Recording Veritas

Veritas Records is in the process of revealing a new truth to the Harvard community, one less concerned with plumbing deep philosophical arguments than with displaying Harvard students’ immense reservoir of musical talent, which is often below undergrads’ radar screens. It has pulled off its biggest attempt yet with a compilation CD, titled Primum, which will debut at a release party at Boston’s Roxy Club on May 6.

Label president Daniel J. Zaccagnino ’05 has declared that the Roxy show is not going to be a one-off event, because Veritas is committed to getting Harvard bands gigs at top venues. “While we had very little, if anything, to do with setting it up,” Zaccagnino revealed, “Veritas bands like Tha League and The States have had tremendous success booking gigs with big name acts and at big clubs such as The Middle East.” Veritas has plans for at least one CD release party and perhaps others each year at top venues throughout the Boston/Cambridge area.

Primum is made up of nine songs that reflect the varied interests of Harvard’s artists. There are two songs by hip-hop group Tha League, who recently finished a music video for the included song, “Stop Stop,” two by indie favorites The States—as winners of a national unsigned-band competition, they will soon fly to Los Angeles to record a whole CD—two by the acoustic singer/songwriter/label president Zaccagnino, one by the jazz group Modern Music Collective, one by Jamie B. Fordyce ’05—an acoustic guitar player who plays mostly instrumentals—and one track by Amy M. Zelcer ’07 (jazz vocalist and winner of the 2004 Harvard Idol competition).

To produce their album, Veritas used a portable Pro Tools system that brought mobile and professional recording capability. Zaccagnino enthusiastically claimed that “the CD came out exactly how we hoped it would. The feel of the CD is great. The genres range from jazz and acoustic rock to hip hop and indie rock, but the whole CD has a real coherent feel to it because the emphasis wasn’t on a genre, but on the quality of the musicianship and music.” The album was mixed and mastered by Mantis Evar, who is, as Zaccagnino puts it, well known for his impressive proficiency “at mastering, producing, mixing, and really everything.”

GETTING RECORDS TO THE FANS

Of course, high-quality product is only one part of the music business, and many talented student bands have dissolved due to non-existent or meager distribution and publicity. Surprisingly, Jeffrey N. Surette ’05, who, as manager of the Sales and Marketing Division of Veritas, is in charge of “establishing relationships with local vendors, organizing sales campaigns, and investigating opportunities for more exciting sales conduits,” has found many opportunities for music promotion in the Boston/Cambridge area.

“Retailers in the square have been incredibly supportive,” Surette said, “and several have offered to feature our album at in-store listening stations.” Final distribution details are still being worked out, but the album will definitely be available at a number of high-profile retailers, including Newbury Comics (both the Garage and Back Bay locations), Tower Records and the Harvard Book Store.

Surette also mentioned that Veritas is preliminarily discussing sales arrangements with The Coop. He is particularly excited about this possibility, because “it would be fantastic to have the musical creations of Harvard students featured alongside the literary works of their professors.”

Plans aren’t limited to physical distribution: Veritas has also begun looking for online distribution platforms. Getting the attention of the online vendors—like the iTunes Music Store—has been a challenge, but Surette hopes that “as Apple expands its music library it might be interested in stocking material from more independent labels.” Some of the larger independent labels, including indie-rock heavyweights Sub Pop and Matador Records, have put large portions of their catalogs on iTunes, but most of the songs are from bands with well-established reputations.

Surette is pleased to announce that, although paid download deals are still in the works, Veritas hasn’t “been shut out of the online market,” as they have partnered with CrimsonXchange to sell copies of the album through their web-site. This deal makes it possible for people outside of the Boston area to pick up a copy of the CD, which should allow the featured bands featured to develop fan bases outside the Harvard community. To continue exposing their bands, Veritas has been in contact with the campus stores of other local colleges and hope to have copies at those stores soon.

But these are long-term plans. For now, the best places to get the CD will be at the party on May 6 or from any Veritas member.

Adidas is co-sponsoring the record release party, which seems to be just the first of many upcoming collaborations. According to Vice President Matthew L. Siegel ’05, who is also a Crimson editor, “we are probably going to have our artists play in their store on a regular basis and do more events with them next year and after.” Siegel claims that Adidas has been “very excited about our label because it is exactly the kind of thing they like to support—original, local musical expression.”

PLANS FOR THE FUTURE

Veritas already has a lot of plans for next year, but the home-field Harvard-Yale game next fall has been a focus for their aim to merge the social life at Harvard with music. Zaccagnino outlined his vision for the event as follows: “We want to create situations like the Harvard-Yale game, where people can relax on a nice fall day, listen to some bands playing live on top of a U-Haul, and enjoy a dozen kegs that Veritas provides for free...”

Complaints of inadequate music opportunities at Harvard are nothing new. Zaccagnino mentions that even in the late 19th century “there was the first real musician club at Harvard—the Guitar and Mandolin Club (which later became the Instrumental Clubs). This club represented the students who were doing new things—playing non-classical music, and not studying music at the University. While the professors interested in music thought that the music these students were playing was inferior to classical music, they nevertheless recognized that these students were some of the most talented musicians on campus.”  Zaccagnino said that he considers it an outrage that although the University has improved itself in so many ways over the past century, “nothing has changed since then,” there still aren’t enough opportunities for talented performers,

Zaccagnino argued that “there have always been great resources for students concentrating in music, but the more that can be done to aid those students who are passionate about music but who do not necessarily study it, the better the chances that there will be a music ‘scene’ on campus.” He mentioned the cramped schedules of Havard undergraduates as a factor, because “no one has time to coordinate between bands and make a community. Everyone just wants to do what is best for them.”

Zaccagnino emphasizes that label executives “have no personal financial interest in the success of the bands,” because all the profits are reinvested into the label or the music scene in general, but that Veritas members have “the personal satisfaction that by coordinating these bands and putting out CDs under a brand name, we might have a chance to include music in what the student body sees as important social activities.”

The release party will be May 6 at the Roxy in Boston (near the Boylston T stop). The party will feature live music, a D.J., dancing, five full bars, and free Adidas gear at the door.  Tickets cost $5 (18+ to enter, 21+ to drink), doors open at 8:15 P.M., and the live show begins at 9:00 P.M.