Re: OT: why musicians can't eat -- and why radio is so bad

[AKASHMUSIC@aol.com]

hmmmm...i do see the evils of corporate mass culture and i see a space where 
people invariably react to such evils and say they dont like it, but i also 
see people (both the masses and the niches) falling into very predictable 
little marketable patterns which play very well off of each other which in 
most cases are still run and controlled by the major labels in the end who 
know what types of consumers the easiest selss are as well as the most 
difficult and obscure; they got somethin for all of us it seems..

more Ironically i gues you could say I think that advertising is the future 
of the music industry and that ad agencies are now perhaps the new place to 
look to for  the A&R like functions of what record labels used to do.

BTW, NPR had a great piece on new music a few weeks ago which chronicled 
where all the new tunes are coming from and getting introduced into pop 
culture...its not the labels but ad agencies.

methinks the future/now of music points strongly to musicians gettin paid for 
work not in terms of cd's or mp3's but in liscensing and rights to your 
material on a one shot fee to artists ...thats a different  tangent (but 
somewhat related tangent) than where im gonna go here but it makes the good 
bad evil pure arfuments kinda off the map ( thank god ) in the context of 
what it means to be a working musician not tomorrow or in the past, but right 
now.

& I too think people really don't care that choices are made for them and I 
furthermore think that people have lost the ability ( or have not cultivated 
that abilty) to make distinctons for themselves on their own accord to the 
point where they really do enjoy the convenience of having what they know and 
recogniZe as familiar at their fingertips offered to them by someone else.

I am also 1000% convinced that you can sell anything to anybody on the basis 
of just a few pursistencies...bombardment, repitition and by convincing 
people that to be like you is cool alongwith getting other people to repeat 
the spincycle you have assigned to an act.musician/entertainer, etc., the 
more you repeat it the more it resonates and the more you get others to 
repeat what you have said the more u have propped up your investments.

But y'all struck a nerve here which has been an evolving question and 
curiousity of late for everyone in AKASH where we've been asking ouselves 
with different answers and different perspectives on whether or not any music 
really matters anymore.

I personally still want and need good and bad music so there can be any 
music, ya know?

& I dont see it as a universal validation or i dont frame the dialog in terms 
of good winning over evil but more about how people are receptive to to 
somethings and what an industry makes of their own awareness of peoples 
perceptions which are these days less attentive to discernabilty and more 
inclined toward a single identifier-group image ( and what someone is willing 
to invest in to make that  image "sticky" ).

i do think a certain amount of healthy skepticism contemplating the "process" 
of the "business-side of music" is the best way to frame questions where the 
emphasis is on how an overly mature industry with a business model which 
still works and serves itself ( bear in mind, not audiences or musicians but 
the industry itself like all industries tends to be self serving) very well 
and how it invariably conducts itself day-day-out time and time again and 
continues to dominate what gets out and to whom.

But for a musician to be heard, have a tangible value or become known above 
the noise of many and to have a grip on a discernable audience,  takes some 
type of investment, marketing, advertising and distribution and as of late, 
co-branded merchandising & extensive touring ( plus you gotta sell clothing 
these days to really be big in the music industry...its sorta like have a 
coke and a smile and also develop a schtick or set which makes people 
invariably wanna be like you with your product placement sneakers and other 
tie-in merchandising).

I think the ani difranco model is cool and so is aimee mann's ( i don't 
really listen to either one of those artists on a regular basis and dont know 
their sound that well but I am aware of their business models and how well 
its working for them as labeless independents - where with not that much 
airplay on mainstream radio, they are surviving ( not thriving ) but able to 
generate enough recognition in the right areas to sustain themselves 
artists)...

but how many ani's can you have and moreover how many fripps can there be 
regardless as to how good or bad they may be?

I think most musicians either avoid or detest commerce and spend so much time 
considering their musical voice and chops or presence but spend very little 
considering how to place all that hard work into a context which is not only 
right but advantagoeus to them & their music ( aint nothin wrong with that )  
but still the choices are weighted toward being derrivative as opposed to 
evocative and or innovative and its an art in and of itself navigating thru 
the BS which has nothing to do with music..but those who are betetr  prepared 
for that or have others around them who can do that for them have a definite 
advantage IMHO.

BUt whther the selling is done by suits and ties from corporations or thru 
word of mouth by fans, the selling and promotion of musicians is essential to 
where you get placed in the food chain of pay for your playin and how eager 
other folks are to 
pony up $$$ for your work ( people tend to do what they see other people 
doing too ).

& I still have not heard the band-musician or act from any genre who was 
"broken" via the web or outside the majors on the web... I could be missing 
something and may have overlooked a new artist who somehow got through via 
web, but my point is that the model that is in place now will certainly adapt 
itself to dominate whatever newer model production-introduction of new 
product as it emerges while the traditonal music industry adopts a model .

Also more and more people are not even listenting that much or looking for 
new or different perspectives just as many have mentioned earlier...that 
means that what already is happening in terms of the business of music/model 
and the hows and what types of products are introduced stays a familiar fixed 
business with pretty much the same type of envirnment we see now being the 
texture of what you are gonna see and hear in the future...and that is no 
surprise.

& if no one is willing to guide folks to other choices well.. once again, 
others have already painted a very vivid picture of what ya get.

& that Doesnt mean give up or militanly fight the power and become combative 
as much as it means to become smarter in how you apporach the busines of what 
you do &  to consider the environment you are working within and or around 
and how you can achieve your goals in an industry which is both indirectly 
and directly hostile or in most cases mostly indifferent to you.

& jeesh as you look out on the musical horizon, you also have so many 
musicians and so few places to play where you get to the point of backbiting 
at times amongst other musicians just so you can play free and have a space 
to sell your CD's/or Recordings and gain access to some sort of outlet to 
build an audience-market for yourself(s).

But my final points are really pointing to the further marginalization of 
music that keeps on marching forward with the subtext sorta begging another 
question more so than an answer that i have not been able to findr: how much 
more do you have to give away just to be heard and still not get paid in the 
end?

Perhaps a lot more and even more good evil bad pure sentiments will get 
tossed around.

But I dont think music matters that much anymore though i do think that it 
still can make a difference..if that makes any sense.

but i really dont think people are really inclined to want to pay for music 
anymore and they wont pay unless you fit their profile of the audience they 
are trying to advertise to en masse or unless you are someone who everyone 
else wants to be like or you are already an established brand identity ( look 
@ the e-bay tivket prices for madonna's drowned world tour-thousands of 
dollars for a single ticket ).

Warm Regards,
John Price/AKASH
"Remember To Always Kill Your Expectations"
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