Did my “Record Companies — Who needs them?” slide talk as part of the music conference here. Got periodic laughs, which is a good sign…I think the pacing is improving, but I still don’t have an ending.
One of the questions from the audience afterwards made me realize that essentially it’s an optimistic presentation, despite delivering the (obvious) news that CDs will be gone in a few years and record stores will be gone well before that. The good news is that there are more and varied options for artists (and music business folks) in terms of distribution and marketing models. There is a whole spectrum of possibilities now, many more than when I was coming up. They range from the record company entity sharing in every aspect of the artist’s life — the T-shirts, the concerts and the music (this is the kind of deal Robbie Williams made) to the DIY scenario in which the artist or their manager or business rep essentially does everything (or contracts everything) themselves. Aimee Mann and Ani DiFranco are well known for succeeding in this way of doing things.
I point out other obvious factors that affect the viability of these various models — that recording costs have shrunken, and that as on-line sales rise, distribution and manufacturing costs approach zero. Both of these costs traditionally necessitated funds that record companies provided for artists, but now that dependency is going away at least.
I am slightly surprised that some of this is news, but maybe I’m able to view it from a slight distance…or a time perspective.
Mauro had asked where his group Forro In The Dark should play down here so I arranged with Liz that they play the San Jose patio for an unscheduled late-night mostly acoustic set. It goes smoothly and is loads of fun. I sing a few songs — some from their CD and some from my own CD Uh-Oh that we’d previously done Forro-style. The hotel kept a lid on the crowd so it’s relaxed — and we’re not too loud and I think everyone had a good time. I got Joe Boyd in, who was down here talking about his White Bicycles book due out soon. Some of the crowd was dancing and what was photographer Bruce Weber doing here? [His Let’s Get Lost film was screening.] Went across the street to the Continental and caught the tail end of John Doe’s set and Jerry H. and Carol were hanging out, too. The streets are filled with music — coming out of doorways, from parking lots and vacant lots. Everywhere young hopefuls are walking to and fro, networking or performing. That’s an awful lot of guitars, a lot of young men and women pouring out their souls and a lot of gimmie caps.
