Set Your Goals
Jordan Brown
Scene Point Blank: What are your top five albums that were released in 2007?
Oh, man, I can only pick five? I had trouble picking ten for the other sites, Here is the top five from those same lists, though.
- Crime In Stereo - ?is Dead
- The Swellers - My Everest
- Ambitions - Stranger
- Foo Fighters - Echoes, Silence, Patience, and Grace
- American Steel - Destroy Their Future
Scene Point Blank: How will you remember 2007? (In terms of music)
I think it was a great year for music. I got distracted in the middle of it though, so I missed out on a lot of stuff when it first came out. I've easily been digesting ten times the music since I've been home these last couple of months. There are always going to be great artists putting out great records. Some artists may come and go, but there will always be new groups starting up to fill the void. I hate when people talk about how "music is in a troubled state." I just never feel that way about it. This year has proven that music is alive and well and there is still great stuff happening all around the world.
Scene Point Blank: What kind of impact do you think donation-based releases like Radiohead, Saul Williams, etc? will have on the record industry?
Again, I'm just now hearing more about this. I'm not too familiar with what they are attempting to do with releases like this, but it seems to be more of a test than anything. As far as downloading goes: I do digitally download music, and fairly often, but I still prefer to pick up a physical copy of a record or CD any day.
Scene Point Blank: 2007 saw the decommissioning of two prominent file-sharing groups - Demonoid and Oink. What kind of impact will the increased crackdown on file-sharing have on the record industry? Did it personally have an effect on you?
I used Oink for a bit and it was a great site and probably one of the most comprehensive music torrent libraries of all time. It did actually bum me out when I found out it had been shut down. I don't think people are going to stop downloading music ever. And I don't think they should have to. When a developer's site gets shut down, they aren't going to run out to their nearest Best Buy and pick up all the CD's they pirated over the last ten years (which is what the RIAA probably wants). They are going to spend their time developing a better program. The RIAA needs to chill and work with their consumers to promote the importance of supporting your favorite artist by purchasing physical copies of their albums. It is therefore also up to us, the "file-sharers," to financially support the music we do care about.
Scene Point Blank: What can we look forward to from your band in 2008?
Set Your Goals filmed a music video in December and it should see a web release in January. The song being filmed is "Echoes" and we've spent a good six months raising the budget for the video with an exclusive shirt that has been offered through our Merch Now store. We thank Rob Dobi and the VH1 Save the Music Foundation for their help with this project. Australia, Japan, and the UK are in view for January and February, as well as a few other cool tours and fest plans for the Spring and Summer. Our main focus right now is writing material for a new record. We do hope to get a new release out in 2008 and we are going to try our best to do so. It's been a busy year, but it's been all to good to us, too, so we have little to complain about. Please keep an eye on our Myspace profile and bulletins to stay up to date w/everything we will have going on in the New Year.
Scene Point Blank: What three records are you looking forward to most in 2008?
New Found Glory, H2O, Counting Crows are three off the top of my head. I know there will be a bunch more.
Homepage: http://www.setyourgoals.net
