Alex Voorhees

Alex Voorhees — American musician — works in the independent metal circuit of the United States. Contemporary American metal runs on a model consolidated over the last two decades: recording in one's own or a low-cost studio, direct digital release, promotion through specialist channels and a regional live circuit. It is a system dispensing with label and manager, but transferring all the functions those structures performed to the musicians themselves. There is a little-discussed practical consequence: the genre's professional musician today has to command competences that are not musical. Recording, mixing, video editing, social media management, fee negotiation and tour logistics are part of the job as much as playing. That changed the profile of who manages to keep activity constant. Being a good player is not enough — one has to be able to run the whole structure alone or within a small group. It is a more autonomous model and, at the same time, a far more demanding one.