Hot topic Brad Sundberg Seminars: Making Music With Michael Jackson

Re: Brad Sundberg seminars: Making Music With Michael Jackson

People's perspectives on this event, I love it! With each testament that I read, I'm shown how intuitive Michael Jackson was all about. This intuitiveness is what will drive people to come to Brad's seminars. If you want to hear this come to fruition, the fine tuning of a song, we will have to pay to attend, since these recordings are not allowed outside of Brad's seminars. So keep on posting your perspective's, cause I love 'em!
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Re: Brad Sundberg seminars: Making Music With Michael Jackson

From the Seminars: In The Studio With MJ by Brad Sundberg

Many thanks to Brad Sundberg for his very much appreciated seminars held all over the world! This short excerpt is taken from a Swedish radio broadcast - it shows Michael during the "Dangerous" recording sessions in the 90's.

https://soundcloud.com/mjj-artworks/from-the-seminars-in-the
 
Re: Brad Sundberg seminars: Making Music With Michael Jackson

The whole interview is around 10 minutes long, worth listening to. I don't have a link, because it's been posted in a private FB group. I'm sure someone else here has a link?

However, as always, there are some negative thing. At the end of the interview, the host says if you want to hear even more of the interview, go to their website and you can hear about them talking about the allegation of MJ being a pedophile (she used these words)

I don't understand why it's so hard to leave that alone
 
Re: Brad Sundberg seminars: Making Music With Michael Jackson

Love hearing MJ in the studio, he sounds like the Off The Wall era when he is singing, need more this.
 
Re: Brad Sundberg seminars: Making Music With Michael Jackson

The whole interview is around 10 minutes long, worth listening to. I don't have a link, because it's been posted in a private FB group. I'm sure someone else here has a link?

However, as always, there are some negative thing. At the end of the interview, the host says if you want to hear even more of the interview, go to their website and you can hear about them talking about the allegation of MJ being a pedophile (she used these words)

I don't understand why it's so hard to leave that alone

That is more than frustrating,it is just pure ignorance. Sometimes i wonder if even people remember the 2005 trial, or do they want to remember it? They just want to play the plausible deniability card so they can get in all their jokes and puns, and i should know i have friends who are just like that.
 
Re: Brad Sundberg seminars: Making Music With Michael Jackson


The audio recording played at 5:40 is the beginning of a 2-hour jam session during which Michael Jackson and Bill Bottrell created song "Give In To Me." You can hear Michael suggesting that Bill should "hook up his electric guitar" and give him the microphone to create a song out of the moment. They did that, and this is how 2 hours later "Give In To Me was born.

The dialog transcript:
-"Like a rolling stone! Like the FBI!" Did you hear that? "Like the CIA..."
- Sounds familiar.
- John Lennon. "Like the BBC!"
- Oh... What song is it?
- "BB King!" Ehh, they called it "Can You Dig It." "...And Doris Day! Dig it! Dig it!" It's like a little short piece, like a transitional thing. He's just screaming out stuff.
I'll tell you it would be neat for you sometime just to hook up your electric guitar or whatever and just start playing and give me a mike and... out of the moment, you know... which would be really... really fun. A lot of magic is created out of the moment like that. It really is.
Do you think they'll always have those big tapes like that? Do you think they'll ever go away?
- I give them a few more years.
- Yeah, it seems like they've been that big and that heavy ever since I've been working in the business. Everything else has changed. And all these cord things - I'm shocked that hasn't changed by now.
 
Re: Brad Sundberg seminars: Making Music With Michael Jackson

^ Amazing that this is how Give In To Me was born.
 
Re: Brad Sundberg seminars: Making Music With Michael Jackson

I really love that little clip of him just talking:wub: And wondering if the big tapes will ever go away haha, aww:laugh: This really makes me want to go to Brad's seminar!! He says 'we had 100's of moments like this'.. I hope (after his seminars are over) more of these 'studio talks' and jam sessions will be released! :wild:
 

Never-before heard audio clip from ‘In The Studio With Michael Jackson’ seminar

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Brad Sundberg was kind enough to share this intimate, unreleased audio clip of Michael Jackson on Swedish radio recently. The short snippet features Jackson and Bill Bottrell in the studio and it was captured right before the collaborative session in which the epic "Give In To Me" was conceived. Hit the source here or go straight to the audio clip.



"Like a Rolling Stone. Like the FBI. Like the CIA,” sings Michael Jackson on a just-released, never-before heard audio clip taken by the King of Pop's ex-studio technical director and engineer, Brad Sundberg.

Sundberg generously shared the clip with a Swedish radio program earlier this week. It is just one of the countless unreleased Michael Jackson moments that feature as part of Sundberg's 'In The Studio With MJ' seminar, which is set to make its next stop in Toronto, Canada next month.

"Sounds familiar," comments Bill Bottrell of Jackson's rendition. "John Lennon," responds Jackson. "Like the BBC. BB King... And Doris Day," he continues. "They called it 'Can Ya Dig it'. It's like a little short piece. Like a transitional thing. He's just screamin' out stuff."


The newly-released clip, which is featured in full below, we hear Jackson candidly discussing the technology and hardware in recording studios with Sundberg and Bottrell, and how things had (and hadn't) changed since he started his recording career more than 25 years earlier.

"Do you think they'll always have those big tapes like that?" Jackson asks. "Do you think they'll ever do away [with them]? I feel like they've been that big and that heavy ever since I've been workin' in studios. [But] everything else's changed! And all these cord things; I'm shocked that hasn't changed."

On its own the clip is just a bit of chatter between Jackson and his studio buddies. However, in the grander scheme of things, the clip is very significant.

During the clip Jackson suggests that he and Bottrell have a jam session, with Bottrell on electric guitar and Jackson on vocals.

"I'm tellin' you it would be neat for you to sometime just hook up your electric guitar or whatever and and just start playin', and get me a mic... Out of the moment, you know, which would be really, really fun. A lot of magic is created out of the moment like that. It really is."

The King of Pop wanted to make "magic" - and within hours, he'd done it.

What started out as a draft for a possible dance track, with a drum beat programmed to play while Jackson sang and Bottrell played guitar, quickly turned into one of Jackson's most popular rock tracks - "Give In To Me".
"Give In To Me", which features Slash on guitar, was released as part of Michael Jackson's 'Dangerous' album in November 1991. It reached the Top 10 in at least nine countries around the world – including New Zealand where it spend 4 weeks at #1, and the UK and Ireland where it peaked at #2. The track, on which Bottrell is rightfully credited as co-writer, was never officially released as a single in North America or Asia.

During his 'In The Studio With MJ' seminars Brad Sundberg shares an edited-down 15-minute version of the two-hour collaborative jam session between Jackson and Bottrell, allowing fans the privilege of listening to the King of Pop's creative process and experiencing his genius in full swing.


Click here to book tickets to the highly-anticipated Toronto seminar, which takes place between 12 noon and 7pm at D. C. Music Studios on November 23rd, 2013.
 
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Re: Brad Sundberg seminars: Making Music With Michael Jackson

Anyone here heading to the Toronto show? I've just got a ticket, hope to see you guys there!
 
Re: Brad Sundberg seminars: Making Music With Michael Jackson

^^ I would looove to! Unfortunately I live on the other side of the planet :sorry:
 
Re: Brad Sundberg seminars: Making Music With Michael Jackson

^^ I would looove to! Unfortunately I live on the other side of the planet :sorry:

He seems to be heading everywhere, maybe London's up next!
 
I’ll post a couple of things about my impressions from Brad Sundberg’s seminar in Paris, because I promised to do this for a few people. I won’t retell the seminar itself – if you are curious about the stories Brad shares, I highly recommend you to read peace.love.mj's notes – they are very thorough. I’ll just describe the songs and videos we heard and saw.

During the course of his story Brad shares a number of unreleased demos of known Michael songs. Each and every one of them is awesome and gold, and I sincerely hope that one day all this stuff gets released for the fans. So here is what we heard:

- Demo of "I Can't Help It" with a simpler arrangement than the final version and very prominent raw vocal. It sounded AMAZING. I couldn’t stop smiling throughout the song.
- Multitrack of “Bad” where Brad tuned in and out different instruments, and gave us a little bit of clear backing vocals part and a little bit of lead vocals a cappella. There you can really hear Michal stomping his feet on the wooden platform he is standing on.
- Two early demos of “Streetwalker” – the second one with a cool Western-like intro, somewhat like “Whatever Happens.”
- Slow intro to "The Way You Make Me Feel" in stereo (it really does make a difference). Michael recorded this intro in a hotel room, but it sounds very professional and HQ.

- "Don't Stop Til You Get Enough" performed by MJ on Perrier bottles. He was an amazing percussionist.
- Early demo of “Jam” with unfinished lyrics and a gentler vocal. Michael’s voice doesn’t have the grit and push of the final version, but he’s already taking those higher end notes that give the song a sense of anguish.
- Demo of "Someone Put Your Hand Out" – in my opinion it was not as good as the final version, but the melody is quite different, especially in the verses, which makes it interesting – almost like a separate song.
- Demo of "Heal The World", very similar to the final version, but with yet unfinished lyrics.

And then there were three things that completely blew us away. Each one of them costs the price of the seminar and more because they are simply priceless.

The first thing was footage of the studio workdays. Brad showed us two videos. The first one captured a party that the studio team organized for one of the engineers named Bart who was going to undergo a heart surgery. Surprisingly, there were quite many people in the studio. For some reason I always imagined that Michael recorded with 2-3 producers and engineers, but in this video you can see about 8-10 people, including MJ. Everybody is talking, joking, eating something and having fun. Michael is hanging out somewhere next to the wall shyly and eating, of course, chicken from a plate he is holding in his hand. It is 1992, and he looks almost like in Bad era, only his hair is a lot longer. He has no mask, no sunglasses on, and he is not covering his face from the camera. You can see that he feels completely relaxed and at ease among his colleagues. Brad said that studio was always a safe place for MJ, and you can really see it. He is not a star there; he is just a part of the team. Everyone brought gifts for Bart. Michael gave him a portable VHS player (which was a big deal at the time) and loads of “The Three Stooges” cassettes, which Bart could take to the hospital with him. So typical of Michael! As soon as the present was unpacked, Michael sat on the floor with it and began setting it up :)

The second video was just a collage of different studio footage put to “Smile” soundtrack. There you could see many different people – guys and girls - working, laughing. The atmosphere reminded me of a group of old friends or a close work team. And again Michael looked completely natural among them. Brad said this video was special for him because it showed the atmosphere in the studio. It really was the atmosphere of safety and trust. And Michael needed it to be able to open up, pour his soul into his songs.

At first glance there was nothing special about this footage, but we really never saw Michael in such a setting. And it was hard to imagine how exactly the studio felt to him. It was heartwarming to see that he did have such a safe haven. His life was immeasurably bigger than lives of his colleagues. They went home to their families, and Michael went back to being the King of Pop. But I’m glad that at least for a while he could simply be one of the team.

The second thing that left a deep impression on us was a 14-minute excerpt from the session of creation of “Give In To Me.” Michael wrote this song together with Bill Bottrell. As Bottrell recalls today, they sat down on two stools, he (Bill) plugged in a guitar, Michael started to come up with a melody, and in two hours the song was born. In the 14-minute audio recording trimmed down from that 2-hour session you can hear how that happened. It’s magic. I can honestly tell you, right there you witness the real magic. Michael once compared the process of songwriting with the birth of a child, and I think it really is in a way a similar feeling when you witness a wonder happening right before your eyes. Out of disjoint, discordant improvisations, out of trials and attempts to find the sound, a harmony slowly emerges. And suddenly you hear traces of the familiar melody, and here it is – an almost shaped song, with a raw, lively vocal. Even MJ could never really explain how he writes music. “It simply falls into my lap,” he used to say. And here you become a witness to this process. It’s incredible. It’s like peeking into something sacred.

And the third thing, probably the most staggering of all, is the footage of Michael recording “Childhood.” First of all, it’s a true a cappella. Michael is singing to a live orchestra, but he hears it in headphones, and as the camera is installed in the vocal booth, you don’t hear the music, you hear only his vocals. It’s the whole song a cappella. And the way he sings it… oh my god! With eyes closed, a sense of bliss written on his face, pouring his heart into the song. You almost feel like he is naked at this moment, to the point where you instinctively want to cover it. His spirit and his innocence shines through his performance. Many of us cried at the sight of this. It's mesmerizing, riveting, the way he is completely immersed in the song, in its bliss, in its message that he sings out with all his soul. It was the last thing we saw, and after that my hands were shaking as I was putting on the jacket – it was so powerful. It’s really hard to describe in words, you have to see it. If you have a chance to attend one of the seminars, this recording alone is worth the flight and the ticket price. At least to me it really was.
 
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Re: Brad Sundberg seminars: Making Music With Michael Jackson

Morinen, thank you! Brad's seminars sound so great. I really hope that after he's done with touring there will be some kind of way that he can show all this to those of us who cannot attend. A documentary, a DVD, I don't know... But the public should see this!
 
Re: Brad Sundberg seminars: Making Music With Michael Jackson

Wow Morinen, thank you so much for sharing! I've noticed there's an extended 'VIP' version and a 'normal' version of his seminars.. which one did you go to? I was pretty disappointed when I saw the prices, and I don't even think he'll come to the Netherlands but after reading this I really want to go:yes: Also I can't seem to find a good overview of his 'tour', the places he'll go to + dates. Anybody know where to find that? Cause it seems he'll go to Paris again in 2014..
 
Re: Brad Sundberg seminars: Making Music With Michael Jackson

Morinen, thank you so so much for that summary! I imagined the whole thing but I'm sure it must've been a million time better to be there and witness such precious material...:bow: I know I'll never get a chance to attend these seminars... but I'm happy reading the stories/summaries of people who can. Hopefully after he's done touring, like some have suggested here, these seminars will somehow be available to the public who can't attend :angel:
 
Re: Brad Sundberg seminars: Making Music With Michael Jackson

Why, why, whyyyy didn't have have the money to travel to Sweden for this last week... It's only 2-3 hours away. I will regret it for the rest of my life. Thanks a lot, Morinen.
 
Re: Brad Sundberg seminars: Making Music With Michael Jackson

Wow Morinen, thank you so much for sharing! I've noticed there's an extended 'VIP' version and a 'normal' version of his seminars.. which one did you go to? I was pretty disappointed when I saw the prices, and I don't even think he'll come to the Netherlands but after reading this I really want to go:yes: Also I can't seem to find a good overview of his 'tour', the places he'll go to + dates. Anybody know where to find that? Cause it seems he'll go to Paris again in 2014..

There are no formal "versions", it depends more on how much time Brad was booked for. As far as I know, in Orlando he did a 6-hour seminar, in Paris he did 4 hours with live translation, so in reality we got only about 2,5-3 hours of clear time. He had to skip some details and stories because of that. But I wasn't disappointed about that since I had read them before. The only disappointment was that we did't get to hear Michael's song/poem that guys on the other seminars got to hear...

I don't know if he'll ever come to Netherlands. You know, I came from California to Paris mainly for this seminar, so you can imagine the cost of it for me. Still it was worth it.
 
Re: Brad Sundberg seminars: Making Music With Michael Jackson

There are no formal "versions", it depends more on how much time Brad was booked for. As far as I know, in Orlando he did a 6-hour seminar, in Paris he did 4 hours with live translation, so in reality we got only about 2,5-3 hours of clear time. He had to skip some details and stories because of that. But I wasn't disappointed about that since I had read them before. The only disappointment was that we did't get to hear Michael's song/poem that guys on the other seminars got to hear...

I don't know if he'll ever come to Netherlands. You know, I came from California to Paris mainly for this seminar, so you can imagine the cost of it for me. Still it was worth it.

Oh..maybe it's different for every place he visits? Cause I read this on his FB page and it got me pretty excited:lol:
"Included with the VIP ticket is one of Michael's traditional studio dinners known as "Family Friday." On most Fridays during the Bad and Dangerous projects, Michael's personal chefs would prepare a large dinner to be shared with the crew and their families. This was a time to tell stories and enjoy each other's company. In our event, this will be a time to share a great meal together in a bit more of a relaxed setting, and Brad will offer a few more songs, videos and stories from his studio days. This is his way of giving Michael a nod for starting a tradition that the studio crew really grew to love."...:heart:

But yeah, it doesn't really matter.. dinner or no dinner, or the exact amount of time he'll spend on it. I mean, reading what you shared.. it DOES sound like it was worth every penny, and I know it isn't cheap flying here from California! I am sooo bummed *understatement* that I found out he'd be in Paris when it was already too late:cry: I have my hopes on 2014 though!
 
Re: Brad Sundberg seminars: Making Music With Michael Jackson

I hope he comes to The Netherlands in 2014, when I (hopefully) will be able to afford it ;) Ticket prices are very expensive though.
 
Re: Brad Sundberg seminars: Making Music With Michael Jackson

Listen to the audio and I love Michael's voice, singing a cappella Thanks for creating this post.
 
morinen;3922568 said:
I’ll post a couple of things about my impressions from Brad Sundberg’s seminar in Paris, because I promised to do this for a few people. I won’t retell the seminar itself – if you are curious about the stories Brad shares, I highly recommend you to read peace.love.mj's notes – they are very thorough. I’ll just describe the songs and videos we heard and saw.

During the course of his story Brad shares a number of unreleased demos of known Michael songs. Each and every one of them is awesome and gold, and I sincerely hope that one day all this stuff gets released for the fans. So here is what we heard:

- Demo of "I Can't Help It" with a simpler arrangement than the final version and very prominent raw vocal. It sounded AMAZING. I couldn’t stop smiling throughout the song.
- Multitrack of “Bad” where Brad tuned in and out different instruments, and gave us a little bit of clear backing vocals part and a little bit of lead vocals a cappella. There you can really hear Michal stomping his feet on the wooden platform he is standing on.
- Two early demos of “Streetwalker” – the second one with a cool Western-like intro, somewhat like “Whatever Happens.”
- Slow intro to "The Way You Make Me Feel" in stereo (it really does make a difference). Michael recorded this intro in a hotel room, but it sounds very professional and HQ.

- "Don't Stop Til You Get Enough" performed by MJ on Perrier bottles. He was an amazing percussionist.
- Early demo of “Jam” with unfinished lyrics and a gentler vocal. Michael’s voice doesn’t have the grit and push of the final version, but he’s already taking those higher end notes that give the song a sense of anguish.
- Demo of "Someone Put Your Hand Out" – in my opinion it was not as good as the final version, but the melody is quite different, especially in the verses, which makes it interesting – almost like a separate song.
- Demo of "Heal The World", very similar to the final version, but with yet unfinished lyrics.

And then there were three things that completely blew us away. Each one of them costs the price of the seminar and more because they are simply priceless.

The first thing was footage of the studio workdays. Brad showed us two videos. The first one captured a party that the studio team organized for one of the engineers named Bart who was going to undergo a heart surgery. Surprisingly, there were quite many people in the studio. For some reason I always imagined that Michael recorded with 2-3 producers and engineers, but in this video you can see about 8-10 people, including MJ. Everybody is talking, joking, eating something and having fun. Michael is hanging out somewhere next to the wall shyly and eating, of course, chicken from a plate he is holding in his hand. It is 1992, and he looks almost like in Bad era, only his hair is a lot longer. He has no mask, no sunglasses on, and he is not covering his face from the camera. You can see that he feels completely relaxed and at ease among his colleagues. Brad said that studio was always a safe place for MJ, and you can really see it. He is not a star there; he is just a part of the team. Everyone brought gifts for Bart. Michael gave him a portable VHS player (which was a big deal at the time) and loads of “The Three Stooges” cassettes, which Bart could take to the hospital with him. So typical of Michael! As soon as the present was unpacked, Michael sat on the floor with it and began setting it up :)

The second video was just a collage of different studio footage put to “Smile” soundtrack. There you could see many different people – guys and girls - working, laughing. The atmosphere reminded me of a group of old friends or a close work team. And again Michael looked completely natural among them. Brad said this video was special for him because it showed the atmosphere in the studio. It really was the atmosphere of safety and trust. And Michael needed it to be able to open up, pour his soul into his songs.

At first glance there was nothing special about this footage, but we really never saw Michael in such a setting. And it was hard to imagine how exactly the studio felt to him. It was heartwarming to see that he did have such a safe haven. His life was immeasurably bigger than lives of his colleagues. They went home to their families, and Michael went back to being the King of Pop. But I’m glad that at least for a while he could simply be one of the team.

The second thing that left a deep impression on us was a 14-minute excerpt from the session of creation of “Give In To Me.” Michael wrote this song together with Bill Bottrell. As Bottrell recalls today, they sat down on two stools, he (Bill) plugged in a guitar, Michael started to come up with a melody, and in two hours the song was born. In the 14-minute audio recording trimmed down from that 2-hour session you can hear how that happened. It’s magic. I can honestly tell you, right there you witness the real magic. Michael once compared the process of songwriting with the birth of a child, and I think it really is in a way a similar feeling when you witness a wonder happening right before your eyes. Out of disjoint, discordant improvisations, out of trials and attempts to find the sound, a harmony slowly emerges. And suddenly you hear traces of the familiar melody, and here it is – an almost shaped song, with a raw, lively vocal. Even MJ could never really explain how he writes music. “It simply falls into my lap,” he used to say. And here you become a witness to this process. It’s incredible. It’s like peeking into something sacred.

And the third thing, probably the most staggering of all, is the footage of Michael recording “Childhood.” First of all, it’s a true a cappella. Michael is singing to a live orchestra, but he hears it in headphones, and as the camera is installed in the vocal booth, you don’t hear the music, you hear only his vocals. It’s the whole song a cappella. And the way he sings it… oh my god! With eyes closed, a sense of bliss written on his face, pouring his heart into the song. You almost feel like he is naked at this moment, to the point where you instinctively want to cover it. His spirit and his innocence shines through his performance. Many of us cried at the sight of this. It's mesmerizing, riveting, the way he is completely immersed in the song, in its bliss, in its message that he sings out with all his soul. It was the last thing we saw, and after that my hands were shaking as I was putting on the jacket – it was so powerful. It’s really hard to describe in words, you have to see it. If you have a chance to attend one of the seminars, this recording alone is worth the flight and the ticket price. At least to me it really was.

Bobo78;3923096 said:
Michael Jackson sings during Dangerous album session with Brad sundberg.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7naczH__Z4

2 words. COLLECTORS. LABEL.

Although I'm sure something like this could be released mainstream as well and would be fascinating for a lot of people.
 
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Re: Brad Sundberg seminars: Making Music With Michael Jackson

2 words. COLLECTORS. LABEL.

Although I'm sure something like this could be released mainstream as well and would be fascinating for a lot of people.
YES! YES! YES!

I have read so much about what has been played and shown at the Brad Seminar, I fear we fans may never see or hear such material.

It's what us more hardcore fans want. I mean,

Who here would not buy something audio or video of how an MJ song was born, with MJ toying with ideas, doing multiple vocal takes, etc. !? I would! I'd spend hundreds of dollars on this.

Every single person i have chatted with regarding material played at the seminar, has said the same thing. We need a collectors label and we need it now.
 
Re: Brad Sundberg seminars: Making Music With Michael Jackson

I guess the problem with collector's label is that once you release something and one person buys it, it will become available to everyone else for free :/
 
Re: Brad Sundberg seminars: Making Music With Michael Jackson

I guess the problem with collector's label is that once you release something and one person buys it, it will become available to everyone else for free :/

That's true of anything released, not just if it's released on a collector's label.
 
Re: Brad Sundberg seminars: Making Music With Michael Jackson

General public doesn't sit on fan boards waiting for leaks, so general releases will always find their buyer. Collectors releases, on the other hand, will immediately become available to all the collectors ;)
 
Re: Brad Sundberg seminars: Making Music With Michael Jackson

Well true supportive fans will know that they need to support the label and buy the releases in order for the label to survive and be successful and put out more material. I think the kind of fan the label is aimed at would be more than happy to purchase anyway.
 
Re: Brad Sundberg seminars: Making Music With Michael Jackson

General public doesn't sit on fan boards waiting for leaks, so general releases will always find their buyer. Collectors releases, on the other hand, will immediately become available to all the collectors ;)

Every general release is available for free online on the day it's released. Or even before its official release. That's the Internet age for you. People who do not have the urge to be ethical about it will always going download if free - be it something from a collector's label or a general, mainstream release. I don't really see a difference in that. In fact, I'd think it's hard core fans who are mainly interested in a collector's label and hard core fans will be more inclined to act ethical towards the artist they support.
 
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