What do you want to be when you grow up? Boston native Owen LiPuma, going by the name of brmfthsstm* (Broom of the System) has been working all that heavy stuff out in the solitude of his bedroom with his wistful lo-fi song, “Honest.” As he explains it, “it is a song about my struggle with finding myself and my growing up to become me.” I have news for you, son — that struggle never ends.
In the time it has taken for me to post this, he has released another song, called “Mute,” which he says “touches on my own anxieties about the world and myself.” Yup. I hear ya.
The Walls EP by NYC/NJ trio Atlas Bloom gets off to a powerful, rambunctious start for the title track, complete with heart-pounding percussion, squealing guitar and manic vocals. “The Lighthouse” adds in tightly knitted harmonies and more percussive electric guitar pummeling that gives the ensemble a progressive jazz feel due to the slick composition. “Replace You” slows it down a bit, bringing in a repeating trancelike chorus with harmonies and dueling guitar leads that, for me, makes this a standout track. “Your Silence Spoke” closes the 4-track EP with some quirky guitar and vocals, harmonies and interesting complex rhythms. It’s a solid four songs which sound like twice as many people playing on them. I see they’re playing at the Middle East Corner (Bakery), which should be quite a blowout in that tiny space!
Atlas Bloom released their debut album First Light in 2014. Their tour starts at The Camel in Richmond, Virgina on 2/4 and winds up at the Scarlet Pub in New Brunswick, New Jersey on 2/21. There are stops in D.C., Philly, Cambridge (at the Middle East Corner on 2/10), Portland and Providence. See their schedule for details.
from a 1987 press conference at the Cat Club in New York City
I can’t believe that just a few days after celebrating the birthday of this extraordinary artist and heralding an amazing new album, that we’re now mourning his death. My heartfelt love and appreciation to David Bowie, and my sincere condolences to his family, friends and fellow fans. I’m in absolute shock about this (I wasn’t even aware he had been fighting cancer for 18 months), so for now, I’ll just toss up a quick video of my favorite Bowie song. I wish I had videos of my own, but my time with him was pre-YouTube and pre-any kind of video camera that wasn’t the size of a toaster. I have decided to attempt to digitize what I do have, which are my 40 Bowie Bits/Sound & Vision newsletters from 1987-1992 and a bunch of my live recordings (that is, if the oxide hasn’t come off the cassette tapes). We all thank you, David, for everything.
Haunting, mysterious, complicated, intense. And I base this only on the title track to ★ (otherwise known as Blackstar), David Bowie’s new musical offering to Planet Earth, which drops today. It also marks the man’s 69th birthday, and it is his present to us.
Tonight I will listen to the album in its entirety, wrapped in a dark shroud and quite possibly recapturing the feelings I had for this brilliant artist nearly 30 years ago when he was my entire world. For now though, join me in a little taste and celebrate his considerable influence on the musical landscape and our glorious and terrible culture, as he continues, as he always has, to hold a mirror up to show us its strange reflection.
All my life I’ve asked myself why. What was the reason, the purpose, the lessons I was meant to learn, being born into the family I found myself in? On the inside of my mother’s wedding ring, which she still has but no longer wears due to her frail condition, is the inscription “we three against the world.” For a long time, I fought against that worldview, as it seemed to forever place us – and me – in a never-ending adversarial position with all of humanity. It put me at odds with life. As I get older, I see how true this has been from the very beginning and I realize that in this epic battle, the one weapon that has helped us survive is love. That defiant proclamation now stands as a tribute to the strength of our commitment to each other. And that, I now realize, is its purpose. Read my essay on the Depression Army blog >>
As we enter into 2016, my reflection on the current state of the music business began in my mind, as it typically does, as a tirade against the major record labels (now down to “The Big Three”) and the archaic structures and business models that perpetuate them. But that feels like a tired old argument. While the Internet has spawned illegal downloads, streaming services like Pandora and Spotify that pay musicians next to nothing in royalties and the almighty Shazam (which has somehow morphed overnight from music discovery tool to kingmaker), it has also spawned powerful social media platforms and potentially lucrative grassroots crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter, Indiegogo, GoFundMe and Patreon.
For every seemingly insurmountable mountain in the treacherous modern-day music biz, there’s now a curious new wormhole that, if stepped into properly with purpose, can launch an enterprising indie band into their very own parallel universe of direct artist-to-fan reciprocity, happy customers and a steady income. This allows a musician or band, regardless of what level they’re at, to operate outside of the traditional music industry. It takes determination and hard work, but there are plenty of musicians who have proven that it’s possible.
Meet Amanda Palmer, The Crowdfunding Queen
There is perhaps no one more adept at the concept of direct-to-fan marketing than sometimes Boston-based Amanda Palmer. With a background in street performing (she busked in Harvard Square as “The Eight Foot Bride”) and alternative rock/punk cabaret (The Dresden Dolls, Evelyn Evelyn and as a solo artist), she’s lived the life of a D.I.Y. artist to the fullest, crowdsourcing and crowdfunding long before Kickstarter. After an ugly split from her major label, she decided in 2012 to launch a Kickstarter campaign to finance her album, Theatre Is Evil. The campaign ended up raising $1,192,793 with 24,883 backers. At the time, it was the most successful musical project ever on Kickstarter. This extraordinary success, thanks to her rabidly loyal fanbase, added to her public profile and got her invited to deliver a TED talk in 2013. This then led to her memoir and indie musician how-to primer, Amanda Palmer: The Art of Asking: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Let People Help, which was published in 2014.
Amanda has had her detractors. There are people who see her as an opportunist, a narcissist, an exhibitionist, as overly ambitious, as a “phony” taking advantage of her fans. They refer to her Kickstarter campaign as “digital panhandling.” I can’t help wondering if the same criticisms would be leveled against a male artist. Let’s face it — women are still not allowed to be ambitious, strong, savvy marketers, and that’s in any line of work, not just entertainment. As for being a phony, I’ll just say this — Amanda Palmer is one of just a small handful of musicians whose songs can bring actual tears to my eyes (“Ampersand” will forever turn me into a sobbing mess every time I hear it). There’s also no denying that she’s as rabidly devoted to her fans as they are to her. If you’re a cynical person by nature, you might say that it’s all calculated, but I can’t imagine anyone sharing as much personal information and inviting strangers into their life as she has. If it’s all an act, that’s quite an act.
Though The Art of Asking was published back in 2014, I’ve only just read it now and in fact, finished the last page just a minute shy of midnight last night, on New Year’s Eve, with just enough time to walk calmly into my living room after having a major epiphany, turn on the TV and watch the ball drop in Times Square.
The Last Three Titans and the Crumbling Kingdom
According to Nielson SoundScan’s 2012 report, the three remaining major record companies of the once “Big Six” now control 88.5% of the global music market (sales of CDs, music videos and MP3s). That would be Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group. In the age of the Internet, with rampant illegal downloading, music sharing on social media and the popularity of streaming services like Spotify and Pandora, sales, even of MP3s, have steadily decreased. There is no doubt that this is what has led to the current climate of label desperation, in their last-gasp efforts to maintain big profits.
This desperation has created, as I see it, an adversarial relationship between the artist and their fans. At the very least, these corporations, through their own petty financial fears and insecurities over losing their market stronghold (which began a long time ago), have bred a culture of distrust. Fans are viewed by these conglomerates much the same way that I see the squirrels in my backyard — running off with the goods (or the bird food) without so much as a “how do you do.” It then becomes the sole sales strategy of the label to find a way to force music consumers to pay for their music and punish them when they don’t, rather than trying to develop new business models and marketing strategies that adapt to the changing environment and cater to the specific tastes of each artist’s fanbase.
The music industry “old guard” has also set requirements for musicians that are so unrealistic and myopic that all but a small handful of top earners churning out mainstream dreck are destined to fall short. This includes expected sales figures, radio airplay, Shazam numbers and other metrics, demographics and analytics — while dismissing old-fashioned ideas of community building and consumer loyalty.
The Shazam Factor
Shazam is an especially disturbing trend. What made its debut as an iPhone application in 2008 has gone from software that identifies a piece of music to a deciding factor if your band gets on the radio or gets booked by a promoter for a show in a particular region. This iPhone app is now shaping the music industry — and not in a good way. Though not originally intended for this purpose, radio station programmers and concert promoters now use the data collected from many millions of users to see what songs are most popular and in which parts of the country a particular band has a following. Critical decisions that can influence a musician’s career trajectory hinge on this data. Since people tend to gravitate toward the familiar and like a new song that sounds like something else they enjoy, the result is an ever narrowing and homogenized collection of songs on radio station playlists that sound remarkably similar to each other.
So What Does Amanda Say?
Quite a lot, actually. She has surfed every treacherous wave in this crazy music industry ocean, and she’s got the scars to prove it. What she provides in The Art of Asking is nothing less than a road map for fellow musicians and a message of appreciation, respect and empowerment for music fans everywhere. Her insights about the importance and difficulty in asking for help are downright enlightening for anyone trying to do something outside the mainstream, in any field.
The Artist-Fan Relationship
“Throughout my career, the fanbase has been like one big significant other to me, a thousand-headed friend with whom I have a real, committed partnership. I don’t take vacations from communicating without warning. We share our art with one another. They help me run the business by feeding me constant information. I cop to my mistakes. They ask for explanations. We talk about how we feel. I twitter to say good night and good morning, the way I would with a lover. They bring me food and tea at shows when I’m sick. I visit them in hospitals and make videos for their friends’ funerals. We trust one another. Occasionally, I’ve broken up with fans. Some have broken up with me.”
Obviously, Amanda is a sharer in every sense of the word. Not every musician will feel comfortable with the level of intimacy she has with her audience. Some artists are just private people. But that’s ok. Even a little sharing in the form of an occasional newsletter — nothing personal but just enough to let people know what they’re up to creatively and professionally — is better than nothing.
She speaks about “the net” (her community of support) and how it is tightened and strengthened by interactions and exchanges over time with members of her fan community. You can’t outsource this critical communication. You can hire help, but the artists themselves must create the emotional connections and create their art. As she points out, this can’t be done by an Internet marketing company, manager or assistants. It has to be done by the artist.
The Major Label Business Model (Fan-Hostile)
“One of the strategies the label employed that always baffled me was wanting us to focus all the energy on casting the net elsewhere, to attract strangers, while ignoring our established fanbase. I loved new people. Of course. But it seemed insane to jeopardize the current relationships to find them.”
This is not to say that every band shouldn’t be trying to expand their audience, but to ignore the existing fanbase, those who are eager to purchase product and support their favorite artists and those who form the band’s unpaid army of promotional people, is sheer stupidity. Musicians must instinctively understand this because after all, why become a performing musician if not to make a connection with your audience? If that wasn’t a key motivating factor, they would be perfectly happy playing songs for friends and family on the weekends when not working their 9-5 office job. No, musicians (unless they have become jaded, hostile and petulant and have temporarily forgotten) understand the importance of their fans and of maintaining a close relationship with them. It’s their labels and marketing firms, the music business establishment, which takes ownership of their social media and uses it not to communicate and engage, but merely to blatantly market, as if peddling a pair of shoes.
Fans that are garnered and cultivated more organically tend to be in it for the long haul. They enjoy the band’s entire output, not just one catchy song they’ve heard on the radio. Also, today’s “commercial alternative” radio and in fact the entire music industry does back flips to cater to a younger audience, which I’ve never understood. Aren’t those the individuals far more likely to be sharing tracks with their friends rather than purchasing music legally and less likely to have disposable income for higher-priced tickets, collectible vinyl, t-shirts and other memorabilia?
“The label’s theory probably followed some kind of cutthroat marketing maxim: once you’ve got a customer, you’ve got ’em. Move on to the next victim. Except that our driving motivation was to hang out with and bond with our small group of existing customers, whom we’d worked so hard to find in the first place. We knew from experience that our evolving friendship was slowly but surely bringing new people into the fray. Making fans that way — in person, one by one, as they were won over at our shows by our harder-core fans — seemed more effective than going out there and hollering on the radio to a group of unknowns, hoping to be heard by someone who might like us. Our way felt more like getting introduced to a person by a mutual friend, personally, at a bar over drinks. It felt real.”
It is also far more enduring. Ensnaring a big audience with a radio hit is great — until the next album comes out. Without naming names, we now have the situation of a band that put out their first release in 2013 and happened to have a big radio hit (just one song) headlining shows, supported by bands that have been touring virtually nonstop and putting out music for 10 years. And what happens in another 10 years when this new band hasn’t had another big hit? They’ll no doubt be at the other end of that bill — if they’re still around at all.
The Crowdfunding Business Model (Fan-Friendly)
“Labels don’t understand the importance of community — the existing fanbase. Instead they focus on new audiences at the expense of nurturing the existing fans.
“The label didn’t understand why they should pay for the band to maintain a website year-round. They thought it was something that only needed to be “up” when we had a new record to promote, and wouldn’t pay to keep the site active the rest of the time.” “I knew the way to keep the fans happy was by staying present — through the forums, through sharing people’s art and music back out through the Internet channels, through keeping everybody connected. That’s just how a relationship works. And when the time came to ask them to buy a record, to buy a ticket, whatever… if I’d been there for them, they’d be there for me. It went beyond the emotional; it also seemed like smart business.”
Bands who are outside of the mainstream in terms of their appeal tend to have “cult followings” and tight-knit communities of supporters. For these types of musicians, the major label business model makes no sense whatsoever, while the crowdfunding model is a perfect fit. It’s a reciprocal relationship. Fans can support their favorite artists at whatever level they’re comfortable with and by doing so, they become part of the creative process. The artist can sell directly to their fans, giving them complete control over their creativity and maximizing profits. No more middleman!
Even when bands have signed with a record company, most labels won’t put in the time or expense that it takes to develop an artist, provide decent promotion and encourage a growing fan community. All relationships, if they are to endure, require nurturing.
Coming Down From Your Garrett (or inviting people up)
In The Art of Asking, Amanda speaks about the difficulty for an artist to leave “The Garrett” (that place, literal or figurative, where they create their art) to go into the “crass and mundane” marketplace to sell that art. With today’s technology, they can chronicle and share their backstage and behind-the-scenes working processes and distribute the work themselves to their public. But they must either leave The Garrett or invite people inside. The essence of crowdfunding is “finding your people, your listeners, your readers, and making art for and with them. Not for the masses, not for the critics, but for your ever-widening circle of friends.” She goes on to say, “If you’re not social — and a lot of artists aren’t — you’ll have a harder time. Risk is the core cost of human connection.”
That connection has a real financial payoff. Amanda’s Kickstarter campaign demonstrated how much an artist can achieve with a limited but dedicated audience. “By the time we closed, after a month-long campaign that gathered over a million in backing, the most astonishing thing to me wasn’t the number of dollars. It was the number of people. There were just under twenty-five thousand backers. Almost the exact number of sales that had constituted a failure in the eyes of the label.”
On Honestly Relating to One’s Audience
“I have faced a slew of screw-ups over the years… but most of the time, if I explain the backstory and the behind-the-scenes logistics of the situation, the audience stands with me. I’ve apologized tons of times. The only thing I must not do is break the code of honesty and steady, forthright contact. You can fix almost anything by authentically communicating.” “I think the real risk is the choice to disconnect. To be afraid of one another.”
It comes down to mutual trust, really. When an artist is being absolutely up-front with their audience, it shows the respect they have for them (treating them as partners and not as customers), and this respect is given back in loyalty. This might not seem important — that is, not until the artist encounters a serious roadblock and is faced with leaner times. Then, loyalty is everything.
“Asking for help requires authenticity, and vulnerability.”
Again, this is not to say that that a musician must share everything with their audience. Boundaries can be drawn, and observing them is a big part of that mutual respect. But fans who are investing their time, energy and hard-earned money have at least a right to know what’s going on publicly with that artist, and the more they share their experience in the treacherous undercurrent of the music business, the more their dedicated fans can help make it a smoother (and more lucrative) ride.
Note: All quotes in this article are from Amanda Palmer: The Art of Asking: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Let People Help — published November 11, 2014.
Have you ever purchased tickets to a show in a town you’ve never been to and wondered what the venue was like? How’s the parking? What type of seating is there? Is the sound any good?
VenueIQ has been created as “a Yelp for event venues” (sports, concerts or live theater). This is a great site where users can sign up and write reviews about their favorite venues. You can also contact them to suggest venues that should be added.
In the Boston/Cambridge area, for example, I see several key venues that aren’t yet listed, such as Brighton Music Hall, Cafe 939, Great Scott, The Middle East, Berklee Performance Center, Somerville Theater and Club Passim.
I’m not sure if there’s a “cutoff” in terms of size, but of course there are others like Arts at the Armory, the Lizard Lounge, Midway Cafe, Cantab Lounge, O’Brien’s Pub, P.A.’s Lounge and Precinct. Anyway, register with the site, log in and weigh in on your favorite places to see live music! (and, of course, your least favorite ones).
While I’m here, if you’re a musician interested in playing somewhere and are wondering about capacity and contact information, visit our Band Resources page. It’s a tough world out there if you’re a struggling indie band and information is vital. Which leads us nicely into a little advance promotion for our final post of 2015, which will be a ‘State of the Music Industry’ diatribe. Be on the lookout, and buckle up. It’s bound to be a bumpy ride.
This has been one seriously intense year. In our final band posting of 2015 (save for some commentary about the music biz – coming soon), we’re remembering the horrific attacks in Paris and letting everyone know about the Eagles of Death Metal’s Play It Forward campaign. They have asked musicians in all genres of music to cover their song “I Love You All The Time.” For every cover version that is sold, EODM have pledged to donate 100% of publishing royalties to the The Sweet Stuff Foundation. This organization, run by Queens of the Stone Age guitarist Josh Homme, has been donating funds to families affected by the Paris attacks. Artists taking part include Ed Harcourt, Jimmy Eat World, My Morning Jacket, Alain Johannes, Florence + the Machine (featuring the Maccabees), Kings of Leon, Imagine Dragons, Mini Mansions,The New Pacific, r00ms, Savages, Sinner Sinners and the Dean Ween Group. Another band that has recorded a version of the song for this great charity is Texan duo Division Men. The video was filmed in Paris on December 2nd while the band was on tour, and the song was recorded on December 19 in Austin, Texas. All proceeds from the song go directly to victims of the November 13 Paris attacks.
“I made a plea to artists and business people alike to come together to use our solidarity as proof that we are stronger together, and that we can make a difference.”
Good morning, Happy Kwanzaa, Boxing Day and whatever else you may be celebrating today (even if it’s just sleeping in late). Here’s some easygoing, introspective tunes from Oktoba, the solo project of Chris Athorne. He’s from Brighton, England, creating his warm, personable sound from folk, Americana and pop traditions. He just released Smoke Signals, his debut album, back in October. Enjoy the first single from it, “Tongue Tied,” performed Live at The Clockwork Owl Studio.
Athorne’s contemplative storytelling goes well with a warm cup of tea on a weekend morning. Lyrically, I wouldn’t say it’s Shakespeare, but rather candid reflections told in plain language of complex human emotions, relationships and life journeys.
Oktoba’s debut EP was Tales and Shadows, released in 2014. It garnered airplay on BBC Radio, and he has followed that up with shows all around the U.K. (including The Great Escape and Together The People Festival) and in the U.S. (Sofar Sounds in Chicago, Rockwood Music Hall in NYC). With this type of music, delicately played and straight from the heart, it’s obviously at its best when performed in front of an audience. As Chris explains, “As songwriters we are given the intimate platform to describe our lives. It’s an amazing feeling when you perform away from home and your music is accepted by new audiences. I really try when writing, to write honestly, giving the listener something that feels familiar and something that they can relate to, no matter who they are or where they’re from.”
Smoke Signals was recorded with producer Tim Bidwell (Kate Walsh, Jack Watts, Fink) at his Clockwork Owl Studio in Brighton. It is a major departure from his debut EP, with guest vocalists and musicians for a more expansive sound.
Feeling emotional on this full moon Christmas night? Here’s the perfect soundtrack. “I’ll Be The Night” is the lead single from Manchester band MONEY’s sophomore album, the cheerily titled Suicide Songs (coming out on Bella Union on January 29th). It’s all about sad, wistful strings, brass and acoustic guitar with yearning yet hopeful vocals. This is heart-opening stuff, folks, so it’s ok if you need to shed a few tears into your adult beverage. Don’t despair, though; there’s always hope.
“When I was a child, I made a deal against the sun/ That if it died out that I would carry on.” – I’ll Be The Night
Songs on the forthcoming album are multi-layered with piano, guitars, strings, percussion, lofty vocals and gospel backing vocals. There’s an expansive feel with orchestral, psychedelic and Indian flavorings throughout that blend beautifully to breathtaking effect.
If that first single isn’t depressing enough, they’ve released a live version of another song from the album, a charming little viola and piano dirge that builds into a defiant celebration called “A Cocaine Christmas And An Alcoholic’s New Year,” just in time for the already emotionally treacherous holiday season.
“The people are talking like they’re winning
like the world starts spinning
like they’re in control
like they’re Marilyn Monroe at a cocktail party
I’m somewhat ugly like Jean Genet
and I’ve wasted all my time on cocaine at Christmas and bottles of wine
and I was happy as a child
’cause you don’t have to ask me why.”
The band formed in 2011 and after putting out four singles, released their debut album The Shadow Of Heaven in 2013 (on Bella Union). They’ve performed at several U.K. and European festivals and set out on their own headlining tours. They played a few U.S. shows (NYC and LA) in the fall of 2014. Here’s hoping for a wider U.S. tour next year.
For now though, you can pre-order Suicide Songs as a standard CD or LP album or a special bundle with screen prints. MONEY will be embarking on a European tour to support the new album, beginning on February 1 at Rough Trade in London. From there they hit other parts of the U.K., France, The Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Belgium, Austria, Italy and Switzerland. No word on the U.S. as of yet.
And what of the mournful sentiments and depressing album title? Frontman, singer and songwriter Jamie Lee explains his muse as such:
“Above all else, I’m just trying to project and portray a poetic truth. Suicide is about anonymity, to the point where you don’t exist, which I definitely feel in my songwriting and as a person. But rather than writing myself out of anonymity, I want to remain there, in this record at least. It’s recognizing a kind of sacrificial nature, in making artistic choices. By rummaging around in your feelings and trying to make sense of life, to the detriment of your health, there might be some poetic value to what you have created.”
