calling 330-8006 or at the door.

"IN THIS WORLD": View Medicine Dream's Nammy Award-winning video at

www.medicinedream.com

AUDIO: Hear a sample from "Learning to Fly" and other Aboriginal Peoples Choice Music Awards nominees at www.aboriginalpeopleschoice.com

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