21ST CENTURY MUSICIAN: “Don’t You Worry ‘Bout A Thing”
[Musing In Cb on Thursday, September 24, 2009 | Download .pdf of this Musing In Cb]
We are almost a decade into the 21st Century and I still run into too many people working as professionals in the music industry today who harbor attitudes that are more in line with those of people who worked in the industry 50-70 years ago. And, at this point, there is a perversion of many of the old ways of thinking that were necessary “back in the day” that seemingly ignore that conditions for musicians have drastically changed due to the changes in the industry. I say perversion, because most of us were not alive or even significant working pros of those times.
When I hear people younger than I am portending to “know” what it was like “back in the day”, I find such a dynamic comical at best and cynical at worst. I am 53 years old – with adult children and young grandchildren; and I was only 4 when “Kind of Blue” was released. So, anyone younger than I am should really get a grip on themselves in this context because they surely got their information from a book, a class or by word of mouth from some other human who may or may not have all of the facts correct …
The point is that you can’t utilize a half century old business mindset and social paradigms of the past to engage an audience in our times – it doesn’t work. You can’t use archaic leadership and management styles in contemporary application of presenting the artists of today – no one will come out to your productions, much less sustain the art. Historic figures are great, but there are not many of those musicians still living and working today. And, the music that most of us creative musicians perpetuate isn’t intended to be an historic relic of the art form.
Everybody’s got a thing
But some don’t know how to handle it
Always reachin’ out in vain
Accepting the things not worth having …*
Okay, let’s run it down…
I believe there is a conditioned reflex where the jazz music genre is concerned. In an effort to not be left behind, some aspects of the establishment do not want the industry to move forward. Rather than remain current with the times and technology, too many seem to find it easier to stay in whatever comfort zone they might find themselves. That’s naturally human nature – we despise change in most any context and will usually resist it to the death. We often also habitually cling to the familiar, no matter how abusive or dysfunctional it may be…
They say your style of life’s a drag
And that you must go other places
But just don’t you feel too bad
When you get fooled by smiling faces … *
I also believe that many areas in our profession will remain stagnant until we, as artists, have collectively moved into an attitude of self-reliance; rather than one that seems to be looking for a record company (or some other patronizing institution) to support our existence as artists.
Today, if you can gain access to a computer and Internet connection (your own machine or use of one at most any public library), there are so many resources available to artists in our age. Many of these resources are free. We have never seen this type of autonomy in human history.
Changing of the guard – is a good thing…
Jealousy over another artist getting signed in this age is almost too stupid. All, yes all, of the signed artists I’ve ever come across and interacted with personally were more than gifted performing musicians. They were also astute business people who had an assembled organizational team around them that had usually been operating as such for many years – regardless of the artist’s age.
When someone who has never been signed to a major record label tries to tell me who should be (or rather deserves to be) signed to a major record label contract, it is all I can do to keep from laughing out loud at how ridiculous that sounds. And yet, there are many esteemed colleagues who perpetuate this dynamic – not only among peers and in public, but they fill the heads of our young kids under their tutelage with this type of nonsense. That’s obscene.
Everybody needs a change
A chance to check out the new
But you’re the only one to see
The changes you take yourself through … *
I personally know a pianist who was eventually signed to a major record label contract. This young cat has been an organization since he was 11 or 12 years old. So, it surprises me when I hear older musicians “hate on” him, because in doing so these “haters” reveal that they really don’t have a clue how business actually works.
Gatekeepers
I have also heard too many colleagues state that there is so much mediocrity being released and promoted on CD today. I almost always laugh, if not out loud when I hear such nonsense, at least to myself. Most of the people in every profession or field are mediocre – if we consider the use here as a “put down” for being the average B+ student that most people inherently are.
Gatekeepers generally have had the power to say who gets recognized for their work in the field of music. Additionally, gatekeepers have also had the power of deciding who should be presented to the public and then what the public should think about the chosen ones. I say this was as much of a social condition as it was anything artistic. Yes, it is a given that the artist must be a first-rate talent. We won’t even go there. But, the society of jazz musicians during the 1940s, 1950s, 1960s and part of the 1970s was not as open to minorities and women as our 21st Century society is. Research the expatriate movement among jazz musicians as validation.
Such power is now in the hands of the listener and buyer – where it should always be…
If someone is in this music to be a gatekeeper as they existed in the old school paradigm of the jazz world, they need to get another angle because folks don’t need others permission to create or present their music to the world. You may keep me out of your club or festival, but you can’t keep my music from reaching people via the Internet or through concerts in my community. You certainly do not have the power to keep me from writing original music, doing research in the field, then making professional recordings and releasing them to the world.
It’s a big world. There is opportunity for everyone to be very successful…
Peace, Cb
© Christopher L. Burnett. All Rights Reserved.
—
Don’t You Worry About A Thing – Stevie Wonder
*From the verses of: “Don’t You Worry ‘Bout A Thing” by Stevie Wonder
