Interviewed by Studenttelevision.tv. Photo by Lykle de Vries.
I give a lot of speeches, presentations and talks at music industry events and in educational institutions. I’ll generally talk about whatever I’m asked to talk about, or whatever I happen to think is specific and relevant to the group of people I’m talking to.
Quite often, I’ll rewrite my speech on the day, as I get a clearer idea of who my audience is and what their specific concerns are. But every now and then, I get passionate enough about something to prepare a presentation in search of an audience.
I’ve pitched this to Popkomm, and I’ll pretty much say this to whoever’s listening. This is important, and it’s urgent.
Music As Culture
It’s no surprise to anyone that the music industries are struggling in the digital age. Faced with a filesharing populace, an incredible array of media choices, a tough economic climate, and plenty of other things for people to spend money on, it can be pretty tight for a lot of people in the industries.
Recent research demonstrates a link from openness and inclusion to massive untapped potential for all kinds of businesses. Consumers have a bigger say in the fate of the industries than ever before – and while they recognise the commercial aspects of music business, they do not accept that old systems of control are relevant to them anymore.
By empowering consumers, opening access to archives and for scholarship, enriching the public domain, according popular music the same cultural status as classical and folk musics, and treating audiences as part of the music process (rather than as merely passive
consumers), the society we live in is a much richer and vibrant one.It’s good for culture, it’s good for the economy, it invigorates local scenes, it’s a lifeline for artists – and it’s great for business.
In fact, it might just be what saves the music industries.
We’re also going to be discussing this very issue at a public debate hosted by Un-Convention in Salford on Friday, June 5th. Be great to see you there.
2 Trackbacks
You can leave a trackback using this URL: http://newmusicstrategies.com/2009/04/21/my-latest-speech-soon/trackback/
Popkomm’s arising: Dubber – Music, Culture, and an Industry Stifling Its Future…
© …
[...] an emerging meme at the moment of “music as culture” which reflects on the archive of recorded music and better ways to use it. It argues that [...]
10 Comments
yes. music as it was \\\\’invented\\\\’ was conversation, call and response, hoot and holla. the modern our deliverables have transformed through innovation, it seems that listeners have been become passive through buttons and interfacing \\\\’devices.\\\\’ lots of it has to do with the non-apparent transparency of artist through controlling label-types and their management.
(strangely odd, they\\\\’re selling an image and want to connect, yet, their songs are generated and delivered like bologna chopped and sifted through along an assembly line.)
i do believe there is a revival of opinion in music and authenticity. so it does leave the stage open for the audience to pick up the tambourine (only the skilled for the clave) and play along. maybe even catch something of a \\\\’holy ghost\\\\’.
:|||[o|O]|||:
Andrew Hi,
I have been watching and reading your site and contacting you is actually on my list of things to do today. So it’s a bit provident that your topic is music and culture today. I am a resident of Portland, Oregon here in the states and together with the local American Federation of Musicians (Musicians Union) we are working on a rather interesting project. Portland is an immensely creative place and it is not restricted to music. As a result, a large segment of the population are creative professionals. Professional painters, sculptors, actors and musicians. . etc. The Pay to Play model has become rampant here with almost every bar and nightclub in town responding to the overwhelming musical output of the city by searching for the lowest common denominator. Bands that will play for free simply for the opportunity for exposure and to broaden their audience base. We are addressing this plight with a campaign to incorporate the Fair Trade model into the local bars and nightclubs. Have a look at http://www.fairpaytoplay.com. I’d be very interested to get your take on the idea. We have put our idea to the city government and it seems that the problem is not limited to the music industry, a regional group has been established to address the issue of supporting creative professionals, the Creative Advocacy Network (www.theartscan.org)
Cheers,
Graham
Hi Graham, I’ve been trying to get the Musician’s Union over here to run a similar campaign, hopefully yours will inspire them! Pay to play is rearing it’s ugly head in the UK too. If society wants musicians and creative people it needs to support them and create an environment in which they can earn a living.
I like the way in which the website explains the reality of performing. Many people who do not play instruments simply do not realise that, for every hour on stage, a musician has to spend hours preparing, practicing, travelling and setting up/down.Not to mention money spent on buying and maintaining equipment. They then think that asking for payment for adding value to their business is somehow greedy! Nice one, you!
ABI
One of the goals of the campaign is to syndicate or franchise it in a sense. Create a circuit of fair trade venues for touring musicians to bring their music into other communities. I can’t tell you how pleased I would be to see a fair trade venue in the UK. First things first however. Get it done at home. One of the topics we are addressing is getting musicians to value their own work enough to not devalue it by playing for exposure (exploitation). Feel free to have your local union contact ours at http://www.afm99.org. We have had interest from other chapters of various sizes state side and I would be curious what the situation abroad is, if for no other reason than to have a better understanding of the task at hand.
Cheers
Hi Andrew!
I´m trying to locate the video interview, but the site is in dutch… Could you help out?
Cheers
Found it! Under Studenten Journaal, week 8. I think your right about the fact that a band should have some kind of business plan. Just a shame that it´s necessary to focus so much in other things than the music, but I suppose that that is where we are today.
One of the problems I think, in order to make a living as a musician that there are far too many competing for few paid gigs. I am a freelance musician in Copenhagen, and my older collegues tells about going from 10 musicians sharing 100 gigs, to 100 musicians for 10 gigs… Don´t know if there´s anything to do about that, maybe it´s just the fact of today (don´t think public executions of surplus musicians is the answer).
Hi Graham,
I agree with you about getting musicians to value their work, however it can turn into a chicken and egg situation like we have here, where, because of the “exposure” model being so prevalent, it never crosses many musicians’ minds that they should be paid in the first place, I was one of them at one point! That, and many venues treating them as if they are worthless and lucky to be allowed to play at all. Many musicians don’t really have a choice about whether they get paid or not. We need to educate both musicians and audiences, this is what I like about your campaign. I’ve passed the link on to our regional organiser.
As for the situation over here, well, judging by my own experience, it’s the “exploitation “model a lot of the time. The worst culprits are organisations with an actual budget, such as city councils, that could easily allow for paying musicians at their events, but often don’t bother.
Some promoters pay the band maybe 20% of the door take after a certain number, say 30, people to see them are through, this means that the band take most of the financial risk with very little chance of even breaking even, and they will be expected to do most of the promotion too. Occasionally, you may get a pub that does pay both band and promoter(and in fact I’m playing at one this Friday, quick plug). That’s the situation in many cities here, not sure if it’s different in the countryside but I don’t think it’s much better. And of course, pay to play is found in some places as well.
I think that once you get a few venues on board, all the decent bands will want to play there, which will bring in the punters who may well turn up on the off-chance of seeing a good band.
Best of luck with your campaign, stay in touch!
Abi and Graham:
There is a new body being set up in the UK to campaign for better running of live events – it’s called Circuit Live and you can read more here:
http://www.circuitlive.co.uk
A good indicator as to how this sort of thing can really work is what Andy Ingliss did with The Luminaire in London. He set out to prove that pay to play and generally poor treatment of bands and punters was not the only economic way to run small venues. The Luminaire fast became a favourite venue in London and has been an inspiration to many new promoters…
Read about the venue here:
http://www.theluminaire.co.uk/content/history
I’ll try to dig out a copy of their original manifesto too, as it makes for a good template for any start-up venue/promoter.
H
You guys talking of the pay to play issue are missing a big part of the puzzle in the discussion so far.
Even if the club owner is not paying the band, he is paying for their performance if he is on the up and up. (Well, at least in many places.)
If the band is doing cover songs, the club is likely paying a blanket license to a collecting society to pay for the bands playing of those songs. Now if a club owner anywhere has asked a band not only to play for free but to kick in for the expense of their using other people’s music I have yet to hear of it.
If the band is doing exclusively music for which they own the rights, then the club is paying and they should get their money from the society. (Granted, this is not pay for their performance per se but it is money they are getting from the club owner as a result of them playing in his club. Right?)
Now, from what I gather, in some places, if you play your own music but are not a member of the collection society, the club pays the society for the use of your music but the society will not give it to you unless you join, they will supposedly give it to their existing members instead. (I could be wrong on account of ignorance here but not from not paying attention to what has come my way.) If this is happening to you, who is the pirate in this case?
I think lots of times it is the things that we are told are set up to protect us that actually stab us in the back. Something to ponder…
all the best,
drew
You’re right about collection agencies, Drew. as far as I can gather, their system is a nightmare. The major ones, apparently , don’t even talk to one another, and I’ve also heard that some of the UK ones have only just around to using databases! I’ve had no dealings with them myself, but I know people who have. One told me that there’s a big pot of money sitting there that they use for a big xmas bash that should have gone to less high profile artists. They claim it’s because the small amounts cost more to deal with than they are worth. It’s a horribly inefficient system, but they keep resisting change as the status quo suits them, I guess!