The Logic Off Topic list

Kool Musick said:
> > Well ... again ... the USA isn't my area of expertise, but my overall
> > impression is that being a really good local band isn't quite enough to
> > help you -- in general -- to pay all of your bills or sustain a really
> > great career, and so eventually, I think, the frustration kicks in and so a
> > lot of good bands die an untimely death for lack of that extra little
> > whatever-it-might-be that carries them through.

Marc Lindahl said:
>Actually, these days in the US, really the only way to make it is through
>local success.
I kind of thought that's what I said. You create a local success, and then 
if you have that extra something (luck, whatever) you then move on to the 
national level.

>But success in the business sense - not that fans think
>you're hot, but that you've done all the label's work for them already -
>built a fan base, started your own little label, got radio play, sold your
>CD's at gigs and in local record shops (to the tune of 10's of 1000's of
>copies...), and put yourself on tour.
Yes .... and .......

>Basically, once you've proved that
>your band is a viable ongoing business, then you have a chance to get
>signed....
Great. So you move from local to national.

Now ... here's the question ... what happens to those bands that fail to 
make this transition from local to national?

What I tried to say was that those bands who can't move from local to 
national then find that after 5 years or so, the expensive reality of 
paying mortgages and raising children kids kicks in, and for the vast 
majority of them it's just not possible to keep being a great local band 
indefinitely, and they slowly fade away ... except for guest appearances at 
local festivals and the like ... and even those gradually dissipate.

Far as I can see we're saying the same thing except that I was focusing on 
the bands that didn't quite make it while you were focusing on the ones 
that did!! We both agree, I think, though, that in the USA the major labels 
don't really expect to take a band from the ground up any more ... they 
just seem to kind of cash in on the few hot local bands that they think 
they can market nationally. They make somewhat idiosyncratic decisions 
based on corporate profits meaning that some really good local bands are 
left to slowly haemorrhage due to the fact that the punters in every single 
local market also participate in the national market ... and for most of 
them when they're stuck with a choice for buying the next CD and there's a 
local group CD in one hand and a national one in the other and they're 
short of money, it's the local band's CD that hits the bin first. Keeping 
yourself going as a local band after a few years is very difficult when 
you're competing against (a) the bands that made it; and (b) up and coming 
local bands who've got a buzz that they might be the next big think. After 
5 years of being the next possible big thing it's pretty clear that you're 
not going to be IT and are never going to be and ..... accountancy here I come.

Kool Musick
Keep Musick Kool


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