Posted on 05/26/2004 8:28:06 AM PDT by FilmCutter
THE WAY THE MUSIC DIED PBS Airdate: Thursday, May 27, at 9 P.M., 60 minutes
In the recording studios of Los Angeles and the boardrooms of New York, they say the record business has been hit by a perfect storm: a convergence of industry-wide consolidation, Internet theft, and artistic drought. The effect has been the loss of billions of dollars, thousands of jobs, and that indefinable quality that once characterized American pop music.
“It’s a classic example of art and commerce colliding and nobody wins,” says Nic Harcourt, music director at Los Angeles’s KCRW-FM. “It’s just a train wreck.”
In “The Way the Music Died,” airing Thursday, May 27, at 9 P.M. on PBS (check local listings), FRONTLINE® follows the trajectory of the recording industry from its post-Woodstock heyday in the 1970s and 1980s to what one observer describes as a “hysteria” of mass layoffs and bankruptcy in 2004.
“This is the story of how the pressures to perform financially have affected the ability of many pop musicians to make the art they want,” says FRONTLINE producer Michael Kirk. “The starkness of the difference between the environment that exists in the midst of this ‘perfect storm’ and the way the business once operated is nothing short of astonishing.”
The documentary tells its story through the aspirations and experiences of four artists: veteran musician David Crosby, who has seen it all in a career spanning 35 years; songwriter/producer Mark Hudson, a former member of The Hudson Brothers band; Hudson’s daughter, Sarah, who is about to release her first single and album; and a new rock band, Velvet Revolver, composed of former members of the rock groups Guns n’ Roses and Stone Temple Pilots, whose first album will be released in June. But how will these artists fare at a time when the record industry is clearly hurting?
“It’s a big moment,” says Melinda Newman, West Coast bureau chief for Billboard magazine. “There are about 30,000 albums released a year, maybe a hundred are hits. Sales have fallen from $40 billion to $28 billion in just three years.”
FRONTLINE follows the trends in the record business that led to unprecedented growth of more than 20 percent per year in the 25 years following the industry watershed at Woodstock. Crosby, for example, recalls how his new band’s album made millions after Crosby, Stills, and Nash performed at the legendary rock concert.
“It was the moment when all that generation of hippies looked at each other and said, ‘Wait a minute! We’re not a fringe element. There’s millions of us! We’re what’s happening here,’” Crosby tells FRONTLINE.
FRONTLINE follows the career of rocker Mark Hudson, whose group The Hudson Brothers began as a 1970s rock band. “It was post-Woodstock, pre-disco, pre-MTV. So it was a point when music still had truckloads of integrity,” Hudson tells FRONTLINE. “Somebody was getting ready to exploit rock and roll.”
Hudson tells his story of how the business changed him and how The Hudson Brothers ended up becoming TV stars as the summer replacement for the Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour. In the early 1980s, MTV fueled a further explosion of interest and seemed to broaden the appeal of rock music.
But surprisingly, there are those who now argue MTV was a negative force. “What it did really is make the business a one trick pony—and everything became about the three minutes, the single, the hit single,” entertainment attorney Michael Guido tells FRONTLINE. “I think the album died with MTV. The culture in the record companies in the last twenty years has been to reward artists for three minutes of music, not for forty minutes of music.”
Some critics fear that the industry’s need for quick hits has made it difficult for more adventurous artists to offer the unique sounds and challenging themes that have long been the hallmark of the best album artists.
FRONTLINE also examines the effect of consolidation of ownership on the music industry. “What you had were these people who had been tremendous entrepreneurs…bought up by a multi-conglomerate,” Billboard’s Newman says. “And it just changes the complexion. The whole way you’re having to make decisions is based on different models.”
Michael “Blue” Williams, manager of the Grammy Award-winning OutKast, agrees. “We’re run by corporations now,” he says. “We have accountants running two of four majors now, and they don’t get it. It’s a numbers game. And music has always been a feelings game.”
The consolidation of the radio industry also negatively impacted the recording industry, observers say. “Thousands of radio stations changed hands, and companies that wanted to really get on radio were able to pull up some enormous multibillion dollar mergers,” Los Angeles Times reporter Jeff Leeds tells FRONTLINE. “Suddenly a company that once owned three dozen stations could suddenly own a thousand.”
With programming decisions centralized at the corporate level, most stations follow a mandated play list. In some cases, it’s just fourteen songs per week—leaving little airtime for the introduction of new artists.
FRONTLINE profiles Mark Hudson’s daughter singer/songwriter Sarah Hudson as she prepares to release her first album at a time when the music industry is struggling. “For any new artist, the odds are almost insurmountable. I think if they knew the odds, they would never get in the first place. You know, the vast, vast majority of records go absolutely no where,” Newman says.
Vying with Hudson for a place on the Billboard charts is Velvet Revolver, a “super band” backed by RCA Records, a label that is betting heavily on the group. FRONTLINE follows the marketing of the band as its members struggle to return to the spotlight. Velvet Revolver’s manager says success takes more than an expensive video and a marketing campaign. “It’s still all about the kids. If the kids want to request it, it gets played more and more. The more it gets played, the more people buy. The more people buy, the more records they sell. The more records they sell, shazam, you’re a rock star,” David Codikow says.
“The Way the Music Died” is a FRONTLINE co-production with the Kirk Documentary Group. The producer, writer, and director is Michael Kirk.
FRONTLINE is produced by WGBH Boston and is broadcast nationwide on PBS. Funding for FRONTLINE is provided through the support of PBS viewers. Additional support is provided by U.S. News & World Report. FRONTLINE is closed-captioned for deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers. FRONTLINE is a registered trademark of WGBH Educational Foundation. The executive producer for FRONTLINE is David Fanning.
BUMP
I'm surprised that any band that wasn't actually psychobilly would promote themselves as psychobilly. That's not exactly the friendliest scene to outsiders, and if you're a poser, you could easily find yourself getting the sh!t kicked out of you by some drunken punkabilly psycho dudes! I wouldn't be callin' myself psychobilly unless I meant it!
Second, you've seen the Hellacopters live? They never really come around Rochester so the best I can do for now is their DVD. It's awesome, for $20 you should buy it if you like them. The Hellacopters are one of my favorite bands.
Check out Superdrag, Drunk Horse, and Ednaswap, for starters. Man that list could be so much longer... Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Kyuss (older, but...), QOTSA's Desert Sessions stuff, so many hundreds of bands...
Actually the popularity of discos (and disco music) in the 1970s is linked to today's music downfall (the resurgence of discos and house music).
Nightclubs can pay a DJ far less than it would cost for a band, a soundman, etc. Live bands have very few options of where to play (when you consider just how many bars there are in a town). Here the modern discos cost millions of dollars to build/decorate and cover charge is $10-30 a night for a local DJ.
Without live music there is a drop in people listening to bands' albums as well.
I can't quite picture "Christian punk" music for some reason...
The suits will eventually be destroyed. With music sharing, the main viable way to make money from music is going to be live performances.
If the modern music sucks you can always buy an album from another time. Of course, those sales won't be tracked for "chart success" so if 100,000 people decide to buy David Bowie's The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust this week it won't go back on the charts.
the music was FUN in the 1960-70s because small groups had an opportunity for a national audience. many times they had only one hit.but the music industry did not want them.
the music industry wanted big hitters like michael jackson and madonna in the 1980s, and they stifled the small groups.
so, who cares about the music industry? they created their own problems.
So few words, so much truth. BUMP!
I might be more impressed by rap bands if they had a band. Instead of ripping off James Brown horn section loops, they should have their own group of tight horn players.
Wasn't the Hudson Brothers TV Show called "The Hudson Brothers Razzle Dazzle Show" ?
FRONTLINE® follows the trajectory of the recording industry from its post-Woodstock heyday in the 1970s and 1980s to what one observer describes as a “hysteria” of mass layoffs and bankruptcy in 2004.
I might bother to at least be aware of which rapper recorded which song if the only hits on the radio weren't utilizing loops sampled from the hook of famous 80s rock hits.
And the rapper isn't the star, it's the producer who builds those backing rhythms.
Speaking of Walmart, I was surprised when someone brought it to my attention that they offered this 90s Japanese punk's American album (on an independent label).
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.gsp?product_id=1258062&sourceid=1500000000000000147600
I can really recommend Andre Williams' country album on Bloodshot (backed by the also excellent Sadies).
That's very interesting; I never knew that.
I believe that period roughly coincided with Bruce Springsteen's "hiatus" -- the period when he was involved with some kind of lawsuit with his record company and couldn't release any new material for a while (hence the 2.5-year lull after Darkness on the Edge of Town). After it was all settled he had a new record company and made up for the lost time with The River . . . this is why that was a rare double LP for him.
You may like The Mosquitos. They are from New York but the singer is Brazilian. Only drawback is that they are Bush bashers (not on the album but live at shows). They even covered an Os Mutantes song when I saw them live.
Prince has been giving away copies of his new album to every person that attends his concerts right now. This is the same album that is being sold in the stores.
His label (Sony?) was worried that it would hurt sales but so far it does not seem to have impacted them. The idea is that giving the albums away will get the album heard by more than just those who attend his concerts, mounting sales, and possibly radio airplay.
Prince seemed to do just fine starving off Warner Brothers' when he opted to release his own albums and book his own tours.
If you look to the Pop Music scene you will likely find that to be true.
There is a ton of original music being pumped out...just not Pop Music. Listen to a group called "Jamiroquai" sometime. Remember "Virtual Insanity"? Very original.
The band "Nickel Creek" is also very good at original compositions.
Who do you think you are, Chuck Mangione? Walmart is not MegaloMart.
In the 1950s there were attempts to sluff off rock and roll as a passing "fad". They tried to replace it with other more adult fads (Bop music, Calypso music, "Folk" music).
It doesn't do a label any good to have Poison signed for 3 more albums and to have long haired grunge music break as the "next big thing".
Also bands used to release several albums a year (in the 1960s). Now it can be 2-3-5 years between albums on the majors. Your fans move on when they can't get new material from you. Strike while the iron is hot.
thank you!
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