[Dixielandjazz] Taking Care of Business

[Steve barbone]

Here is the abbreviated gist of a newspaper article in the business section
of the NY Times. While not specifically about OKOM, IMO, it applies to all
forms of music these days.

----begin article

Singer/Rock Musician Steve Miller (Take The Money & Run", "Fly Like an
Eagle") recently was among a number of speakers at a conference of 400
business Executives in Atlanta GA. The presentations included topics such as
"Benchmarking for Competitive Advantage".

Said Miller attired in a gray business suit: "I love playing but you can't
get to the good stuff unless you keep an eye on the business."

"Miller's speech underlies a truth that's become more obvious recently. Rock
& Roll is big business and hard-living stereotypes aside, the rockers who
succeed over the long run are the ones paying attention to business." . . .

"It's a whole different kind of world we live in now", said Doug Brod,
executive editor of Spin Magazine. "Artists want control over how they are
getting paid; a lot of them just want to take it into their own hands." . .

"Experts say changes in the industry are requiring artists to be even more
mindful of ways to market themselves and their music, to the public."

"The onus really falls on the artists to promote their own careers" said
Matt Hatau, VP of Signature network, a music marketing company that has
worked with KISS, Madonna, Bruce Springsteen and U2.

----end article

As I see it THE SAME GOES FOR OKOM and Jazz in general. Other jazz chat
lists I monitor have a fair amount of bitching about how the record
companies, the club owners, no longer promote the artists and the fans, no
longer come out to see them. "Woe is me" says the forgotten jazz artist.

OK, so do it yourself Monsieur l'artiste. With a few exceptions, most of us
jazz players/band leaders don't seem to have grasped the concept yet. For
folks who are supposed to be change agents, improvisers, the hippest of the
hip, we sure seem to be stuck in the mud.

Which of the following three kinds of people are we?

Those that make it happen.
Those that watch it happen.
Those that say, "what happened?"

Cheers,
Steve Barbone

PS. Even the hippie image rock group "Wide Spread Panic" is a 14 million
dollar a year corporation with profit sharing, pension plan, and health care
benefits for it's employees. And Board of Directors Meetings etc.