Chris Rock on the music business

[Yankee Doodle]

Well it is the Music Buisness...I suppose it's best to be a Salesperson first!

This is definately true of all occupations.

When selling your tracks it's seller beware...

Take heed or lose out!

Rock on,

Y.D.B.

[Tone Laborer]

With a load of iron ore twenty-six thousand tons more
Than the Edmund Fitzgerald weighed empty.
That good ship and true was a bone to be chewed
When the gales of November came early.

[themaidsroom]

that song is just there in my head - i am not a big fan - the other one
comes to my mind quick too, "some times, da-da-da-da-da, and you
find me creeping round your back door...."


being american and middle class, one year my family each got a clock
radio for our respective birthdays......1977 - 5th grade - the clock radio had
a "sleep" button on it meaning i could listen to radio for 30 minutes before sleeping
without anyone telling me to turn it off........this is the mental space of gordon
lightfoot, and now i am remembering a song i actually would like to hear.......
who was the artist ??
"when i neeeeeeeeeeed love, i hold out my hands and i tououuoouuouch love
never knew there was so muuuuuuuuuuch love keeping me warm night and
day, miles and miles of empty space lie between us, nothing can take the
place of your ?????"
it is a cheesy song, so i'm o.k. with being hated for liking it.....
i also have fond memories of the slow part of donna summer's "on the radio"
just the line "since we broke up last june"

i remember plugging in the radio at my grandparents house around
that time and listening to k.c. kacem

little did i know that far away in berlin at that same time two really
skinny guys called the bewlay brothers would be really high and making records
that were never top 40 but would obsess me later in life - i think they made
5-6 amazing records that year......

i am sober so i can say this: horray hashish !! horray heroin !! horray cocaine !!
thank god for the dentists who have restored iggy's and bowie's teeth !!


be well


- jack

[not_so_new]

Originally Posted by themaidsroom

who was the artist ??
"when i neeeeeeeeeeed love, i hold out my hands and i tououuoouuouch love
never knew there was so muuuuuuuuuuch love keeping me warm night and
day, miles and miles of empty space lie between us, nothing can take the
place of your ?????"

Hey Jack

That is Leo Sayer, and I really really dig that tune. And I have no problem saying so.

As The MAN Duke Ellington once said “There are two kinds of music. Good music, and the other kind.” Me personally I don't care what label is on it, if it does something to me, makes me think, makes me move, makes me happy or sad then I think that is "good music." I can listen to Tool and Seals and Crofts back to back and love them both for that they do to me.



Have no shame brother, LOVE music and don't be sheep right? It's about emotions and vibe not being part of some club.

And the interesting thing about When I Need You from Leo Sayer is, from what I have heard Leo Sayer was a huge Led Zeppelin fan and he wanted to write heavy music, he wanted to be Robert Plant. I hear that a lot of his songs were in that direction but the record company forced him to be more "easy listening"...

The moral of the story is that 1) YES the record companies still had control back then BUT 2) the artists still came up with catchy music that you remember even when it was "commercial" and label driven.

[themaidsroom]

thank you.
i'm gonna get me some pristine leo sayer
on vinyl
i appreciate your comments
i feel the same:
i go from stevie nicks to
raw power and back every day
burt bacharach to royal trux
if you can't tell, i love music



be well


- jack

[not_so_new]

Originally Posted by themaidsroom

thank you.
i'm gonna get me some pristine leo sayer
on vinyl
i appreciate your comments
i feel the same:
i go from stevie nicks to
raw power and back every day
burt bacharach to royal trux



be well


- jack

thumbsup thumbsup

Very cool. Music is meant to be enjoyed. I think some people get all caught up in the "I can't listen to that because I am too cool" mindset and they end up missing out on so many good (or at least interesting) emotions and expereinces.

[initialsBB]

I like to think I'm open minded about music but I'm not ashamed to dislike Gordon Lightfoot. On the other hand I'm not ashamed to listen to Justin Timberlake

[Aaron Miller]

Imagine what would happen to the film industry if technology and marketing were allowed to substitute for talent and artistic growth as often as it does in today's music industry. The most talented actors and actresses--the likes of Sean Penn or Kate Blanchett--would get nowhere while while Paris Hilton and Luke Perry would dominate the film/theater scene, not simply because they are hot but because technology and marketing would make up for and outweigh the lack of talent.

Video engineers would run facial expressions through the auto-emotionater to ensure spot on performances. They could digitally paint in performance subtleties that take talent, research and practice to develop almost as well as the true actors can perform them thus there would be no reason to waste time on artistic growth and development. Johny Depp would have certainly had his initial sex symbol success but never would have blossomed into an actor with real talent.

It wouldn't matter anyway because most of the people who watch movies wouldn't even know that the performances were edited to such an extent or even care if they did. Half of the consumers who contribute to a given actor's success would run out and buy his latest DVD simply because they think his *voice* sounds good on the 2:30 *audio* clips they hear on Acting TV which, of course, would have very little to do with the visual medium (To really make the analogy work, we'd have to say that a lot of people would become fans of silent movie actors because they like the soundtrack that is later added to the silent movie for Acting TV..."I love Paris Hilton's new silent movie and plan on buying it because the soundtrack that she did for Acting TV was so hot). Simply put, acting would cease to be an essential or even a required ingredient in an actor's or actress's success. But for some reason millions of people would keep watching them live on broadway.

A few people would get sick of it complaining that all the movies in the theaters and on DVD just seem generic, cartoonish and unreal while Broadway performances are downright terrible. Others would remind them that it's *entertainment* and *business* not just acting. Still others would be perfectly content with the state of affairs.

[themaidsroom]

Originally Posted by Aaron Miller

Video engineers would run facial expressions through the auto-emotionater to ensure spot on performances.

i like that.
"autoemotionater"

almost like a publicist

[warhead]

Originally Posted by DivineChemical

Move to Iowa. My dream house is ten thousand dollars out in Mason City.

Wow, and Iowa's vote is somehow related to the rest of America...how?

That's unique. I thought my first house when we got married in 1994 for $32,000 was a bargain...!

War

[drundall]

Originally Posted by Aaron Miller

Imagine what would happen to the film industry if technology and marketing were allowed to substitute for talent and artistic growth as often as it does in today's music industry.

Ever see Angelina Jolie in Alexander?


It's not far behind...

[Sqye]

Originally Posted by zboy2854

Actually, yes, it was called the '70s.

.

for the handful of artists who were lucky enough to make any money....

.

[UnDeFiNeD]

I see midi and sequencing get a lot of blame here, while I think thats a bit unfair.

True, it only takes an idiot to make something danceable with it, but it takes a genious to use it as a tool to get out of the guitar/drum/bass/keys box and create something so great it's unheard off.
Don't get me wrong, I'm also a performing musician, but the greatest music made in my lifetime that wasn't recycled out of previous stuff was in the sequenced/electronic music, not bands.
It takes discipline and a great mind to create something inside a system with virtually unlimited freedom.

Sorry to rant a bit like that, it just annoyes me when people think that sequenced/electronic music can be summed up by "pump up the jam"

Pzz

[superjc]

Chris Rock talks about this a lot more on his award winning "Rolling with the Rock"

"here today, gone TODAY!"

Also required reading should be James Browns's autobiography, written in 1986. He talks about disco affecting commercialization of music. There's a chilling quote about how it "took out the musical basis of what the RnB groups of the 50's, 60's, and early 70's worked so hard to create. At least in 86 some of that musicality remained in pop/rap/RnB.

Sadly, I don't see there ever being another MJ, EWF, O'Jays, etc. Why an practice an instrument for thousands of hours when consumers will listen to auto-tuned shit over a banged out beat from an MPC that took 1 hour to program and arrange?

[soultrane]

Originally Posted by travisbrown

Just was reading an interview with Andy Summers of The Police. He was comparing the mess of the music industry now with the eighties, which he said was a great time to be in the industry. Money flowed much more freely from the companies.

correction.

it was a great time to be andy summers of the police in the industry...

money flowed much more freely to him than it did the other 99.999999% who weren't in the top rock band of the day.

[soultrane]

Originally Posted by not_so_new

The 60's and 70's still stand as the most exciting times for music in human history.

There are two reasons for this in my eyes.

hermann's hermits and shaun cassidy?

[Sqye]

Originally Posted by soultrane

correction.

it was a great time to be andy summers of the police in the industry...

money flowed much more freely to him than it did the other 99.999999% who weren't in the top rock band of the day.

f'in BINGO.

thank you.

.

[kikumoto]

Originally Posted by henryrobinett

What you have today are what I call "cubicle musicians." They sit alone, for the most part in front of their computer monitors, or beatboxes and make up "beats." Or have some DJ inspired thing going in Ableton "Live" with scenes that make it seem as though it's being creative. Or you have a bunch of guys recycle, chop, auto-tune, quantize, create soundscapes, but have no idea what the hell they're doing and can't play jack shit.
.

Hi, I agreed with most of what you say in this post Henryrobinett, although in the section above I would really have to say I disagree, and believe what you are saying is wrong.

It seems you are not describing instrument players of today, as - as you quite clearly put, they have no one quality to jam with.
Anyhow it seems this is slight dig at musicians making electronic music... I spend alot of time sitting infront of 'beatboxes' and 'live' and I love it. And I assure I no exactly what is going on, as I'm sure the producers of some of the great hip-hop albums do too. Yes there maybe people who do this, but these are not the guys releasing some of the amazing electronic music out there, nor are they 'cubicle musicians'. These days it's a fact that you don't have to be an amazing instrument player to create ground breaking music - aphex twin is a great example. so is the UK dubstep scene.

Anyhow sorry to bang on, but I just felt like this needed saying having read that comment. I do agree also that there is nothing like getting out there and performing your instrument...

also... chris rock is a G.

[henryrobinett]

Well it wasn't so much a dig at electronic music as it was most music today. Pop/rock/R&B music too has people chopping and quatizing and looping.

Few people today know anything about part writing or voice leading or orchestration. Music as a serious subject to STUDY is out the window.

There's a lot of incredible music being made today. That's not at all what I'm saying.

[rack gear]

and who among them didn't enjoy it while it was happening?

Originally Posted by drew

you sure about that?

The black artists got ripped in the '60s
The pot smokin hippies got ripped in the '70s
The hair teastin girl-boys took it in the 80s
The non showering grunge doods in the 90s

It will always be.........

[Sqye]

.

YouTube - Bon Iver - Re: Stacks

cheers, y'all!



.

[combfilter]

Originally Posted by zboy2854

Compared to today, absolutely. Sure, labels were always relatively ripping off the artists, but from a creative standpoint, the '70s were the heyday for artists. Labels gave them unprecedented creative license. Today, if you're on a label you're lucky if they let you make a record at all, and if you do you're luckier still if they let you make the kind of record you want to make, and if you do you're even luckier still if they even release it.

Not to mention back in the '70s, you didn't have to be some videogenic, image obsessed act, you could make great music and it was enough, even if you were butt-ugly. Today, as far as the label system goes, not a chance.

Then there's the whole idea of allowing artists to fully develop and blossom. Not anymore today. Imagine if acts like Neil Young or Bruce Springsteen came out today. Those guys took a few albums before they broke big in the mainstream. Today, if the first album (which you're lucky to have released) doesn't pop out of the gate, you're almost guaranteed to be dropped.

Amen.

Great post.