Funny, I just got my solo band back together.

I didn’t know if they were going to still be on my team after two years with the pandemic, but they’re jubilant.

But hell no on going on the road, unless I get a fly-in offer from a festival, which I’m not completely counting out the possibility of as my live stream following is building in the jam band circuit.

Recently I got to do a solo set inside the venue with Twiddle, which grew my live stream audiences by about 10% maybe. Modest, I’ll take it.

So yes I’m excited to have the band back, but not stopping the solo live streams, people watch every Monday still, 97 weeks in.

It’s great to have a band just for the power you feel from it and how it helps you grow as a performer.

The way Springsteen describes it in the Broadway show, it’s true.  It’s like a force elevating you, if the musicians are great and you have chemistry.

But you’ve gotta pay everyone if you’re a solo artist. Whether they ask for it or not. Even if it’s just what you can afford to throw them for a rehearsal, that’s how you get reliability and loyalty. I don’t deal with any flakes anymore. Flaky musicians are usually the ones who are willing to play for free.

Yeah man I’ve been down that road, nine years in a band called BuzzUniverse teetering on the edge of being the next big jam band in the Northeast, but like you said… Your fire one person suddenly you realize 10 fans are gone… All that stuff, dead on. Lived it, done it… Done with it!

Gregory Mcloughlin

_____________________________________

Subject: Re: The Death Of Bands

Spot-on as ever, Bob.

Myself and a partner bootstrapped a music PR firm (Sweetheart Pub) working in the Americana niche in late 2019 and we’ve found success and enough business that we’ve never had to cold-call prospective clients to make ends meet … and I’m also a member of a “successful” band (Great Peacock). I put that in air quotes because, yeah, it’s almost impossible to make a living as a band today. It can be done, as you’ve outlined here, but it relies SO heavily on the live/tour component (playing to the cabal, if you can even get their attention).

We’ve had all the things a lot of baby bands would kill for — top-tier support slots on tours, festival slots, radio success, a great manager / booking agent / publicist / two radio promoters all backing us. We did it without a proper label (we were lucky enough to find an “angel investor” type deal), but holy shit does the financial well dry up fast paying all those folks on top of gas/food/hotels on the road. We still get tagged as a ‘baby band’ by those above us on the food chain, which is undeniably true as much as we don’t want to believe it. It hurts as we’re all in our mid-30s now with our only viable income source being touring — living and dying on the road is a younger person’s game, and it’s only gonna get harder as the years go by.

We’ve had decent streaming success, certainly not enough to count on the income, but we’ve hit all the desirable “discovery”/curated playlists that acts in our genre would want (Indigo, Pulse of Americana, etc). Six-figure monthly listeners when we were on-cycle, which is about as good as it’s gonna get in our genre. What has that really done for us…? I couldn’t tell you. We look good on a one-sheet, that’s about it.

Social media has always been the band’s weakest link, and it is absolutely part of the job if you want a stable career in music nowadays. And even if we did everything right — you’re correct, it’s about the individual, the FACE nowadays in that realm. Just like it used to be with the A&R department, only now it’s democratized on socials. You’re an influencer first, musician second.

I say all this because in my time as a publicist, I have to reality-check almost every client that comes our way with basically what you’ve outlined here — there is SO MUCH MORE that musicians need to be actively doing (24/7) beyond hiring out the work and waiting for the success to come to them. And even if, at the end of the day, you hit all those goals and benchmarks, you still might not be living off of it. You probably won’t, in all likelihood.

It’s grim, but it’s the reality. PR work pays my bills, and I don’t expect that to change anytime soon.

Cheers,

Frank

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Dear Bob,

“A slow train still moves down the line”.

That’s the opening line to a Pressing Strings song I wrote called “Slow Train”.   I was pleasantly surprised to see you use that that term in this piece. 

Pressing Strings is the band I’ve been fronting for over a decade now and you hit the nail right in the head about what we are dealing with as a band in these times where success is short lived, gimmicks are king, and the treadmill never stops.

My band is about as grassroots as you get.  We bubble at about 50-60k monthly followers on Spotify—which is considered nothing to many big labels.  But it isn’t nothing.  With that money we have been able to steadily fund the recording and marketing of new material, hire a radio person to shop our songs to AAA stations throughout the U.S.

From that radio play we attracted management and we’re signed by Hard Head Mgmt (who originally found and backed Marcus King, The Revivalists) and is run by Stef Scamardo, who’s name you may recognize from her show JAM ON on Sirius XM.  She’s also married to Warren Haynes.

Hard Head found us a proper booking agency (Madison House) who has been able to line up opening slots for people like your boy Neal Francis, JJ Grey & Mofro, along with Festivals like Firefly, Peachfest, Floydfest…

For years I’ve gone back and forth toying with the idea of going solo under my own name to simplify the process.  It’s seemingly easier to market one person than an entire band. But the reality is that would neuter the whole musical experience for me.  There’s nothing in the world like traveling with your best friends and making magic for people night after night.  The collective highs and lows, the backstage hangs, the hotel shenanigans, the 14 hour recording sessions. There’s no substitute.

While we may never get the band jet or the tour bus convoy.  We are able to support ourselves and our families, paying our mortgages though playing music live for folks and that’s way better than most jobs on earth.

Thanks for the sharing your insight.  Big fan!

Jordan Sokel

www.pressingstrings.com

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The mythology of the rock band has mostly disappeared from our cultural milieu..

]

“Freaky Friday” came out two decades ago..Lindsey Lohan’s character played in a band..JLC had to cover for her at the big showcase..”The Rocker” movie came along about the same time..All about making it as a band..

You couldn’t sell a movie like that today..

I’m a sitcom/comedy movie guy..The stock character of the loser/wanna-be rocker is now the aspiring DJ or rapper..The only bands on screen are the embarrassingly unhip dads in the garage..

That Viagra ad with the old guys rockin’ out didn’t help..

Whenever the boss leaves the office (in a comedy flick), the employees party down to rap songs..A celebration replete with the usual tropes- making it rain, twerking, the hand/arm gestures, etc ..

Most every soundtrack uses rap songs..Dramas, rom-coms, sportcasts, westerns (!?), and documentaries..We have the “notorious RBG” now..(Bader Ginsberg)..Of course…

 

The rock bands that HAVE made it in the recent past seem to be one main guy and replaceable side men…Coldplay, Muse, One Direction, Panic! @, Imagine Dragons, 21 Pilots, Maroon 5, etc..

 

So, the band paradigm is not only economically and logistically unfeasible, it’s, like, SO last century..

Like the big band era was to us..We scoffed at the absurdity of the clarinet..Kinda’ still do..

James Spencer

_____________________________________

Bob

 

Congrats this is THE definitive explanation of the current landscape. Could be the entire first year curriculum at any school attempting to teach the music biz. 

 

Bands have been replaced by ephemeral clusters of people who come together sometimes in the same room, mostly disconnected in time and place, some accomplished on an “instrument”, others good at pushing cultural buttons, to make music one record at a time. Some call it “writing by committee”. I call it collaboration. 

 

Something that you imply but don’t dig into, that leaves brain matter on the wall when you point it out to industry vets: Virtually no one making it as an artist today EVER played live before they were famous!

 

As you point out it’s all driven by a great leap forward in the democratization of the creation and distribution of music. Next big leap which will probably trump them all – AI created music. The art will be in how the kids mess with the AI to make music that no human is capable of and no one has ever heard before. 

 

Exciting stuff!

 

Best,

 

Michael McCarty

What rock star/musician would you like to read a book from.

Tune in tomorrow, March 1st, to Volume 106, 7 PM East, 4 PM West.

Phone #: 844-6-VOLUME, 844-686-5863

Twitter: @lefsetz or @siriusxmvolume/#lefsetzlive

Hear the episode live on SiriusXM VOLUME: siriusxm.us/HearLefsetzLive

If you miss the episode, you can hear it on demand on the SiriusXM app: siriusxm.us/LefsetzLive

Used to be bands came first.

Now they come last, if they come at all.

Used to be you had to learn how to play an instrument. Even punks had to know the chords.

Now you can buy the beats online.

Used to be you had to form a band to hear what your song sounded like, now you can pull up sounds from computer software or your electronic keyboard.

And one thing is for sure, it’s harder than ever to make money making music.

So the internet killed bands. Along with the economy. The dream of yore is passé. We’ve still got stars, but they’re rarely bands. And unless you’re a star, you’re struggling as a band. Better to do it yourself.

That’s what the internet has provided, you can do it all by yourself.

Used to be you had to be a wizard, a true star, to do it yourself. You had to know how to engineer, never mind getting your hands on the recording equipment, the multitrack tape machine and the board. People forget that the portastudio was such a breakthrough when it appeared, long after the Beatles had come and gone. You could record four different tracks! On a cassette. Despite “Nebraska” being recorded this way, in truth cassettes were a substandard medium, home demos were not of releasable quality. But now with GarageBand, which comes free with every Mac, you can record in .wav, and for just a few bucks you can get your production on all the streaming services. Play live? That’s for suckers, it’s far too slow. Ever since “Fireflies” that has been the goal. Make it in your bedroom, put it up online and hope to get lucky. And if you’re not, if your track doesn’t connect, you just go back to the drawing board and do it all over again. And in the hip-hop world it’s even easier, you can just rap atop the above-referenced purchased beats.

Used to be you formed a band. Which required you to find the players. And then figure out who was good, who was reliable and who was committed. Also, you needed transportation. So, if someone had a station wagon or a van, they’d be in the band, even if their playing was not up to snuff.

And then you needed to find a place to play. Which was always for free at the beginning, assuming you could even find that. Maybe you entered a battle of the bands. Maybe you set up in a park. Maybe you played at a school. You had to play a bunch of free shows before you’d generated enough fans to get a paying gig. At a bar, where deejays and records were anathema, at bar mitzvah parties and weddings.

You were on a slow train to nowhere. But if you hung in there, started writing original material, then you might be able to get a label interested. But it probably behooved you to move to Los Angeles to gain notice. Because otherwise there were too many weak links in the chain, you could be pretty good but no one would know.

And you continued to go through band members. If someone quit or was fired they oftentimes took their fans with them. So your career took a step back. And indie was death. At least prior to the nineties boom. If you weren’t on a major label you weren’t just second tier, you weren’t even in the game.

And if you got a label deal, sure you’d get an advance, and they’d deliver publicity and hopefully some radio play, but there was no guarantee you’d connect, most acts did not, and then you found yourself back home broke and disillusioned, and second chances were few and far between.

But at least you could survive on what you were making, while you were struggling. A dollar went much further than it does today. Today you can’t go on the road because you can’t afford it, the gasoline and the hotels.

And let’s say you do make it. That’s when the shenanigans truly begin.

You find out all those limo rides and meals were paid for by you, not the label. And when you split the royalties four or five ways, there really isn’t that much. And you learn about publishing, and how those who wrote the songs are in a different economic bracket. This alone tends to break up bands.

But if you can do it all by yourself…

Bands used to be gangs, them against the world. Which was not interconnected. Actually, the bands connected the country. Went from town to town with their fans following, they were the link. Today you’ve got that link right in the palm of your hand, with your smartphone. You don’t need to go to the gig to connect. As far as going to get a date? It’s possible, but you’re better off using Tinder, or some other dating site.

And if your band made it… Sometimes the perks alone were worth it, even if you didn’t make any real money. All that travel. But today people fly hours just to see a sporting event, travel is no longer exotic. As for all the sexual shenanigans, forget HIV, there’s the smartphone camera. And the mores have changed. Going on the road and raping and pillaging is a badge of dishonor today. So you’re left in your vehicle with the rest of your mates, holding your own.

But if you do it alone…

Hell, you can have no label and make a living on streaming payments. You’ll need an attractive song and a fan base, but it’s totally doable. Those who complain about streaming payments either don’t make palatable music, or have no fans, having not paid their dues, or are signed to a label, which takes the lion’s share of the money, if not all of it, at least until you recoup, which you probably won’t.

But if you do it alone, how big can you be?

Well, you can get lucky, like Lil Nas X ,and hit the jackpot, but odds are extremely low. But Lil Nas X did it alone. TikTok broke him, and then he was all over the web. A band? Who needs a band?

So if you own your own work, put your music up on streaming sites yourself, you might make a good living, considering the barrier to entry is so low. I hear from people making 25-60k all the time. But you don’t know who they are. And the last thing they do is complain, they’re too busy satiating the fans they do have, working hard to maintain a job in the music business.

It’s damn hard. And do you really want to rely on somebody else?

Anybody who’s been part of the label system will tell you about its vagaries. They love you but don’t hear a single. Your advocate loses his job. The label just needs something to hit, not necessarily your track.

And what is a hit?

Hit records are getting shorter. Maybe you only need twenty or thirty seconds to make a record. Maybe less, the length of a TikTok clip.

But this is not music you say, this is not the way it used to be. And that’s absolutely correct. We no longer live in a controlled market where radio is king. Even true hit records can take over a year to break.

So I ask you, where does a band fit in this equation?

Not to mention that bands are relics of rock and roll. Pop was never based on the band. And neither was hip-hop. Of course there are exceptions, but they are de minimis.

As for the rock bands, the Active Rock and jam ones that do exist, they have their sights set low. They’re playing to a cabal. It’s almost as if there’s an iron curtain between Active Rock and the rest of the world. Active Rock doesn’t count on streaming, and its fans oftentimes listen to nothing else, and non-fans don’t listen at all.

But you can make a living.

Just like in the jam band world. There’s an ecosystem, and you can do quite well, but you’ll never be a superstar. Dave Matthews broke through in the old game, with video and radio play. Phish never broke through at all. But they make enough money to live well. But they’re not rock stars by the old definition, driving Lamborghinis, flying to the Riviera on a whim. And chances are you have to play to eat and live. Stay home and there’s no mailbox money. You’re a working musician, and just like in Active Rock, most people have never heard your name and never will.

And even if a band breaks through, what do you do about endorsements and brand extensions? Usually companies want a face. Is that the lead singer? So who gets all the money? Usually not the players. Just like the players were squeezed out of that publishing money, even though they contributed to the creation of the songs. Talk about dissension.

The biggest bands in the world have broken up over money. And control. Do you really want to put your fate in the hands of others?

Turns out most people today do not. They can hire a band to go on the road if they have a hit, and be their boss and keep most of the dough. Why would you want to share decision-making power?

So the internet and the economy killed bands. And they’re not coming back because of the economics. And one thing is for sure, no one, certainly not the U.S. government, is gonna give bands subsidies. And too many professionals don’t want to be involved with bands, they’re too hard to wrangle.

You don’t need a band to be a member of a club. That’s readily available online.

You don’t need a band to flesh out your tunes, you can do that yourself.

And you can promote and market yourself FOR FREE online! This is what separates the winners from the losers. Unless you’re willing to work 24/7 on your career, you won’t have one. Social media participation is now part of the job. And it was bad enough when certain players wouldn’t go to the radio station, but who needs freeloaders who just play their instrument and do nothing else?

NO ONE!

“In light of the tragic conflict rapidly unfolding in Ukraine, Oak View Group has pledged to not do business in or with Russia, nor will we serve Russian brands in any of our venues on a global basis, effective immediately. We stand with the people of Ukraine, we condemn the actions of Russia, and we hope our stance inspires others in our industry to take action where they can.”

The war in Ukraine has caused a giant, unanticipated reset:

1. Isolationism, America First, is history. Turns out we are all interconnected. A butterfly flaps its wings in Asia… This is something the Clintons and their trade polices had right. Unfortunately, those who worked with their hands lost their jobs with no reasonable replacements, but the derided elite intelligentsia knew that we lived in a global village. You think the rest of the world doesn’t affect you, but gas prices are going through the roof because of the war and the hottest social media platform is from China.

2. Billionaires are not the heroes we are looking for. We’ve got a Jewish comedian, Volodymyr Zelensky, who is evidencing more integrity than those who avoided participation in Vietnam on bogus pretexts and when it comes down to the essence, corporations don’t run the world, but people. Zelensky is willing to die for the cause. He only wants to do what is right. He’s leading by example as opposed to polling. Furthermore, it turns out it’s easy to undercut the billionaire oligarchs, just freeze their assets and ability to move freely. Turns out money can’t buy you everything.

3. Credibility is key. Tucker Carlson sidelined himself overnight. I’m not saying he’s lost many acolytes, but the rest of the country, the rest of the world, has seen that he is not a serious person. That he’s got no grasp of world affairs. That he’s little more than a broadcaster, looking for ratings. Truth, not ratings. That’s what Zelensky has taught us. In one fell swoop you can undermine your career, especially in an era where nothing fades away and everything radiates.

4. You’re either on one side or the other. Americans don’t want to commit, for fear of being castigated. Studies have shown that essentially no one is independent. That if you check their voting history they consistently vote for one party or the other. They say they’re independent so they can be above the fray, holier-than-thou, but the truth is the world is not perfect and you’ve got to pick a side, one or the other.

5. Military strength is important, but it turns out the internet and business have heretofore unforeseen power. Turns out you can cripple a nation by cutting their access off to Swift and the international banking system. And Zelensky has called on hackers to disrupt the Russian government’s institutions.

6. Boots on the ground is everything. Which is why the “New York Times” is winning this war in terms of coverage. They’ve got the most people there. They didn’t cut back for the bottom line. And when the crisis hit, they were ready. So, the TV outlets, all of them, left and right, have been left flat-footed, dependent on independent sources, stringers and in truth…have defaulted to the big papers, primarily the “Times” and “Washington Post.” A picture is worth a thousand words, but the world is driven by print. Firsthand accounts are everything.

7. Tribes don’t only work in national politics, but international politics. Germany got off its duff to aid Ukraine once other countries took a side and got active. Furthermore, the EU is a tribe, an organization to rally around. If you’ve got no associations to begin with, you will never be taken seriously when the crisis comes, you will not have a seat at the table. You need to be a member of international groups, you must take responsibility for the world at large.

8. But one thing about pictures, they undercut all the lies being told by those who’ve been getting away with it for far too long.

And music is an international business too. Entertainment may be the most. But with no leaders, no examples, the brands-to-be with their endorsements and fealty to the Fortune 500 are frozen, they don’t know how to act. Except for Sean Penn. Who unfortunately is an unlikable guy, irrelevant of his political stands, but he seems to know how to do the right thing.

Turns out corporations have more power than individuals in the music business. Because we have no international stars that appeal to everybody. Except maybe Maneskin. Or possibly Ed Sheeran. For years we’ve been told the marginal is dominant. Turns out number one isn’t really number one if most people have never heard of it, never mind heard it. The recorded music business has capitulated its power in pursuit of profits. Finding a game-changing credible act and promoting it? That’s not done. Instead, the labels are marketing giants promoting that which has already been proven by individuals online. As for the film business… The tentpoles play around the world and mean nothing. Netflix has much more power than the studios, because it makes shows that speak to hearts and minds. Streaming TV is international. Who could predict the biggest show of the year would come from South Korea? In “Squid Game,” your life is on the line, which appeals to those lazing on the couch, high. Turns out people want to live on the edge, alive, but in America every entertainer is telling us dope is cool. IT’S NOT! BEING CLEAR-HEADED IS COOL! Being high takes you out of the game.

So when the crisis arrives…

Most Americans don’t know how to act. Told the bogus claim that America is the most powerful country in the world that can always dominate, the hoi polloi leave it to a government that they can’t stop deriding, on both the left and the right. Turns out we need tax money. And the billionaires telling us that they know how to spend it better, oh, come on.

And experience counts. Sure, Zelensky rose from nothing to be everything, but he wasn’t using his newfound status to get rich, wasn’t minting NFTs, ripping off his own citizens with falsehoods. You can learn along the way, but it turns out government is a professional job, not a popularity contest. Do you want Biden and his team who’ve been through previous conflicts, or an inexperienced autocrat who doesn’t even know which side America is on? Who coddles dictators like those in North Korea and Russia, admires Xi’s job for life…could it be because he too strives to be a dictator?

And you can fight the petty internecine wars, but in truth that just dilutes your power. But in a world where truth is fungible, no one can agree what is happening. Sure, Covid knowledge is in flux, but vaccines do work and the latest report is the virus came from a food market, not a lab: https://nyti.ms/3K0p705 Isn’t this the point at which we turn our eyes and ears away from false prophets? Even social media outlets are doing this during the war, banning people. Turns out life and death depends on it.

So I was waiting for a music entity to take a stand on Russia. No one in music wants to take a stand because they might lose a potential fan or market. Forget what they believe, they keep it inside, hidden, so when the crisis comes…they don’t have a platform or a history to build upon. If you’ve never spoken up before if you suddenly do, late, you’re seen as glomming on, you’re ignored.

So all music is niche. So there’s not an act big enough to reach everybody.

And in the internet world, those without traction think they deserve it and constantly complain that they’re doing it right and no one is paying attention. Turns out to have a seat at the table you’ve got to build a base, which takes time, but no one wants to take the time.

I’d be stunned if the acts and the labels don’t start taking a stand on Ukraine. When it’s meaningless.

The labels control the music. I don’t see them telling streaming outlets to pull their tracks from Russia, imploring them to shut down operations in Russia.

I don’t see the streaming outlets taking a risk.

And I certainly don’t see the acts doing so.

But in truth the music world now runs on live. For far too long the labels have gotten the glory, but in truth it’s those on the performance end who have the power. They lay down the cash, to pay the acts and build the buildings.

So OVG makes this statement. It won’t be long before today’s media madness spreads the word. You’ll see it everywhere. Where they reprint the headline but have nothing to say about it, or at least nothing that affects hearts and minds.

Turns out WE’RE ALL INVOLVED! Each and every one of us. No one is immune. To higher prices, at both the pump and in the grocery store. You cannot live with your head in the sand, you might live in Podunk, but you’re a citizen of the world. And with cable television and the internet you’ve got the world at your fingertips. It’s your choice whether to educate yourself or not, it’s your choice whether to believe in false prophets or not. When you read something outrageous that you want to forward, how about googling its veracity first. And yes, we have to stop teaching to the test, moving people through the hoops while learning little. As for banned books…how can you know how the world truly works unless you’re exposed to it? China punishes the Uighurs but we have to protect our children from the truth, as they live in mono-color communities clueless to what is going on outside.

So, just like Zelensky, you have power. That’s right, one individual saying and doing the right thing, someone who has lived their life on credibility, can arise at any moment to change the course of history. But you must know that money isn’t everything, clothes aren’t either, and we all like a good time, but if you’re partying like it’s 1999 you’re left out of the equation today, twenty plus years later.

So maybe you’ve woken up, maybe you haven’t.

Turns out the world is changing every day. And we used to get our truth from music, but that was eons ago. Start looking inside not out. Stop trying to burnish a false image online in pursuit of money and fame. You’ll probably never get there, and you’re abdicating your power in the process.

And learn how to think independently. And realize your tribe might have it wrong.

Because when you’re in the foxhole… Who can you trust? And can the leaders trust you? At that point you’re like an athlete, running on instinct, what have you been taught, that the do-nothings are kings and those in the trenches trying to push the ball forward and improve this world are not?

Yes, the reset is both macro and micro. Worldwide and inside yourself.

Information is king. Truthful information. Learn how to parse the truth. Don’t be a knee-jerk loser. And know that you count. Everybody counts. You might try to take away their right to vote, but that does not mean you’ve silenced them.

Right now you’re seeing autocracy in action. Putin doing whatever he wants. Sending young boys to war, quashing protest. Is this what you’re looking for?

No, I didn’t think so.

Autocracy is at the doorstep of America. Systems are being undermined. Only you can change the future. Get informed and get involved. Because in truth no one is immune today. America is not above it all, separate. We learned this during the Second World War, and seventy five years later it’s even more clear.

You’re a citizen of the world, act like one.

Sometimes there is right and wrong and you’ve got to choose a side.

This is one of those times.