The
New World Enigma
Philosophy

Guiding Principles
Collaboration
Independence
Technology
Education
Innovation
Progress

The New World Enigma Concept
Traditionally, the music industry presents many barriers to those who would choose a career in music. At the lowest level, local bands are notoriously unstable. Their potential is limited by the availability of things like PA and lighting systems, rehearsal space, and so on. At higher levels, the musical establishment imposes even more severe limitations on access to recording facilities, distribution channels, marketing and promotion. These are the resources required to publish and sell professional quality recordings.

Most artists find themselves waiting for a miracle to occur, to cause these barriers to disappear. Of course, the miracles rarely happen, since you have to do "something" to get noticed and get an “inside track”, but you can’t do anything to get noticed unless you already have the inside track.

However, recent technological advances have opened a new world of possibilities for individual musicians to overcome these barriers on their own. Using the tools that are now available, an individual can create their own inside track.

While the “big record deal” is still something to hope for, there is no longer a need to wait for a miracle. While waiting for the big deal, a modern musician can still produce a wide variety of quality musical productions, and while doing so, greatly improve the chances of making the miracle a reality.

That is the enigma, and that is the concept that forms the foundation of New World Enigma.

The New World Enigma Mission
1) Establish a complete, wholly-owned infrastructure for independent production of musical products.
2) Utilize this infrastructure to pursue a variety of projects with a variety of collaborators.

New World Enigma Guiding Principles
Collaboration
Collaboration with other artists and business people is critical for any serious musical production. Collaborators add new dimensions to any musical production, they help build a network of contacts and they bring a variety of additional resources to many projects. New World Enigma will establish mutually beneficial relationships with a variety of collaborators.

Among other collaborations, membership in at least one working band will always be a primary goal, because of all the benefits it entails (making industry contacts, developing a following, keeping instrumental “chops” in shape, short-term income, etc.)

Independence
While collaboration with others is essential, a primary goal of New World Enigma is to build a complete wholly-owned infrastructure to support all phases of a musical production, including composition, publishing, performance, promotion, marketing, recording, production, mastering, manufacture, distribution, sales and advertising.

In this way, if a particular collaborator leaves, the project won’t stop simply because that collaborator owned a key piece of the infrastructure.

Technology
Recent advances in technology have empowered individual musicians with capabilities that, until recently, were only accessible to large studios and record labels. New World Enigma will exploit advances in two primary areas - Digital Audio and Computer-Aided Musical Production (CAMP).

Digital Audio offers simple, high-quality multi-track recording at prices that are a fraction of the cost of complex analog systems of the recent past.

CAMP tools are now available to support the whole range of activities required for musical production. These include simple office applications for running the business, MIDI systems for composition, arrangement, performance and recording, graphic design applications for cover art and marketing, and internet tools for advertising and distribution.

Education
One of the primary obstacles to any musical endeavor is simply not knowing what to do. Therefore, New World Enigma will place a strong emphasis on education, including training and industry awareness.

Education will be pursued in a variety of ways, including books, magazines, popular and independent recordings, and formal training.

Innovation
In all activities, New World Enigma will strive to find creative, innovative approaches to accomplish goals with or without the traditional musical establishment.

Examples include finding a special market for an independent recording (e.g. the Halloween Album) and utilizing the internet for advertising and distribution.

Progress
The vision of New World Enigma will take many years to realize. This ultimate goal will be achieved through numerous phases, accomplising smaller goals on the way.

The focus will be on goals that are realistic at the time. One project will feed the next and each step will be taken in its time.

The key is to keep activities going, continuing to make progress.