why don't i do it myself?
because i'm a contradiction. i'm complaining that the music scene sucks (which is not the same thing as arguing that there are't any good albums being released), but i have a large, sprawling discography that i couldn't possibly perform live in any way other than pressing play on a playlist. in theory, i should benefit from the shift to personalized streaming, except that i'm violently opposed to reducing my art to content to act as a medium for ads.
i've been trying to find a drummer that i can work with for years and have mostly given up, but i don't want to show up with a drum machine, because i think that's lame. i understand how to adjust, but i don't want to adjust, i want to go do something else.
you can stream my recorded music on the links on the side. i have some live music written that i'd like to perform for you (it's not the same as the music on the side), but i have to find some like-minded musicians that are willing to shut up and do what i tell them, first, and i haven't been able to do that. i can't do this alone; i'm not very good at meeting friends. i don't play well with others. i can be extremely mean and not very nice.
i want to post some suggestions as to what the young people can do to save their music scene, if they want to. i'm not convinced they want to, but here's how to do it if they do.
1. bring back house shows. by house shows, i don't mean house parties. i don't mean "block parties". i mean concerts in basements or backyards, where bands perform live music (they can be electronic bands) and guests pay a reasonable amount to get in, of which most goes to the band and some goes to the house. this is necessary to blunt the profit motive to rebuild the scene. the venues are either owned by large promoters (this is a big problem) or have huge rent bills to pay and can't gamble on art over profit. the only economically feasible starting point is the house show. prioritize creativity over marketability. don't overcharge. pay the artists. take a minimal cut and operate at cost. you're in this to save the scene, not to put your kids through college. if the venues start to realize that the house shows are cutting into their audiences because there's a market for better music, they'll adjust to it. further, it's ok to book multiple genres on the same bill and is even recommended. some of the best nights i've had start with a punk show in the evening and turn into in all night rave. a 12 hour party that starts with a good rock set and turns into a bumping techno party before shutting down with an ambient set when the sun comes up would be an awesome house show.
2. reclaim college radio and step away from internet streaming. your spotify playlist doesn't have an audience and isn't going to get one. it's not somewhere that a community of people can go to and listen to the same thing. you have to realize the value in people listening to the same stream and try to get control of the means of production in a way that can actually broadcast. you could in theory hook your spotify playlist up to an fm signal, and maybe that's how you do it, but you need a physical place on the dial. the internet isn't good enough and the whole industry is going to collapse if you don't realize that and take a step back from it.
3. stop selling commodities and start selling art. you're not a fashion designer. you're not doing marketing for the paperclip factory. this isn't a hustle to profit off a third party product. it's about the music, so make it about the music.
4. get rid of the moderators. let the shows be open spaces and stop trying to control the behaviour of concert goers (within legal bounds). if people are assholes, confront them on it, but don't police them over it. you will lose more concertgoers by moderating the space than you will attract by creating "safe spaces".
i think you'll find that if you build it then they will come, so long as you make it about the music, and make sure the music is good.