Wil - "1975" Western Canada Tour
posted by
Wil on Oct 26, 2010
How musical artists deliver their music to the public in no way resembles how it was done, in say, 1975. Back then, an artist or band made music and in order for that music to be heard, at all, that artist needed to be signed to a recording label whose sole purpose was to develop, then market that music through albums, radio play and live concert performances.
The recording business is going through its biggest change in the shortest time since the recorded song was first presented as a commodity yet, the actual making of “music” by anyone is stronger than ever. Going viral can get you an instant spot on Oprah yet somehow this music isn’t making the same lasting impact as it did in the past– when an entire decade was labeled by the success and impact of a sound (classic rock, disco, punk, grunge…) It wasn’t just people buying a single – it was fans buying into an experience-finding and witnessing something real and deep and knowing and realizing they were witnessing something special.
The digital age has taken the music business, stuffed into a big old Folgers coffee can, shook the shit out of it then flung the remnants out onto the front lawn. Anyone, with a stake in it had to go through those pieces and collect what still made any sense or could be salvaged.
I put out my first album, Both Hands” in 2003, round about when the “Folgers Shaking” was just starting to kick into high gear. I signed to a major record label when all the layoffs were starting to take place and my A&R department went from 20 to 4 people in about a week. I have to admit that I had a wonderful relationship with them throughout the uncertainty, evolution and deconstruction but at the end of the day it ultimately did not really matter. I am not saying I don’t care about the state of the music business: it does drastically affect me, my family and my fellow friends/musicians but the economics has never been what makes me love what I do nor define who I am and what I was designed for and that is: to stand up in front of an audience with my instrument, physically delivering my intentions, telling my stories and moving those people that came to my show… but… It’s not just that in itself that I love; it’s everything else about touring; the so called “hard part” - the endless driving-the 5am wake up, drive, drive, interview, sound check, play show, sleep, repeat - the part that has broken up more bands than we will ever know…. and why not? It sounds like a bloody nightmare for anyone who requires any form of stability, familiarity or any form of a steady income.
I often think of the of a band I listened to in my youth, Iron
Maiden. They are still one of the biggest touring bands on the planet – Don’t believe me? Well, they played to over 2 million people worldwide on their 2008-09 world tour and they achieved this feat by performing “live” – with out radio play, without tubes and tweets, this band personally connected to every fan. Of course, the countless cell phone recordings of show snippets now play a part in the wave of new fans but this band was already massive before those viral tools came into play, the viral tool was literally “ word of mouth “ to go but a n album or get a concert ticket- not by thousands of promos being given away with hopes of some sort of exposure for 5 minutes.
Now, I am not looking to be Iron Maiden by any means. I am more of an AM Gold kind of guy, like maybe Jim Croce or Don McLean but as long as I am breathing, I am going to deliver my songs, the ones I wrote at home in my little studio in the woods with no less passion and personality than Mr. Bruce Dickens.
In November, I am heading out in my truck with my wife and tour manager, pulling my gear over the sharp mountains and wind blown fields of this country and I am going to show up, meet the front house technicians and the promoters who booked me, shake their hands, sound check, find my room, then get back in time to perform to every single person who took the time to show up and watch a man be the songwriter, the singer, the musician, the performer; the things that have not been taken away or lost while the music business continues to search for its legs: for me and who ever comes to my show, its going to be much like it was in, say, 1975.
Very much looking forward sharing my music with you in person.
Thanks,
Wil.
www.ibreakstrings.com
posted by
Wil on Oct 26, 2010