© 2006 Andrew McQuade
Appendix (1)
My original Dissertation paper contained the Unofficial MaSu FAQ as hosted at http://gazonk.org/~eloj/articles/machinae_supremacy_FAQ.html. The information I used within my paper was correct and unmodified from this source as of 25/08/06. You can still visit the Unofficial MaSu FAQ at it's original location, although the data may/will have been changed since my original investigation. Such is the evolving nature of vernacular resources, particularly within cyber-environments. In order to experience the world of MaSu as I did, and continue to do, I recommend you visit the original site rather than read out of date information from my personal archive. For whilst such information is more accurate to my research project, it is the hard work of the fans that made this resource available to me, and it is to them that credit via reference is deserved.
Appendix (2)
My original Dissertatio paper contained all the MaSu relevant entries at www.Wikipedia.org. The information I used within my paper was correct and unmodified from this source as of 25/08/06. As with Appendix (1), it is my recommendation you read the up to date entries. A lot has changed in the world of MaSu since I wrote my thesis and by reading the up do date entries, rather than out of date information, I think you will appreciate this more.
The following websites were used during my Dissertation:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machinae_Supremacy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Machinae_Supremacy_Promo_Songs
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jets’n’Guns_Soundtrack
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deus_Ex_Machinae
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redeemer_%28album%29
Appendix (3)
This section contains a series of questions I e-mailed to the band in July 2006, their response of which was received late August 2006. Though I only used selected excerpts from their responses, to disregard the rest of their comments, which I imagine took time and effort to write, would be disrespectful to the band, in my view. As such I include the full interview in this section.
Your website has been online for some years now and you have several features on there, including downloadable mp3's, a forum, and the opportunity for
fans to e-mail you. What is the benefit of your website and its corresponding features for you as artists?
Well, for us the website has been everything. The only other online music community we've made use of is MySpace and that's only in recent years, long after we'd already
gained a worldwide fanbase. I believe that on top of the website it has been our close connection and willingness to intermingle with our fans online that's made them so
motivated to spread the word and our music. Machinae Supremacy has gained its fame 100% thanks to the fans, since no advertising or similar has ever been done by us
or anyone else. We simply made the music and made it available, as well as maintain
the site, the forum and such, and the rest has happened on its own.
Your forum is moderated by yourselves, as well as a few other assigned moderators. How are such people assigned, and what exactly are they moderating?
One additional (non-band member) moderator was chosen by me, and the rest were chosen by him and the forum operator. They were chosen for their proper attitude and
they make sure people don't get too far out of line and ruin the great vibe on the forum. They sometimes delete improper postings and deal with people who are harassing or
in some other way bothering other members.
Being a member of your forum myself, I'm aware there's certain 'unspoken rules' and obvious end-user relationships among the fans there. How aware of
these are you and just what use is fan discussion to you as artists?
I believe those rules are mostly common sense on how to behave, right? The fan discussions are really great. It's instant gratification somehow to sit down in front of an IRC
window or the forum and watch the fans react and interact about the latest release and any current event regarding the band. It fuels our fire in a magic way, really. Of
course the content of what they say is good in terms of creative feedback, but mostly we love it because it lets us in a way be present when our "product" reaches the end
user.
People on your forum have designed their own MaSu desktop backgrounds and done remixes of your songs. What is your position on 'fan creations'?
We totally support fan creations. The fact that fans dedicate such time and effort into such things is purely positive, in my opinion. Sometimes the result is some horrid
bastardisation of a song, and then it's almost painful, but it's still a good thing.
Your website underwent extensive redesign in preparation for the release of the new album 'Redeemer'. Why did you choose to do this when you did, and
why did you make certain mp3's available when you did (for example 'Ghost Beneath The Surface')?
Our old website was great, but we felt that it'd been around for nearly four years and it was time to make a change. It's not about dissing the old one but rather upgrading
the look a little to breathe new life into the online face of our band. I'm not sure if there was any conscious thought to when we made Ghost available, though. :)
There are now various different mixes of your songs that have been made available, some remain in the public domain, some are less easy to obtain. This
has created quite a 'you need to have them' atmosphere among some of your fans. Was this an intentional venture and did you foresee/actively want to
create this?
This mostly happened if we released a song prematurely and then made some changes or re-recorded it and released it again. Sometimes it's a promo version of a song that
later became an album song, etc. The version we've posted and maintain publically are the versions we wish people to hear. The other versions, that already got out of
course because we released them but then stopped distributing them, are out there, but we don't inform about them or make them downloadable from our site. Most of
them we don't even have ourselves. The fans have in their own might created that need-to-have, and the forum community, I believe, is where that message is spread and
absorbed. There's even a thread at the forum about how many "machinae supremacy files" you have!
There's a MaSu FAQ, which as I understand it is a fan creation, and the band have an extensive section on Wikipedia. Did you have any input into either of
these and do you have any particular views on their content?
We haven't entered anything into either of those, but I'm sure we've answered questions by fans who did. I love that there's so much info on us at Wikipedia, and the FAQ
is nice too. Our fans really do a great job spreading the word about Machinae Supremacy, just like we ask them to. :)
Before the release of your first commercial album 'Deux Ex Machinae' you made many free mp3's available via your website, how and why did you choose
to use this approach and have you noticed/intended a change in the attitude of your fans since making music commercially available?
The reason why we released our music online when we started was because we wanted people to hear it. There were never any economic goals involved in our thinking
at the time. We kept that up for a while until we felt it was time to make an album, so we did. And then another one, as you know. There's really been no change that I've
noticed in the fans' attitude. They are totally grateful for the free music and the site gets 100 000 downloads a month. I think the fact that we openly support filesharing and
keep a substantial amount of free music available at our website has granted us a reputation and earned us real respect in the online community. It's probably a little reverse
psychology. We tell people to download our music and it makes them want to buy it to support us.
On your forum, it's noticeable that some end-users have clear ideas of what MaSu is, what your sound consists of, the do's and don'ts etc. How aware are
you of these issues, and what advantage is there to you the artist by knowing about the fans perspective via use of the forum?
Some of the do's and don'ts we've "planted" and others they came up with all on their own. We try to remove what we feel are misconceptions if we find any, but mostly
we let the fans maintain their view of what is what. I think we achieve, first and foremost, a direct feedback link that is very valuable but also sometimes frustrating and
annoying. But when the feedback is positive, it really juices us up to go on and keep producing and playing because we get to see the result and effect our work has,
instantly and up close, on our audience.
Outside the MaSu website, are you aware of other online places where MaSu has been discussed and what do you notice about such sites?
Of course the obvious difference would be that if MaSu is discussed on a retro-gamer forum, for instance, the game covers and sid-heavy material is the main focus, while
other less "geeky" places like metal forums and such focus more on the skillful guitar play or uniqueness of the vocals. I do notice that most of it, regardless, is positive.
Most of the time, wherever Machinae Supremacy is discussed, the views and opinions expressed tend to favour our sound and style rather than the opposite.
Some of your online fans have been able to see your live and others haven't. Do you notice a difference between those fans who have experienced your
music live and those who haven't?
Sure, seeing a band live is an experience that can even change your view of music as a concept, and above all certainly your view of a certain band. I do believe however
that some fans are not the concert type and get the most out of the music while listening on mp3s on their computer, while others make sure to come to a show because they
simply need the complete experience (and also they usually get to meet us since we mingle with the fans at nearly every gig).
One mp3 in particular, 'Trinity', is the second in a trilogy which had been left incomplete for some time. There was a HUGE fan demand for this song. Did
that play any part in it being made available?
The problem with the Sidology trilogy was that we planned and "composed" 3 medleys for a London gig in 2002. Sidology 1, 2 and 3. But in the end we only recorded and
played 2 of them, part 1 and 3. The third one was in other words not even recorded and that's the only reason we didn't release it.
We felt a bit like having moved passed that particular thing and had no interest in doing the last one, until we once more found the inspiration and time to give the fans what
they'd been asking for for such a long time. Then we recorded the third (well, middle) one and released it.
How much is fan demand/input a part of MaSu?
Fan demand has some influence, mostly from the most active members of forums and IRC of course, but sometimes even from fanmails and such. The song "Loot Burn
Rape Kill Repeat", as well as "Insidious" and probably others as well were named by fans when asked for suitable song titles.
The assumed ‘industry logic’, and one which we always hear bands being quite annoyed by, is that unless you fit an existing market niche, there's no point
trying. MaSu's music doesn't seem fit any existing generic category, certainly according to your fan base, why did you chose to create the sound you did,
and how has that affected the way you've portrayed yourselves in terms of making people aware of your sound?
I don't believe it was a conscious decision really to sound the way we do, I'm sure most of us in the band had an idea of some particular style we wanted to play, but in the
end what we came up with was this. And we never thought we'd be this famous when we started, so there were no thoughts of "industry logic" as you put it, or any other
plans for world conquest. Of course now that we've become aware of it, we benefit from our unique sound by emphasizing it as much as we can.
There are two versions of 'Redeemer' and two versions of 'Deux Ex Machinae'. Why so many editions?
"Deus Ex Machinae" was released on a friendly 'master-deal' via a UK record company that only sold online, not in retail stores. The first print of the album we mastered at
the self-proclaimed "best" mastering house in Sweden, and probably most famous as well, and we were displeased with the result. When the first edition went out of print,
we remastered the album ourselves before the second print, and remade some artwork as well as added a bonus track. This wasn't a stunt to get the same people to buy it
again, but a way for us to be able to be more pleased with our album. With "Redeemer", the situation is quite different. We had no record company at all to release it, and
now that one is finally approaching, many of the songs will not be included. The Underground Edition of "Redeemer" was released by us, no record label at all, to get our
"Director's Cut", if you will, of that album out as soon as possible, targeted at the fans who already know us, only sold online. They get all the songs, as we intended it, while
the Retail Edition, which will be released sometime this year, hopefully, will be stripped of certain songs to make it shorter, and will be sold in retail stores around the world.
So in other words, the UE is for the fans we already have, the ones who were waiting, and the RE is to gain new fans and reach out beyond the Internet.
You were briefly signed to MDB records. Your first album sold out, requiring a second edition shortly after, the label folded. After this you set up
'Hubnester Industries'. What differences do you note now that you sell all your own CD's/merchandise by yourselves?
We never wanted to sell stuff ourselves, that's why we made the deal with MBD, but we were never "signed" to them, we simply made a deal for the release of one single
record, no rights lost or anything. MBD was simply the outlet for our music, not our corporate overlords. ;-) Hubnester Industries in actuality has nothing to do with
releasing albums, it's just there to make the release look nice and official. We sell our CDs and merchandise through Machinae Supremacy. The upside with selling stuff
ourselves is that with no middle man, the entire profit is ours and hence we get something for our hard work. The downside is that it really IS a lot of work. Making music is
fun, but taking orders, packing packages and making the entire system work, with sendouts, addresses, special circumstances and so on and so forth is a pain in the ass.
Do you see yourselves as being more business orientated because of the advent of ‘Hubnester Industries’ and has this affected the marketing of the band?
Hubnester Industries is a company we have, but it's unrelated to the distribution. We maintain the webshop and all that on our spare time. We work at Hubnester Industries
during office ours as game music producers. We don't market the band at all, really... At least not any different than how we've always done it. We make our music, tell our
fans about it, answer fanmails and answer questions, try to involve ourselves at the forums and IRC, and that's how we've always done it. No real change, in other words.
Was the decision to use the internet so prominently in your marketing in place from the bands beginnings?
No. We never had any thoughts of marketing at all.
Of what benefit to the band has myspace.com been?
Diversity is good, and being on MySpace is just another way to reach potentially new fans that would not as likely find us otherwise. MySpace is the only site of that nature
that we're on. We enjoy having our own website and distributing from there since it feels less generic than being one in a million on a community such as MySpace. But per
each community that you have time to deal with, I'm certain the amount of fans can increase substantially.
Your forum is broken down into sections like most forums. Like most bands, you have a section for discussing the bands music, but you also have sections
for 'retro gaming' which aren't typical to rock/metal forum discussion threads. Why did you choose to design the forum like this?
These are simply what we've predicted could be common interests for the forum dwellers, particularily of course retro games and such because of the video game influences
in our music. I believe the chance to discuss other things than just the band makes the forum visitors more likely to have fun longer at the bands forum and keep it more
active during slow-going periods.
Computer gaming is an obvious influence to the band, as identified by your fanbase and admitted by yourselves. Does this technology-centric element cross
over into the bands reception do you think?
I can't say for sure, but I think that's unlikely. Maybe in a broader spectrum, like saying for instance that metal is easier to market online than folk music, due to its listener
base's familiarity with computers and the internet. It does influence how we want to profile ourselves, however, I mean a fantasy theme on an album cover for instance
would not fit well with our technocentric metal identity.
Your website states it is the 'origin of SiD metal'. The term 'frontier music' has also been used. Did you coin such phrases yourself and how long have they
been in use? What advantages/disadvantages are there in using such terms?
Yes we did. I think they've been around since we realized that we were quite unique (I think sometime 2002). The advantage is probably that we make others aware that
they've located something special, or something new and someone who's first with something, but the downside is that maybe some people take these slogans and make the
band out to be all about that and nothing else. Some of our fans are crazed about the whole SID element in our music, and pretty much (in very extreme cases) favours a
song more or less depending on the amount of SID or retro-game influence in it.
Concerning more traditional marketing methods - what kind of coverage have you seen in magazines (or webzines) and are they as important to you as other
forms of public awareness like the ones you have more direct control over via your website (mp3's etc), or word of mouth/word of type?
We try to make albums and sendouts available to most who ask for it, and some who don't, but so far that's been all we've done. We've gotten a lot of great reviews in
webzines and a few less in magazines (that I'm aware of) and on some radios and webradios as well. They take more effort of course than the online work, but since the
online work kind of works itself, we don't really focus on our online promotion (except for answering emails, forum questions, chatting on IRC, etc, of course). I think our
best promotion has been and will be word of mouth. We tell most of our fans to tell their friends about us when we answer fanmails and such. And I believe many of them
do, and that's how we got as far as we have.
© 2006 Andrew McQuade