Latch Music's Ezine #34
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* "The Zine" content is contributed by Dave Latchaw and colleagues who use the Internet to promote their musical projects. You can check out previous issues at "The Zine" Archives.
- Article: "How The Major Record Labels Might Survive" by Dave Latchaw
- Guest Artist: Michael Leasure - Music that soars.
- Featured Web Site: Virginia Tech Multimedia Music Dictionary
- Featured Web Video: Michael Leasure
- CD Pick: King Crimson "The Power To Believe"
How The Major Record Labels Might Survive
by Dave Latchaw
I should begin by saying that since I don't have a Major Label deal, it doesn't really matter to me if they survive or not. I'm having the best time ever having my own independent record label. My observation is that the major labels have became the fast food of music, and if you've been to one fast food place, you've been to them all. They find a product that sells and try to replicate it over and over again until it becomes massively, mind-numbingly boring. With mass marketing, distribution, and a huge budget, the Major Record Labels have had a monopoly on deciding what the masses are going to hear. Now the Internet has made it so the Major Labels are not the only game in town. Consumers have more choices, and a place to find a greater variety of music. So how can the Major Labels survive?
If a consumer only likes 3 tracks out of 10 from a recording, they will think twice about dropping $16.00 to buy the CD at a record store, and instead will try to find the 3 tracks online for nothing. Recording companies should take full advantage of technology and sell tracks individually as well as the entire CD at quality level, creating a cost and efficiency that is more appealing to the consumer than going to a site like Kazaa.com, where it can take a lot of time and searching to find a decent file of the song you want.
The Internet provides customers with more choices for music and has made the playing field more even between the Major Labels and the Independent. There will always be a market for the flavor of the month, and with money in mind rather than artistic ambition the Major Labels will keep following that flavor until it's time for the next. Some fast food businesses realized when other fast food venues offered a greater variety of product they had to follow suit to keep drawing in the consumers. If the Major Labels decide to tap into the Internet's possibilities, they will find that it is possible to promote music to great numbers of people with very little overhead. They can draw consumers in with their flavors of the month, and also offer a variety of lesser known artists to be heard and sold from the same web site. This will allow them to also tap into smaller niche markets, and offer a convenient way to sell music in their back catalogs. The Internet is going to allow the record companies to work leaner and more efficient.
The Major Labels could also try changing how they sign acts. They could use the Internet as a stepping stone for new acts to prove themselves, using more of the Independent label model where profits are split 50 - 50. They can sell their main artists music online (and their back catalogs that don't get shelf space in the stores), plus 1000s more independent artists and acts at the same time. The recording technology has improved so much that they could use independent acts that have done their recordings themselves and developed their own product. Of course they should be selective about their Internet roster, otherwise they will create a site like MP3.com, overloaded with many who are just musical rookies. The record company would have no investment in the independent act other than setting up their web site for distribution. If the Independent Artist does well on their site, they could negotiate with that artist and make an investment in that artist. Artists will have a place where they can prove themselves, and if an artist has made all the investment into developing their product, the Major Label has nothing to lose. If an independent artist sells 10,000 units at $10.00 and splits it 50 - 50 with the Major Label, that's a win for both parties!
The record business also is going to have to learn that the traditional contract with an artist is going to change and is changing. The number of CD sales one has to make with a traditional record deal is enormous because the amount of money put into a musical project adds up fast with recording, promotional, video, and more expenses than one can imagine. Once lawyers, managers, and so on get their piece of the pie, the artist ends up with very little from what might seem like a huge amount of sales. Distribution is the key to success, and there are going to be more and more independent artists that realize if they sell 10,000 units themselves, they will potentially see more money at the end of the day than the artist who has sold 250,000 units through a major label. The Internet will make artists think twice about being under the rule of a major label.
I still think it's wrong to share music files with people you don't even know. If the technology was developed to get free Big Macs online, McDonalds would be freaking out just as much as the record bizz is now. The major labels need to realize that their current business model is not going to work anymore. They need to adapt, or their corner of the music business is never going to be as successful as it once was. McDonalds would probably just develop a better deal than what the "free Big Mac online" would provide. The record business needs to do the same by developing better sounding files than what is currently being traded back and forth online, by expanding their product line, by using encoding that allows the file to only be available for the personal use of the purchaser, and the price must be right for the customer.
Things are changing. The major labels have been fighting a losing battle with Internet because the Internet is ideal for the distribution of music, no way around it. They must get on board and make the most of what the Internet has to offer.
Michael Leasure
#1 Where on the Internet can people find out more about your and your musical activities?
My MP3.com site - www.mp3.com/michaelleasure is the site that is pretty much up to date. Any music project that I am involved in that is noteworthy, I would post there on MP3.com. One project that I am currently putting together for Carnival Cruise Lines is a jazz trio. It will feature Karl Kaminski on upright bass and Andy O'Neill on drums. Both are graduates of Manhattan School of Music and are regulars in the NYC area. This trio tour will begin in NYC May 21st and end in Ft. Lauderdale Nov. 21st. I am extremely excited about the gig and the music. I am really lucky to have found Karl and Andy since many accomplished musicians are not willing to live on a ship for 6 months. What I most like about the cruise gigs are the international audiences and their reaction to jazz and my music. Secondly, since I am a musician through and through, life becomes simple and I can focus on music issues in a relaxed environment while being paid a salary. It is our salaries that make this happen on a healthy level. The music will happen anyway but the constant instability can, and has, taken a toll on the creative lives of a countless number of musicians. Carnival has been fantastic to me. I’ve earned my stripes and do not want to compete with other musicians for a $100.00 a night gig that occurs once a week, as is common with jazz and original music in every local scene I have ever been a part of.
#2 What artists inspired you to develop your own voice, and why?
Firstly I grew up in a time with a lot of energy being spent on music everywhere.
It was the 60's and 70's. There were a lot of paying gigs around and a lot of interaction with other musicians.
I was not only playing music at an early age, I was composing as well. The first piece of music I ever played was my own composition.
I grew up in Marietta, Ohio and there certainly was no one in that town that cared whether I had my own voice or not. They probably would have been happier if I played and sounded like John Denver. I remember being told a lot that I was different.
My voice first emerged as a blend of rock, classical and folk. It was what the area wanted to hear and I got paying gigs. Lucky for me I landed a resort gig outside of NYC when I was 18 and fully immersed myself in jazz. The first well known jazz musicians I heard were Charlie Parker, George Benson, Tal Farlow, Chick Corea and Freddie Hubbard. Most of the artists were recording on the CTI label. This music was coming from a completely different place/culture. In my trying to reconcile my Ohio roots to this music I discovered an artist that helped me to define who I was. His name was Keith Jarrett. His music moved me to a place I wanted to be. Jarrett had the technique of a classical virtuoso and the creative ideas of a jazz artist. This artist, through his recordings, helped me to define for myself what I wanted to strive for and gave me the inspiration to continue. This opened up the world of the EMC recording artists. I was captivated with the artists, their sound and their music. Boston was the next place for me.
#3 How have your private studies with Mick Goodrick, Gary Burton and Michael Gibbs influenced you and your musical directions?
Mick Goodrick was the first guitarist I heard that helped me to define who I was as a guitarist. I absolutely loved his solo on a piece called "Coral", composed by Keith Jarrett and recorded by the Gary Burton quartet.
I took 10 lessons with Mick Goodrick and I give him credit for influencing more than a generation of Boston guitarists. Both Mick Goodrick and John Abercrombie. Up until this time I was self taught.
I also wanted to know Pat Metheny and I took one lesson with him. As much as I liked him and his music, this was not a positive experience overall, but he did like the way I played. I used to play a lot of his music from Bright Size Life. Since he has become a star I resent the credit he receives for the creative work of others.
Gary Burton was instrumental in clarifying my theory questions about improvisation.
Michael Gibbs was another teacher who helped me to define who I was as an orchestrator/arranger. To this day I still hear traditional classical orchestrations as the background instrumentation for the way I play. It's the Chamber/Jazz style that I hear. For example: "Christmas 2000" - A Thousand Years Of Christmas Music.
#4 With such a varied background in Jazz and Classical music, what is your compositional process like?
I Feel, I Hear, I Think - Music that I have never heard before has always been in my head. Naturally when you have studied the composition techniques of classical composers from Mozart to Elliot Carter this will help you to think of many more possibilities and give you some tools for organization.
It can be work and re-work. For the most part the last 5 years have not been about "serious" composing for me. The music never stops but it has been music that usually fits on one page of manuscript, it is easily readable/understandable/playable by other musicians and resonates naturally with my music's eternal self.
Sometimes it is logical and clever - Sometimes it is naive and innocent. When describing "First and Third View Of An Ocean", I say it goes everywhere and nowhere.
The germ of all of my compositions is inspiration.
#5 What was it like working with Dr. George Butler of Columbia Jazz, and CBS?
My publishing/management company (secretary, manager, lawyer) flew Dr. Butler into Satellite Beach, Florida to hear me perform solo. In 3 days time I put together an instrumental show that featured some of my own music that I was performing on guitar synthesizer - check out "Piece For Electric Orchestra". My manager, lawyer and I had been to NYC a few months earlier with tapes of my music to see if there was any interest.
Out of all the really happening vocal material that I had written for The Spliff Bros, Big Bang Theory and The Michael Leasure Band my understanding was that Dr. Butler was not interested in any of it. I was a bit baffled since the style was really developed and it had a huge audience. I didn't consider myself a great singer but the music/performances were explosive. Truthfully, I was performing with great instrumentalists that did not want to sing.
I had written a piece called "Song For Michelle". It was a beautiful instrumental piece that Dr. Butler categorized as my trademark chamber/jazz/new age style. After Dr. Butler heard the tape of it he came to see me perform solo in Florida. On my first break Dr. Butler and I talked about the Bartok string quartets. I knew at that point that I was in good hands. He said he wanted to sign me and flew in producer Ronnie Foster. I was performing solo with The Maynard Ferguson Big Band in the next room!
I remember getting a lot of nasty looks from that band. I was blowin' solos with my guitar synth using sax/trumpet samples and the midi production was a wall of sound. Subsequently I was set up in a studio and began to compose 300 pieces over a 5 year period receiving phone calls from Dr. Butler every once in a while saying he really enjoyed my music and my sound, and to hang in there as I was moving to NYC. There was talk of Dr. Butler actually producing the recordings himself.
I think I was a curious artist for Dr. Butler. I played guitar synth, midi had exploded, I had classical roots, new age was being marketed, my sounds were avant garde, and considering his history in recorded jazz, I am not sure that he ever really understood electronic instruments. He did know though that the whole package was fresh, modern and interesting. Quote from Dr. Butler, "This music invokes my curiosity".
Sony bought CBS, Dr. Butler departed, and all that I had worked on for 5 years never actually got professionally recorded/released.
It was an amazing experience living with the fact that it doesn't get any bigger than this, that the music I heard in my head was to be released internationally and that my music values and what I had lived for my whole life, were validated by one of the most respected executive producers in jazz. Politics has really hurt me, and my career, time and time again. At least now I know what it is about, instead of beating myself up constantly and not feeling like I was good enough. I now know when the politics are working for me or against me. This was a hard lesson to learn for a musician farm boy from Ohio and I will never forget how many relationships in my life changed with my apparent "success". In this 5-year period I never got to ride a bicycle, instead I was expected to fly at supersonic speeds in a rocket in regards to creativity and virtuosity. I received no technical help with production, no creative advice or direction, and not one answer to any problems I was having with my career. I was a solo artist that was going to be placed in a variety of musical situations that suited the producers and my executive producer at CBS. I was expected to perform at 110% at anytime, in any situation. I received all the praise and criticism to last 2 lifetimes, finally learning that what anyone says about another person’s art means absolutely nothing. It is what we artists choose to create that matters. Let the popularity, money, star cards fall where they will.
At the time, I met and spoke to some of the most powerful execs in the business, including the president of Polygram, one of Michael Jackson’s producers, The Miami Sound Machine’s manager and many, many others. If I had even one conversation with anyone with even a distant memory of what it was like to be a musician in any of those meetings, I walked away feeling good.
#6 What do you want the listeners to get from your recordings "Ethereality" series, "Two Views of an Ocean", "Edge of Success, Live 88 - 90" and "Christmas 2000"?
"Ethereality" was recorded "live", with 300 to1000 people in the room at any one time. I recorded 2 evenings worth of music to DAT. I listened to them, tossed 2 cuts that I sucked on and pressed the rest. There are no edits/fixes. It is relaxed. It is solo jazz guitar - a real challenge for any guitarist. It is completely honest, beautiful and displays my piano approach to playing the guitar. They are by far the most requested CD’s of mine last year. 500 CD’s were sold at live shows.
"Two Views Of An Ocean" is purely avant-garde. The guitar synth paints the imaginary ocean. "It goes everywhere and nowhere, and represents my music's eternal self".
"Edge Of Success" clearly represents one of the only performances of mine while under contract expressing the excitement in my life and in my music. This music is part of the 300 pieces composed while under contract preparing to record for CBS.
I intend to release a lot more from this period when I find the time to dedicate myself to the task.
"Christmas 2000" is beautiful and respectful of Christmas, which began as a celebration of the birth of Jesus and the beginning of Christianity. I know that this is not the case anymore for many American musicians, as evidenced by the garbage I hear on the radio every year that has absolutely nothing to do with Christmas. "Christmas 2000" began in the library as I researched Christmas music from the catholic and orthodox churches. There has been a massive amount of unbelievably beautiful music written for Christmas that people will never get to hear. My research began with Hildegard Von Bingen, a nun in a German monastery around the year 1000 AD, and stopped at the 20th century, where my interest waned.
Another note to add here is that "Christmas 2000" was turned down by every attempt to get a sponsorship/grant. It's sales were denied by Carnival Cruise Lines and distribution for it was also impossible for me to get.
I was paid no advances and it cost at least $15,000 to complete. It has sold approx 500 copies and MP3 has given me approximately $2000.00 for Internet airplay.
#7 How has the Internet helped with your musical activities?
The Internet has put me in touch with people all over the world if for no other reason than camaraderie. The Internet has made me hopeful. It has energized me with new opportunities and has made me feel less lonely. The Internet taught me that I am the only musician I know making a living purely from composing/performing. When I go to put a project together with little or no money it is amazing to me how busy musicians are with everything not musical.
I want to be successful as an independent. I do not want to be owned, bought and paid for. I know I need partnerships, a lot of money, luck, and as of late, the new developments with MP3.com and others - it is all but impossible. Still, I take the contracts that are offered to me, play and write my best, and hope for an independent music business revival.
#8 What future projects should people look for from you?
My new trio will definitely record and release a few CD's.
I am undecided on the direction(s) at this point. It would be nice to release a couple of "jazz" CD's. The jazz style sells and people are usually interested in these CD’s to a point.
Sometimes the business gets complex when recording standards. Not all of them are in the public domain and so for an independent it is not worth dealing with, and obtaining and paying for the rights. Besides, this puts money in the pockets of an industry that does not put money in my pocket!
What always works is recording my music or the collective trio material.
I have plans to finish a chamber jazz CD - "As The Seasons Flow". I have been separated from my gear this past year and have not had the time to work on it. The last time I worked on a project of this magnitude it took me 2 years. It is possible for the fall of 2004. The trio will be busy until November 2003. After that time I hope to set up shop again and get this project done.
The trio will be performing on Carnival’s ship The Legend, and taking a lot of gear is sometimes impossible.
Virginia Tech Multimedia Music Dictionary
I don't always have my music dictionary handy to look up musical terms I'm not familiar with. This is a real cool resource for finding musical definitions developed by Richard Cole of the Virginia Tech Department of Music, and Ed Schwartz of the Virginia Tech New Media Center. I especially like the audio file with each term demonstrating how to pronounce the word. Worth the time to check out and keep book marked for future reference. Check out the Multimedia Music Dictionary.
Michael Leasure
You probably noticed that Michael Leasure also did this month's guest artist interview for "The Zine". Here's a great chance to see and hear him play some tunes including Lament, My Favorite Things, Masquerade and more. Be sure to check out his interview (above), and his great music at MP3.com. Check out Michael's videos here.
King Crimson
"The Power To Believe"
"The Power To Believe" is the newest release from the great band, King Crimson. This effort is another wonderful example in the Crimson catalog of disciplined musicians pushing their musical boundaries ever forward. It's just great fun to listen to musicians who can rock out but also have the ability to play with the sensitivity of chamber musicians. This allows the music to be immensely dynamic. Road testing the music before recording makes Adrian Belew and Robert Fripp sound effortless in their polyrhythmic guitar riffing, along with Trey Gunn and Pat Mastelotto laying down "in your face" grooves. Cutting edge production adds to the hipness of this recording. I especially enjoy "Level Five" for the intensity, and the sarcastic undertones of "Happy With What You Have To Be Happy With", with Belew berating younger bands for their lack of artistic ambition. Check it out, you'll be glad you did.
Musicians for "The Power To Believe"
Adrian Belew - Guitar and Vocals
Robert Fripp - Guitar
Trey Gunn - Warr Guitar, Fretless Warr Guitar
Pat Mastelotto - Traps And Buttons
Tracks for "The Power To Believe"
- The Power To Believe I: A Cappella
- Level Five
- Eyes Wide Open
- Elektrik
- Facts Of Life: Intro
- Facts Of Life
- The Power To Believe II
- Dangerous Curves
- Happy With What You Have To Be Happy With
- The Power To Believe III
- The Power To Believe IV: Coda
Click here to learn more about "The Power To Believe"
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