Occasionally, I’ll hear stories about this or that venue where fairly big musical acts used to come and play. Frequently, this will be in towns with barely a pulse, let alone a vibrant music scene. Along these lines, Tim Brouk has a good article in the Journal & Courier on some of the musical acts that used to play at Indiana Beach in Monticello. A related article, also good, is Henry Howard’s discussion with Tim about researching the story.
Some of this, I suppose, is a function of the general decline experienced by a lot of small Midwestern towns. But I think there has been a change in the music industry. Artists don’t seem to do this kind of barnstorming outside of bigger cities, and establishments don’t seem to offer a lot of live music. To the extent they do, it seems like local acts of one kind or another. (Which isn’t bad, mind you, local acts need to be encouraged.) And, I’m not sure audiences are terribly interested in coming out to see live shows.
I don’t know enough to even offer good speculation. But, I wonder how much of it has to do with TV and more elaborate movie offerings and just a host of entertainment options that mostly involve staying home. I wonder how much of it is a sort of industrialization of music, where the trend is toward more elaborate performances and bigger audiences. And, I wonder how much of it has to do with better control by an artist over their own fate — I have this impression that the earlier music business featured labels with a great deal of control, paying artists very little. They could ride their artists hard, forcing lots of performances at marginal venues and, once their artists were burned out and used up, just moving to the next act in the stable.
I don’t get out and watch live shows as much as I probably should. I really enjoy kicking back at a bar, having a few drinks, and listening to a live show. It’s not uncommon for me to wonder why the person on stage isn’t enjoying radio time when a lot less entertaining material fills the airwaves.
Really, social networking and the Internet has basically changed the music industry and the way it works, and are close to making major record labels and chain record stores obsolete.
It used to be that the label would front money for an album, and then the artist pays them back via album sales and, if necessary, profits from touring. Nowadays, major labels aren’t even needed. Now, many small labels are affiliated with distribution networks so that even small acts can get their CDs into stores.
But nowadays, even touring isn’t a guarantee to make money. Venues all across the US are facing tough times, and often it’s a choice between a venue that can seat a couple hundred or the mega arenas that seat thousands, and there’s a whole lot of artists that are too big for the small venue, but not big enough for the big one. Not to mention all the expenses that come along with touring.
So what do acts do nowadays? Music licensing. Commercials, television shows, movies, video games, generally, anything that has a soundtrack or could have music in it. Often, producers of television and commercials find out that that all time classic song they really wanted to use costs a whole lot in royalties, so they’ll find some other act of the same genre at a fraction of the price and use that instead. Doesn’t help name recognition since the song only gets played for 30 seconds or less, and is often in the backround, but it’s a good way to pay the bills.
Doug,
In answer to your question it may be found in part with Bill Graham’s decision to close the Filmore East in 1971. A little before your time but during my prime. Google: The Filmore East History
When you get to that website Graham explains what happened to the live acts performing at small venues.
With all due respect to the digital world it has not produced better music, just more of it in a thousand different forms with some good and some bad. Personally, I would much rather have listened to Sinatra live at the Copa in NY rather than have experienced him on computer screen. Unfortunately, it is not finacially feasible to digitalize music to the degree the human ear hears it live, or for that matter off a vinyl.
Certainly the social media and the internet have had some affect on music but the reality is exactly as Graham explained it upon the closing of Filmore East in NYC.
The 1960’s were the high water mark which the article you read in the CJ bears out.
Locally, in the early days, Indianapolis was crossing point for the name bands on their way to larger venues. Gigs in small towns and cities allowed them to pick up some additional cash on the way to major venues in say Chicago or Detroit. It remains very much the same today with the current big name talent appearing in the largest venues locally.
Just for the helluva it, google Wayne Cochran Harlem Shuffle. The video on youtube is a classic filmed in Detroit in 1966. I saw him perform this very same song with his band at the now defunct Hollyoke Night Club on the near east side of Indy. Standing room only. White funk MoTown soul in Indianapoils in 1966. Who would have thought.
Hi Doug. There’s an idea in economics sometimes call “Baumol’s Disease,” or the “cost disease of services,” which helps explain what keeps happening in the music industry. Productivity increases happen most often in goods-producing industries like manufacturing and agriculture, less often in service-producing industries like teaching, or lawyering or playing music. Baumol liked to point out that a Mozart trio took three musicians half an hour in 1800, and it still takes three musicians half an hour. No productivity increase there. Productivity increases in the goods industries lead to wage and profits increases, so to match that higher pay service industries have to pay more too. Without productivity increases, service industries have to increase prices to afford higher pay. The inflation rate for services is higher than the inflation rate for goods over the long run. That means music venues must charge ever higher prices for live performance, which eventually drives away customers. Amplification was a technological advance, so a 4-piece rock ‘n’ roll band could sound as loud as a 13-piece big band. Rock acts replaced big band acts (rock ‘n’ roll was a symptom of Baumol’s Disease). Eventually rock bands were replaced by DJ’s spinning records. That’s pretty much it as far as labor-saving, so I don’t know where local live music goes next. Volunteers playing for fun, maybe.
How about that?
When was the last musicians, songwriters, producers strike? with what is constantly being written in almost every article on google music alerts and blogs, is the industry we all love so much is dead or dying. Music is the human glue to us all. To say the industry is changing is putting it lightly, it has changed, and depending on who you ask, for the better and the worse.
Artist lucky enough to have a deal with any of the short list of major labels remaining, should milk that support utter until it’s dry.
Being an Indie Artist, I love the new leveled playing field social media has provided, such as more artist freedom. Yes there is a learning curve like all things new, but well worth it from an knowledge base, which could be used to make a profit as a social media manager hint,hint :-)
With all that being said we need more articles like yours. Who am I? why The Silver Conductor, on Facebook, Youtube, itunes, Twitter and many more, check me out and please spread the word :-) I worked with Earth, Wind & Fire for a couple of years but have found this new industry and it’s freedoms a new challenge I’m enjoying tremendously.
So just remember: “Always know who loves you”
The Silver Conductor
Some excellent points Larry. Today, an artist may not even have the need for a band due to technological advancements.
I was literally astounded to find that the entire music score in the movie Hoosiers was all done electronically by computer. A great score nonetheless that saved some serious money for the producers but not one human playing an instrument in any of it. And that was 24 years ago!
I like the idea of volunteers playing for fun. Have a friend that worked the sound board for Steely Dan back in the day and another friend that did the master engineering for Anne Murray and Fogelburg. I’ll run that volunteer suggestion by them. That’ll cost me.