As much as music and technology go hand in hand naturally, certain artists have started to pair with phone and app platforms for a two-pronged approach toward mutual success. The most high profile of these partnerships, of course, was Jay Z's use of Samsung phones to release his 2013 album, Magna Carta Holy Grail for download. Other artists have used platforms like Instagram and Snapchat to preview new music.
J*Davey has aligned itself with Fyuse, a spatial photography app. They lend their music and likeness to the app's promotion, videos or otherwise, and both the music and the fledgling app thereby get further exposure. "As one of the fastest growing social networks, we tend to partner with forward thinking, futuristic brands, that strive to innovate in their fields, and build amazing new experiences for their fans," Dr. Radu B. Rusu, CEO and co-founder of Fyusion, Inc. said. "J*Davey’s amazing music really communicates the same message, and links deeply with our vision. We are very excited about creating immersive new visual experiences together with them and enrich the social media experience of tomorrow.”
For those unfamiliar, J*Davey consists of Jack Davey and Brook D'Leau, a pair of songwriters/producers that have been signed since 2007 and released their own album, New Designer Drug, in 2011. Though they've been around for some time, a lot of their work has been behind the scenes, for acts like Miguel. Since some label woes over the years, they come back now, out of hiatus, in this new partnership and we spoke to Brook (the producer half of the duo) about teaming with the app and releasing new music. Look out for their new EP POMP, coming soon.
How has your approached changed since coming back to music?
Initially when we were doing stuff a lot of it was just shooting from the hip. So now, the newness is in really making decisions that we feel will count for more as opposed to being like "whatever, fuck it." There is still an element of "fuck it" at all times, but it's a little more of a calculated "fuck it." Like we're actually placing it, instead of throwing spaghetti at the wall.
You're placing the spaghetti on the wall.
Yes, we're placing it on the wall.
Tell me about your relationship with Fyuse.
A lot of this stuff, it's all related. Visuals, fashion, music, art, technology. So much of that is cohesive now. You don't view or experience any of this stuff in separate worlds. You know, it's not like you go put on a piece of vinyl. You go on your computer. It's all in your phone. I think that it's really smart for any of these companies even if they're super-techy and might not have some kind of cool factor, or some element that appeals to culture. It's helpful for them to incorporate artists and music and other things that will tap into that.
At the same time, it's helpful for artists to look more savvy and in tune with what's happening in the world, with technology. You know, we're all fucking zombies walking down the street looking at our phones anyway. These are like our new billboards. It's really a sign of the times. I think finding more innovative ways to showcase art and culture through technology and exposing it that way is only helpful on the grander scheme, whether or not it makes perfect sense with specific artists and certain companies. I think that it's still essential for those relationship to thrive. Even with how we make music. I'm doing a lot of stuff in the box. I think it all complements each other.
It definitely looks like it will be this way for everyone eventually.
I think it has to. There are a lot purists that are still out there and people who feel like "Nah, keep it separate. This has nothing to do with it. Make sure it's about the music." And it's really just a sign of the times, like if you're talking like that, you'll probably least likely to pop.
And it can still be about the music even if the worlds aren't separate.
Absolutely, and it is. You gotta play the game on a certain level. Until they start you know, trying to be, a fucking label. Asking you to do a certain kind of song for a certain type of demographic. If that's something that's out of your character as an artist, then that's another conversation. But if a company approaches you and says "We think you're dope, can we use your music and your image to help market our product?" And we're looking at the product like "This is dope." How is that not a win for everybody?
