There are two sides to the jazz business, recordings and performances.
Starting this week, I'm going to spill my guts about the recording
industry, a powerful economic
force that has a direct impact on the direction of jazz itself. The ideas
expressed herein, culled from twenty years in this business, are my own,
but should strike a responsive
chord and hopefully, no legal action.
In the recording business, like anything else, there are the haves, and
there are the have-nots. The haves are mostly the executives who control
the industry, i.e., the major labels and distributors, and, a few select
artists. Sadly, the have-nots are mostly artists, who are nothing more than
pawns in a larger game of product and sales.
Former Musicians Run The Business
A fundamental element of the jazz record industry and its machinations is
the fact that it's run primarily by former musicians. In fact, the
preponderance of personnel in the
infrastructure of the jazz record industry are people who have failed as
artists.
These well intentioned individuals come into the business with the artist's
sensibility of wanting to do the right thing but in no time at all they
learn the truth, that the cards are stacked against the artist. The bread,
literally, is buttered on the other side, in favor of the companies, not
the artists.
No matter how pure, how altruistic, how well intentioned those who enter
the business may be when they first take their place in corporate America,
it's only a matter of time
before they mutate into their predecessors. The fat weekly checks, daily
gourmet lunches, piercing power, and the bootlicking ego gratification
prove to be much too
enticing. After all that, why fight the system? It's worked since the
industry exploited Bessie Smith. Why stop now?
