another rant

as it has now been reposted and emailed around quite a bit, i figured i might as well post it here. this is a rant i wrote to bob lefsetz, a writer who has a music blog/email blast that a large portion of the music industry reads. he has been talking about how the music industry is going to fail because of no innovation coming from labels/bands, etc. this was my reply:


I gotta admit, reading your articles over the past few weeks, I've wanted to tear my hair out. Though you do have very many good points on some of the older, more established bands/record labels, you forget that in this economy one group of people is still spending money just as they did before: high school students. They don't really see how the economic problems affect them, they're still getting $20 a week from mommy and daddy for taking out the trash or running the dishwasher. And that money is going the same places it always has: music, movies, and clothes. Now, most of these students probably are downloading their music illegally, but they're still going to concerts, and they're still buying merch to get signed. And I have not heard one person complain about a $20 t-shirt, let alone another 5 for the band's bracelet, 10 for the shades, 2 for the pins, and a tip for the merch guy for the poster. And I think a large part of this is because younger bands work for every fan. The best example that comes to mind is a band I've been following for a few years, All Time Low (Hopeless Records). Valentines Day of their senior year of high school, they signed to Hopeless, having already done a few northeast tours (that their parents had to chaperone)....over summer break. The first time I saw them was a few months after, when they won the chance to open HFStival, the DC alt/indie rock stations big summer festival. After this show, they spent *over* their allotted hour signing autographs, asking fans to come to their CD release show in a few weeks, etc. When I went home and looked on their myspace, they had tour blogs, video journals, and other ways to get to know each and every one of them. There has not been one show in the almost 4 years I've been watching them that I have not seen them hanging outside the venue, signing autographs and taking pictures. And recently, those lines have been a few hours long. Alt Press Magazine just named them band of the year after several sold out headlining tours, and this spring they're going on tour with Fall Out Boy. They didn't get there by writing amazing, life altering music. They got there because their fans willed it to be. Currently, I'm doing PR for some older bands, and I wish every day that they would try as hard as the smaller bands did to gain and keep fans. If you want to be a successful band right now (and I judge successful as you can afford go on tour and not have a restaurant job when you get back), take a look at how some of the younger kids are doing it: interact with fans, sign autographs, take every opportunity you can to meet people and get your name out there (including taking every interview, talking to fans at shows, doing private concerts in fans basements...anything), set up (and visit) message boards, do shout-outs at shows for loyal fans. There are very few fans who care about the quality of the copy of the CD, audiophiles are one in a million in those under 20 or 25. And fans don't want Beatle-mania: if a band gets whisked from backstage to a car, they're going to be throwing eggs at you, not their bras. Forget the age of the untouchable rock star. If you want to make it today, be a part of your fanbase, be cool to them, and they will promote you for free.

NEW MUSIC: Eudora

I have always found new music by listening to it live. Though I do sometimes listen to friend’s suggestions, and I used to hear new music on the radio or MTV, for the most part, new-found interests of mine come from recent shows I have seen. Eudora is no different.

A local Orange County band who did a one-off show with Anarbor and The Lives of Famous Men, Eudora shouldn’t have been anything special. Just a couple of kids, playing badly for a few minutes before the *real* bands showed up. But they were tight, polished, they had their live show down more than most local bands I’ve seen (even some touring bands). They knew how to work with the sound guys, and (for once) the vocals were balanced well with the rest of the band, instead of being overpowered. They may not have gotten the best out of their instruments (one of the guitars in particular was really grating), and they were a little too effect-happy: a new band likes to play with their new toys.

What really struck me about them, however, was their *show*. Not the performance, or the quality of music, but the fun that they were having, and the fun they brought the rest of the crowd into. When one member broke a string, the lead singer had fun with it: he made fun of the guitar player and made some other jokes, and even had the crowd sing happy birthday to one of their friends. In the middle of one of the songs, they broke into Journey (which made even the “cool kids” in the back of the room who were just waiting for the later bands stop and take notice). They had a few sing-alongs (once just some “oooohs,” and later a chorus, though that doesn’t work as well when people don’t know your music). They introduced each band member, and made sure to state the band’s name a bunch of times.

I went back on Monday to listen to their music on their myspace page. I wasn’t blown away, but it wasn’t bad. But the reason why they made such an impression on me was not because of their music. It was because they were having fun, and everyone else in the room was too.

www.myspace.com/eudoramusic
See them:
Feb 4, DiPiazza’s, Long Beach
Feb 15, Chain Reaction, Anaheim

HAPPY 2009! (yeah, I know, it's been a while)

2008 was a big year for me: I graduated from college, moved out to California, got 2 internships in the music industry, got a job in the music industry. I went to see the last Yellowcard tour and All Time Low’s first headlining tour; I went to huge festivals and small art halls. This past year will go down as a major year in my own personal history.

So what do I really have to look forward to in the upcoming year? Well, it started big enough: All Time Low – a band I have been following for over 3 years now (and working for for a while, first with a promotions company, then with an internship at Hopeless Records) – was named Alternative Press’ “Band of the Year” for 2008, and they just announced they are going on tour with Fall Out Boy in the Spring. Green Day is going to be releasing a new album – the follow up to 2004’s “American Idiot” (FINALLY!!!). Jimmy Eat World is doing a tour for the 10 year anniversary of the release of “Clarity.” And I just found out that the Get Up Kids are playing Bamboozle Left (and as long as they play “Mass Pike,” I can die happy). I’m studying for my LSATs and looking at law schools in LA. I’m getting health insurance and car insurance, and registering my car as a Californian. And I just watched the first African-American president sworn in, a man that I had a picture of hanging up in my freshman dorm (the cover of Newsweek I believe, from December 2004/January 2005) which my Republican ex-boyfriend *loved*, a man that I think is smart, honorable, and hopeful, all at the same time.

So here’s my list, my expectations for 2009:

Bands to Watch:
Anarbor
The Scenic
A Rocket to the Moon
Hey Monday

Bands to Keep Watching:
All Time Low
Mayday Parade
Cute is What We Aim For
Cobra Starship
Paramore

Bands to Remember:
Get Up Kids
Green Day
Jimmy Eat World

Bands I Wish Would Just Go Away:
Fall Out Boy
Panic(!) at the Disco

Hey, Remember When These Bands Were EVERYWHERE:
Boys Like Girls
Plain White T’s
The Beatles (yeah, I wasn’t alive for it either….but man how I wish I was there for Beatlemania!)