SXSW and the Death of ‘Life’ Music… By Whitney Farmer – Un Pop Culture

March 24, 2011 Whitney Farmer 0 Comments

Whitney runs a rock music venue on the beach in L.A. She has an M.B.A, and is a new fan of Americana music.

The world-class Paul Thorn played again at the club. Halfway through the set, Paul looked over to me where I often stand on the stairs by the back door and near the green room entrance in case the band needs something during their performance. He began to do the polite ritual of thanking the venue for bringing them in, but his rituals are never routine.

“I’d like to thank Miss Whitney (I love that…) for her kind hospitality.  Ya’ know, I’ve always had a thing for a beautiful blonde women with a beautiful pair of…(pause…wait for it)…eyeglasses, and a beautiful flowered dress, and a denim jacket, and cowboy boots…wearing two different colored socks…”

The room erupted with laughter over not just the revelation that I had on mismatched socks but with the speculation about how he would know. Despite rumors, the story was innocent.

After soundcheck, I had brought a bottle of Jack Daniels into the green room for the band. Ready for doors, I also had just put on my three knuckle floral ring (brass knuckle) that has won the respect of the security force and happened to match my dress. One of the guys, maybe Paul, said, “Whitney Darlin’, you look absolutely stunning as usual. And you are all matchin’”. I said something about loving the nights when our Southern brothers come to visit, then said that I had to confess that I had on two different colored socks which – though they couldn’t see them – kept me humble because only God is perfect. I knew of a tradition in some cultures that requires a stitch to be miswoven in a rug or a tile to be set reversed in a mosaic pattern to remind us of our flawed humanity before the Divine. My clashing socks were the same, or so I told myself as I was scrambling to get out the door on time.

Throughout the day, Southern drawls and kind phrases washed the place clean of any vestiges of curses that might have been left hiding in the corners like cobwebs. From the stage, the band served up grace notes and melodies to a crowd that ate ‘em up like it was a feast after a long fast. The songs that were familiar in the two dimensions of CDs pushed into the third as people moved and danced and laughed. People who had been to many shows were recognized and honored from the stage as if they were friends.

I had been surprised that we were able to book Paul Thorn because of the pop-culture magnet of South By Southwest (SXSW) convention that was happening in Austin – close to where the band is based – during that time. That city comes alive as a monumental mashup of media opportunities each year. Originally started in the 80s to promote regional music artists, the event now features a film festival, digital media launches, and stadium headliners doing pop-up events and performances in dive bars and during parking lot tailgates. I had seriously pondered saying yes to an invitation I had received to attend, but I couldn’t trust myself to not ditch professional responsibilities and escape into a beautiful pair of green eyes in San Antonio.

Following news of the gathering, one panel discussion was particularly noteworthy.  It was on the future of live music and featured representatives of a media conglomerate that is causing seismic shifts in the industry, and the Department of Justice who is watching the consolidations that could put free market practices at risk.  What has been transpiring in the sector is what naturally happens with most industries, but can reach a level wherein regulation is necessary to protect the market opportunities of consumers against monopolies.  The process that is occurring now is rapid vertical and horizontal integration.

As we all fondly recall when we first were taught macroeconomic theory, as a sector matures, competitors merge with each other horizontally or vertically with essential goods and service providers downstream or up to capture economies of scale or efficiency. As an example in this business, it takes as much work to order beer for one club or ten, and a larger order can give the purchaser the power to negotiate price breaks from vendors. This is the horizontal integration engine behind the economic freight train that is Wal-Mart. An example of vertical integration is what McDonalds did when they entered the former Soviet Union. To control quality, they pulled every product provider under the corporate umbrella up to and including the potatoe and tomotoe farmers (kidding: no ‘e’s). This reduces or eliminates the dramas of getting quality supplies on time in order to do business.

But industry consolidation often isn’t in the best interests of the market in the long run. As loss leading predatory pricing strategies led by well-funded competitors drive smaller players from the market, consumers are often left with poorer quality and fewer choices because of this. Iron sharpens iron, and fewer competitors often means incremental sloppiness creeping into what entities are left standing after a bloodbath.

The government doesn’t like monopolies for all of the right reasons. Some natural monopolies such as utilities must be tolerated. But even these few examples such as cable or energy companies are notorious for abysmal customer service and innovation failures.

Live music is being gobbled up right now by conglomerates. How this is occurring is through multiple practices. Ticketing services with exclusive presentation rights are being integrated into the exhibition venues that will house these shows. Artists are being required to sign contracts that allow them to perform only at conglomerate-affiliated venues in exchange for premium-priced booking deals that drive smaller venues from the market. Often, shows are bought with a premium price paid to the performers for exclusive rights in a geographic region and then offered for sale to the public at a loss in order to buy the market. In the short run, the public get amazing shows perhaps even for free. In the long run, only cruddy shows viewed from nosebleed seats bought for too much. The small venues where you can look in the eyes of the guy on stage and know that he is going to playfully crack a joke about you will be gone. And the performers who are brilliant but can’t fill a stadium warehouse will never be heard in your city.

All sides are faced with challenges to moral character. If compromises and greed gut the industry, the only help would be the regulation provided by a government crackdown on monopoly practices.

Can this triumph of mediocrity be avoided? Don’t know if it can. But in battles such as this, always stick by the craftsmen. They are the ones who provide the fruit and the fuel. All of these systems and structures that have developed around their music to support their music must not be allowed to control the music. Our role is to define how we can support the craft. Whether it is in resisting our urge to pirate music, choosing to buy directly from the artist’s website, going to their shows at independent venues and buying their merch when you are there, or championing their work through social networks…all strategies might be ultimately unsuccessful in turning back the tidal wave that is hitting the industry. But it can help the artists rise above until the storm passes.

Quote of the Blog, from Mick Jagger – trying to work out at the Four Seasons Hotel gym – when overzealous Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown tried to open up a conversation with the uninterested rocker by saying he had succeeded the late Sen. Edward Kennedy: “Well, you certainly have some pretty big shoes to fill….” Jagger then refused to sign an autograph.