The Americana and roots music authority
thoughts on supporting live music...or why most jazz clubs are small
This email arrived the other morning:
Ticket sales for the May14 & 21 concerts are each in the single digits. Ticket sales for the May 9 concert aren't much better -- and are still far below the break-even point.
Unless the numbers improve dramatically VERY SOON, I'll be forced to cancel those shows.
I'm REALLY tired -- physically and mentally – of booking great acts virtually no one in this town will come see.
The music I tend to listen to these days is mostly of the acoustic variety; be it folk, indie bands, singer-songwriters, bluegrass or that alt-whatever genre. And it doesn't escape me that the vast majority of this music I'm hearing is now being recorded in living rooms, dens, garages, bedrooms, basements, hotel rooms or wherever you can set up a laptop computer. A one man band today can add and layer as many tracks as they like, pull samples to create new sounds, find backing tracks from horn sections to percussion, email the file to some musician of past fame who will add their part and name for only $299 per song, and create a work of art that in the past could only have been be achieved by hiring a producer and expensive studio players, flying to some exotic locale with a first class recording studio, taking it to a mad scientist for mixing and only manage to spend a quarter million dollars of the record label's advance while killing a half a year in the process.
And lets just go to the next step...the artist can also skip the process of finding a label and distributor. From the comfort of your home you can upload your music for sale at any number of digital download store fronts, send your file to a CD replication plant that will only charge you a couple of bucks per unit so you can sell it on your website, at gigs and maybe to your local record store if you're lucky enough to still have one. You might even give away some or all of that music for free to bloggers and fans just to spread the word and get yourself heard. Some might hire a publicist or a marketing company to help rise above the herd, get a little attention and develop some level of a fan base.
In a nutshell, technology has shifted the paradigm.
Lets be clear: this isn't about Lady Gaga, Beyonce and Jay-Z, the American Idol Summer Tour or U2. It's not about Ozzy going out on the road again or huge three day festivals that sell a hundred thousand tickets. It's not about the top 200 charted albums and artists that account for 88% of all music sold. That whole sector of the music business continues to chug along just fine...albeit limping from time to time...but nevertheless still raking in the big bucks for the huge corporations that control it all from labels to media to concert arenas to ticket sales to the concession stands to management.
So this post is about the types of artists that those in the roots music community tend to gravitate to, and their ability to sustain. Many of them are in jeopardy of not being able to make a living from their craft because the old model has changed so much. There's only a handful of record labels left with the resources to promote and develop artists, so its the DYI thing come true from creation, production, distribution and performance. And what happens when you can't find your audience, or at the very least motivate them, is that the scene will die. It's bad enough the this darn magazine went away...what if the music does to?
I'll speak for myself...it's damn hard for me to get to a live show. I live an hour north of San Diego and two hours from Hollywood. I've got a job, a wife and two kids, and that means I'm not untethered or free to go wherever and whenever I please. It takes a lot planning, not to mention the cost and time involved. I'd love to go to McCabe's in Santa Monica or the Grand Old Echo in LA to see shows but it's pretty much a seven hour commitment and at my age, rolling in at two in the morning is not a good life strategy.
I've noticed lately that all of the concerts and clubs and coffee houses and festivals that I am able to get to are full of people like me...fifty-somethings. There are some older and a few in their thirties and forties (mostly single it seems...they hold hands) but hardly any in their teens or twenties. That's not to say there isn't a lot of younger folks into this music but they don't necessarily buy tickets to places where mom, dad and the grandparents hang out. And then there is money and time...or the lack of it. Couple of tickets could be $40-60, there's parking, gas, dinner, drinks and a tshirt or compact disc. So a night out with your honey or buddy could run a couple hundred dollars. And there's this economy thing that's kicking our butts. Kids burn up a lot of our time and while that's a good thing, it explains why the concert demographics trend older, wealthier and while I hate to say it...a little more conservative in their musical styles. Its the reason why older folkies can sell a few hundred tickets and the new folkies are strumming in the libraries and coffee houses for a dozen people.
Which brings me to this: if collectively we don't support all of the elements...recorded music in whatever form it evolves into, live performances and what I'll call ancillary items...they will all go away. If we value music, we need to support it. We need to make an effort and a commitment to put aside the money and time and get our butts out there as well as being open to hearing new things. God only knows we (me) is behind the computer too much, in front of a screen too often or pursuing other mindless pursuits.
Why are jazz clubs small? Because the audience went away.
In today's email:
As expected, the May 21st concert has been canceled.
Ticket sales for the May14 & 21 concerts are each in the single digits. Ticket sales for the May 9 concert aren't much better -- and are still far below the break-even point.
Unless the numbers improve dramatically VERY SOON, I'll be forced to cancel those shows.
I'm REALLY tired -- physically and mentally – of booking great acts virtually no one in this town will come see.
The music I tend to listen to these days is mostly of the acoustic variety; be it folk, indie bands, singer-songwriters, bluegrass or that alt-whatever genre. And it doesn't escape me that the vast majority of this music I'm hearing is now being recorded in living rooms, dens, garages, bedrooms, basements, hotel rooms or wherever you can set up a laptop computer. A one man band today can add and layer as many tracks as they like, pull samples to create new sounds, find backing tracks from horn sections to percussion, email the file to some musician of past fame who will add their part and name for only $299 per song, and create a work of art that in the past could only have been be achieved by hiring a producer and expensive studio players, flying to some exotic locale with a first class recording studio, taking it to a mad scientist for mixing and only manage to spend a quarter million dollars of the record label's advance while killing a half a year in the process.
And lets just go to the next step...the artist can also skip the process of finding a label and distributor. From the comfort of your home you can upload your music for sale at any number of digital download store fronts, send your file to a CD replication plant that will only charge you a couple of bucks per unit so you can sell it on your website, at gigs and maybe to your local record store if you're lucky enough to still have one. You might even give away some or all of that music for free to bloggers and fans just to spread the word and get yourself heard. Some might hire a publicist or a marketing company to help rise above the herd, get a little attention and develop some level of a fan base.
In a nutshell, technology has shifted the paradigm.
Lets be clear: this isn't about Lady Gaga, Beyonce and Jay-Z, the American Idol Summer Tour or U2. It's not about Ozzy going out on the road again or huge three day festivals that sell a hundred thousand tickets. It's not about the top 200 charted albums and artists that account for 88% of all music sold. That whole sector of the music business continues to chug along just fine...albeit limping from time to time...but nevertheless still raking in the big bucks for the huge corporations that control it all from labels to media to concert arenas to ticket sales to the concession stands to management.
So this post is about the types of artists that those in the roots music community tend to gravitate to, and their ability to sustain. Many of them are in jeopardy of not being able to make a living from their craft because the old model has changed so much. There's only a handful of record labels left with the resources to promote and develop artists, so its the DYI thing come true from creation, production, distribution and performance. And what happens when you can't find your audience, or at the very least motivate them, is that the scene will die. It's bad enough the this darn magazine went away...what if the music does to?
I'll speak for myself...it's damn hard for me to get to a live show. I live an hour north of San Diego and two hours from Hollywood. I've got a job, a wife and two kids, and that means I'm not untethered or free to go wherever and whenever I please. It takes a lot planning, not to mention the cost and time involved. I'd love to go to McCabe's in Santa Monica or the Grand Old Echo in LA to see shows but it's pretty much a seven hour commitment and at my age, rolling in at two in the morning is not a good life strategy.
I've noticed lately that all of the concerts and clubs and coffee houses and festivals that I am able to get to are full of people like me...fifty-somethings. There are some older and a few in their thirties and forties (mostly single it seems...they hold hands) but hardly any in their teens or twenties. That's not to say there isn't a lot of younger folks into this music but they don't necessarily buy tickets to places where mom, dad and the grandparents hang out. And then there is money and time...or the lack of it. Couple of tickets could be $40-60, there's parking, gas, dinner, drinks and a tshirt or compact disc. So a night out with your honey or buddy could run a couple hundred dollars. And there's this economy thing that's kicking our butts. Kids burn up a lot of our time and while that's a good thing, it explains why the concert demographics trend older, wealthier and while I hate to say it...a little more conservative in their musical styles. Its the reason why older folkies can sell a few hundred tickets and the new folkies are strumming in the libraries and coffee houses for a dozen people.
Which brings me to this: if collectively we don't support all of the elements...recorded music in whatever form it evolves into, live performances and what I'll call ancillary items...they will all go away. If we value music, we need to support it. We need to make an effort and a commitment to put aside the money and time and get our butts out there as well as being open to hearing new things. God only knows we (me) is behind the computer too much, in front of a screen too often or pursuing other mindless pursuits.
Why are jazz clubs small? Because the audience went away.
In today's email:
As expected, the May 21st concert has been canceled.
Views: 7
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Comment by Grant Alden on May 5, 2010 at 6:59pm -
Sorta what I was trying to say about the DBTruckers show, only better.
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Comment by chris sweeney on May 5, 2010 at 8:46pm
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I highly recommend "For The Sake Of The Song: The Story Of Anderson Fair" to anyone who loves music and the wonderful small clubs that offer the little known or unknown artist a place to hone their skills. Here in Houston, Anderson Fair has been just such a place for forty years now. People like Townes Van Zandt, Guy Clark, Nancy Griffith, Lyle Lovett, Lucinda Williams and many others have used Anderson Fair as a launching pad for their careers.
This film had its World Premiere at SXSW this year last March. The Houston Premiere was April 10 at the WorldFest film festival - with Lyle Lovett attending.
I have a world of respect for the artists and venues who give us the music that we love often "For the Sake of The Song" and with little or no monetary gain.
Check it out if you can - www.andersonfairthemovie.com
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Comment by Amos Perrine on May 5, 2010 at 8:56pm -
By far & away the most invigorating music I heard at MerleFest this year were the sets that were sparsely attended: Eleanor Ellis & Laurelyn Dossett. It seems even the Americana audiences equate high energy and/or pretty twenty something girls with creativity. Same with jazz vocalists -- I made the mistake of seeing Hillary Kole a couple years back at Birdland. She's probably the most stunning vocalist I have ever seen -- but sounded just a bit better than American Idol. I guess you gotta be either a babe or a hunk.
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Comment by Adam Sheets on May 5, 2010 at 9:00pm -
Great post. I couldn't agree more. And Grant, I will be in Morehead next month for the music festival and hopefully some of my friends will be joining me.
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Comment by Craig Young on May 6, 2010 at 8:16am -
The people that truly appreciate art I think have always been few and far between. They will constantly seek out fine art and music and not wait to be spoonfed by the mainstream media. They are always looking for something different and willing to take a chance on something new or abstract. It is with this group of patrons that new artists (and existing ones) find and keep their audience. The artform and culture flourish.
Then there are people that appreciate fine art and music. While they do patronize the arts, they like the tried and proven and are not willing to leave their comfort zone. In this case, the audience will support an artist, but if that artist tries to break new ground or their creativity dries up, those patrons tend to disappear. Unfortunately, the artist loses, the audience loses, the art or culture over time fades away, nobody wins.
Then you have people that swim down the old mainstream. These folks think that bigger is better! They will go to see whatever the local radio or TV station tells them to. Whether the latest trendsetter or awesome classic rock reunion tour at a large sports arena or stadium they will fork out big bucks to do so. These same people though will balk at a $15 cover charge at a local music venue to see a extremely talented up and coming artist (or a tried and true one) in an intimate setting. Usually their reasoning is "I've never heard of this artist before, it must not be good." If I had a dime for every one of these people, I would be able to open up my own music venue, book anyone I want and be able to promote them the way LIVENATION promotes all of their events. My audience would win, my artists would win, I would be the next Bill Graham and then... I woke up.
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Comment by Brad Armstrong on May 6, 2010 at 10:49am -
Good posts. I went and saw Jenny Whiteley in Toronto. Crowd was 55 yrs and older(I'm a little younger), but full at a small club. I saw the movie Crazy Heart. Crowd was 55 yrs and older, but full. The music is great, but it's not like it's anything that is new and exciting. The performances can be inspiring, but often you feel like you've seen it before. It's not like a must see show. If a band is doing the same thing over and over again then eventually you get bored.
How packed are shows for bands trying new musical avenues like the Punch Brothers?
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Comment by TenLayers on May 6, 2010 at 2:16pm -
Related to this, why no commentary on the recent merger of TicketMaster and Live Nation?
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Comment by Roy Jordan on May 6, 2010 at 7:40pm -
Jazz Clubs Tend To Be Small Venues By Design> NOT By Lack Of Jazz Fanatics!
The Jazz Genre Is Far More Enjoyable Within An Intimate Atmosphere That Conveys The Performer's Music Directly To The Listener Via A Superior Acoustically Balanced Room and/Or Sound System.
The Only Exception Being The Summer Outdoor Concerts Such As The Monterey Jazz Festival (Which Sells Out Thousands Of Tickets Almost Every Year, Held Within Monterey County Fairground's Indoor & Outdoor Venues).
I Believe The Primary Reason For The Lack Of Live Music Attendence Is Due To The Economy Not For The Lack Of Interest.
Given The Choice Between Luxories & Necessities The Later Wins Hands Down!
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Comment by Easy Ed on May 7, 2010 at 8:34am -
I was hoping somebody would call me on the "jazz clubs are small" reference. It was used for humor value but there is also some element of truth. While there are many jazz fans and the festivals do sell thousands of tickets, the audience has indeed aged and is not able to support the hundreds of clubs that used to be around; the sales numbers for albums have declined overall in the past twenty years and probably of more concern is that younger people don't connect. High school music departments that used to have multiple ensembles including jazz bands have had to scale back or kill them off. Options for a kid playing clarinet, trumpet or sax are pretty much limited to playing the fight song at Friday night's games or classical pieces in the auditoriums. The point to my post is that whether it's jazz, blues, folk or what have you...with the changes in the traditional revenue streams, live performance takes on a greater meaning today. And there also needs to be an entry ramp for younger people to not only want to hear this stuff, but play it as well. So to keep it alive we all need to be mindful of that and make a commitment to support the arts and (especially for the older folks) be open to experiencing new music.
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Comment by Amos Perrine on May 8, 2010 at 7:26am
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Glad to see there's another Steve Swallow & Carla Bley fan out there!
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