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Ask Jonathan Coulton About the Transformation From Code Monkey to Internet Star
Even though he created the definitive guide to enjoying yourself outside, Jonathan Coulton is best known for the programmer anthem Code Monkey, his Thing a Week project, and writing the theme song to Portal. In 2005 Coulton left his programming job to pursue his music career, and has since become a successful one man music label. Jonathan has agreed to answer your questions about robots, life, and internet stardom. Normal Slashdot interview rules apply.
Some current stars have made a career out of much less than what you have simply by signing a record deal with a label. Your song "Still Alive" from the Portal Soundtrack could easily have some filler phoned in around it for a 10 track album. Have you ever been approached by a major record label with a multi-million dollar signing? If not, what would be your response to such a proposal? Since you've already experienced success, would you admit to a point in your career when you would have been vulnerable to such an offer? Have you considered throwing your lot in with an independent record label? There are hundreds in Brooklyn, what stops you from joining one or forming your own to foster more artists like yourself?
My work here is dung.
You've released a number of studio albums, where are they recorded? Your own place? Do you have sound engineers or is it all DIY? If you have sound engineers, how do you reimburse them? How did you fund your setup if you use it yourself? Are things like an expensive mac hardware, isolation booths and Pro Tools a requirement to get decent sound quality or do you just wing it with whatever and some Sure microphones?
My work here is dung.
Who is Jonathan Coulton?
https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere
In music theory, there are a lot of things that tempt developers to "algorithmize" it. Coming from a programming background, did you/do you experiment with that? What about making your own patches or tweaking audio effects? Do you still code at all or is all of your time devoted to music and writing now?
My work here is dung.
You've done many parody songs like the recent song about Tom Cruise being crazy as a Scientologist. Have you faced any lawsuits because of subject matter or parody? How have they been resolved? Have you ever been forced to discontinue with something for fear or threat of litigation?
My work here is dung.
Where you promised cake for completing "Still Alive?" Did they deliver?
"pr0n": An anagram of "porn," possibly indicating the use of pornography. - www.microsoft.com
You've released some (all?) of your music under the CC-BY-NC license. What are some of the coolest things you've seen done by other people with your songs?
Reposting my accidentally-anonymous question from earlier:
You've released some (all?) of your music under the CC-BY-NC license. What are some of the coolest things you've seen done by other people with your songs?
"Still Alive" is considered by many to possibly be, "the best video game song ever." Were you surprised by the acclaim that it has received, and did that put any additional pressure on you while creating a song for Portal 2?
Which I heard as the soundtrack to these youtube videos:
"The Future Soon"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDiDK_yBCw0
"Code Monkey"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4Wy7gRGgeA
The general truths about loss of freedom as a coder working for others brought some tears to my eyes, after having had to stop running our own company making educational software and work at IBM Research for a time (even if, as places go, that was a nice place to work). It's also easy to turn to junk food when you are under stress -- even as eating a lot of vegetables, fruits, and beans, and getting adequate vitamin D is what keeps us healthier and more productive in the long term (along with stuff like omega-3s and iodine). Did you have any deeper comment in mind about food issues when you wrote that? It really seems like a lot of young programmers don't eat well.
And The Future Soon really gets at some truths about the transhumanist movement. I've sent that link to at least one. I'm not sure if you meant it specifically about transhumanism though?
I guess everyone probably asks you where you get your ideas for those two, or what sorts of things you may have meant, and sometimes art is intentionally ambiguous, so I'm not saying you may want to answer to those questions. I applaud your decision to make that stuff available for free, rather than create more artificial scarcity.
So, I guess my question is, did you have any thoughts when you made those and put them under a free license that someone would make great videos to go along with them? Do you have any comments on the videos?
Also, I'd love it if you did a song in relation to my sig line, which in it' full form is "The biggest challenge of the 21st century is the irony of technologies of abundance in the hands of those thinking in terms of scarcity." Feel free to do what you want with that idea if it goes under a free license. :-)
A 21st century issue: the irony of technologies of abundance in the hands of those still thinking in terms of scarcity.
Did you ever hook-up with that receptionist?
You people and your slight differences disgust me! - Prof. Farnsworth
...interested in more about Mr. Coulton, NPR did some pretty coverage on their Planet Money blog:
Internet Rock Start on NPR
Creationist Textbook Stickers Declared Unconstitutional by CowboyNeal
If you could change one thing about copyright/IP law in the USA, what would it be? If you can't think of only one thing, two or three would be fine. You license your music under a Creative Commons license, which is great as I support Creative Commons and other, similar licenses very much.
Second, optional question: Who are some of your favorite independent musicians (like you)?
"Our country is not nearly so overrun with the bigoted as it is overrun with the broadminded." -Archbishop Fulton Sheen
Oh, I'm well aware and I'm kicking myself for not making that clear. What I was asking is why Mr. Coulton thinks one song about giant squid is enough.
Jonathan, how does it feel to have you site slashdotted just minutes after your slashdot interview goes live? Does slashdot or Geeknet offer any sort of compensation to replace your poor little melted-to-slag web server?
TODO: Insert witty sig
You used to work as a code monkey. Now that you don't have that job anymore, do you ever write code in your free time, or are you happe never to use a compiler again?
:}
ps: Are there any plans for rock band 3 pro mode guitar for some of your existing songs (Please
At some point in your childhood somebody, possibly a parent, should have informed you that you are not everyone.
If the masses can keep you down, you're not the Ubermensch.
Your year of "Thing a Week" resulted in many great songs. With classics like "RE: Your Brains" on week 26 and "Code Money" on #29, from the outside and in retrospect it seems obvious you'd already reached serious momentum halfway through. Was this apparent to yourself, and did you ever consider ending the experiment early based on that progress? I think it's interesting to consider schedule vs. goal oriented development as something applicable to a self-improvement context.
Are you worried that at some point you won't be able to support your family by writing (and performing) music? Do you have any plans for that situation?
Oh yeah, Johnny and I go way back.