If Plan A isn’t working, then draw up Plan B. That is what Spanish record producer and DJ Carlos Jean has been juggling in his head for 18 months. Plan A is the conventional record industry, and Plan B is “a new way of creating, producing and distributing music.”
Jean has launched the website www.elplanb.tv where anyone can upload music or vocal recordings which Jean will then fuse with other uploaded song elements or his own pre-recorded rhythms, which will be available on the site.
Although the commercial basis of the project is not yet clear, it could unearth new talent.
His project aims to “create a union and collaboration between artists and the public,” says Jean. “I want to lay out a Plan B that opens new paths in the creation and distribution of music, and for that the Internet is without doubt the axis of a new model.”
Jean launched Plan B on Oct. 4, and when he presented it to the media Oct. 7 he demonstrated how two new pieces of music had been created within seven hours. A Spanish girl uploaded a piece of English-language rock-soul, which Jean blended with a track of Spanish guitar playing. And a Canadian singer was blended with soft rock music.
“I was left stunned when I saw the idea could work,” Jean said.
Jean says he hasn’t yet reached the commercial stage of how to sell the music; at present anybody can download any of the tracks for free. “It’s not really about selling at this stage, and I don’t want to be obsessed with sales,” he said.
“The music industry crisis demands new approaches,” said Jean. He has launched Plan B with global whisky producer Ballantine’s – the full project is called the Ballantine’s Plan of Carlos Jean – but he insists this is not “just another advertising campaign, it is a musical project.”
“A live record does not have to exist only when it is finished, it can exist from the first moment, and change every day. That’s the point of Plan B,” says Jean.
“We’re not looking for another Alejandro Sanz, for example, because we already have one,” he adds.
