"Nobody knows anything."\u00c2\u00a0 That’s what screenwriter William Goldman famously said about the movie business.<\/p>\n
No aphorism could be more true about today’s music business.\u00c2\u00a0 I asked everybody I came in contact with what brought 3,700 people out to see this band last night.<\/p>\n
Maybe they’d paid their dues.\u00c2\u00a0 From the Hotel Cafe to the Troubadour to the Music Box to here.<\/p>\n
Maybe it was word of mouth.\u00c2\u00a0 After all, you can hear everything online for free.<\/p>\n
Maybe it was radio.\u00c2\u00a0 KROQ was playing the track.<\/p>\n
Once upon a time, Daniel Glass was the king of disco.\u00c2\u00a0 A deejay turned promo man, he made a name for himself at Chrysalis, and after tenures at SBK and Rising Tide and Artemis, he went indie.\u00c2\u00a0 Oh, he went indie once before, but that was when you did so in between big gigs.\u00c2\u00a0 This time, it was for real.<\/p>\n
And what did Daniel learn at Artemis?\u00c2\u00a0 What a real artist was.\u00c2\u00a0 Hanging with Jackson Browne and Warren Zevon and Rickie Lee Jones and all of Danny Goldberg’s oldsters, Daniel learned how to truly spot talent.\u00c2\u00a0 You get a vibe, a feeling.\u00c2\u00a0 Like when he saw Mumford & Sons.<\/p>\n
Another one of his acts told Daniel to check the band out.\u00c2\u00a0 They were on Universal in the rest of the world, but Mumford & Sons signed with Daniel for North America.\u00c2\u00a0 Because they could tell he believed.<\/p>\n
Not that anybody else did.<\/p>\n
YOU’RE GONNA PUT A BANJO ON THE COVER??<\/p>\n
Daniel told his distributor not to complain, or he’d make it BIGGER!<\/p>\n
The big track had "fuck" in it?\u00c2\u00a0 Daniel flew personally to Wal-Mart to plead the act’s case.\u00c2\u00a0 He said the use of the word wasn’t scatological, don’t we all fuck things up sometime?<\/p>\n
They bought it.\u00c2\u00a0 They stocked the album.<\/p>\n
And that’s what it takes these days.\u00c2\u00a0 Passion and commitment.\u00c2\u00a0 Sure, relationships are key, but they’re no longer enough.\u00c2\u00a0 You’ve got to believe.\u00c2\u00a0 To the point where other people become infected by your religion.<\/p>\n
That’s how I got into Mumford.\u00c2\u00a0 I kept hearing people testifying how great they were.\u00c2\u00a0 People with no attachment to the act, who heard their music and effused.<\/p>\n
What can you say about a band with a standup bass, a banjo and no drummer?\u00c2\u00a0 That they sound like nothing else?<\/p>\n
Whilst Top Forty wannabes yearn to sound like the crowd, so they can get on the radio and get famous and garner some cash, real musicians run from that paradigm.\u00c2\u00a0 If you’re not making it up for yourself, if you’re not original, you’ve got no chance of truly winning hearts.\u00c2\u00a0 And Mumford has won hearts.<\/p>\n
Nobody wandered off to the bathroom, nobody talked when they played new material.\u00c2\u00a0 Which was both different and in some ways better than what’s already been released.\u00c2\u00a0 Growth, what a concept!<\/p>\n
And you expect everybody to know the hit.\u00c2\u00a0 But singing along to the album tracks?<\/p>\n
There was a lighting array behind the band, but this show was really about the music.<\/p>\n
If you’re a twentysomething you know the classic rock acts, but they’re touring on their past achievements.\u00c2\u00a0 They’ve stopped taking chances, have become calcified, you can admire their work, you just can’t be tantalized by it, made to feel alive, like there’s no other place you’d rather be than in the audience having their music wash over you.\u00c2\u00a0 Knowing this is not the end of the movie, but the beginning, that there is great new music to come.<\/p>\n
That’s what this summer told us.\u00c2\u00a0 That people are sick of the oldsters and the poseurs, they want something real.\u00c2\u00a0 Deliver something great at a reasonable price and people will show up in droves.\u00c2\u00a0 Hell, people would have overpaid just to be in the building!<\/p>\n
Remember when you had to be there?\u00c2\u00a0 That’s how it was at the Palladium last night.<\/p>\n
I tweeted I was there and the response was overwhelming.\u00c2\u00a0 From those who were there and swooned and those who were fans but just couldn’t get a ticket.<\/p>\n
Yes, Mumford is underplaying the market.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s not about getting all the money today, but establishing your career, making magical moments, there’s plenty of time to reap dough tomorrow.<\/p>\n
Mumford & Sons’ music sounds authentic.\u00c2\u00a0 There are no synths, no manufactured beats.\u00c2\u00a0 It sounds like life.\u00c2\u00a0 And last time I checked, we’re all human.\u00c2\u00a0 Don’t you want something to touch your heart and soul?\u00c2\u00a0 Great times are ahead.\u00c2\u00a0 Acts like Mumford & Sons are leading the way. There are no rules.\u00c2\u00a0 Practice, innovate, shoot for the stars. Do it your own way.\u00c2\u00a0 Know that the audience is ready.\u00c2\u00a0 Nothing touches people like music, no movie, no TV show, no Facebook wall.\u00c2\u00a0 Get it right and people will bond to you forever.\u00c2\u00a0 Mumford & Sons came to play last night. And so did the audience.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s not about show, it’s about communion, a relationship.\u00c2\u00a0 The band wore no outfits, performed no stunts, they just played music.\u00c2\u00a0 And that was enough.\u00c2\u00a0 More than enough.\u00c2\u00a0 Because it’s not about what you see, but what you hear.<\/p>\n
And feel.<\/p>\n
I felt I was someplace special last night.\u00c2\u00a0 At the intersection of what once was and what is gonna be.\u00c2\u00a0 Rather than be afraid, walk back to what I know, I decided to put my belongings over my shoulder and walk into the future with a younger generation that is not envious of what we built, but is eager to go its own way.<\/p>\n
I’m walking down this new road in wonderment of the riches towering over me.<\/p>\n
Oh, how great it is to be alive.<\/p>\n
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