STORES: CDs/DVDs/Vinyl/Sleeves | Downloads | Posters | Art
HOME NEWS REVIEWS ARTICLES MUSICIANS PHOTOS FORUMS
Login   |   MY AAJ Signup  
Intro Site Map Shows Free Daily MP3s Videos Upcoming Releases Guides Editorial Calendar Contests Help Wanted  
Advanced
Contact Us   |   Advertise   |   For Contributors   |   For Musicians
Bird Lives Archives: Record Company Weasels, Part Two





Tough Guys
The Generations Band
Summer Samba
Irene and Her Latin Jazz Band
Raindrops
Duane Andrews
Into The World; A Musical Offering
Andrea Brachfeld
Cover Up!
George Kahn
Lifelines
Bruno Raberg with Chris Cheek and Ben Monder
Home
Oscar Utterstrom Quintet
Advertise Here








Push AAJ Content
AAJ Live | RSS | Widsets


.



Record Company Weasels, Part Two

Old Business

There was quite a bit of feedback to our assertion that many powerful people in the jazz record industry are failed musicians. Accordingly, I've created a special feedback page. Each week, I'll take the best responses and reprint them here.

New Business

Some Questions I just can't seem to answer (with apologies to Larry King):

Why are there so few black record company executives at major Jazz labels? There's Brian Baccus at Blue Note (in a job with very little in the way of real power), Branford Marsalis at CBS/Sony (from his output thus far, really nothing more than a figurehead), and that's it! Oh yeah, at one of the mid-sized labels, N2K Encoded Music, there's Carl Griffin. Aside from those three cats, I'm at a loss to name another. Why?

Why aren't there any women Jazz record company executives? Aren't there any qualified candidates?

Why are all the major Jazz record labels still recording and releasing "product" even though they've been crying the blues about poor sales for as long as anyone would listen. And, here's a good one, if jazz music is such an economic failure, how come these same individuals are still running the business? Of course there are always the new recruits, as I mentioned last week, but their altruism doesn't last long.

This mindset of failing to sell "product" is how the executives in the business punish the musicians for what they themsevlves failed to do.

One of their favorite lines is, "we're documenting your music." That's exploitation on the grounds of supposed economic failure. The company is recording the music for altruistic reasons as opposed to doing business. There's only one word for this, bullshit with a capital B. Companies put out records to sell them, not for art's sake.

So, tune in next week for Part 3 of My Enconium to Our Major Jazz Record Labels, in which I'll ask the age old question, why do executives make more than musicians?

One more thing, before they break down my door with a subpoena, how many Jazz musicians do you know who've ever received a royalty statement from a record label?




Visit Bird Lives weekly for web site reviews, our listening suggestions, and a new outrageous Diatribe from the Pariah.

Comments/Questions to The Pariah


All About Jazz
Return to the All About Jazz home page

  Privacy Policy | Dedicated Servers All material copyright © 2008 All About Jazz and/or contributing writers/visual artists. All rights reserved.