[Dixielandjazz] Business of Music - Was All good things Come to an End.

[Steve barbone]

Artie Shaw learned, on his first gig as a leader what the business of music
was. He told the ballroom manager that his was the best jazz/swing band
around. The reply?

"You listen to me. My problem is to get enough dough to pay you and your
goddam band and all the rest of the expenses I got to pay to run this joint.
Your problem is to get people in here. And if you want to take your pants
down on that goddam bandstand every night and take a crap up there, and if
people'll pay to come in here to see you do it, I'll pay you to take a crap
up there every night. That's how much I give a good goddam about what kind
of music you're playing, you hear me?" (From his book)

Of course, Shaw also said: "I hate the fans. They won't even let me play
without interrupting me. They scream when I play, they don't listen. They
don't care about the music."

He made enough money, quit playing. Very few professionals can do that.
Some, like some fans, bitch and moan about the unfairness of how artistic
talent goes unrewarded, and/or how nobody appreciates the music.

However, if the music cannot pay for its own performance, then it will
surely languish. As for complaining artists in the business or in the
audience, consider song #16, of the Top 50 Conservative Rock songs:

16. "Get Over It," by The Eagles.
Against the culture of grievance it starts out; "The big, bad world doesn't
owe you a thing." There's also this nice line: "I'd like to find your inner
child and kick its little ass."

Louis Armstrong knew it, and every person making a living in music knows it.
It is all about "audience." Even in a Casino, the job is simple, not to
bring people in, but to make the losers happy so they will come back and
lose again. . . and again. Showboat does it with party music, 10 minutes at
a time, in various locations by a marching band. Not in one spot long enough
to do serious harm to the money machines. Borgata does it with "Borgata
Babes, etc. They all use some sort of "hook" to keep the same losers
returning to their favorite Casino because they had a good time losing
there. We did that with New Orleans Jazz, successfully for 15 months.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone