Why The 70s Were Better

1. A&M and Island Records

Yes, in the early seventies Steve Ross consolidated Warner, Atlantic and
Elektra into one company.

But not every label with hits was owned by a corporate behemoth.

Pound for pound, A&M and Island had the best records. After all, Island
delivered Bob Marley to the masses. What has that boasting prick who runs J
Records ever added to the culture in the last twenty five years?

Chris Blackwell and Jerry Moss were mavericks. Who believed first and
foremost in music. Can you say the same about Andy Lack?

As for Warner… Steve Ross was famous for leaving his label heads alone.
Whereas all we hear about today is all the corporate pressure the labels’
employees are under, to deliver short term results.

2. Independent Concert Promoters

Things are different when your livelihood directly correlates with your
batting average. It was about RELATIONSHIPS! Investing in new bands knowing the agent would be loyal in the future. And delivering a good experience for the
customer. Meanwhile, Michael Rapino is busy managing debt.

3. Radio

Lament Lee Abrams’ Superstars format, but in contrast to what we have today,
Superstars was a GODSEND!

Then again, compared to what came before, Superstars was the beginning of the
end. As Superstars took hold, we got corporate rock. And then disco. And
then the whole thing imploded.

But before that. Before consultants ruled. When FM radio stations were
religion more than profit centers, listeners were devoted and bands were broken.

You trusted the radio the way today’s evangelicals trust Jesus. You tuned
into the radio to find out about not only the new music, but the news that
applied to you. The deejay was your friend. He played what HE wanted to,
what HE thought was good. It was a skilled position. And, you could reach
him and request tracks. Not only stuff on a tight playlist.

The way it is on Lee Abram’s XM today, in fact. When XM reaches twenty
million subscribers maybe the early seventies will return, because it’s based on
the same principles. NOT Mel Karmazin’s principles. Not Steve Blatter’s
principles. But, the principle of choosing the best man for the job and letting him
DO IT!

4. Vinyl

Why bother to make a warm-sounding acoustic record, it’s just going to sound
like shit when transferred to CD.

Forget the religion. Of placing the needle in the groove. If anybody
reading thinks CDs sound as good as vinyl, they just haven’t heard the latter. You
know the only thing that sounds good on CD? Hip-hop. Maybe that’s why it
dominates the airwaves.

5. Prices

David Krebs told me that Aerosmith’s accusation that he stole from them in
the seventies was false. That they didn’t remember that ticket prices were
under ten dollars thirty years ago. Sometimes WAY under ten dollars. Even hit
bands weren’t canvassing the country and making the kind of money the Stones do
today. Hell, the STONES didn’t make that kind of money. Which may be why
they’re still touring today. And there were no ticket fees. No facility fees.
The price was the price, and you knew it. And the cost was equivalent to two
first run movies. You didn’t have to pick and choose the gigs you wanted to
go to as much as just decide to ATTEND! You didn’t only go to see your
favorites. You took chances on new acts in clubs. Music was a pastime, not an EVENT that only comes once a year, like a birthday.

And you could AFFORD multiple albums…

6. Clubs

Sure, the record companies kept them in business. But seeing someone with
HUNDREDS of people instead of thousands cemented the bond.

And there was a culture of opening acts. You WANTED to see the new bands.
You still believed they would be good. You weren’t pissed you’d have to sit
through some lame act appearing as a favor.

7. Live music

Yup, no tapes. Not until ELO in the latter seventies. You revered Yes
because they could PLAY!

8. Attitude

Sure, bands still have attitude today. It’s just a different kind of
attitude. It’s PRESS attitude. An image for a magazine, or TV. Bands back then
WEREN’T ON TV, not most of them. And there was no fawning celebrity press. You
could BELIEVE in the acts. You can’t believe in the acts today.

9. The Acts

They wanted to be musicians. Today’s acts want to be stars.

Oh, of course there are exceptions. It’s just that these exceptions, who
won’t play along, don’t get major label deals, aren’t on the radio, never mind
TV. And this is good for their careers, but in the seventies second level bands
got more than a modicum of exposure.

10. The Culture

Video games? The secret society? The addiction? The revenue? That’s the
way it used to be in music, until the fat cats mainstreamed the acts, sold them
out to mainstream culture.

11. Infrastructure

We were making it up as we went along. The music more important than
anything. Today, music is a job. With a fat paycheck you use to purchase the perks. Used to be you were PRIVILEGED to work in the business. Today you’re
privileged to work at Apple Computer. In the seventies the most desirable gig was
one at a record store. Just go to Tower or Best Buy today. These are the high
school dropouts who can’t sell electronics.

12. No Hit Mentality

All that mattered was good. It wasn’t about the single, but the whole body
of work. Some of the best records of all time didn’t have a track released as
a 45, and were never played on AM radio. Ever heard "Free Bird" on AM radio?

13. Competition

Today the goal is to sell MORE COPIES than the next guy. Back then it was
to make better RECORDS!

14. Diversity

Music was presented as a whole. You could like Cat Stevens, James Taylor,
Carole King AND Led Zeppelin and the Allman Brothers and nobody would bat an
eyelash. After all, wasn’t it all MUSIC?

15. No MTV

Overexposure kills acts. Consider this one of the Ten Commandments. Break
it at your peril.

If things are as good today, how come other than the Dave Matthews Band, no
new act can sell out a stadium? Sure, there are great acts. But they must be
nurtured by people who CARE, about the MUSIC, not the MONEY! And they must be
developed slowly. Is anybody interested in the trainwreck or police pursuit
all over TV the following WEEK, never mind YEAR? Think about it…

By: bob | 2005/11/15 | Music Business - The Music | Trackback | Comments [RSS 2.0]

One Response to Why The 70s Were Better »»

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mikesauter

Comment by mikesauter | 2005/11/16 at 07:38:43

Much of what you say rings true (although I was 14 when the sun set on the ’70s), but isn’t the same true about the process any successful business, specifically a content business, goes through as it “matures”? (I say this sarcastically)

Those who were there say the mogul-driven days of Hollywood were so much better, newspapers had a golden age decades ago, and even AOL was a fun place to hang out in the early years (after they added net access, at least).

I suspect that a similar tightening and additional monetizing will happen to satellite radio offerings as well over time. First taste is free, you know?

The only exception I’d take is about vinyl. Sure, give me vinyl over CD under the best conditions–but those circumstances don’t always exist. I have almost as much vinyl as CD and still regularly buy more, but just try listening to a record in a car. And I’ve wrecked a helluva lot more LPs than CDs under normal use. Scratched CDs can often be burned to CD-R and sound brand-new again, whereas scratched vinyl puts you in permanent click/pop purgatory.

And there’s just as much of a religion with CD. I fondly recall the anticipatory thrill of running home with the very first Beatles CD (actually the first 4) and waiting for the track and time listing to come up on my old RCA no-frills CD player before hitting ‘play.’ There was the thrill of discovery when you found a hidden track, and rushing to share it with your friends. And, of course, loving a new song so much you hit the ‘repeat’ button to hear it over and over.

Of course, vinyl *did* have great artwork. And remember Columbia’s faux-newsletter “The Inner Sleeve”? (but goddamn the man who invented the plastic inner sleeve)

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mikesauter

Comment by mikesauter | 2005/11/16 at 07:38:43

Much of what you say rings true (although I was 14 when the sun set on the ’70s), but isn’t the same true about the process any successful business, specifically a content business, goes through as it “matures”? (I say this sarcastically)

Those who were there say the mogul-driven days of Hollywood were so much better, newspapers had a golden age decades ago, and even AOL was a fun place to hang out in the early years (after they added net access, at least).

I suspect that a similar tightening and additional monetizing will happen to satellite radio offerings as well over time. First taste is free, you know?

The only exception I’d take is about vinyl. Sure, give me vinyl over CD under the best conditions–but those circumstances don’t always exist. I have almost as much vinyl as CD and still regularly buy more, but just try listening to a record in a car. And I’ve wrecked a helluva lot more LPs than CDs under normal use. Scratched CDs can often be burned to CD-R and sound brand-new again, whereas scratched vinyl puts you in permanent click/pop purgatory.

And there’s just as much of a religion with CD. I fondly recall the anticipatory thrill of running home with the very first Beatles CD (actually the first 4) and waiting for the track and time listing to come up on my old RCA no-frills CD player before hitting ‘play.’ There was the thrill of discovery when you found a hidden track, and rushing to share it with your friends. And, of course, loving a new song so much you hit the ‘repeat’ button to hear it over and over.

Of course, vinyl *did* have great artwork. And remember Columbia’s faux-newsletter “The Inner Sleeve”? (but goddamn the man who invented the plastic inner sleeve)