Music: the most collaborative art form of them all.  It often takes a range of people – musicians, vocalists and producers – to make a track happen.  Here are two inspiring examples:

Red Bull Music Academy
The Red Bull Music Academy is a travelling initiative which selects 60 up and coming musicians to undertake a two week residency. As well as a mixture of lectures, seminars, opportunities to perform and socialising, participants also have ample studio time to work (or play, whichever way you want to look at it!) on their music. Listen to ‘Various Assets – Not For Sale’ a compilation CD of some of the tunes from the 2008 academy in Barcelona and you’ll find that every track has a freshness that will blow you away. Most of them are brand new collaborations between different participants. The incubator environment enables people, within a relatively short space of time, to form ad hoc partnerships and groups. This results in a range of unique outcomes and an energy that can be felt throughout the CD. The whole process sounds magical.

Phlash & Friends – Phil Asher
In one of Gilles Peterson’s Worldwide podcasts (volume 1, no 36), DJ Phil Asher describes how “90%” of the tracks on his CD Phlash & Friends, released in March 2009, were made by sending bits back and forth via ichat (an instant messaging service for Mac users) and email between other musicians. As suggested by the title, there is a long list of collaborators, some of which were based overseas. Although Asher mentions that he missed the vibe and atmosphere of producing in the studio he proves that it can also be done virtually, and perfectly, when the need comes. (A quick search showed that there are dedicated sites and tools for online music collaboration. For example, Kompoz allows musicians to upload tracks and invite others to add and modify them )

Asher also gives some advice to new musicians – London is a great place to be and they’ve got to get out there, meet people and find opportunities to work with others. The beauty of the Red Bull Music Academy is that it facilitates this but with individuals from all over the globe, giving participants the opportunity to meet those they might not have had the chance to meet.

It’s clear that the energy of a group of creatives spending a day in a room together, face-to-face and offline, produces amazing results.  But they can also open themselves up to additional opportunities – for example, working with other talented individuals across continents – by also using online communication and collaboration tools.