Summer's here and the time is right...to go see a show...

[laughingwillow]

Phil for free in da park. Music starts at noon. Phil comes on at 8:45. There are two or three stages. Prolly over 200 acts in total.

There are a couple of bidness men in Sioux City that have been helping foot the bill. And one of them is a dead head. I'm pretty sure they had Bobby do a private gig too the year he played in da park.

Over the years, we've seen some amazing music for free. Santana, The Neville Bros, Buddy Guy, Junior Wells, etc...

We skipped the last couple of years due to weak line ups. And my better half just happened to pull up their website yesterday or we wouldn't have known Phil was coming around.

lw

[laughingwillow]

The year Taj Mahal played was a good-un. His set was in the afternoon and after he finished, he ended up in the middle of the crowd with us grooving to the headliners. Matter of fact, we REALLY respect that dude after he hung out with the common folk like that.

Anyway, its nice having an event in me old stomping grounds like this. We have friends from my childhood that we only see at this gig. I'm getting stoked.

Looking at the band's summer schedule, I doubt they will be dragging many dirty hippies to Sioux City, unfortunately. The previous show is in Wisconsin and the one after in Michigan, so the day in the park is really out of the way.  

lw

[laughingwillow]

Looks like this year in the park includes a couple of interesting groups. Big Sam's Funky Nation, Umphreys Mcgee and the BoDeans proceed PhilCo.

lw

[Stonehenge]

I think big money has in large part hurt music. I've seen some great performers for free myself. I think it's great when community leaders will fund something worthwhile like that. I heard Foggy Bottom a few years back for free. Not sure if he's still alive or not but he was excellent. I have no objection to $5 for a show or even a bit more if it's someone really good or a series of good ones. But when it gets over $25 I think it's getting into big money. And they gouge you for all the peripheral stuff like parking, drinks, eats, and they won't let you leave and come back anymore. Use to be if you kept your ticket you could go out to your car and come back. Not any more.

Joe, what about cheap cheap online downloads, where do you stand on that? I say a dime or quarter for most tunes is enough. Lower the bar like that and you will have consumers coming out of the woodwork. The third world will step up to the plate if they aren't taken for money they don't have.

The only reason we have legal downloads now is because people were doing it illegally. The main reason they did it illegally was $20 for a 25 cent  cd. The performer often gets only a pittance out of that and the middle men make the loot.  People got tired of being screwed.

[laughingwillow]

We don't have a problem with high ticket prices if its for a group we really want to see. For instance, I couldn't put a price on the value of an evening with da dead or Phil.

Conversely, we don't catch as many acts on a whim anymore as we used to. Its just too expensive.

lw

[JRL]

Who was Taj opening for? I feel sorry for them, haha. Taj is one of my favorite people on the planet. I saw him smoke Crosby, Stills ect ect, here in Sac the day before Altamont with his killer quartet with the late great Jesse Ed Davis.

I love Taj, me and my bro Steve Foster have taken to covering Easy Rider and Taj's take on Six Days on the Road.

Taj is a perfect example of the vitality of the American roots music tradition.

[laughingwillow]

Looking back in the events data base, Taj played before the Funky Meters and Tito Puente headlined.

lw

[JRL]

Well, if all of that went to the artist and songwriter, cheap downloads would be right on. One of the big problems with the mega music business is that it is based on a pre 1960 model, were the artist is not the most important  part of the equation. So a huge portion of the cost of cds goes to the record company. There are just too many people getting paid, while the artist and song writers get pennies per unit.

Technology changes everything, from the recording of music to the distribution, but the artists and songwriters still NEED to get paid. If you want great music, it's not gonna come from too many people with day jobs. You gotta live it, no? Music makers gotta eat, got families to feed like anyone else, but a lot of folks seem to think that they owe the world free music. Making a great record is a daunting task, like I said before blood sweat and tears barely begins to cover it.

So what is the answer?? Musicians make music because of love of the art form but does that mean they need to live on Top Ramen? Hey it's cool when you are young, but grown ups need music created by grown ups. Like in my case, if I could devote all my energy to just one band, spend all my time with it it would be great, but I gotta be a huge 'ho to "put food on my family" (George Bush). I pretty much play with anyone that will have me, just tell me when where and how much.

Sometimes I sit out front at the Torch Club on my breaks and I hear the parade of people trying to talk their way out of paying a $5 cover charge. Sometimes I can't help myself and say something like "oh so you want to take food out of my kids mouths". Pretty dramatic, but essentialy true. Try that wth your doctor, mechanic ect.

[Stonehenge]

Joe, you are echoing what I said about the middle men. They do next to diddly squat and they make the bulk of the money. Yes, it did start way back when, I'd estimate even before the 60's. You the performer, for example, might get a quarter or 50 cents out of that $20 cd that costs them 25 cents to make. More than that for the packaging. I never said lets stiff the musician, I said lets stop screwing the customer. The customer is the most important part of the equation. Without them, the performer, writer, painter, etc is just a hobbyist.

Give the world a 10 cent download on most tunes and you'll see even poor people getting a cd or ipod collection like the rich have now. It costs about a penny to send it out. Lets say a nickel for the house and a nickel for the artist or group. Even a paltry million downloads equals fifty grand for you. Not too shabby and you might get that every month or two. An album might cost up to a buck and sell many millions per month.

Same thing with concert tics. The middle man makes more than the ones who do the real work. We need middle men but we don't need to be ripped off.

[JRL]

Well a million downloads is more than a notion, let me tell. Anyway there are already ways to offer your stuff for download with a better split for the creators of the music. I think half a dime is not enough, cause who sells a million downloads?

I'll tell you what, music is no road to riches, at least not for anyone I know.

[JRL]

lw, sounds like a show for the ages, wish I had been there. And Tito is gone now.

[laughingwillow]

I have no problem ponying up to a place like hdtracks on line and purchasing uncompressed cd quality releases in hd from independent labels for around $10 a disc. Artwork available if desired.

I'd hope the artist would get at least half of that ten spot. On-line sales would appear to be the way to cut costs avoid too many middle men and make a release available to the widest audience. But I'd never mess with downloading itunes or any other restricted format.

lw

[Stonehenge]

A dime a download is kind of idealistic but what's so unreal about a million downloads? There are probably 500 million people now who could afford it and have the equipment. In a few years, it could be over a billion. If someone likes your kind of music why wouldnt they pay a dime?

The internet is the place where old fashioned ideas can be laid to rest. But, the greedy @%$# insist on making everything after the old models. Until they are forced to do otherwise, that is. Itunes came about not because the music powers that be wanted to help the masses. It was because they saw the tons of money they were losing on illegal downloads and decided to get in on the action albeit at a reduced rate. Now they are making so much that the holdouts are having second thoughts.

The beatles helped crack the old boy network. When they came out they were offered the standard ripoff contract and at first they had no other choice. Get a few cents on an album and the bums keep the rest. All the major players told them they had no choice. So they formed Apple records and the rest is history.

[laughingwillow]

A dime a cut, so about a buck an album?

Sell a million copies of a disc?

Dang..

lw

[JRL]

I still say a million is a lot. I mean I am never gonna sell a million of anything. I think its the whole "mass quantity" mind set we gotta get beyond. Thats where the internet and technology comes in. It needs to be set up so you can sell a thousand discs and get a return for your time and effort. One person in a thousand world wide is a huge percentage.

Even at my level, it is not impossible to spend $20,000 making a CD. Of course it can be done for less, but its easy to spend more. I Hate Walmart cost my client $13,000 in studio time, musicians pay, artwork, prssing and my producers fee in 1997 dollars, So his first batch of 1000 barely covered costs at $15. But I earned my money by saving him money, calling in favors and getting guys to work cheap. Making a record is not easy or cheap.