Either way, all musicians are entrepreneurs. Some have boards of directors, marketing teams, advertising teams, accountants, tour managers, and those cute people who bring custom M&M's backstage, but the local musician typically doesn't.
History has shown that record labels were the behemoth force behind taking an artist or artists and supplying them with their multi-billion dollar team to ensure world-wide success for each and every one of them. This is still true to a certain extent, but in recent years labels have been scrambling for endorsement money, abusing artists, and suing 13 year old girls for downloading music. Here in lies the plight of the modern musician: the local singer/songwriter movement.
Singer/songwriters are nothing new. The roots of Folk music, Blues, rock, and essentially everything we know and love has stemmed from the scion of the inspired solo artist. Somewhere along the way something changed. The pungent aroma of band culture took over. Rock gods replaced the humble hymns of meaningful lyrics, simple stories, and poems. Electric instruments beckoned hells fire and mounds of cocaine brought a new meaning to the renaissance artistry of the musician. Now as a result we all have anxiety, depression, and another democratic president.
Here enters the local singer/songwriter. Pure entrepreneurship in it most raw form. The local songwriter has tons of marketing tools, distribution tools, and live channels which to send his/her art through. In fact, there are so many musicians sending out so much music that it is impossible to keep track any more outside of a generalized genre of your own personal liking. The only problem for the musician now is making a living in a saturated world market on the brink of complete media overload. There is a chasm that must be crossed from the everyday level of market media to the big leagues or the cathedrals, if you will.
Long story semi-less long: There is a misconception about how local artists make money in this day and age. Most people don't understand that most of them lose money manufacturing CD's, they make dimes off of their merchandise, and some venues barely even pay their bar tabs. Often I hear people asking how they can help local musicians succeed because they are changed, touched, or inspired by their art and I have a few tips.
The best way to support artists is the most fun way. Go to their shows. Packed shows are the life blood of the modern musician. Talk to the artists; get involved with them. Sign the email contact sheet. If you like the music, buy a CD. Go on iTunes and write a short comment. Tell your friends. Rinse and repeat. That is it.
May the best Brü Haus players become Cathedral packing world changers from the ground up.
