Patrick and I going to the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and Kings of Leon show tonight at 9:30 Club and I can't wait.
I first heard KOL on my radio station back home, WBER, back in 2003 soon after they released the album, 'Holy Roller Novocaine.' It was the song California Dreaming that did it for me and then they fell off my radar.
Fast forward to earlier this year and KOL popped back up, either from The Hype Machine or more likely from Fred Wilson's blog. Fred added them to his current playlist and posted about seeing them in concert and that was good enough for me. When I saw them on the 9:30 Club schedule, I knew I had to see them live.
It's this kind of personal recommendation (albeit passive in this circumstance) that is the future of the online music industry. I wrote about this yesterday (a rather long one post I admit).
I don't know if I've ever described a band as plain old, solid rock and roll music, but these guys are the epitome of it. Here's a quick playlist of random KOL songs (you need the newest Flash player plugin installed) and be ready to listen to some classic rock and rock music.
Is it harder to be in a rock band than it was a generation ago? Or put another way, is getting signed to a record deal still the best outcome for a struggling band?
Washington City Paper tackles that question this week, covering a local Rockville, MD band, Hotspur, trying to make it in the music business.
A couple of facts and numbers cited from the article:
Bands are making the same now as they did in 1979.
Numbers suggest that pay for local gigs has declined
ComScore data shows only about 100 blogs reach audience of >100,000 U.S. users in one month
Only two of 100 focused on music, sohh.com (hip-hop music, 630,000 uniques) and stereogum.com (alt-indy-rock, 208,000 uniques).
Arbitron ratings for now defunct Bethesda-based station (WHFS) were 86,000-120,000 radio listeners each week in 1985
There are a couple of problems with the new metrics (either downloads, MySpace page visits or friends, or web hits) and problems with comparing historical radio numbers to the present metrics.
First, website hits or MySpace friend popularity doesn’t translate into direct income numbers, like it would with radio ratings numbers (which, although the radio royalties were always low, meant you were getting some small check in the mail). But online popularity and more importantly, having your rabid fans spread your name and mp3s online, virally and through word of mouth recommendations, is priceless.
The question then becomes translating online popularity into a living for the band. If local shows are on the decline, as the article suggests, because you can’t reach a mass audience via the radio (I’d argue that you shouldn’t want to reach a mass audience anyways, focus on reaching the hardcore niche audiences wherever they are), then be creative about how to have a “show” over the web or through some other, non-traditional venue. How can a band in the digital age aggregate these loyal yet disparate fans for “shows”?
Second, comparing the website hits to the Arbitron radio rating numbers doesn’t make sense. There’s no doubt that the days of commercial radio success (and shouldn’t be any nostalgia for it) is now over, long live the death too. I’m not arguing that all radio should or will die (because it won’t) but the mass appeal of the old days of radio is over: there are too many competing channels now and more importantly, these other channels have content that we actually want, rather than the lowest-common denominator BS music that commercial radio now plays endlessly.
You don’t want to reach a mass audience in fact, because the days of trying to sell a gazillion records is over, it will never happen again. Ask Paul McCartney or Kayne about that, with their recent albums not replicating the huge sales success of their earlier records.
More importantly, I disagree with the idea that the ComScore data suggests that music or information about bands won’t spread very far online.
For me and from what I read on both the techie and music blogosphere sites, it’s that online sharing of music (information or mp3s) is huge and growing tremendously. In fact, rather than buy albums (which I never did anyways, I was late to the whole music obsession in high school so when I got the music bug in college, Napster started and I’ve been downloading ever since) I discover new music online from blogs, personal recommendations (e.g. Last.fm or Pandora) or from friends online (e.g. blogs that I love and trust for their recommendations, Fred Wilson primarily) or from traditional media (NYT Sunday’s artists picks section or Wired Magazine’s suggestions). Rather than buy their albums, I attend shows and then tell everyone I know about these great bands.
What would you rather have, an anonymous DJ who’s forced to play the bubblegum crap dictated by the major labels (payola anyone?) or have a personal recommendation from a friend that’s passionate about music and shares your musical tastes?
So I’m not supporting artists by buying their records, but I market them by word of mouth, via my blog, via my Last.fm or Anywhere.fm profiles, and most importantly by buying a ticket for their shows.
“We’re in a period where CDs are clearly dying,” says Donald Passman, author of the music biz book, ‘All You Need to Know About the Music Business,’ “but there’s nothing to replace it.”
That's crap again. Even if you argue that downloading has made it harder for new bands to get a record deal (which I’m not sure is true), why should the immediate goal of new bands be to land a record deal? I don’t think that it needs to be, why not build the following first and then let the record deal come later—or do the recordings yourself.
To get a coveted spot on the Warped Tour, Hotspur, the band featured in the story, had to pimp themselves out to Smartpunk.com in order to win their online popularity concert. Is that really the smartest way to get ahead in the new digital music world?
If I were Hotspur or any other band trying to break into the music industry, here are the questions I’d be asking myself and asking fellow bands:
If local gigs are down, then even with the reasonable or even great MySpace numbers, how can you aggregate these loyal yet disparate fans for profitable “shows”?
Is doing whatever it takes to get a record deal that best strategy for success in the digital music world?
Are you thinking of yourself as a business? (The days of being able to think of yourself solely as an artist and forgetting or delegating the business side of everything to someone else are long over, just like the days of huge national record sales)
What are the answers?
I’m not sure, but I mentioned some possible solutions and some do have positive suggestions (please keep reading, just a little but more). And no, I’m not in a band, just a devoted music fan that’s giving the fan’s perspective. You could argue that being a techie and business person, I really don’t have any idea what I’m talking about and you might be right…But you can’t ignore these trends.
If you think I’m wrong, read the amazing Bob Lefsetz blog (which I recommend to everyone even if you’re not interested in the music industry). He’s worked as an “entertainment business attorney, majordomo of Sanctuary Music’s American division and consultancies to major labels” and has been writing about the music industry the past 20 years.
If you want to know where the music industry is going, read Bob's Lefsetz Letter everyday:
That’s one of the dirty little secrets of this business. Talent is only fifty percent. Desire and perseverance make up the rest of your success. But NONE of the foregoing are a guarantee.
So, you’re up shit ocean with a paddle so small you’re overwhelmed.
Welcome to the club. You’d better be doing it for a love of the music, because chances are that’s ALL you’ll have, your music and your enjoyment in playing it.
Maybe you’ll gain some traction, you’ll become a pro. But the odds are against you. You need that desire and perseverance and LUCK! And it’s harder to get lucky every day. Even if the radio station DID play your record, what would it MEAN, is anybody LISTENING?
We’ll get some clarity in the future. The gulf between amateur and pro will reemerge. But chances are, only a thin sliver of pros will be like the stars of yore. There will be Kanye, and then the guy who can fill theatres.
That’s the game you’re getting into.
So don’t lay out a plan for world domination. If you’re lucky, you can dominate your DOMICILE! Maybe if a friend goes to college in another state you can make headway there. But there are too many people and too few slots and no pot at the end of a rainbow.
Cry all you want, but this is fact. You’d better be doing it for the love of the music. And this is the key that may grant you success. Those old paradigms, how you look, how you’re marketed…the majors only have a few slots per year, and most of THEM don’t make it. The old game is dead. The new game is daunting.
UPDATE (10/01/07): Greg Robinson, the drummer from Hotspur, was kind enough to leave a thoughtful comment answering some of the questions I outlined and I think this could be a good discussion. I'm even trying to see if Bob Lefsetz might add his opinion.
And since I do want to support artists however I can, here's their song, "Have You Seen This Girl." Please support these guys by checking out their MySpace page and buying their latest album from here or from there (does one of these give you guys a better deal?).
1) “Let’s get out in the streets and march and protest instead of sitting at home and blogging."
2) “I do think it would be an incredible experiment to shut down the
whole internet for five years and see what sort of art is produced over
that span."
I hope that Leftsetz jumps on this story, would love to read his commentary and insights on this.
I've posted about The Hype Machine and Seeqpod before, especially concerning cloud playlists and moving towards streaming everything I listen to over the internet rather than being harnessed to iTunes on my home PC.
Well I guess it's been awhile since I've listened to my personal radio station on Last.fm because I'm rocking out to it now and it's amazing, it's mirroring my listening habits and favorites so well that it's like listening to my top rates songs on iTunes. I'm really impressed with the selection and no need to skip past crappy songs, they're all of my favorites.
Some don't like my eclectic musical tastes (no names necessary, you know who you are) but for that small group that does appreciate good music, here's my personal radio station. Hope you like it:
To say that Les Nubians rocked Bohemian Caverns here in DC Thursday night might be a slight exaggeration, but only because they played a more mellow, introspective set than their more upbeat Wednesday night performance. I went Thursday night because of the earlier show at 8:30pm rather than the 10:30pm show so that it wouldn't be too late on a weekday for work the next day.
[Maybe I'm getting old but I go to plenty of late shows on week days so why not go early if I can.]
I don''t think it mattered which show you went to, however, because the French-Cameroonian sisters put on an amazing show, made even better by the cozy, intimate setting downstairs in the caverns. Having never been to Bohemian Caverns before, I didn't know what to expect (was it standing only like 930 Club or sit down like Birchmere) but the sit down atmosphere of the show even more unique: I think this was the best way to experience their music because you could relax, tap your foot, and really feel the music and the vibe of the entire place getting into the music.
We were sitting literally 15 feet away from the stage and had a mostly unobstructed view for the entire set (minus a few photos and video guys). I'm almost embarrassed to admit that I only have five of their songs but I've had Les Nubians on my radar ever since hearing them on KCRW three or four years ago. It meant that I was hearing most of their songs for their first time and they didn't disappoint: a blend of R&B, soul, jazz, Brazilian and African music too, it was so good.
They both have amazing voices and I found myself, as well as the other people around me, completely enveloped by the sound. Though many songs were in French, it didn't matter if you understood the words. The music made you feel happy with the world, even if it was only a temporary escape lasting as long as that one song when you then came back to reality, clapped enthusiastically, and couldn't wait for more.
Here are a couple of songs from Les Nubians so check them out, buy their albums or download their songs, and go see them live, you won't regret it:
I only found one blog entry via Technorati about the show, and it was this pre-show post, so I added this post to the general blogosphere, in hopes that maybe I'll find some other reviews of the show: Les Nubians Washington DC
There's a lot to laugh at in this WSJ article about radio stations using music downloading data to generate playlists:
The fact that the music industry (commercial radio in this case) is now using music downloading data (via both legal and illegal avenues) for their benefit, when they still decry that illegal downloading is killing their business-- sigh
Commercial, terrestrial radio stations thinking that harnessing the music preferences of the internet crowd will save them
The mistake in still trying to push the big hits down our throats-- I know it's commercial radio and it's called pop music because it's popular but read The Long Tail: it's about Last.fm and narrowcasting
I'm happy to say that my iTunes library doesn't contain any of these top 10 songs listed above for the week ending July 10th. But guess what, if you asked me what I recently played, I could tell you. And better than that, I can see what my friends are listening to and what others who share similar musical tastes are listening to.
Go ahead, scroll down in the list there on the Last.fm widget to the right and when you see a song with a play button, click it and you'll hear exactly what I've been listening to.
When will the music industry finally embrace the chaos, the seemingly unknown but golden opportunities of the internet and music downloading? They can see the value of it (given they're using download data in a weak attempt to save themselves) so what not fully embrace the future?
Attended the Save Net Radio rally Monday night here in Capital Hill, in the park at Constitution and Delaware. I got there late from work so I missed the opening remarks at 6:30pm, including some words by Congressman Jay Inslee and Congressman Don Manzullo, but was excited to see an albeit small group gathered for the event.
I'm not sure how many people were there for the actual cause (given the concert was free and in the park near the Capital, I think the event attracted a good many onlookers but if they stayed, maybe they'll learn something about the issue of copyright royalties for online radio stations) but it was a great summer night to listen to some surprisingly good bands.
I only saw the last two bands and only caught part of the second group's name, a local band called something like From Rome... and they played good energetic, pop/rock songs that I'd definitely pay to see them play again.
All of the bands were going to speak with their representatives on Tuesday morning so I hope it went well and I thank SaveNetRadio.org for putting on a great event: good music and a even better cause. Let's hope that the copyright royalty terms for internet radio are indeed re-evaluated by Congress and set are more reasonable, non-exclusionary rates. I love KCRW, WAMU, and all of the other streaming music services available on the internet and it would be tragic to lose these services because of the large, entrenched media companies inhibiting (through absurd copyright royalty terms) the next generation of online music services from prospering (and destroying the mass media's now dwindling stranglehold on the music industry).
Since I tend to be more of a night owl than ever, I sometimes find myself going to bed after 1am and when clicking on the radio (set to WAMU) to listen to news before falling asleep, I've been pleasantly surprised a few times by. PRI's great show, Fair Game. It's another gem from public radio that is of the same caliber of more mainstream public radio shows like Wait Wait Don't Tell Me or This American Life but I think it's more unknown because of its nocturnal play time.
The topics covered on the show are eclectic, quirky, and engaging; I've stayed up a few times just to hear the end of a show, a kind of "driveway moment" as NPR describes it during pledge time. And the host of the show, Faith Salie, has a laid-back personality but quick wit that provides insights into already intriguing stories without sounding forced or contrived. She seems like that cool friend that always has interesting stories on a wide yet weird range of topics and you wonder how a person could be into so many things and know so many people.
Basically, I love the show.
What finally made me post about Fair Game was tonight's show highlighting a new music mashup site, The Hood Internet. Mashups have been around awhile but these guys are focusing on mixing rap/hip-hop and indie rock songs, definitely music areas close to my heart. They're two musicians/DJs from Chicago, doing the mashups on the side, and making some good songs.
Written 5/5/07 on my PDA (so formatting and links are crude) but reformated on 5/10/07.]
This quote below from a Forbes article on DRM sums up why the music industry still doesn't get it:
No intellectual property business is going to cross the digital divide without figuring out how to protect its content and to ensure that transactions are associated with the acquisition of content, Nash said. The music industry simply has to solve the content security problem or risk the obsolescence of its business model.
What's wrong with this statement. A couple of things.
We must protect our content or we won't enter the digital marketplace- how do you expect to share your content with the world and have total control over how its used? Those two views are in contradiction. Yes, allow people to purchase your digital content but don't dictate how I use it after I've 'purchased' it. If we can't use/consume the content outside of the draconian rules and limits you've setup, then don't share your content. Perfect control contradicts the idea of sharing or selling content.
The content security problem (which I just addressed above- it's not a problem, the rules of the game have changed and made perfect control over your content impossible) means explicitly that that your business model isn't at risk of obsolesce, it's already dead in its current form. DRM doesn't work so yes, you do need a different business model.
Read the rest of the article here, (I'm writing this from my mobile so no good link formatting on this post). The other great (by which I mean incorrect and ridiculous) analogy is that without DRM, the entire world would come to resemble a college dorm where downloading and 'cloning' of music would run rampant. The research doesn't show that (Forrester's and others have done the analysis- can't link to it right now) but it's the big, bad stereotype of music piracy that the music industry likes to perpetuate.
The Arcade Fire
concert tonight was amazing, they really know how to put on a great show. Best
of all, Win and the crew seem to really care about the audience. They're not one
of those pretentious, I’m not showing the audience any emotion type of band.
We missed The National because they came right on at 8:00pm EST but I'm excited that they're opening for such a big name indie band and can get their music out to more people. I only fear that many didn't seem they play because we didn't realize that they were starting right at 8pm, instead of doors opening at 8pm and the opener coming on 30-45 minutes later.
When I mean interactive with the audience I don't mean that they were chatty during the song interludes (in fact Win was fairly to the point) but the entire band played with such conviction and precision (you got the sense that they all practice maniacally, that Win probably knows what everyone should be playing at every moment during each and every song) that it was powerful and engaging. They worked in the crowd’s
participation whenever possible and really feed off that energy when they played. Humble yet confident.
When leaving the stage and waving and looking into the crowd, you could tell that they
really do care about having a great performance every time and making the fans
happy.
Only song I didn't hear, that would have it a amazing night truly perfect, was "Headlights Look Like Diamonds." They played mostly songs from the new album but sprinkled a few non-Neon Bible songs. I can't remember the entire set (may have been the same as this) but it was a good mix of the slow and the fast songs and highlighted their unique musical sense and technical expertise as well.
Les Nubians Washington DC
