If the label doesn’t hear a hit, they won’t release your album. And the CEO makes more money than any of the artists.
OLD SCHOOL
Hire a publicity person to get noticed in print media.
NEW SCHOOL
Do your own publicity online.
OLD SCHOOL
Radio is everything.
NEW SCHOOL
TikTok is everything, that’s where acts break.
OLD SCHOOL
Parents hate the music.
NEW SCHOOL
Parents hate the platform, i.e. TikTok (and some still can’t get over physical media and hate Spotify, et al, too).
OLD SCHOOL
Perfect the music and only release what’s up to snuff.
NEW SCHOOL
Put absolutely everything up on YouTube so fans can find it if they’re looking for it. Live shows, acoustic in the studio, everything. Forget quality, otherwise why would people be watching audience-based videos? They want a taste of what it was like at the show. Fans want to get closer, don’t put up a brick wall, but a conduit.
OLD SCHOOL
Spend a fortune recording in a professional studio.
NEW SCHOOL
Record at home, maybe on your laptop.
OLD SCHOOL
Acts are technologically ignorant. They don’t know how the studio works.
NEW SCHOOL
Every act must be an engineer and producer. They must know how the music is created.
OLD SCHOOL
Put out an album, shorter than forty minutes in the vinyl era, no longer than eighty minutes in the CD era.
NEW SCHOOL
Either put out an EP with only a handful of songs, or put out an opus, a double album with maybe even thirty tracks. Because if someone is truly into your music, they’ll stream EVERYTHING!
OLD SCHOOL
Getting ripped-off by the label.
NEW SCHOOL
Believing streaming services are ripping you off even though they’re not.
OLD SCHOOL
Arguing about Spotify payments.
NEW SCHOOL
A focus on software, i.e. the music itself. Sure, business is important, but too many acts spend too much time thinking about it. Create music that draws people to it, then you’ll make money, believe me.
OLD SCHOOL
Major labels shuffled the decks every three to five years or so. A new president came in and wiped out all the old employees and brought in his own team. It was a constant game of musical chairs.
NEW SCHOOL
The same people run the major labels ad infinitum.
OLD SCHOOL
An exec is only as good as his or her last hit, money is everything.
NEW SCHOOL
An exec is only as good as his or her last hit, money is everything.
OLD SCHOOL
Print music magazines meant everything.
NEW SCHOOL
Not only is print dead, but the websites of the early twenty first century are irrelevant too, everything is word of mouth these days.
OLD SCHOOL
Lead with your music.
NEW SCHOOL
Lead with your identity/personality. Your image is just as important as your music. To be featured in the gossip columns means you’ve made it.
OLD SCHOOL
No endorsements, no sponsorships…
NEW SCHOOL
Where do I sell out? I’m dying to sell out, isn’t anybody going to give me money?
OLD SCHOOL
Credibility.
NEW SCHOOL
A bifurcation… There are acts playing the game the old way, building their audience live, over years, they are lifers. They truly focus on the bond with their audience, they just don’t pay lip service. Credibility is key. And everybody else is in it for the fame and money, and will sign anything put in front of them.
OLD SCHOOL
Stadium shows were rare.
NEW SCHOOL
Stadium shows are de rigueur. There are more people and more acts with huge fan bases. But that does not mean those who do not go to the show care.
OLD SCHOOL
Country sucks. Enough with the rednecks and twang.
NEW SCHOOL
Country is the rock of the twenty first century. But there are still a lot of rednecks.
OLD SCHOOL
Hip-hop is cutting edge.
NEW SCHOOL
Hip-hop is long in the tooth, almost a caricature of itself.
OLD SCHOOL
Rappers got shot.
NEW SCHOOL
Rappers get shot.
OLD SCHOOL
Acts rarely had a hit past their prime.
NEW SCHOOL
Acts rarely have a hit past their prime.
OLD SCHOOL
If you wanted to know what was going on you listened to a record.
NEW SCHOOL
Everybody gets their information from a different source, but one thing is for sure, they don’t get it from musicians.
OLD SCHOOL
Musicians stood for something.
NEW SCHOOL
Musicians stand for nothing, they’re afraid of alienating a potential audience member, hurting their career.
OLD SCHOOL
There were few acts who were truly superstars.
NEW SCHOOL
There are a ton of acts that they keep telling us are superstars but we can ignore them and sacrifice nothing.
OLD SCHOOL
You had to buy it to hear it. And when you bought it you listened to it over and over again.
NEW SCHOOL
Everything is available at your fingertips, and it’s hard to get people to listen to anything, never mind all the way through or more than once.
OLD SCHOOL
Very few could be successful musicians, giving up their day job.
NEW SCHOOL
Everybody thinks they’re entitled to be a successful musician and give up their day job.
OLD SCHOOL
You showed off your record collection.
NEW SCHOOL
It’s all about experiences, and you post pictures of them online.
OLD SCHOOL
Labels kept the club scene alive.
NEW SCHOOL
The labels don’t want to spend and neither does the public. If there’s no heat on the act, they’re not interested.
OLD SCHOOL
You knew all the hit acts, even if you didn’t like their music.
NEW SCHOOL
Acts can sell out arenas, and you’ve never heard of them, never mind heard their music.
OLD SCHOOL
The charts were manipulated and not to be trusted.
NEW SCHOOL
The charts are manipulated and not to be trusted.
OLD SCHOOL
The tour was an advertisement for the album.
NEW SCHOOL
The album is the advertisement for the tour.
OLD SCHOOL
Recordings were everything.
NEW SCHOOL
Playing live is everything. You may not even need a record. Or one every five years. Assuming your show is not identical every night. People will know songs that were never laid down on tape/hard drive/SSD. From going to the gig and watching on YouTube.
OLD SCHOOL
Music was everything.
NEW SCHOOL
Music is a sideshow.
OLD SCHOOL
Music saved lives.
NEW SCHOOL
Money is everything, don’t let anybody tell you otherwise.
I was so pleased to read your piece on Matt Nathanson, who’s such a great artist and so deserving of recognition and praise. My wife and I have seen him many times, performing solo and with various lineups, and he always delights.
But—as you say—beyond his terrific songs and stand-up-comic-caliber stage presence, Matt offers something more rare and valuable: personal connection. He makes everyone in the joint feel like he’s singing and talking to them. In a world of performers who can barely say good evening or mumble a song intro, Matt plays a gracious host at a house party where it’s his job to make sure everyone is comfortable and entertained.
My wife and I jokingly keep a running list of people who would be our best friends if we only knew them. Matt’s always in our top 5.
Jonathan Mudd
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Matt’s one of the absolute best. I saw him open for Tori Amos in 2005. He was solo and he pulled out the most amazing cover of Patty Griffin’s “Forgiveness.” I’ll never forget that moment – one of my favorite live music memories ever.
Peter Zimmerman
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Matt played for us in our 120-cap listening room, The Point, in Bryn Mawr, PA many times in the early 2000s. When he heard we were closing the venue in 2005, he came back and recorded a live album, “Live at The Point”. It was always a madhouse when he was there
Even after we’d closed and Matt had gone on to play significantly bigger rooms, he’d call and offer tickets and a dinner invite.
My business partner, Richard Kardon, and I always thought the world of that guy!
Jesse Lundy
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Thank you for this great piece on Matt! I’ve been a fan of his since 2004, and have been lucky enough to get to know him a little over the years. He is everything you described and there are few like him. To say he’s my favorite singer is not a throwaway remark; he’s been in that position for more than a decade.
-Anastasia Karel
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hi bob, and this is exactly why matt easily blows out multiple shows here. Matt is the best.
Michael Jaworek
The Birchmere
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We’ve hosted Matt in our 422 cap Event Gallery twice, and as support on our 16k cap Pavilion stage a handful more times as support to the likes of O.A.R., Train, etc. Beyond his musical talent, he’s FUNNY – on and off the stage. Almost to the point where you feel like you’re getting a two-for-one special, both a musical and comedic performance. Always look forward to any opportunity to bring him to our venue.
Julie Kaufman
Bethel Woods Center for the Arts
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Matt Nathanson is so damn good. For fun, try his song “Bill Murray.” You’ll laugh — and then maybe shed a tear.
Harlan Coben
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Couldn’t agree more…Matt’s an absolute showman, and when he leans into the humor, he’s hilarious. I was lucky enough to catch him in Fort Collins a while back, and he absolutely owned the room. The next show I caught of his was him opening for Matchbox Twenty in a packed Denver arena, and somehow, he made it feel just as intimate as that small club. Unreal.
Phil Einsohn
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Long time follower. I live in the foothills myself, and my wife and I decided weeks ago we were going to make the drive into Denver to see the same show at the Ogden Theater. 35 years ago I lived right there when it was kind of a scary neighborhood and I was an invincible 20 year old.
We were primarily going because we are long time KT fans, she’s been doing the playing with her own beats and guitars and vocals since Ed Sheeran was 12, and we’ve seen her a number of times over the last 20 years.
We knew a couple of Matt Nathanson songs, Spotify suggests him hear and there, and I wasn’t expecting much. Wow were we blown away by everything you mentioned here. He never stopped talking to and the interacting with the crowd. It seemed every song had a story including the couple of covers. I felt inspired to write myself. As a mid-fifties guy all the way in “the city” on a Tuesday night I was thinking we’d leave halfway into his set, but it was too good. When he brought KT out for Starship’s worst song ever and he’s singing “these lyrics suck” while she is absolutely slaying Grace Slick’s part reading the lyrics off her hand….
Well they came off like kindred souls who are having the time of their lives touring together. I will definitely see Matt again and bring more folks to see him too, he is the performer we need.
Adrian Pountney
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We were fortunate to see KT Tunstall last summer when she opened for — of all people — Roger Daltrey at Wolftrap.
The opener goes on when the crowd is still arriving and the hot DC sun hasn’t set. But she killed. She was funny and positively delighted to be playing for us. Any one of her songs could have been the break-out hit.
John Hyman
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great recap… he’s a can’t miss when he’s in town for me.
Ken Brown
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Yes!
Hope he comes to Syracuse…
Steve Anderko
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I was a songwriter in the Bay Area (where Matt lives) in the 2010s. Matt was introduced to my music by a mutual friend. Although I was a nobody, he was very generous to me over the years and even took me out for a string of west coast shows in 2019. I eventually returned to school and now do other creative work in Taipei. But the last show I ever played was another show opening for Matt at Wente Vineyards. He is one of the nicest people I’ve met in the industry, he is effortlessly charismatic on stage, he is a hell of a songwriter, and he was exceedingly kind to me (many times over) when he didn’t have to be. Thank you for broadcasting his merits to the world. He deserves it!
Kyle Terrizzi
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I loved the review of your Matt Nathanson awakening.
I saw three shows on this current Matt tour when he was in the northeast last month and your missive was spot on! He didn’t play my area so each show was a 5-6 hour round trip (three shows in four days), but totally worth it! I’ve seen him 32 times in the last 15 years and each show has been SO different – as you highlighted, the stage stories and banter aren’t a rinse-repeat from the night before.
He has such a love and reverence for great music and he cares so much about music itself. He’s just a music lover bringing music he’s passionate about to people who are passionate about him and his work. No pretense.
Here’s the version of “Thunder Road” from the NJ show – there are dozens of covers of this song, but some performers know how to honor and pay homage to the song. Matt definitely does.
But the communion moment was in Boston as he became one with the crowd on his song, “Boston Accent,” at the end of the night at the lip of the stage no mic and no amp – a sing along to cap a night we would not soon forget!
Brad Parmerter
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Bob, I’m so happy to read your summary of Matt Nathanson’s show. He’s the soundtrack of my college years, and I’ve stayed a true fan.
During college, I attended quite a few singer songwriters in small venues (400 cap) before they broke. I’ve seen Nathanson four or five times. Every show memorable.
At the Blind Pig in 2001, I stood GA, off to the side of the stage. He used to sing a Bon Jovi cover, and the build up of ranting before the song was equally part of the moment. I stupidly tried to interrupt his banter, trying to be funny, and I became part of the joke. But he wasn’t mean. He’s so quick. And he reclaimed the flow. (I learned to never interrupted a show again!)
When Some Mad Hope broke out with that hit, us true fans cheered for him: Beneath Those Fireworks had hits, and Universal didn’t promote it well. (Even though I bought my copy at Hollister at the mall! How uncool is that…)
When I met Nathanson during that difficult label drop tour, he shared positive stories with me, not laments, at the merch table. He shared how he worked with a dream drummer, Matt Chamberlain. (I wonder if Chamberlain would be a great interview? He’s incredible.)
When Nathanson put out Some Mad Hope, it was a master class of using social media at the inception of FaceBook’s popularity.
Last year, Nathanson did a solo acoustic tour in small venues for fan club. My friend got a ticket for the Ark (400 cap in Ann Arbor) before it sold out in minutes. I’m still kicking myself for not going.
“Always go to the concert!” my dad says; he got stuck at the traffic jam into Woodstock, and gave up…
Mike Vial
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Matt is a big inspiration of mine. When I was in high school in southern Maine in the mid 2000’s, a music teacher saw me onstage and told me I had “that Matt Nathanson thing.” I had never heard of him, so I had to look him up. He had that one song “I Saw” which had made it into a couple movies and TV shows, but nothing else big yet. But I totally connected with his music and it had a big influence on my songwriting over the years.
One day in 2013 or 2014 I had the chance to open for him at the Hard Rock Café in Boston as part of a midday, “fans only” performance sponsored by ALT 92.9. An old band mate of mine had become the marketing director at the station and threw me a bone. No one in the audience knew who I was, they were all there for Matt, but that was fine with me, I finally got to meet a musical hero of mine.
Backstage we talked for a few minutes and I got the opportunity to pour my heart out and tell him what an influence he was on me. The record promoter who introduced us was mortified that I wasn’t “playing it cool” but Matt was so gracious, talking with me, complimenting a couple of my songs, and relating over our shared connections to the Concord/Lexington area of Massachusetts. Watching him during his set, doing crowd work, was like a master class that would further inform my stage show for the next few years. I’ll never forget it.
Glad you got to experience the magic of a Matt Nathanson performance!
Keep on,
Skyler Clark-Hamel
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Saw him in Toronto. My friend who plays with Rachel Yamagata opened the show. Both were great! And they had seats put in. 🙂
Jake Gold
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First met Matt back in the 90’s when he would play the poster room at the Fillmore for $50
What a sweet guy, glad to see he hasn’t changed
Go see Matt!
David Repp
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My late Wife and I were early fans of Matt Nathanson. We lived in Mountain View in the Bay Area and well over 20 years ago we saw him at several San Francisco venues.
Sadly I haven’t seen him for years but your letter reminded me of those great shows. He was, and clearly still is, a wonderful performer. I now live in Oceanside and if he does any shows down here I’ll be there. He’d be great at The Belly Up!
Keep up the good work, your letters are something I look forward to.
Regards
Peter Brentnall
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KT is a gem. Toured with her a hundred years ago and she was doing this same style of show. Long before Ed seemed to invent it for this generation.
She was a force then and continues to be so.
And kind. It was near the end of the tour and my wife was expecting and it was close, about 3 weeks out. Something told me I had to fly home and end this thing or I may miss the birth of a child. It was hard telling her and she didn’t blink- “GO! It’s real life and you should be there. Your wife needs you more!”
All class and none of it for show.
(Tell me she had the kazoo and did “seven nations army”?! Slays it)
Don Miggs
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A good friend of mine worked with Matt during his earlier days at Pitzer College, so I had the good fortune of seeing him around 2000-2002 several times in the Boston area. Hs connection to the audience was always amazing and what made his shows so much fun. Sure the music was good, but its personality that really made the show.
I will also say that after meeting him a few times during those days, this is truly who he his. It’s not just an onstage persona…he’s genuinely a really nice guy.
Ty Velde
Needham, MA
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I saw KT two years ago at The Ryman in Nashville opening for Joss Stone.
Didn’t think much of it going in– “woo hoo”, that’s all I could remember.
She blew the doors off the place. Standing ovation. She’s smart, funny and sings and plays great.
Has a beat box vibe slapping the acoustic guitar. Seriously entertaining. A great performer.
Rich Carlson
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I agree, I saw Matt 15 years ago at the 9:30 club in DC. My wife won tickets from a top 40 radio station and I had low expectations given his pop star status but I was pleasantly surprised by both his talent and his personality. He knows how to engage the audience. I had a great time which is a testament to a live performance. Thanks for the report.
Tom Fitzsimmons
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I was you many years ago, reaching out to Matt more in hope that we could connect – I was pushing a UK rock act out of London to an American audience; both Matt & I in our relative infancy and me thinking there was some quid pro quo we could work on. And I was a Matt fan; I made that clear.
Matt connected, we connected and before long I was staying on his sofa for the night. Watching Matt play back then in bars; his connection with his audience a real inspiration to take home to my fan-shy wannabes in the UK.
Cheers,
Dave Johnson
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I had the pleasure of being the audio engineer for Teitur on his Midwest tour in 2003. I had never heard of Matt before we opened for him on a few of the stops. I was instantly a fan after the first night! You get a good sense of how intelligent he is from the wit and humor of his onstage banter. And he’s a nice guy to boot! It seems like a rare combo these days! Thanks for the reminder about him! I’ll definitely try to catch a show when he comes around my area next.
P.S. I checked out a Steve Poltz show a few weeks ago based on your email from a few months ago. Amazing! I’d put him and Matt in the same category: part singer-songwriter, part comedian!
Take care,
Brett Patrick
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I’ve the pleasure of working with both artists in my career. KT at the very beginning. I remember being absolutely mesmerized by this young woman walking up onstage. A guitar, harmonica, and a effects rack. She started ‘Black Horse and Cherry Tree’ with just that trademark ‘whoo hooo’ in a loop. All of our jaws hit the ground as she built a song right in front of us. She followed with ‘Suddenly I See’, chatting with the audience and building a relationship. Connecting with them. Crazy, right? A rare talent.
Matt and I had a great run of shows. He is a master performer in everyway partly because he was a comedian before music. He brilliantly fused them together to create the stage performer, ‘Matt’. His energy is infectious. His songs are weaving stores that take you somewhere. Much like KT.
By all rights, these two artists should be huge. Unfortunately, their abilities are not as marketable as they once were. If either had come up in the 60’s or 70’s when songwriting, talent, and stage presence was it, we would be telling a different story.
I consider both ‘artists’ in every sense of the word. They both are also some of the nicest, most down to earth people you could ever meet. Just true musicians. I still go back and revisit their music all the time.
They both are people you would want to have a beer with. Real people, real stories, real talent…
Now you know what it was like going to the movies in the late sixties and seventies. It was not high concept entertainment, it was food for thought, the movies were STIMULATING!
No one says they saw “Adolescence” and shrugs.
And maybe you haven’t seen it yet, but if so, you will. Because you’ll feel the societal pressure, your friends will testify, INSIST that you watch it.
This is the modern paradigm. Promotion/publicity/success comes from the bottom up, not the top down. The gatekeepers try to anoint winners. And sometimes they succeed. They’re in cahoots with the PR people… There’s the anticipatory hype, then the hype about each and every star, then analysis after the project launches.
The gatekeepers missed “Adolescence.”
But it’s more than that. Multiple people have told me that Stephen Graham is the best actor of the century. Your opinion may differ, but one thing is for sure, Graham is not a conventional movie star, young and good-looking.
And unlike an American series, there are only four episodes.
And “Adolescence” is not comedy or fantasy, but real life.
Felice told me she was glad she didn’t have kids. Amy wondered what her son was doing all the time in his room, on his computer.
We can’t know what our progeny are doing 24/7.
Having said that… I went to school. Public school. And there was a constant undercurrent of bullying and tribal war. Parents think they can stop bullying, maybe by going to the Administration. That’s the worst thing you can do, now your kid is a pariah.
To stop bullying you would have to start at the core. Why do certain people have to lord it over others, why do they have to make others scapegoats? And this is not only schoolchildren…
And you can be anti-technology all you want, but the internet is not going away. Even if you take away smartphones from kids, they’ll go home and get on their laptop.
And how do you cope when someone in your family steps over the line, acts badly. Some live in denial. Most soul search.
“Adolescence” is what we crave. In a constant world of me-too in entertainment. Tell me why I’ve got to see that TV show again, why I’ve got to listen to that record? Where’s the innovation, where’s the difference?
There is none.
“Adolescence” is a visceral experience that cannot be forgotten.
“‘Adolescence’ Sets Netflix Record With 66.3 Million Views, Best Ever Two-Week Total for a Limited Series”: https://shorturl.at/bxzjX
Proving that distribution is king. “Adolescence” would have had nowhere near the reach if it was a movie. Or on a service other than Netflix. Once people started to watch the series, it moved up the Netflix chart, and I don’t know about you, but I always see what is popular, and a lot of it is dreck, but I always investigate the left field stuff I haven’t heard of.
And the friction is almost nonexistent. You click and you’re watching.
Now it’s much harder to break a record. Then again, it’s much cheaper to make a record than a TV series. But with all art, first and foremost comes the conception. Which frequently occurs in an instant, a lightning bolt of insight.
Hacks don’t like this. They’d rather assemble the usual suspects, the same writers and players and massage something to be…exactly what? Something just like the rest?
And the major labels won’t sign and promote anything outside. It’s too heavy a lift for them. You must prove there’s an audience for it first. The music being so great that it deserves an audience? That disappeared with Mo Ostin.
So we’ve got two trains running. One going to the usual destination and the other to where people want to go but they’re completely unaware of. You have to make it and then they will come. This depends upon instinct, not research. That was Steve Jobs’s genius.
Most shows today have no legs. But people keep e-mailing me about “Adolescence,” weeks after it launched. And this wouldn’t happen if all four episodes were not available at once. Most people I know view them all in a day. You can’t stop. You’re in this milieu, there’s a mood, it’s more than wanting to know what happens, it’s wanting to inhabit this space where feelings, emotions are everything.
This is the artistic breakthrough of the year. Watch it to know why.
