This argument came to mind earlier in the conversation when I thought about the whole SST/Dischord/SubPop terrain in the 80s and, I guess, 90% of jazz.
A
On Mon, Jul 12, 2010 at 2:19 AM, Michael Pollak <mpollak at panix.com> wrote:
>
> On Mon, 12 Jul 2010, Mike Beggs wrote:
>
> I'm not worried about the future of music at all -- as Dennis implied (I
>> think), the great bulk of musicians have always made whatever they made off
>> music by playing live -- it must be only a tiny minority that ever made
>> anything like a living off recordings.
>>
>
> There's a wonderful book entirely built around this premise (and full of
> excellent practical advice) by Eugene Chadbourne entitled _I Hate The Man
> Who Runs This Bar: The Survival Guide For Real Musicians_.
>
> He has several points:
>
> 1) First, most musicians have never heard of him, have never heard of his
> kind of music, and probably wouldn't like it if they did -- and that's
> completely irrelevant. Real musicians -- people who live to play and write,
> and whose indispensable goal is to make some kind of living at it because
> it's the most important thing in life to them -- are all very much alike in
> their position in the universe. The people who makes spaces for them play
> are almost always interested in something else and rip them off a lot -- no
> matter how cool or progressive or highbrow the facade looks. An avant garde
> violinist and a death metalist are both hustling a living in a similar way.
>
> 2) Even though you've never heard of him or his music, he's been making a
> living at it for 30 years. If it's possible for him, it's possible for you.
> He knows where of he speaks. And more importantly, he knows lots of people
> like himself (see point 4). And he's never made crap on recordings.
>
> 3) 99% of musicians are in this category, and always have been. The
> exceptions are absurdly exceptional. But so long as this ocean is
> maintained, the froth machine will always stir up waves on top. We needn't
> worry about running out of froth.
>
> 4) The way they manage? By networking. One of the great things about the
> book is that it was written in the pre-internet age. Musicians used to
> network by postcard. But simply by playing in bars and clubs and fairs and
> wherever else someone was willing to pay them, musicians meet other
> musicians who know other musicians. Combine that with writing to people who
> made records you liked and, within a few years, they were all networked up
> the wazoo literally all around the world. So Chadbourne could appear in
> Talinn and know someone he could call on to drive him all around town
> finding an E string. Who would do it, even if he'd never met him, because
> this is what musicians do. And of course he does the same when someone
> drops in on his town. Nobody ever talks about as the Code the Real
> Musician. But they all live by it, just like frontier settlers do, and for
> the same reason.
>
> So basically musicians survive through a worldwide mutual assistance
> society made up of other musicians and devoted fans and significant others.
> It not only helps them play. It helps them live. And it is continually
> deepened and broadened by hanging out at each other's shows and meeting each
> others friends.
>
> I can't but imagine that the internet will make that network even denser.
>
> And I don't see why the internet should kill live music at this level if
> the radio and CDs didn't. Not many people go to see music live. But there
> aren't proportionally that many real musicians to support.
>
> Michael
>
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-- ********************************************************* Alan P. Rudy Dept. Sociology, Anthropology and Social Work Central Michigan University 124 Anspach Hall Mt Pleasant, MI 48858 517-881-6319