5Q: The Outs

We continue to roll with a sharp sounding indie rock group from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, The Outs, to talk about music discovery on the web and how the territory is reacting to the digital music revolution down there. 

DOWNLOAD: Get Around

The cover art looks pretty close to The Beatles’ Rubber Soul. Any thoughts?

In fact, our intention since the beginning was to mix nature and the style of the band. This was the idea the style of our work (that we thought while we recorded Get Around). Whenever a work is finished, it will always remind people of something that has been done before. In our case, we were kind of lucky to look like the Beatles when they were in one of their best stages of their career.

It’s getting closer to a year since iTunes arrived in Brazil. What have you noticed about its impact so far?

Some Brazilian artists were able to sell their music with iTunes, and could even become number one in terms of selling, but it has only really helped big artists. Online sales aren’t strong enough yet, culturally speaking. In fact, when we thought about selling our song via iTunes, it was with the intention of showing the world that we “exist,” and that we are among a list of many big artists. It was also good because it’s a way that people from other countries can buy our songs. The most important thing for us at the moment, is to become known, and iTunes helps a lot with it.

How do most bands in Brazil grade success as musicians?

Everyone sees success differently. Here, just like in the U.S., there are the mainstream artists of huge success who go to the best TV and radio programs, but it doesn’t mean they are better than the less popular artists. We believe that the latter are also successful in their specific target public, as the “Long Tail” theory says.

When does the follow-up album to this single release come out?

God only knows! haha…The people who subscribed to our website will be able to listen to new demos and to vote for the songs that should be the next singles. The idea is that in the end we will have an album with the best songs, and the respective “b-sides”, which will be chosen by the band.

Are mp3 blogs vital to Brazil’s music discovery?

Yes, they help. Some are promoting very good bands, but most of them just promote the big bands. Usually, we look for bands in American and English blogs that generally don’t distinguish big and small bands too much. For us, the important thing is when we like a song/band, and it doesn’t depend on their status. What we mean is: yes, there is bureaucracy in Brazil, and in the end everybody ends up as the victim. Brazil pretends to be democratic, but it’s not.