Is LA still a good place to be for music?

[plexisys]

Pretty much anywhere is cheaper than the UK

[RoundBadge]

Lot's of great music stuff in LA.
loads of very creative folks floating around these days,,best I've seen creative wise in years..so many places to see music..waaay better than in the eighties

biz wise ..times are tough for a lotta folks....especially in the last few months in commercial/film world.
The ongoing SAG fiasco/economy/pending election has made loads of advertisers/agencies/producer type folks really nervous/ tighten there belts financially.
I'm seeing old Geico,etc ads i mixed well over a year ago back in heavy rotation

[Bob Olhsson]

An awful lot of folks made it pretty big regionally before moving to LA, NY or Nashville after they got their record deals.

[mbradzick]

Originally Posted by Bob Olhsson

An awful lot of folks made it pretty big regionally before moving to LA, NY or Nashville after they got their record deals.

Wouldn't it be great if there was another Motown or similar, where a record label actually acted like a cohesive company and released quality material consistently? Would today's musical/economical climate support that?

[Oldone]

The next great musical scene will come from San Francisco on the cutting edge side of things. Alternatively, Orange County, CA a more mellow and Doors type of sound. Seattle will continue to put out a few things. LA has music, great musicians but few visionaries. The city is in standby mode for the next great wave which they will copy and call their own.

[Fleaman]

Originally Posted by Michael Zick

Wouldn't it be great if there was another Motown or similar, where a record label actually acted like a cohesive company and released quality material consistently? Would today's musical/economical climate support that?

No.

People don't pay for records anymore, especially from new (young) bands.

Older folks will still buy albums, but they don't buy anything new, which is why the Stones will still sell quite a bit of CD's.

Music on media..CD's, Itunes, will essentially be given away for free as promotional material for the Artists live shows.

[Fleaman]

Originally Posted by Oldone

The next great musical scene will come from San Francisco on the cutting edge side of things.

Not from what I heard. I know a few that moved to LA (Silverlake) from SF specifically because they said the music scene there is stagnate. And these are young guys...20's.

[CJ1973]

I agree and disagree. While living in Australia, I had a big break in the US after alot of hardwork in networking. The same song which no one liked in Aust was loved by movie execs here! The same production that was criticized by some 2bit dickhead A&R at Mushroom records became a theme song for a world wide animation from LA. So technically, I made it (if u want to call decent royalty checks that) in LA and the US and around the world, while living in OZ. After moving to the Valley area in LA, where alot of music productio happens, its so easy to network because everyone is a phone call away. Also, the attitude in LA vs Australia is for example:

Me: "I want to win a grammy. So Im going hard for the next few years"

Aussie (usually an untalented A&R who got there because he is related to some record company owner): laughing.... "You must be kidding mate..haha... Its really tough to get that but good luck with it.. no worries!"

American: with eyes popping out "Man thats great!!!. I love your attitude. Go for it!. Let me know if you need my assistance in anyway. I'll be happy to help out. I come at $100 per hour by the way".

No dissing the Australian mentality, but summing up the life here and the approach to things. Its so different and whats so funny is the 'Industry' in Australia whom I was struggling to push my work into, now since Im in LA and sell them my tracks, are glad to take them on. Funny shi* ha??

The fundamental difference comes in the 'attitude to take risks' and LA is the place to be for that. Plus, being a pianist, no matter how much Jazz you play in Australia, its not like having a Jam with some of the Jazz musicians in LA, who have moved here from various parts of the US and you feel the real deal. Its great for the soul!!

Originally Posted by allencollins

I think anywhere is the place to be. It's all about the songs
and the stuff that matters. Location doesn't matter

[oudplayer]

Originally Posted by Oldone

The next great musical scene will come from San Francisco on the cutting edge side of things.

If you think accordion-led fire-spinning circus freak shows amount to "the next great musical scene," perhaps.

The biggest impediment to any scene taking off in the Bay Area is the unwillingness of venues or audiences to pay any appreciable amount of money to see shows, coupled with the obscene cost of living. Artists doing over a dozen gigs a week can still barely pay the rent for a shared shack in West Oakland. Until you can train the region to become a good "audience," I don't think anything will fly over there.

[Fleaman]

Originally Posted by Oldone

LA has music, great musicians but few visionaries. The city is in standby mode for the next great wave which they will copy and call their own.

Hit up any of these live music clubs in Silverlake/Echo Park on any monday night (always free)>

Monday 10.06.08: Monday Night Residency - KENAN BELL / NOAH AND THE WHALE / LINDI ORTEGA

The Fold Schedule (mostly Silverlake Lounge location)

the echo and echoplex » Monday 10.06.08: Monday Night Residency - RADEMACHER / RADARS TO THE SKY / LIGHT FM / THE BROKEN REMOTES @ echo

All within a mile of each other (about) and all always free on Mondays.

Standby mode? Who has a better/more active music scene right now? And for Free!?!?

[mbradzick]

Do these Silverlake bands seem poised to blow up?

[CJ1973]

"And for Free" means 2 things:
1. The audience gets in for Free on a Monday - nice!!!
2. The band that plays on the night gets paid sweet Fk-ALL (i.e., $80 for the night maybe while they carry their own drum kits around and while Bass strings alone are worth $80...)

Nothing is for free im sorry to say. Time to get rid of the 1. (audience) who don't pay to watch as they are the ones who have ruined it for the music scene here (ie. the CEOs hence USA being in debt!) and get the bucks back to the real people (the musicians!!!!!) who now again, would be needed to inspire and re-start the economy as the 'free audience' as right-royally fked up the whole country and the 'free audience lawyers and attorneys' have screwed the musicians with the introduction of all the rules behind digital downloads and made the real talent a worthless piece of shii*..... Nothing should be for free, nor in LA or SF! Free is the enemy of the struggling musician. Original music can never be free!

Originally Posted by Fleaman

Hit up any of these live music clubs in Silverlake/Echo Park on any monday night (always free)>

And for Free!?!?

[Fleaman]

Originally Posted by CJ1973

"And for Free" means 2 things:
1. The audience gets in for Free on a Monday - nice!!!
2. The band that plays on the night gets paid sweet Fk-ALL (i.e., $80 for the night maybe while they carry their own drum kits around and while Bass strings alone are worth $80...)

Nothing is for free im sorry to say. Time to get rid of the 1. (audience) who don't pay to watch as they are the ones who have ruined it for the music scene here (ie. the CEOs hence USA being in debt!) and get the bucks back to the real people (the musicians!!!!!) who now again, would be needed to inspire and re-start the economy as the 'free audience' as right-royally fked up the whole country and the 'free audience lawyers and attorneys' have screwed the musicians with the introduction of all the rules behind digital downloads and made the real talent a worthless piece of shii*..... Nothing should be for free, nor in LA or SF! Free is the enemy of the struggling musician. Original music can never be free!

That's what you get when there are more bands/musicians than audiences, which is what you have in LA/silverlake....it's the cost of having a good music scene.

At least the bands don't have to pay-to-play, which is what they have to do elsewhere.

Only Mondays are free. Every other night is pay and bands have the opportunity to make $$ if they pull a good draw. I know bands that do exactly that.

If you wanna make a living wage, become a DJ and make an insane amount of $$$ for little work (and less skill/talent) while you play other peoples music

[mbradzick]

Originally Posted by Fleaman

If you wanna make a living wage, become a DJ and make an insane amount of $$$ for little work (and less skill/talent) while you play other peoples music

That's me dancing to other people's music.

[CJ1973]

haha.. I agree totally. Try going into the HipHop Engineering forums and saying the same statement about DJs.., where creating music by playing an instrument (musical talent) is considered equal to sampling (not sure what term to use for this as they are talented too, but what degree of it is music)....

eitherway, I have to say its disappointing LA is one of the few places in the world where the musician pays to play but then again, when success hits, it sells more because its from LA, and we are not speaking about the Black Eyed Peas either, who are from Los Feliz..lol

Originally Posted by Fleaman

That's what you get when there are more bands/musicians than audiences, which is what you have in LA/silverlake....it's the cost of having a good music scene.

If you wanna make a living wage, become a DJ and make an insane amount of $$$ for little work (and less skill/talent) while you play other peoples music

[Fleaman]

Originally Posted by CJ1973

haha.. I agree totally. Try going into the HipHop Engineering forums and saying the same statement about DJs.., where creating music by playing an instrument (musical talent) is considered equal to sampling (not sure what term to use for this as they are talented too, but what degree of it is music)....

I was talking about straight up DJ's...that don't create anything other than mixing 2 songs together.

There are way more people that will pay good $$ to dance to DJ music than watch or dance to a live band. Hundreds of DJ clubs in LA and a handful of live music clubs...

[narcoman]

Originally Posted by Michael Zick

Hi,

I'm finally doing music full time (well, working as an engineer part time for now).

Is LA still a good place to be for music or has it shifted?

I know LA hasn't had a scene since the 80s and hasn't had a good scene since the 60s & 70s.

the electro rock scene is VERY strong in LA - as is the stoner rock scene.... in fact pretty much based their ! So don't quite know what you mean by no scene since the 80's....

[CJ1973]

I did get your point as I DJd at clubs myself, just to make the $. To be honest, most live DJs dont even mix 2 songs live. Its premade on a software at home, and they just play track and pretend they are pressing buttons. Its all done on softwares at home and and the only they do is press play. DJs' hiphop or dance do similar but the HipHop guys do know how to do some serious scratching in their mixes rather than the dance guy pressing the 'scratch' button. Try Roger Sanchez who is dance who can bring in 1000s to a club or a HipHop DJ. Both equally use others' music to make money for themselves, even though in Toto's case, Steve Lukather I believe bought a house with his payments for 'Another Chance' ....and speaking of Steve Lukather, he did play at the Canyon Club in Agoura Hills over the weekend for I think 30 bucks per entry... where else would you get to see the guy who pulled off the "beat it by MJ' guitar riff for 30bucks... LA BABY!!!!..

Originally Posted by Fleaman

I was talking about straight up DJ's...that don't create anything other than mixing 2 songs together.

There are way more people that will pay good $$ to dance to DJ music than watch or dance to a live band. Hundreds of DJ clubs in LA and a handful of live music clubs...

[Fleaman]

Originally Posted by CJ1973

I did get your point as I DJd at clubs myself, just to make the $. .

I worked for 8 months as a DJ every night at a Club in Puerto Vallarta Mexico...when I was 13/14! (Dad attempted retirement at that time). This was before CD's and when musicians were stars and DJ's were just guys that spun records. Made extra $$ by selling mix tapes to patrons.

Then I became a musician and DJ's were the new 'Stars'.

I can never win.

[mbradzick]

Originally Posted by narcoman

the electro rock scene is VERY strong in LA - as is the stoner rock scene.... in fact pretty much based their ! So don't quite know what you mean by no scene since the 80's....

Define Electro-Rock.

[narcoman]

Originally Posted by Michael Zick

Define Electro-Rock.

????


the scene that started betwixt NY city and Camden London UK which has practically taken over the indie rock world .....

from the commercial end of the Killers down to the underground chic of !!! and the Locust via Radio 4, Trabant and sheep on Drugs. Plenty of cool Electro rock and Elctroclash and/or spacerock in LA. Music for suicide girls - easy to spot in Spaceland (that club still there?)

[mbradzick]

Originally Posted by narcoman

Spaceland (that club still there?)

Absolutely. I saw Rocco Deluca there a few times as well as Jason Faulkner. Spaceland is a hot spot although I saw some shitty Shoegazer acts there as well.

[narcoman]

Originally Posted by Michael Zick

Absolutely. I saw Rocco Deluca there a few times as well as Jason Faulkner. Spaceland is a hot spot although I saw some shitty Shoegazer acts there as well.

I loved Spaceland - havent been there for a few years - but great place. When i spent a little "timeout" in LA a few years back I just went there all the time - saw some great bands. I saw "Jet" there about 5 years ago - just before they broke big. Got talking to the bass player for about half an hour. Anyway - came back to Oxford and saw they were playing here one night. Went down and again, got chatting to the bass player. After about ten minutes he said "man - you seem familiar. Have we met? " ... nice to be sort of remembered !

Planning on doing it all again next summer for my 90 days !!

shitty shoegazer? Agree for the most part - apart from the mighty My Bloody Valentine ! Loved 'em

[Fleaman]

Originally Posted by Michael Zick

Absolutely. I saw Rocco Deluca there a few times as well as Jason Faulkner. Spaceland is a hot spot although I saw some shitty Shoegazer acts there as well.

Could be a taste thing, but Spaceland was home base for Silversun pickups a few years ago....guess they are shoegaze.

Giant Drag, Autolux, etc.

[Oldone]

Originally Posted by oudplayer

If you think accordion-led fire-spinning circus freak shows amount to "the next great musical scene," perhaps.

The biggest impediment to any scene taking off in the Bay Area is the unwillingness of venues or audiences to pay any appreciable amount of money to see shows, coupled with the obscene cost of living. Artists doing over a dozen gigs a week can still barely pay the rent for a shared shack in West Oakland. Until you can train the region to become a good "audience," I don't think anything will fly over there.

Actually, accordion music might be just the next big thing. Just because musicians aren't making money is not necessarily proper criteria. The grunge bands that created the Seattle scene made almost no money in the beginning, playing in open warehouses, very similar to San Fran today (and OC). It's the music not the music business that defines the next generation of music. I think San Fran is more music centric than LA, what about Allison Kraus and Robert Plant playing for free in Golden Gate Park this last weekend. That never happens in LA. The Bluegrass festival in San Fran. The point is the experimentation of music is high in San Fran. Music appreciation is high there as well. That kind of environment is what sparks the next thing. I do agree, no musicians are making money but that comes later.

Music scenes, having lived through a couple, creates the interest which drives customers which comes to the attention of business. If people judge the music scene by whether someone will discover them or not, that is old school and not happening at the moment. This in fact occurs in the middle or tail end of a musical cycle. Blues and Jazz were born in hard times when musicians played for food or drink and a little money. Most musical eras are born in environments where money is not the driving factor initially, eventually it is once people catch on.

Could I be wrong, sure thing. But both of those places have a familiar look and feel of something about to happen.

[Fleaman]

Originally Posted by Oldone

It's the music not the music business that defines the next generation of music. I think San Fran is more music centric than LA, what about Allison Kraus and Robert Plant playing for free in Golden Gate Park this last weekend. That never happens in LA. The Bluegrass festival in San Fran. The point is the experimentation of music is high in San Fran. Music appreciation is high there as well. That kind of environment is what sparks the next thing.

Well, I went to this last night MySpace.com - Eagle Rock Music Festival - 101 - Female - Eagle Rock, CALIFORNIA - www.myspace.com/eaglerockmusicfestival

Eagle rock is next to Silverlake, about 3 miles from me. Was all free, lots and lots of bands/music....they close down Colorado blvd for about a mile or so.

No offense to Mission Viejo (Orange county suburbs...about 60 miles?), but it is quite far away from LA proper ...I live in the middle of this music scene here, see it/live it on a daily/nightly bases...

Could I be wrong, sure thing. But both of those places have a familiar look and feel of something about to happen.

Problem with SF is there are no clubs supporting new cutting edge acts....it's pay to get in, pay-to-play, etc.

Allison Kraus and Robert Plant are cool and all, but this is the old guard and hardly cutting edge stuff. Barnsdall Art park http://www.barnsdallartpark.com (about a mile from me) has had free music festivals too (sonic youth, sleater kinney, etc.)....And this weekend we have the Tar Fest. Tomorrow night is free Mondays in Silverlake...another 10-12 bands playing....

[Oldone]

Originally Posted by Fleaman

Well, I went to this last night MySpace.com - Eagle Rock Music Festival - 101 - Female - Eagle Rock, CALIFORNIA - www.myspace.com/eaglerockmusicfestival

Eagle rock is next to Silverlake, about 3 miles from me. Was all free, lots and lots of bands/music....they close down Colorado blvd for about a mile or so.

And did you hear an new type of sound that hasn't been regurgitated over the last 20 years? If so, then you may have found the new mecca.

And I loved your dig about Mission Viejo by the way.

[CJ1973]

Originally Posted by Oldone

That never happens in LA.
.

I would have to disagree because unlike San Fran which is very centralized, LA is so diverse and spread out. OC is on one end and Silverlake on the other. Then there is the valley, Pasadena, Long Beach, etc. Sherman Oaks has it's music festival, so does Pasadena Jazz.. depends on whats definined as music here, but I do know that as far as 'bands' go, it varies stylistically. But as far as 'musician-ship' goes, there are some serious 'elite' musicians in the LA scene who are the ultimate session musicians, who sometimes play for free during festivales as well and they are a delight to watch. !! So it really comes down to is defined as 'the music scene'.

[neilio]

Originally Posted by Michael Zick

Good to know. Not that I don't like it here...I love it...I was just wondering if LA was "played out", or if there was another state/city that was popping like Seattle in the 90s.

We have great bands, musicians and engineers on every corner, but with all this flood of talent does it make for better business or just more competition?

can never go wrong with austin or nashville

[Fleaman]

Originally Posted by Oldone

And did you hear an new type of sound that hasn't been regurgitated over the last 20 years? If so, then you may have found the new mecca.

.

Everything new is regurgitated in one way or another. Whether LA or any other place is worse or better in originality is a subjective issue that can be debated for the next thousand years....