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The Holding Pattern changes the way we explore and discover music and gives more exposure to independent artists. We speak to THP founder, Nick Arnold, who gives us the lowdown on why he thought the Holding Pattern needed to happen…

Could you tell us what exactly the Holding Pattern does?

The Holding Pattern has been created to provide much needed exposure for ALL independent and undiscovered artists through an innovative and engaging platform…it’s an autonomous platform for all!

Bringing together for the first time both the creative and artist in a marketplace where the artist decides what price to sell to their fans, whilst introducing an automatic license to creatives and production companies looking to source music for commercial use (Film, TV, Documentaries, Radio, TV commercials etc)

Our quick and innovative commercial platform will revolutionise how music is found and used for public broadcast. It’s all about giving power back to the artist, allowing them to decide the price on both commercial and personal use. The Holding Pattern also provides a unique user experience for the fans to explore, search and discover new music with our innovative search engines.

Could you explain to us how the ‘Visualiser’ works?

We created the Visualiser to keep the art of exploring and discovering new music alive. There are so many genres and sub-genres in music today that searching for new music lineally or in other music services is daunting, intimidating and not fun!

Our Visualiser has been created to enrich and educate the user by displaying all the categories of music in an innovative and engaging floating 3D musical DNA. This unique visual search is interactive and allows the user to listen and purchase, while exploring the vast musical world. This will allow more artists the opportunity of being discovered, listened to, and hopefully sustain their talents from real sales.

Encouraging fans to search and listen to music they normally wouldn’t have had the opportunity, helps the artist gain exposure, and be discovered. As you explore one genre within our Visualiser, other music genres will appear in the back ground providing more options for you to explore, kind of like going down the rabbit hole, and never coming to an end. All music comes from a source or is influenced by the other, so there is no end. It’s amazing and really cool to use!

What inspired the creation of the Holding Pattern?

I’ve been a musician for 15 years, been signed to major publishing house in LA and played in many bands and still do. I’ve scored music for film, TV, and theatre as a composer, and I know what a musician wants and I also know what a creative needs. The industry has changed rapidly and is a fractured music business model of it’s former self. It lacks vision and inventiveness. The independent and undiscovered needs a musical platform that is engaging for fans, transparent and autonomous for artists, and quick and innovative for creatives to use. This is what The Holding Pattern provides…and this is what inspired me to create this platform.

Is there a particular philosophy behind it?

Absolutely…it’s about creating a free independent movement! Allowing artists, creatives, and the everyday fan of music a unique experience that they trust and enjoy. Bringing people together, making them feel apart of a unified experience, and continuing to expand onto bigger and better things. I say to my team “that a pack of small dogs barking, will always be louder than the bark of one big dog.”

What has been the biggest difficulty faced creating the website so far?

The ongoing upgrades by the many browsers out there (Firefox, Safari, Chrome, IE) which can disrupt you accessing The Holding Pattern. Our build team (Extro Interactive) are always keeping an eye on this.  Our Visualiser is only possible because it has been built using the latest Adobe Flash player (Flash 11), which is truly amazing! But only the latest operating systems can view this…which is slightly annoying! Our hands are tied when it comes to upgrades to operating systems for Apple or PC’s. I want the world to see how amazing our Visualiser is…but we can’t control what operating system people are using…Arrggh…Don’t get me started!

You’re a noted musician and composer, was there a particular experience you found working with record companies that made you create The Holding Pattern?

Ha…that’s a loaded question? Yes and no. I remember being signed in LA and playing in a band as a bass player. We started out as something unique, a fresh sound…a combination of a couple of different bands. That’s why we got signed. Then things seemed to shift. We got pushed by management and publishing to start working with a couple of producers renowned for creating a certain sound that was popular at that time. So we went from a unique, edgy, slightly quirky sound to the latest sound that was doing well. Tell me, where is the vision in that. I left the band, because I didn’t want to be a puppet and tour music I didn’t like playing or was connected to….the band eventually failed. Regurgitation of music, and fear of taking a chance is the death of any label…

The Holding Pattern has been created so there is no big dog looking down and governing the paddock. The independent hold the cards now…and we are creating a free independent movement so the people can decide what they want to listen to and the artist has the freedom to write what they want.

Nobody likes being told what to do…especially with a guitar in their hand.

The Holding Pattern has a distinctive interface and logo, what was the concept behind the design and aesthetic? 

Our designers (Folio Creative) have done an amazing job with the site and logo. I worked with them closely about what The Holding Pattern stands for autonomy, independence, and creativity. I explained that the access and search of music should be open and free for everyone. Regardless of the type of music you play or listen to… the site has to be clean, and simple to use…not noisy with different coloured designed artist pages. Everywhere, but strong and independent. I think they nailed it!

The goal of changing the accessibility of music online is a massive one, was it daunting undertaking the original planning?

I guess the planning behind creating a platform where you can access music, and allow the storage of music is daunting. With the on set of cloud servers we have managed to do this with speed upon download and upload of tracks quite easily.

Do you think the smaller indie labels will suffer from ‘cutting out the middle man’?

No not all! We intend to be here for the independent. We are open to all artists, signed or unsigned. What The Holding Pattern will not do is become a filter where only the signed or published artists can be found or listened to. If an Indie label wants to host their stable of artists, then great…remember if an artist doesn’t want to have production companies access their music for public broadcast, they just select ‘Not for Commercial Use’ when uploading their tracks and they sell directly to their fans and the public. Easy!

How does THP differ from platforms like Soundcloud and Last.fm?

A number of things.. We pride ourselves with providing the best user experience a fan of music can have. Simple, clean and easy to use interface. A collection of unique and innovative search engines including our 3D visual search engine (Visualiser) greatly improves the chances of artists being discovered and fans of music exploring fantastic and new independent music.

We provide for the first time an automatic license through an innovative commercial business model for creatives to quickly and easily access a wealth of independent and undiscovered music for commercial broadcast. This will provide a much-needed boost to the artists profile through public exposure.

There is NO other music platform that brings both personal and commercial purchases together under the same roof for artists.

The artist retains all their copyrights for future royalty payments;

The Holding Pattern is merely a conduit between, artist, fan, and creative.

Whilst forever making sure the search and discovery of independent and undiscovered music is heard and not lost in other daunting libraries of sound.

What is the average user of The Holding Pattern like?

From 7 years old to 77 years old…it is for everyone. We are not genre biased. We want to bring together all types of musical styles, so when you search for music you might just come across something that surprises you, and you like.

What do you see for the future of The Holding Pattern?

We are only 3 weeks old…and this is Version 1.0 of The Holding Pattern, It’s just the beginning! We are rolling out Version 1.1, and 1.2 very soon with some very exciting and cool functionality, that is going to make artists and fans of music very happy. Of course if I told you what they were it wouldn’t be a surprise would it!? All I can say is….watch this space.