[Dixielandjazz] Why is it that big business always gets a hold ofart and takes the life> blood out of it?

Sat Oct 27 11:38:34 PDT 2007

What it boils down to is the question is it art or is it commercial and can 
it be both?

I happen to be a commercial artist.  I do layouts and occasionally do 
something original.  My customers love me and everyone on this list has seen 
my artwork.  It appears in all the major's parking lots (Wal Mart - Lowe's - 
Home Depot) and on at least 4000 trucking companies mud flaps.  Not a one of 
you remember it at all and probably no one considers it art at all.  I make 
a ton of money doing that and work only about 2-3 hours a day and sometimes 
not at all.

My son in law who is a real artist with actual talent can't do what I do. 
I'm not an artsy craftsy guy.  My son in law would be lucky to sell his 
cartoons and work but just can't seem to do it.  He rarely makes a dime on 
it.

Being an innovator is great and even possibly in the music business the gold 
ring to fortune.  If that's what you want to go for then I think it's great 
and if you can get others to sign onto your dream even better but when I 
want to be "Artsey" the biggest problem I have is everybody around here 
wants a $100 bill in his hand or else go away.

Getting a group of someone's to sign on for whatever and wherever the mood 
takes us, probably for free because we won't make any money for maybe a long 
time and then getting the audience to like it and what's more important pay 
for it.

If you don't care about the money then I think it's great to do whatever and 
more power to you.  The true artist probably doesn't care.  He  is listening 
to his own metronome and has his own goals that don't have to mesh with 
anyone else.  If someone else shares that then great.

Personally I have taken the same commercial art approach that I use in my 
business.

Do I play Jazz?  Yes I do but heavy and not all the time.  Most of the time 
I play commercial music that is what the crowd wants to hear, sort of like a 
live juke box.  By balancing what I do I get to do both and I'm still in the 
business which is really important to me.

At the end of the day my "art" keeps me in business and people pay me to do 
what I do.  There is absolutely nothing wrong with business or what it might 
demand.  Artists don't have to sign their name to any corporate deals.  They 
choose to for the MONEY.  It's a partnership and in all partnerships someone 
gets to be on the bottom.

Most business finds a formula and then does it over and over again.  A good 
example is McDonald's Hamburger.  Find the formula and repeat it.  Bands do 
exactly the same thing.  I fail to see what's wrong with that. Not every 
band or musician is capable of or even wants to be all that innovative but 
they like to entertain, make a few bucks and enjoy playing for an audience 
that likes what they do.  If this weren't true we wouldn't be so plagued 
with hobby musicians.

It seems to me that it's business that forces innovation because they have 
their hand on the pulse of what people want.  They try this and that and 
find something that works and then go for it.  They do try to influence 
people to buy what they are selling.  The instant the books show loss they 
bail out and try other things.  They always have a plan B and new people 
waiting in the wings.  It's the other things that push the business forward 
and that's exactly why most of us decry the fact that few people hire OKOM 
bands and that it's not real profitable.  Big business and the public simply 
moved on to other things.

It would be wonderful to be totally free but I live on this planet and have 
to make a living.  I think the trick is to strike the balance between the 
demands of the commercial world and what makes you satisfied with your music 
and art.
Larry
StL.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Steve Barbone" <barbonestreet at earthlink.net>
To: "Larry Walton" <larrys.bands at charter.net>
Cc: "Dixieland Jazz Mailing List" <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2007 10:46 PM
Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Why is it that big business always gets a hold 
ofart and takes the life> blood out of it?

> philwilking at bellsouth.net wrote:
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>>Because that's how the creatures who rise to the top of large corporations
>>think.
>
>>1) There is nothing but the making of a profit.
>
>>2) What sold before will sell again, always has, always will, so keep on
>>rolling out the same product, making as few substantive changes as 
>>possible
>>along the way.
>
>>3) Innovation is risky, because, even if all you intended to do was to 
>>make
>>production more efficient in order to increase profit margin,  you may
>>inadvertently change a known money maker just enough to mess up sales.
>
>>4) Art is much worse than innovation because it intentionally changes 
>>things
>>things a lot, and most of it is not commercial (=saleable), so revert to
>>rule 1 and not only not support art, but actively destroy it when you can 
>>to
>>prevent diversion of customers' attention from your own product.
>
> Numbers 2, 3, and 4 bring up an interesting problem if we relate them to 
> the
> current state of Dixieland, at least in the USA.
>
> Many current bands seem to be stuck in a time slot that mirrors 2 above.
> "Making as few substantive changes as possible", while steadfastly
> declaiming that what they play is "The Truth" since it was good enough for
> grandpa 70 years ago, it should be good enough for everybody else today.
>
> Nor do they innovate like in 3 above.
>
> And they ignore 4 above treating innovation as if it was the enemy. What,
> make changes? Like Louis or Bix, or Condon or Watters, or Turk, or the
> British Trad guys? Nah, not me. I'll just copy them.
>
> The only problem is 1 above. There is no profit in jazz for most of the
> players.
>
> Hmmmmmmmm.
>
> Cheers,
> Steve Barbone
>
>
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