Catalytic Sound is a cooperative streaming service with the goal of creating economic sustainability for its musicians. Founded in 2012 in Chicago by Ken Vandermark, it began by helping musicians distribute and market their recordings equitably in response to the devastating economic consequences of streaming services. “Streaming services have killed a really vital monetary venture for musicians,” wrote Brandon Lopez, a co-op member and one of the NYC curators for Catalytic Sound Festival 2024. “We’d like to put the money back into the hands of the musicians and give the listener/subscriber the highest level of music possible, without all the bs one would expect from large corporate streaming.”
The co-op’s second primary economic strategy is Catalytic Soundstream. This streaming service, unlike corporate ones, provides participating musicians an equal share of the funds generated through member subscriptions. 50% of the net income for every recording sale (issued on a label run by a co-op member) goes directly to the musicians, and the other half covers Catalytic’s operating costs and project development for the collective. The collective’s website says that, through the record store and Soundstream economic strategies, it gives a larger percentage of every album sale and subscription back to its artists than any other music retailer or streaming service. It even pays to ship merchandise to its 30 artists in the U.S. and Europe.
Cecilia Lopez, Ingrid Laubrock, Ned Rothenberg, Tom Rainey, Jim Staley, and Zeena Parkins — Photo by Peter Gannushkin, courtesy of Roulette
After expanding economic resources for basic survival, and reclaiming time from day jobs and hustle culture, Catalytic aims to document and promote the artistic practices of its members, which take place specifically in contemporary improvised and experimental music. “The hopes for Catalytic are essentially to get as many people excited and subscribing to our platform so that we can sustain our community,” Lopez wrote, “as well as create an open blueprint that other musician collectives can utilize.”
With all of this strategic effort to empower and showcase equitable creative work, then, the New York City activation of the Catalytic Sound Festival was a bewildering and opaque event. The website for the multi-city festival gave the impression of a cooperative and egalitarian effort true to Catalytic’s aims, but didn’t offer any substantial information about what to anticipate. Aside from venue information and event logistics, the website simply listed curators and musicians for the performances in Chicago, New York City, and Washington, D.C.
The Brooklyn event at Roulette Intermedium on Dec. 8 was certainly a respectable example of performing equity, featuring nine discrete pieces in which 12 Catalytic musicians rotated in various assemblages. (Derek Bailey coined the term “company style” for this fulfilling and maximizing approach to pooled talent.)
The 75-minute show presented experimental music legends: Lotte Anker, Sylvie Courvoisier, Ingrid Laubrock, Brandon Lopez, Cecilia Lopez, Ikue Mori, Zeena Parkins, Tom Rainey, Ned Rothenberg, Jim Staley, William Winant, and Nate Wooley improvised with veteran ease and ears. The pieces were richly textured: one featured only a trumpet, saxophone, and drum kit with sustained, relaxing tones and stretches of fertile silence while another sextet folded double bass, piano, and electronics into smartly balanced cacophony. Courvoisier was particularly spectacular on piano, infusing two of the largest company numbers with ferocious verve that blew the roof off of Brooklyn.
Sylvie Courvoisier — Photo by Peter Gannushkin, courtesy of Roulette
Unfortunately, the event offered no written or digital program notes and no live commentary by the presenters. The sparse presentation focused our attention solely on the sounds of the performance, and likely streamlined the effort of festival organizing. But the NYC event offered no way for attendees to further understand and invest in the collective’s mission. There was no mention of its sustaining economic initiatives, introduction of its performers, or insight into the artistry at hand. Even as someone who is a prime audience member for this type of music, I was still left with many questions about what the festival is about, and ultimately, who it’s for.
It’s possible that the festival is primarily a moment of joy and creative connection for the musicians of Catalytic Sound, who spend their entire year tending to the economics and operations of the co-op. In that case, it was a chill night of experimental music in Brooklyn. Perhaps there was also an assumption that by partnering with venues known for their adventurous programming – Roulette in Brooklyn, Constellation in Chicago, and Rhizome in D.C. – people who want experimental music would find the festival. But if the Festival is intended to excite engagement and drive subscription support, as Lopez hopes, it will need to do more to educate and engage its audience on the collective’s larger initiatives. Catalytic Sound has a bold vision, fearless music, and a strategic plan to advocate for worldclass talent: it just needs to share it.
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