#bobbyisms

Bobbyisms #81 Monday, August 27, 2012 

I write about random things a lot. I write a lot about random things. It’s no secret that the music industry is a frenetic landscape, built on a lot of hard work, imagination and daring, however, like an iceberg, the bulk of the action and drama occurs below the surface. Countless people are constantly working day and night to support the cause, whether it’s booking gigs, servicing music to digital sources online or submitting grant applications for tours, recordings and more.

That said, developments and trends in social media in recent years have afforded us more of a glimpse into the process and enabled us as fans to take a more active role in the music we’ve grown to love, and few are as direct as crowd funding — the ability to directly support and finance projects from artists we love is an incredibly powerful thing... just ask The Tea Party.

Formed in 1990 in Toronto by way of Windsor, The Tea Party — multi–instrumentalists Jeff Martin, Stuart Chatwood and Jeff Burrows — rose to prominence blending Indian and Middle Eastern flavours into their own style of psychedelic blues rock, creating a signature sound as well as a name for themselves unlike that of any of their contemporaries. From conception until their dissolution in 2005, the band released seven studio albums, sold over 1.5 million records, enjoyed a number–one single (1999’s “Heaven Coming Down”) and toured Canada and Australia over 30 times combined.

Bobbyisms #76 Monday, March 19, 2012 

I write about random things a lot. I write a lot about random things. Quick, what do David Gilmour, Jello Biafra, Lemmy and Henry Rollins all have in common? They all worked as roadies for different bands before joining or forming bands of their own! In this case, Pink Floyd, the Dead Kennedys, Hawkwind and The Teen Idles, who later became Minor Threat.

Good morning, everyone! Just a note to tell you that regular posting here resumes today; I had to slow down to focus on completing school, but that done it's time to catch up — all this week I'll be posting the latest in music articles and interviews I've fallen behind on, starting this afternoon.

Bobbyisms #74 Monday, March 5, 2012 

I write about random things a lot. I write a lot about random things. Did you know that Cancer Bats snuck into London during Valentine's week to film a music video downtown? The band was shooting for their coming single "Road Sick" and came to London to film with the tank in Victoria Park.

Although passersby asked them what they were doing, the band managed to keep their identities quiet and work — one of Canada's most popular hardcore punk bands, and a moment's walk away from London Music Hall.

Fame is a funny thing, especially when it comes to the music industry. It's easier to focus on the negative than the positive — we've heard all sorts of stories about the struggle, about the long, hard road to success and the thrill inherent in making it big, but what happens after that?

Classified is a hip-hop artist from Nova Scotia who rose to success after building his name through a series of releases on his own Halflife Records imprint, one he launched to release his first LP when he was 17. His Shipwrecked Tour with Hedley saw the artist in London at the John Labatt Centre on February 29.

Bobbyisms #72 Monday, February 13, 2012 

I write about random things a lot. I write a lot about random things. Did you know that Pink Floyd's 1973 album The Dark Side Of The Moon was so successful that it appeared on the Billboard charts from its release in 1973 until 1988? The album spent 741 straight weeks on the charts and has sold over 50 million copies since being released; it's the second greatest–selling album of all time after Michael Jackson's Thriller.

Not as many people these days are aware of Pink Floyd as perhaps they should be, a fact at the core of the latest project underway to rerelease their catalogue in new remastered, expanded editions — over 2011 and 2012, EMI has been reissuing the band's classic albums with three new package tiers available based on the sort of experience you're looking to have while you dive into their work.

There's the Discovery edition, which features the albums in their entirety, re–mastered for quality; the Experience edition, which adds a second disc of live music from the recording era; and the Immersion edition, which includes the above plus additional discs loaded with studio takes, alternate mixes from the creative process, extra audio and visual material on DVDs, Blu–ray discs and more — a means to get completely lost in the world of the album and its creation, a veritable time capsule waiting to be opened.

This isn't a story about The Dark Side Of The Moon, however; it's a story about Wish You Were Here, the album that came after the smash. But to tell it, it's important to look back at its predecessors just a bit.

The 1970s were a time of great creativity and turmoil for Pink Floyd, which was comprised at the time of Roger Waters, David Gilmour, Nick Mason and Richard Wright. The band rose to popularity in the late 1960s, but it took the departure of Syd Barrett — their original frontman — for them to become more than simply pop rock experimentalists.

As the 1970s got underway, two things happened that changed the band's sound and direction and made them living legends: first, the band quickly discovered that the best work they recorded were the songs they wrote collectively instead of individually, and second, the band signed a new record deal that offered them less royalties in exchange for unlimited studio time.

The freedom allowed the band to take all the time they needed to hash out their ideas and work together as a unit, and by the time they released The Dark Side Of The Moon, they had not only found their niche as a band in the studio and on the stage, they had transcended into a new breed of rock star and exploded in popularity, especially in the United States.

Despite the fact that they had all the time in the world to create their records, the pressure placed on them after the success of The Dark Side Of The Moon was so great as to strain the members of the band and their relationships with one another. For one thing, they got into a rut in their live shows, constantly performing the album in its entirety for fans of rapidly growing sizes; the band became too big to play intimate venues and grew into stadiums, something they felt didn't much fit with their direction — although by the time they released The Wall in 1979, they had developed an incredible large–format concert experience.

Wish You Were Here was written and recorded in fragments throughout 1975. It speaks volumes of the band's fragile condition at the time, trying to cope with their success and stature, and deals with sensitive issues in the band's inner circles, like the mental deterioration of their former frontman. In a now–famous story told by Waters and Wright, Barrett showed up unannounced at the studio during the making of the record, but his physical state had declined as well — now fatter, balding and pale as a ghost, the band didn't recognize him as he sat and listened to them work. They never saw him again.

Wish You Were Here is a record of broad appeal, far beyond the select audiences interested in the band's progressive rock developments. Its atmospheric bookending in "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" (in part written about Barrett) sees the album rise and fall sonically, like a classical composition from centuries past. The themes on the record deal with distrust and contempt for the music industry — see "Welcome To The Machine" and "Have A Cigar" — while its title track boasts a tender nostalgia to offset some of the candour on the album.

The record is widely available in all three editions — Discovery, Experience and Immersion — and the February 2012 edition of Guitar World magazine has a fantastic article looking into the making of the record, a detailed account of the multiple studio sessions and the band's growing disdain for the music and each other, told by the band themselves. It's a stunning, stark and fascinating look behind the scenes at an album from a time before looks behind the scenes were ever an option.

For more on the continuing project to re–release the re–mastered Pink Floyd catalogue, or to order copies of records already re–issued, visit whypinkfloyd.com. For more of the latest music news, views and streams, follow this column on Twitter @fsu_bobbyisms or via Tumblr at bobbyisms.com.

Bobbyisms #70 Monday, January 30, 2012 

I write about random things a lot. I write a lot about random things. Did you know that "Louie Louie" was originally written as a song about a Jamaican sailor returning home to his love?

Originally written and recorded by Richard Berry in the 1950s, the song has been produced hundreds of times and performed countless more. Sadly, Berry signed away the rights to the song in 1959 and didn't receive much in the way of royalties until the 1980s.

The music industry is unparalleled when it comes to issues of finances. For decades, a lot of people have been involved in the production and performances of music — from recording engineers to studio hands aiding in getting television shows underway — and it's cost a lot of money to do so.

Sure, the preconception has always been that to become a rock star means to become rich and live a life of excess, but make no mistake about it, you're most likely making more money than many of your favourite artists or bands are.

Mike Kaminsky is an artist manager in the U.S. and wrote on his website on January 2 revealing many of the costs of touring and performing of which most people aren't aware. Looking at average club capacity and attendance and common costs of touring, he broke down the math and demonstrated how many bands playing venues typical to those in London make so little money that without additional jobs they wouldn't break the poverty barrier.

But that doesn't simply apply to garage bands; his logic is aimed at bands that are already established.

"Artists signed to a record label should not expect to make album royalties," Kaminsky wrote. "Sales are so low and expenses so high that an artist should hope their label invests as much as they can in marketing because either way they're probably not receiving a cheque."

But don't think that this is some newfound effect of the downloading age; formal recording contracts of decades past also included clauses whereby artists would have to recoup to their label all costs associated with their careers, from recording advances all the way to costs incurred filming music videos, which can easily cost millions of dollars. This has led to the public bankruptcy of many groups and artists in recent history.

So how do artists make money? Kaminsky offers some tips in his article, like licensing music for use in TV or movies — though he points out that is only an option if you write your own music — but he also stresses that if fans want to make a difference for their favourite bands, they should visit the merch table.

Being in a band and performing music has always had to be about the love of the art itself — the act of performing and sharing — because it's a difficult thing to make money doing, even if you're one of the few acts to be so fortunate as to get signed.

Unless your band is already established, you're going to have to get used to the idea of giving your music away for free. If no one has heard your music, how can you expect them to want to pay you for it? Being an independent act has never been more difficult in that respect, but luckily there are resources available.

One such resource is Brian Thompson, a Social Media Strategist, Marketing Consultant and Manager at Thorny Bleeder Records. In addition to a variety of counseling and coaching services, Thompson publishes a daily email newsletter called The DIY Daily, in which he shares the best and most interesting music and media articles culled from the Internet every day, articles that offer a lot of insight and perspective on issues that young and independent artists face in the industry.

"If there's no demand, there's no value," he wrote on his site, thornybleeder.com. "Without demand, your music is essentially worthless to the public, regardless of what you paid to record and produce it. Encourage an open environment of sharing around your music. Sharing creates new fans."

For more on Mike Kaminsky, visit his website at kmgmt.com or follow him on Twitter @kmgmt. For more on Brian Thompson (or to sign up for free for The DIY Daily) visit thornybleeder.com or follow on Twitter @thornybleeder. Both are good sources of insight into the industry and will provide an edge when it comes to marketing your band and leaving your mark on the scene.