This is where live music is headed. Or should be.
Music venues need to be more about experiences and art, and less about places to sell alcohol.
One of the things that has to change, though, holding your audience captive. Bands will have to let go of the idea that people will stand and watch an entire set. Sometimes they may wander in, catch a song, and leave. (But hopefully they'll buy a T-shirt on their way out.)
800 Very Unsquare Feet - New York Times: "Free City also functions as a gathering place. ...
“'Surfers will come in and just load their pockets with oranges.' She grinned. 'It’s totally great.'
"...fashion executives ... may even have to ask why the fashion industry has not been able to create a new shopping experience equal in its fun and sense of surprise to that of Whole Foods or Apple, but which is available in 800 square feet in a strip mall in Malibu. ...
"Ms. Garduno paused. 'It’s about the experience. I’m interested in having someone walk out of Free City and having had an experience. That’s what matters. They could buy a cheaper bicycle or T-shirt anywhere.'”
live music
clubs
creative class
Thursday, November 30, 2006
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Create Denver: The building blocks for a creative community
Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper has been a strong advocate of developing Denver as an arts and culture center. He has made frequent reference to Richard Florida's "Rise of the Creative Class."
I just attended a meeting on Monday in conjunction with the release of "Space Matters: A Report from the Mayor's Task Force on Creative Spaces."
Here are some of my thoughts on the challenges of creating creative spaces for music.
1. With so much of music tied to alcohol venues, it becomes very age-specific. There are relatively few places for all-ages shows. At the same time, some of the clubs are not particularly welcoming of anyone over the age of 30, particularly those with kids and jobs. Families can't bring their children, and the shows start too late for anyone who has to get up for a job or kids.
2. The report addresses zoning and regulations, and how to make it easier for the arts community to develop affordable space. Regulations are a particular problem with club/bar owners. Given that they need to meet more regulations than other types of creative spaces, maybe it would be easier to develop performance spaces than to try to help more club/bar owners to open those types of spaces.
3. The music community is more a collection of sub-communities -- cliques, in some cases -- than an united group. The close ties between some of the indie music bands and their counterparts within the visual arts and film communities reinforces a "hipster image" that discourages participation among a wider demographic. In other words, perceiving themselves as outside the "mainstream," some bands have bonded together with young creatives in other media, which has created an artist "elite" which can be exclusive rather than inclusive. This actually might be very good in terms of marketing Denver to the rest of the world, but can discourage some people from becoming involved.
4. At the same time, much of the music community does not participate in resources even when they are available. Workshops, meetings, community planning programs are often poorly attended by musicians. Progress in the music community is likely to come from a few individuals who take an initiative than from broad committees where everyone is welcome. It is hard for me to imagine any music program that can achieve a buy-in from wide group of musicians. Further compounding the problem is that quality in music varies greatly. Some performers are going to be excluded if activities are meant to promote the best in local talent. So you need to divide music resources between participatory spaces for the hobby musicians (who may never attract audiences but may be strong supporters of the local scene) and performance spaces to showcase the areas best talent (who will attract audiences and attention).
You can find a number of resources and a downloadable report here:
Create Denver: Art & Economic Development - Space Matters: A Report from the Mayor's Task Force on Creative Spaces
denver music
music scene
economic development
creative class
Create Denver
Denver
tourism
clubs
I just attended a meeting on Monday in conjunction with the release of "Space Matters: A Report from the Mayor's Task Force on Creative Spaces."
Here are some of my thoughts on the challenges of creating creative spaces for music.
1. With so much of music tied to alcohol venues, it becomes very age-specific. There are relatively few places for all-ages shows. At the same time, some of the clubs are not particularly welcoming of anyone over the age of 30, particularly those with kids and jobs. Families can't bring their children, and the shows start too late for anyone who has to get up for a job or kids.
2. The report addresses zoning and regulations, and how to make it easier for the arts community to develop affordable space. Regulations are a particular problem with club/bar owners. Given that they need to meet more regulations than other types of creative spaces, maybe it would be easier to develop performance spaces than to try to help more club/bar owners to open those types of spaces.
3. The music community is more a collection of sub-communities -- cliques, in some cases -- than an united group. The close ties between some of the indie music bands and their counterparts within the visual arts and film communities reinforces a "hipster image" that discourages participation among a wider demographic. In other words, perceiving themselves as outside the "mainstream," some bands have bonded together with young creatives in other media, which has created an artist "elite" which can be exclusive rather than inclusive. This actually might be very good in terms of marketing Denver to the rest of the world, but can discourage some people from becoming involved.
4. At the same time, much of the music community does not participate in resources even when they are available. Workshops, meetings, community planning programs are often poorly attended by musicians. Progress in the music community is likely to come from a few individuals who take an initiative than from broad committees where everyone is welcome. It is hard for me to imagine any music program that can achieve a buy-in from wide group of musicians. Further compounding the problem is that quality in music varies greatly. Some performers are going to be excluded if activities are meant to promote the best in local talent. So you need to divide music resources between participatory spaces for the hobby musicians (who may never attract audiences but may be strong supporters of the local scene) and performance spaces to showcase the areas best talent (who will attract audiences and attention).
You can find a number of resources and a downloadable report here:
Create Denver: Art & Economic Development - Space Matters: A Report from the Mayor's Task Force on Creative Spaces
denver music
music scene
economic development
creative class
Create Denver
Denver
tourism
clubs
Web-TV to promote local scenes
Here's a clever project that is a great way to promote local music, hangouts, and advertisers. However, it's labor-intensive, without much income so far.
You Oughta Be In Webcasts: "Scene six, take two. Action. 'I love the skulls on your shirt,' says a snooty designer. 'It's very Pol Pot chic.' On a recent Saturday in Brooklyn, the 11th episode of Web sitcom The Burg is being filmed in the Bushwick Country Club bar. A satire about the hipsters of the Williamsburg neighborhood, the show in five months has developed a small but hard-core group of fans, many of them the same arty twentysomethings the show skewers. Cast and crew may be working for free, but they aren't rookies. One is All My Children actress Kelli Giddish, and this shoot has all the trappings of a professional production....
"The Burg, for instance, already has viewers paying close attention to the bars the characters hang out in and to the songs on the show's sound track, which are produced entirely by local Brooklyn bands. Advertisers, including Dewar's, have approached the show's creator, Kathleen Grace, about running video ads ahead of the episodes. The rates are competitive with those of rich media ads offered on other sites, she says, but since they're based on the hits a site gets and her audience is only about 10,000 per episode, any ad revenue generated won't even cover her bandwidth costs, let alone pay the cast and crew. (The show is currently self-financed.)"
music scene
YouTube
tourism
music promotion
creative class
New York
Brooklyn
Williamsburg
You Oughta Be In Webcasts: "Scene six, take two. Action. 'I love the skulls on your shirt,' says a snooty designer. 'It's very Pol Pot chic.' On a recent Saturday in Brooklyn, the 11th episode of Web sitcom The Burg is being filmed in the Bushwick Country Club bar. A satire about the hipsters of the Williamsburg neighborhood, the show in five months has developed a small but hard-core group of fans, many of them the same arty twentysomethings the show skewers. Cast and crew may be working for free, but they aren't rookies. One is All My Children actress Kelli Giddish, and this shoot has all the trappings of a professional production....
"The Burg, for instance, already has viewers paying close attention to the bars the characters hang out in and to the songs on the show's sound track, which are produced entirely by local Brooklyn bands. Advertisers, including Dewar's, have approached the show's creator, Kathleen Grace, about running video ads ahead of the episodes. The rates are competitive with those of rich media ads offered on other sites, she says, but since they're based on the hits a site gets and her audience is only about 10,000 per episode, any ad revenue generated won't even cover her bandwidth costs, let alone pay the cast and crew. (The show is currently self-financed.)"
music scene
YouTube
tourism
music promotion
creative class
New York
Brooklyn
Williamsburg
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Beautiful people to promote your club
I've often thought bands should do something like this -- pay pretty women to show up at their shows to generate some energy in the audience.
Promoters Deliver Elite Crowd For Nightclubs | New York Resident - Resident.com: "Promoters these days often take the club's cover charge at the door as well as 20 percent of gross sales at the bar, or about $50,000 on a good night, according to Tanaka.
“'The list promoters are crucial to a club now,' said Richard Unger, a 50-year-old nightclub consultant based in Sarasota, Fla., who has worked around elite clubs since he was a teenager. 'It's a whole different world.'
"With the exception of one or two clubs, like the famous Bungalow 8, which has a capacity of only 80 people and a celebrity-studded Gold Card list of more than 500, all of the top clubs in New York use promoters, Tanaka said.
"Lists fill a marketing gap left by the decline of radio advertising, due to the popularity of iPods for music listening, and the ineffectiveness of flyers and other forms of advertising, Unger said. The elite club industry also is becoming increasingly competitive for the same small group of on-list hipsters.
"And while exclusivity has always been part of the scene, club spending on outside promoters has really taken off in the past few years, Unger said.
'It's not like the old days of Studio 54,' he said. 'It's very tough for clubs to reach people on their own now.' In the old days, a bunch of flyers, word of mouth and a hot reputation was enough."
clubs
New York
Promoters Deliver Elite Crowd For Nightclubs | New York Resident - Resident.com: "Promoters these days often take the club's cover charge at the door as well as 20 percent of gross sales at the bar, or about $50,000 on a good night, according to Tanaka.
“'The list promoters are crucial to a club now,' said Richard Unger, a 50-year-old nightclub consultant based in Sarasota, Fla., who has worked around elite clubs since he was a teenager. 'It's a whole different world.'
"With the exception of one or two clubs, like the famous Bungalow 8, which has a capacity of only 80 people and a celebrity-studded Gold Card list of more than 500, all of the top clubs in New York use promoters, Tanaka said.
"Lists fill a marketing gap left by the decline of radio advertising, due to the popularity of iPods for music listening, and the ineffectiveness of flyers and other forms of advertising, Unger said. The elite club industry also is becoming increasingly competitive for the same small group of on-list hipsters.
"And while exclusivity has always been part of the scene, club spending on outside promoters has really taken off in the past few years, Unger said.
'It's not like the old days of Studio 54,' he said. 'It's very tough for clubs to reach people on their own now.' In the old days, a bunch of flyers, word of mouth and a hot reputation was enough."
clubs
New York
Sunday, November 26, 2006
Scotland's Music Scene Is Booming
Sold Out How Scotlands Music Scene Is Booming (from Sunday Herald): "SCOTLAND'S LIVE music scene is in the middle of a boom period according to industry experts, with a higher than ever number of sold-out gigs taking place across the country in the next few months.
"Bands and promoters using the internet to alert fans to gigs, more capacity for live music - especially in Glasgow - and a revived culture of audiences experiencing live music are being credited for the increase in the number of concerts being held in Scotland....
"Concert capacity in the west of Scotland and Aberdeen has increased in recent years, with new venues such as Glasgow's ABC and Carling Academy now holding a number of busy events each week....
"[Geoff Ellis, chief executive of DF Concerts] said 'Mainly the product is very, very good at the moment. You can't beat the experience of being at a gig, and venues are much better than 10 years ago. The ante has been raised in terms of venues giving value for money and instead of clubbing, live music is really at the fore now.'"
music scene
live music
Scotland
"Bands and promoters using the internet to alert fans to gigs, more capacity for live music - especially in Glasgow - and a revived culture of audiences experiencing live music are being credited for the increase in the number of concerts being held in Scotland....
"Concert capacity in the west of Scotland and Aberdeen has increased in recent years, with new venues such as Glasgow's ABC and Carling Academy now holding a number of busy events each week....
"[Geoff Ellis, chief executive of DF Concerts] said 'Mainly the product is very, very good at the moment. You can't beat the experience of being at a gig, and venues are much better than 10 years ago. The ante has been raised in terms of venues giving value for money and instead of clubbing, live music is really at the fore now.'"
music scene
live music
Scotland
Saturday, November 25, 2006
How to attract the hip, the affluent, the well-educated
I moved to Boulder in 1991, so I have been living the lifestyle written about in this New York Times article for more than 15 years. Boulder is all about smart people working and playing hard.
And it has always been this way. People come to Colorado during the boom times: gold and silver in the 1800s; oil and real estate in the 1980s; high tech in the 2000s.
And when the inevitable busts come, people like it here so much they decide to stay, even if they have to switch careers to do so. Denver Mayor Hickenlooper is just such an example. He came to Denver in 1981 as a geologist working for a petroleum company. When the oil bust came, he stayed and started Wynkoop Brewing Company, the first brewpub in the Rocky Mountains. The Wynkoop group grew to eventually include seven Denver restaurants and a brewpub in Colorado Springs. Then in 2003 he became Mayor. (You can read more about it here).
In 1999, I started writing about the Colorado venture capital/high tech/start-up scene for Courtney Pulitzer's CyberScene, ColoradoBiz magazine, and eMileHigh.
One of the founders of eMileHigh was Brad Spirrison. He came out from Chicago to start it and hired me. When the dot-com bust hit Colorado and the money ran out, we folded eMileHigh and he returned to work at the parent company in Chicago.
Still, we always had a vision of mobilizing Colorado's wealthy young entrepreneurs into a lifestyle/cultural/business/political force. Brad called them "the progressive leisure class."
It's happening now. Colorado went Democratic this year in part because young dot-com millionaires funded progressive agendas.
As for lifestyle, the action/winter/outdoor sports part of Colorado has been part of the culture for decades, but the music scene is now exploding as well.
Personally I haven't seen a lot of cross-pollinization between the wealthy young entrepreneurs and the local indie music scene yet (they are more likely to go to SXSW than go to the local clubs), but having a hip local scene is still good to have to draw others to the area.
The next step is to have more money following into the local music scene to support and grow it. The rich Colorado movers-and-shakers who made their money in the 1960s-1980s bought sports teams as hobbies. I'm hoping the rich from the 2000s buy clubs and sponsor bands instead.
Cities Compete in Hipness Battle to Attract Young - New York Times: "Mobile but not flighty, fresh but technologically savvy, 'the young and restless,' as demographers call them, are at their most desirable age, particularly because their chances of relocating drop precipitously when they turn 35. Cities that do not attract them now will be hurting in a decade. ...
"They are people who, demographers say, are likely to choose a location before finding a job. They like downtown living, public transportation and plenty of entertainment options. They view diversity and tolerance as marks of sophistication....
"In addition to Atlanta, the biggest gainers in market share of the young and restless were San Francisco; Denver; Portland; and Austin, Tex. The biggest losers included Washington, Philadelphia, New York and Los Angeles."
creative class
Denver
Atlanta
music scene
economic development
indie
clubs
live music
And it has always been this way. People come to Colorado during the boom times: gold and silver in the 1800s; oil and real estate in the 1980s; high tech in the 2000s.
And when the inevitable busts come, people like it here so much they decide to stay, even if they have to switch careers to do so. Denver Mayor Hickenlooper is just such an example. He came to Denver in 1981 as a geologist working for a petroleum company. When the oil bust came, he stayed and started Wynkoop Brewing Company, the first brewpub in the Rocky Mountains. The Wynkoop group grew to eventually include seven Denver restaurants and a brewpub in Colorado Springs. Then in 2003 he became Mayor. (You can read more about it here).
In 1999, I started writing about the Colorado venture capital/high tech/start-up scene for Courtney Pulitzer's CyberScene, ColoradoBiz magazine, and eMileHigh.
One of the founders of eMileHigh was Brad Spirrison. He came out from Chicago to start it and hired me. When the dot-com bust hit Colorado and the money ran out, we folded eMileHigh and he returned to work at the parent company in Chicago.
Still, we always had a vision of mobilizing Colorado's wealthy young entrepreneurs into a lifestyle/cultural/business/political force. Brad called them "the progressive leisure class."
It's happening now. Colorado went Democratic this year in part because young dot-com millionaires funded progressive agendas.
As for lifestyle, the action/winter/outdoor sports part of Colorado has been part of the culture for decades, but the music scene is now exploding as well.
Personally I haven't seen a lot of cross-pollinization between the wealthy young entrepreneurs and the local indie music scene yet (they are more likely to go to SXSW than go to the local clubs), but having a hip local scene is still good to have to draw others to the area.
The next step is to have more money following into the local music scene to support and grow it. The rich Colorado movers-and-shakers who made their money in the 1960s-1980s bought sports teams as hobbies. I'm hoping the rich from the 2000s buy clubs and sponsor bands instead.
Cities Compete in Hipness Battle to Attract Young - New York Times: "Mobile but not flighty, fresh but technologically savvy, 'the young and restless,' as demographers call them, are at their most desirable age, particularly because their chances of relocating drop precipitously when they turn 35. Cities that do not attract them now will be hurting in a decade. ...
"They are people who, demographers say, are likely to choose a location before finding a job. They like downtown living, public transportation and plenty of entertainment options. They view diversity and tolerance as marks of sophistication....
"In addition to Atlanta, the biggest gainers in market share of the young and restless were San Francisco; Denver; Portland; and Austin, Tex. The biggest losers included Washington, Philadelphia, New York and Los Angeles."
creative class
Denver
Atlanta
music scene
economic development
indie
clubs
live music
Thursday, November 23, 2006
A Must-Read: The Rise and Fall of CBGB and What It Means to Local Music Scenes
There have been a number of articles on CBGB (some of which I have linked to in this blog). This is the best one -- particularly if you want to understand club culture. Developing a club that survives and becomes a cultural landmark is not easy. A number of factors are involved, which this three-part article explores.
PopMatters Music Feature | CBGB: "... Kristal not only let the bands pick the opening acts to share the bill with them, but also what songs were going to be on the jukebox and even who was collecting money at the door. The groups would even swap members or break off into new bands. A scene developed where the ‘punk’ label was slapped on it even though you’d have to search hard to find a more disparate group of bands; an amazing role-call of talent which included Television, the Patti Smith Group, the Ramones, Blondie, Talking Heads, Richard Hell and the Voidoids. Other than the success and / or recognition they achieved, what also made these groups unique were that they were enormously influential, even today. You might even call them visionaries. New York had built up a music scene that wasn’t just getting national attention but also international recognition, especially in England, whose own punk scene would have been unimaginable otherwise."
PopMatters Music Feature | Part 2: Adapting to Change: "... while CBGB’s was an undeniable part of history, it was no longer as vital as it once was to the local music scene. Simply, there wasn’t a scene there anymore and too few shows booked there drew in anyone but the rabidly faithful. To many, CBGB’s became a living relic."
PopMatters Music Feature | Part 3: Burn It Down "As such, maybe CBGB’s memory will stand as a cautionary example. It’s a reminder for the rest of the clubs to be savvy instead of too complacent or cocky—especially with ever-skyrocketing rents and an increasingly adversarial local government constantly threatening their lives. Having a website, MySpace page, 100-CD jukebox and newsletter / mailing list should be second nature by now for any club. Even along with a prosperous merchandising business, that alone wasn’t enough to keep CBGB’s going.
"As one-time CBGB’s denizen David Byrne noted, concerts are the one thing that cyberspace isn’t able to co-op (at least yet), but that doesn’t necessarily mean that fans will flock to a venue no matter how strong its rep is or how far back it goes. The Lounge/313 area was a good start but that wasn’t enough, either. You also need more outreach, not just to other music organizations but also to your own neighborhood and the larger city area including other clubs, arts organizations and civic groups for starters and to always restlessly look for and try out new opportunities and ideas, even if some of them flop. Also, in a harsh, dog-eat-dog environ like Gotham, you also have to put aside some pride and egalitarian spirit to pack in the patrons with known musical entities, at least sometimes, while preserving a unique identity if you want to stay around. Highbrow institutions from the ever-innovative BAM to the more traditional Lincoln Center know this too well and struggle with this problem every year. If smaller rock venues don’t do the same, they’ll wind up like CBGB’s, only they may not have a city out West to relocate to....
"Talk to any NYC club owner and they’ll regale you with the same problems: the dreaded cabaret laws, the housing crunch, liquor licenses, noise laws, getting visas for musicians from overseas, health care for their employees and many other considerations and headaches. No matter how many new clubs open up (and close down), the same kind of forces that helped usher CBGB’s off the local map are still in play and still threaten the vitality of the music scene in New York. There are groups like the New York Nightlife Association and a burgeoning NY Music Commission (which I’m involved in) who want the music scene to thrive and grow, but that will only work if a network of club owners, musicians, promoters, labels and fans can convince the city (not just the government but also the constituents) that it’s in everyone’s best economic, social, and cultural interest to keep Gotham a music-friendly locale."
cbgb
New York
live music
clubs
music scene
economic development
music promotion
PopMatters Music Feature | CBGB: "... Kristal not only let the bands pick the opening acts to share the bill with them, but also what songs were going to be on the jukebox and even who was collecting money at the door. The groups would even swap members or break off into new bands. A scene developed where the ‘punk’ label was slapped on it even though you’d have to search hard to find a more disparate group of bands; an amazing role-call of talent which included Television, the Patti Smith Group, the Ramones, Blondie, Talking Heads, Richard Hell and the Voidoids. Other than the success and / or recognition they achieved, what also made these groups unique were that they were enormously influential, even today. You might even call them visionaries. New York had built up a music scene that wasn’t just getting national attention but also international recognition, especially in England, whose own punk scene would have been unimaginable otherwise."
PopMatters Music Feature | Part 2: Adapting to Change: "... while CBGB’s was an undeniable part of history, it was no longer as vital as it once was to the local music scene. Simply, there wasn’t a scene there anymore and too few shows booked there drew in anyone but the rabidly faithful. To many, CBGB’s became a living relic."
PopMatters Music Feature | Part 3: Burn It Down "As such, maybe CBGB’s memory will stand as a cautionary example. It’s a reminder for the rest of the clubs to be savvy instead of too complacent or cocky—especially with ever-skyrocketing rents and an increasingly adversarial local government constantly threatening their lives. Having a website, MySpace page, 100-CD jukebox and newsletter / mailing list should be second nature by now for any club. Even along with a prosperous merchandising business, that alone wasn’t enough to keep CBGB’s going.
"As one-time CBGB’s denizen David Byrne noted, concerts are the one thing that cyberspace isn’t able to co-op (at least yet), but that doesn’t necessarily mean that fans will flock to a venue no matter how strong its rep is or how far back it goes. The Lounge/313 area was a good start but that wasn’t enough, either. You also need more outreach, not just to other music organizations but also to your own neighborhood and the larger city area including other clubs, arts organizations and civic groups for starters and to always restlessly look for and try out new opportunities and ideas, even if some of them flop. Also, in a harsh, dog-eat-dog environ like Gotham, you also have to put aside some pride and egalitarian spirit to pack in the patrons with known musical entities, at least sometimes, while preserving a unique identity if you want to stay around. Highbrow institutions from the ever-innovative BAM to the more traditional Lincoln Center know this too well and struggle with this problem every year. If smaller rock venues don’t do the same, they’ll wind up like CBGB’s, only they may not have a city out West to relocate to....
"Talk to any NYC club owner and they’ll regale you with the same problems: the dreaded cabaret laws, the housing crunch, liquor licenses, noise laws, getting visas for musicians from overseas, health care for their employees and many other considerations and headaches. No matter how many new clubs open up (and close down), the same kind of forces that helped usher CBGB’s off the local map are still in play and still threaten the vitality of the music scene in New York. There are groups like the New York Nightlife Association and a burgeoning NY Music Commission (which I’m involved in) who want the music scene to thrive and grow, but that will only work if a network of club owners, musicians, promoters, labels and fans can convince the city (not just the government but also the constituents) that it’s in everyone’s best economic, social, and cultural interest to keep Gotham a music-friendly locale."
cbgb
New York
live music
clubs
music scene
economic development
music promotion
Beware of stage mothers: kid core
I'm all in favor of all-ages shows. It gives teens a place to go and supports live music.
I also like the fact that musicians are starting to make music for the toddler set because (1) it extends the careers of the musicians and (2) encourages family-friendly shows.
However this article disturbs me. This isn't about kids making music on their own. It's about grooming kids for show business and sounds just like the adult-run cultures of children's sports, kids' modeling, and child actors. The idea of stage mothers in the rock business brings to mind all the worst of the above and more. The music business can be exploitive enough as it is, so the idea of families getting into this in a big way is not a pretty picture.
Sure, it's not new that we've had parent-run rock families (The Jackson Five and the Cowsills come to mind), but we've treated those families like freaks. I don't want it to be normal for ambitious parents to groom their kids for tours and MTV showcases and the like.
Agents, managers, record deals for 10-year-old kids. No. Please, no.
Mama Was a Riot Grrrl? Then Pick Up a Guitar and Play - New York Times: "...New York’s burgeoning under-age music circuit, where bands too young for driving licenses have CDs, Web sites and managers.
“'Oh my god, there’s like a huge, huge kid-rock scene here,' said Jack McFadden, known as Skippy, who booked the show at Union Hall. 'It’s really very indicative of Park Slope, since so many of the parents who live around here are hip and have these hip little kids that they dress in, like, CBGBs T-shirts.'
"It makes sense: in this family-friendly part of Brooklyn every other brownstone seems to house creative professionals who urge their children to march to — or become — a different drummer.
"Nearly every weekend 10- to 17-year-olds play shows in the afternoon at bars like Union Hall, the Liberty Heights Tap Room in Red Hook and Southpaw in Park Slope, which has begun a teenage rock series, the Young and the Restless. In Manhattan there are all-ages shows at the Knitting Factory in TriBeCa, Arlene’s Grocery and afternoon Death Disco parties at Cake Shop on the Lower East Side."
Meet Park Slope Kid Band Care Bears on Fire -- New York Magazine: "A windblown bar on a desolate corner in deepest Red Hook seems like an ideal place for New York’s next big rock scene to be germinating—until you notice all the Subarus and Volvos parked on the street....
"Welcome to the age of the rocker mom. Kids who might otherwise have their parents ferry them to the soccer field are now being enthusiastically chaperoned to dive bars. Rock, once the realm of outcasts and dangerously attractive miscreants, is practically a curriculum choice. In Park Slope, after-school classes are offered at private and public schools, and Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls (an offshoot of Rock ‘n’ Roll Camp for Girls in Portland, Oregon) is in its second year. On the syllabus are the classics: Ramones and Clash and Pixies songs that youngish parents revere, and that their offspring have been hearing since birth.
"Rather than being cause for rebellion, grown-ups are rock mentors. Several, in the great tradition of Jack Black, have even become coaches, teaching teens and tweens the rudiments of rocking that normally take several alienated years to fumble through. Nowadays, punk isn’t just sanctioned by parents and school teachers; it’s good, clean fun."
music scene
New York
MySpace
music promotion
all ages
kid core
I also like the fact that musicians are starting to make music for the toddler set because (1) it extends the careers of the musicians and (2) encourages family-friendly shows.
However this article disturbs me. This isn't about kids making music on their own. It's about grooming kids for show business and sounds just like the adult-run cultures of children's sports, kids' modeling, and child actors. The idea of stage mothers in the rock business brings to mind all the worst of the above and more. The music business can be exploitive enough as it is, so the idea of families getting into this in a big way is not a pretty picture.
Sure, it's not new that we've had parent-run rock families (The Jackson Five and the Cowsills come to mind), but we've treated those families like freaks. I don't want it to be normal for ambitious parents to groom their kids for tours and MTV showcases and the like.
Agents, managers, record deals for 10-year-old kids. No. Please, no.
Mama Was a Riot Grrrl? Then Pick Up a Guitar and Play - New York Times: "...New York’s burgeoning under-age music circuit, where bands too young for driving licenses have CDs, Web sites and managers.
“'Oh my god, there’s like a huge, huge kid-rock scene here,' said Jack McFadden, known as Skippy, who booked the show at Union Hall. 'It’s really very indicative of Park Slope, since so many of the parents who live around here are hip and have these hip little kids that they dress in, like, CBGBs T-shirts.'
"It makes sense: in this family-friendly part of Brooklyn every other brownstone seems to house creative professionals who urge their children to march to — or become — a different drummer.
"Nearly every weekend 10- to 17-year-olds play shows in the afternoon at bars like Union Hall, the Liberty Heights Tap Room in Red Hook and Southpaw in Park Slope, which has begun a teenage rock series, the Young and the Restless. In Manhattan there are all-ages shows at the Knitting Factory in TriBeCa, Arlene’s Grocery and afternoon Death Disco parties at Cake Shop on the Lower East Side."
Meet Park Slope Kid Band Care Bears on Fire -- New York Magazine: "A windblown bar on a desolate corner in deepest Red Hook seems like an ideal place for New York’s next big rock scene to be germinating—until you notice all the Subarus and Volvos parked on the street....
"Welcome to the age of the rocker mom. Kids who might otherwise have their parents ferry them to the soccer field are now being enthusiastically chaperoned to dive bars. Rock, once the realm of outcasts and dangerously attractive miscreants, is practically a curriculum choice. In Park Slope, after-school classes are offered at private and public schools, and Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls (an offshoot of Rock ‘n’ Roll Camp for Girls in Portland, Oregon) is in its second year. On the syllabus are the classics: Ramones and Clash and Pixies songs that youngish parents revere, and that their offspring have been hearing since birth.
"Rather than being cause for rebellion, grown-ups are rock mentors. Several, in the great tradition of Jack Black, have even become coaches, teaching teens and tweens the rudiments of rocking that normally take several alienated years to fumble through. Nowadays, punk isn’t just sanctioned by parents and school teachers; it’s good, clean fun."
music scene
New York
MySpace
music promotion
all ages
kid core
Monday, November 20, 2006
The arts and culture can drive small-town economies
This was written in 1999, but it gives a very good overview of how arts, culture, and outdoor recreation have transformed small rural towns into tourist destinations. The author specifically asks that no excerpts be used without permission, so I'll just provide the link.
ART-RELATED ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES IN SMALL ART TOWNS: Impacts on Downtown Economic Revitalization
music scene
economic development
tourism
ART-RELATED ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES IN SMALL ART TOWNS: Impacts on Downtown Economic Revitalization
music scene
economic development
tourism
The limits of Internet star-making
I have this theory that there's no money in Internet fame, which is going to shoot a lot of business models.
The standard music story these days is that some unknown band or artist posted songs on MySpace or videos on YouTube, generated a million plays, and got signed to a major label deal.
The thinking behind this is that all of this visibility is a sure sign that the masses have spoken: that they really like this band/artist. Labels are interested because the band/artist has already been test-marketed. The same concept was embraced in the early days of MP3.com, but people found out that rising to the top of those charts meant relatively little in the real world.
What we have seen both in the past and now is that when fans are able to listen to music for free or watch videos for free, they often do not then go out to buy an album or go to a show.
In fact, I will postulate that Internet visibility is a negative when compared to more traditional forms of music marketing.
The very fact that there are unlimited opportunities to showcase yourself on the Internet means that the barriers to entry doing so are nil. Sure, only a few attract the attention of millions so it is a small group, but since videos featuring geeky/weird/bizarre subjects can outdraw those involving better bands/artists, avid MySpace/YouTube patrons already know there is often a disconnect between talent and visibility.
Here's an example: Marbles Lost Blender Co Mixes Up YouTube "If anyone doubted the wild, wonderful things a marketer can do with a phenomenon like YouTube, they can suspend that disbelief by turning to Blendtec. A $50 demonstration of sheer blending power attracted six million viewers in just five days.
"After all, who wouldn't want to watch a man in a lab coat and goggles drop 50 marbles, or golf balls, or a crowbar, or a rake handle, into a blender while teasing the viewer with questions about whether those things can really be blended. "
In contrast, appearing on television or radio is not an option open to everyone. Those bands/artists who get the opportunity have added to their status level by having access to a relatively scare commodity.
This then filters down to fans. The higher the status of the band, the better the bragging rights to those who attend the band's concerts. For a fan to say he/she went to a concert of band with 200,000 fans on MySpace means less than to say he/she went to a concert of a band who has been seen/heard on TV. Getting your song in a popular TV soundtrack greatly trumps racking up lots of Internet plays because only a limited number of songs can get played on TV.
The lack of recognized filters for popular Internet bands lowers their cachet. And since increasingly fans seem to go to concerts to increase their own status (through taking photos, sending text messages to friends, and through blogging), they want to associate themselves with high status bands.
So when labels sign popular Internet bands on the assumption that those bands will become gold and platinum sellers, they have it backwards. They need to break bands the old-fashion way (through radio and TV and touring) and then use the Internet to enhance the marketing of those bands. If the Internet popularity comes first, it's likely the fans won't be inclined to take the next step and buy in significant numbers either albums (they'll just listen online or find a way to get the music for free) or concert tickets (because the cool factor won't be there). They will be aware of those bands, but won't necessarily be motivated to spend money in pursuit of them.
In other words, bands that generate attention in an entirely free medium do not necessarily maintain that attention when people are asked to part with their money. Not only has the Internet devalued recorded music (by training people to expect it for free), it is now devaluating status. If anyone can become a "star" on the Internet, it doesn't mean much.
The Internet is for exposure. But exposure without filters just turns the product into a commodity.
MySpace
music promotion
YouTube
radio promotion
indie
live music
record labels
fame
internet marketing
The standard music story these days is that some unknown band or artist posted songs on MySpace or videos on YouTube, generated a million plays, and got signed to a major label deal.
The thinking behind this is that all of this visibility is a sure sign that the masses have spoken: that they really like this band/artist. Labels are interested because the band/artist has already been test-marketed. The same concept was embraced in the early days of MP3.com, but people found out that rising to the top of those charts meant relatively little in the real world.
What we have seen both in the past and now is that when fans are able to listen to music for free or watch videos for free, they often do not then go out to buy an album or go to a show.
In fact, I will postulate that Internet visibility is a negative when compared to more traditional forms of music marketing.
The very fact that there are unlimited opportunities to showcase yourself on the Internet means that the barriers to entry doing so are nil. Sure, only a few attract the attention of millions so it is a small group, but since videos featuring geeky/weird/bizarre subjects can outdraw those involving better bands/artists, avid MySpace/YouTube patrons already know there is often a disconnect between talent and visibility.
Here's an example: Marbles Lost Blender Co Mixes Up YouTube "If anyone doubted the wild, wonderful things a marketer can do with a phenomenon like YouTube, they can suspend that disbelief by turning to Blendtec. A $50 demonstration of sheer blending power attracted six million viewers in just five days.
"After all, who wouldn't want to watch a man in a lab coat and goggles drop 50 marbles, or golf balls, or a crowbar, or a rake handle, into a blender while teasing the viewer with questions about whether those things can really be blended. "
In contrast, appearing on television or radio is not an option open to everyone. Those bands/artists who get the opportunity have added to their status level by having access to a relatively scare commodity.
This then filters down to fans. The higher the status of the band, the better the bragging rights to those who attend the band's concerts. For a fan to say he/she went to a concert of band with 200,000 fans on MySpace means less than to say he/she went to a concert of a band who has been seen/heard on TV. Getting your song in a popular TV soundtrack greatly trumps racking up lots of Internet plays because only a limited number of songs can get played on TV.
The lack of recognized filters for popular Internet bands lowers their cachet. And since increasingly fans seem to go to concerts to increase their own status (through taking photos, sending text messages to friends, and through blogging), they want to associate themselves with high status bands.
So when labels sign popular Internet bands on the assumption that those bands will become gold and platinum sellers, they have it backwards. They need to break bands the old-fashion way (through radio and TV and touring) and then use the Internet to enhance the marketing of those bands. If the Internet popularity comes first, it's likely the fans won't be inclined to take the next step and buy in significant numbers either albums (they'll just listen online or find a way to get the music for free) or concert tickets (because the cool factor won't be there). They will be aware of those bands, but won't necessarily be motivated to spend money in pursuit of them.
In other words, bands that generate attention in an entirely free medium do not necessarily maintain that attention when people are asked to part with their money. Not only has the Internet devalued recorded music (by training people to expect it for free), it is now devaluating status. If anyone can become a "star" on the Internet, it doesn't mean much.
The Internet is for exposure. But exposure without filters just turns the product into a commodity.
MySpace
music promotion
YouTube
radio promotion
indie
live music
record labels
fame
internet marketing
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