Bob Lefsetz has a lot of important truths to share about the future of music, and this sums it up in a nutshell:
“This whole business is top-heavy. And these lumbering giants are trying to maintain their power, however ignorantly.
The key today is leaving some money on the table. Be willing to give the audience something for free, you’ll get paid back in spades, if you’re good.
That’s what it’s come down to again… Are you any good? Can you play your instruments? Can you write innovative material? Can you touch people’s souls? Can you change their lives? Can you infect them to the point where they’ll come to your show for years?
That’s the future of this business. Not dominant superstars, but tons of journeymen, super-serving their fan base.
This is the more difficult road. But since the usual suspects, attorneys and major labels, are not interested in this road, they’re leaving the journey open to entrepreneurs. These entrepreneurs will inherit the landscape. A truly savvy one will roll up some acts to reach critical mass. The new entrepreneurs will not be chomping on cigars, going to lunch, but tapping their iPhones as they Skype contacts around the world, monitoring their business, giving those with the power to spread the word the tools they need to do so.
It’s not about less, but more. It’s not about drenching the public but starting with the trickle of one drop. It’s not about banging the audience over the head, but the sense of discovery and wonderment. It’s not about feeding the mainstream media, but the bloggers. It’s not about the deal, it’s about the music.”
“Some people who create great things, even some performers have additional energy flowing in when they perform; there’s enormous enthusiasm which everybody can feel and they almost want to soak it up. ”
Yesterday, I got a long overdue visit from a friend and professional musician Darryl Kromm from 80’s band Strange Advance who I worked with on Past Becomes Future and many other brilliant songs he has written that have not been released (yet). He came in to discuss future projects and Heather Dore’s current songs that I am working on. I wanted some background vocals for one of her songs, and despite not hearing the song much or knowing the words, he threw down an almost flawless recording in 15 minutes, as he has always done. When I asked him about it, he said “when your singing professionally for paid gigs, you can’t fool around, and that’s where I started”. Early in his career he performed/recorded with Bryan Adams, Bob Rock and Paul Dean of Loverboy, and released a number of hit recordings.
It was a great experience to work with such a pro in the studio and get such strong results so quickly. Looking forward to more of that Darryl!
Darryl sings his rework of Bowie’s ‘Fame’ from the Past Becomes Future CD.
Once again, the government in it’s ignorance has caved to corporate industry, having no real idea what is going on with the future of copyright or music. The paper article quotes: “Rather than building a made-in-Canada proposal to help musicians get paid, the government has chosen to import American-style legislation that says the solution to the music industry’s problems is suing our fans”
Once again, Canada seeks to copy America’s ways with it’s Digital Millennium Copyright Act even though their efforts have failed miserably.
When are individuals, corporate America, religion, and government going to start independently investigating truth before making rash decisions that hurt the most vulnerable?
I talked about some of these decisions in this post that hurt content creators…
Backlash against the bill was swift and strong as this article details.
This bill does little to support the content creators and mainly seeks to continue compensating corporations who have become too lazy to market and promote using innovative techniques required in the digital internet age. Luckily it is still on the table and can be challenged.
What is really required is a complete shift in our direction about copyright based on our changing culture and society away from corporate interests, focused more on the content creator as Entertainment Lawyer and Stanford professor Larry Lessig details in his excellent speech, “How creativity is being strangled by the law” here. (also available at the end of this post)
Ultimately, change in copyright will come from the content creators (Most corporations own copyrights to works they themselves did not create!). So if you create content, lead the way by copyrighting using Creative Commons licenses.
Fear is the mindkiller! The resources and TRUTH are available to you dear readers! Please research things for yourself before believing the media, your friends, politicians, or religious clergy!
Let’s get back to instinct, and common sense, reality.
Read that headline and ponder, if your serious about music, how can you ignore Asia?
That’s what most labels and artists have done. “Bootlegging”, or “They don’t speak english” might be one of the excuses, but not anymore, and even if they don’t, that doesn’t mean they can’t memorize words to your song and sing along, it happens all the time.
When I went to Asia, I got bitten by some kind of bug. I didn’t get sick, I just got the fever - for Asia.
You could argue this is attributable to many things, and you would be right, but I think my instincts were sensing what this article is eluding to: That you can’t ignore Asia if your serious about music.
Oh, and if that article isn’t enough to boggle your mind, this WILL.
From my sources in China working in the industry: the Chinese internet base is the largest in the world with 221 million users. At 16% penetration, this still leaves huge room for growth. That’s right, that stat represents 16% of China. You do the math.
Keep your eye here for more about my plans for music in Asia through Pro Soul.
I also went to Hong Kong for 4 days and stayed with long time friend Ron who was nice enough to let me crash at his place. I didn’t say much about Hong Kong because I didn’t know how to do justice in describing it. Bob Lefsetz, an veteran and expert in the new music industry and accomplished writer, has described his first trip there exactly as I would, If I could write as well as he does here and here, and as I experienced it, feeling what I felt…
Warning: If you happen to peruse Bob’s other posts: He is extremely blunt and uses very colorful language. But one thing is for sure, you will be educated.
