Im a total music industry outsider. Im curious about the business workings surrounding the bands out there. In my naive mind, I have the most respect for bands that come out of a garage, write their own music, and get it to the masses mostly on their own backs. On the other hand, I have no respect for a group of performers who are hired by a third party to play music written by someone else. Whats the real proportion here? Is it 90% in the second category? What are the business relationships between the performers and their mamagement? When an outside producer comes in, what is he exactly buying?
There are some pretty incredible performers out there who "who are hired by a third party to play music written by someone else" and just as many great performers/writers who have supplied music from others. I wouldn't look down my nose at any successful performer.
Some of those "studio musicians" formed successful bands. Toto and Journey, to name a couple. Then there's the business guys/hobby musicians that come together, like The Tubes. I heard Cheap Trick had an interestingly forward thinking approach. Each member would practice their parts at home, then when they got together, they weren't wasting any time in the studio.
This could head down many rabbit holes. One is called "Industry Plants". Which I just recently learned was a term. Much of your answers will start with "It depends". What's really going to bake your noodle is when you start looking into the money, and how little actually makes it to most of the musicians/artists.
I think country music is the most fake. They promote these attractive looking performers, and many people believe that performer survived his miserable existence to become a country music star. It's all made up in the marketing room!
I watched something awhile ago about studio musicians. Said most journeyman studio musicians are excellent players and very competent, they have to be or they won't get work. Made sense to me.
When you see them outside of Nashville in boardshorts, flip flops, and an tank top, something isn't right LOL
Oh ain’t that the truth. Went to see a friend’s band play a local festival, and one of the acts was a country act fronted by by a kid who looks like a 12yo Justin Bieber wearing a 15 gallon hat and a pair of cowboy boots with 3” heels and not a scuff on them. Spoke with a twang that would make Hank Williams proud. From Alexandria, Minnesota.
Country music industry sold out long ago. In regards to the promotion of music & musicians it started with music videos in the early-mid 80's. If you don't have a certain look, charisma, personality, you can have an amazing voice, have amazing song writing skills, and not get ANY shot of getting your music out their. It's all about who's marketable = $$$$. In the very beginning....I'd be fine not seeing who's singing the song, who's playing the instruments....just to hear real people singing about real life experiences. Today, and in recent years we're kinda getting that with the internet (YouTube), where you can find diamonds in the rough, so to speak, that a record label would never sign simply because they're not marketable. And, this is across ALL genres of music.
But I do look down my nose!!! The point Im trying to make is I have a lot more respect for the bands doing it mostly on their own hard work versus some corporate assembled group of ringers.
The Joe Rogan podcast with billy corgan is worth your time if your interested in learning a bit about the music industry. The Courtney Love article she wrote (or someone else did and put her name on) is a must read. Negativland wrote an essay that was awesome (for its day and still holds true). Try and find that if you get a chance. really, country music is like every other genre of music. As the industry got into it further and further it got polished and ruined. But the underground and alt country grew and some incredible music started coming out. Watch Johnny Cash vs. music row (it’s on the youbooks). Great shit. hired guns (the dudes and chicks hired to back the third party) are more important to that crooked industry than you could ever imagine. I could yap on about this shit forever but a person you really want to speak to is @Blammo ;-)
Gawd, wish I could remember the musician who spoke about touring and the economics of it. He broke it down from the standpoint of a mildly successful band that plays larger clubs (999 and less) and medium clubs (500 and under) as the headliner. They tour in a van, trailer, double and triple up in hotels but are mildly successful. No record label behind them but they also aren’t paying the label a cut of everything. anyways, he said they consider the tour a success if they break even with the band members getting paid zero after. They roll everything back into the band to make the next recording (done on the cheap since he’s a producer and they have access to the studio for near nothing) and the next tour. Everyone in the band has a job or three in order to tour. welcome to rock and roll and all the riches that come from it!
First, they released “Justice” after waiting half a century since “Master”. “Blackened” sounded like it was recorded in a shipping container with a bunch of Tourette’s sufferers on meth banging on the walls. Then they followed that up with “The Black Album”, which more closely resembled Smashmouth than Metal Up Your Ass. After that I lost track of what they released.
Rock produced some of the biggest albums of that era (Dr. Feelgood, Slippery When Wet, etc..) He produced the Black album which made them pop stars instead of heavy metal stars. After that much success, James and Lars became legends in their own minds (worse than before.) Nobody kills Metallica except James and Lars. If you've ever watched some kind of Monster, the explanation is all there.
