This column has always been a means for me to bring to light what I perceive to be the state of the local music scene, both positive and negative. I was born and bred in New Orleans; grew up with ’60s R&B; have watched the growing interest in New Orleans and Louisiana music (in my mind as a result of the growing success of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival); have experienced meeting some really great musicians and music business people; have watched some really slimy music business types steal or attempt to steal (legally!) from local musicians and others; have seen musical careers be made and squandered through stupid decisions or drugs; have watched the music business climate here change somewhat for the better. In short, in the past 15 years or so, I’ve witnessed a lot of what makes music and musicians tick.
Many people have asked me what my feelings are towards a better music scene in New Orleans. I usually say that everyone would benefit if there was cooperation among all the diverse groups that make up the so-called “music industry” here. It’s unfortunate, but the nature of the music business, being comprised as it is of creative artists and business people, some of whom are not the most ethically scrupulous, makes for some pretty nasty rivalries and backstabbing. Indeed, when you add the political climate in New Orleans and Louisiana as a whole, which seems to have a pretty negative attitude towards our musical culture and heritage and seems to be totally ignorant on how music business works (I’ve railed against “Louisiana politicians” in this column before), you can devise a volatile musical “soup.”
What I’ve noticed in my dealings with local musicians and music businesses, as well as with music industry folk in the real world of music (i.e., the music industry centers of Nashville, New York and Los Angeles) is that for the most part, New Orleans and Louisiana people tend to do business in ways that are unacceptable and unsuccessful in the eyes of the “outside world.”
Listen to this: I queried a good friend of mine, who has a very responsible position in the national music industry on the east coast, about what she thought about the recent “Music in the Digital Millennium” conference that was held in the city in November. Here’s what she said: “I sat next to a government official who thought the Internet was a stringy thing that separates two tennis players…we foreigners [panelists] would speak of downloads, bytes and digits. New Orleanians keep talking about Longhair, ‘Sea Cruise’ and Armstrong. We tried to be straight and futuristic and visionary, and a lot of that stuff is very scary to the traditionalists. Heck, New Orleans was just starting to understand record companies and record distribution…and poof: records will be history and we will all be getting our (non-physical product) music over the ‘net. No records. No record stores. No distribution. Sorry, new ball game.”
Here’s my point: we’re perceived as rubes by the people in the music industry outside New Orleans. Not necessarily because all of us in the business are stupid or ignorant–but we unfortunately bring the same arrogant mentality to music as New Orleans has to other business ventures for hundreds of years: Hey, baby, we got the stuff, no one will ever knock us off our pedestal. (We have the port, we’ll always be able to control the flow of goods into the US. We’ve got the airport that’ll make us the Gateway to Latin America–hellloooo! Things do change!). We have to find a new way to convey our message, that’s all, and be willing to do what it takes to make it happen.
And anyone who tries to do business (music or otherwise) in Louisiana faces the problem of dealing with politics. It’s not how good your idea is or how well you perform, it’s whose campaign you support, or how many favors you can call in from your local politico’s favor bank. It makes doing business here very difficult, sometimes impossible.
What we are lacking here is visionary leadership that is geared towards change: helping our musicians and music businesses; education; creating jobs for the many, not the few; moving our musicians and music into the digital millennium; getting people together to make coalitions that work for all parties involved; putting aside the paranoia, greed for money and power and territoriality that shoots us in the foot every time there’s a chance to make a good thing happen. While we’re steeped in tradition, it’s also what keeps us from changing in ways that might be better for our music and music businesses. It’s the old paradox of New Orleans: the thing that makes us so unique and desirable is also the thing that keeps us from being successful.
Are the aforementioned goals impossible? Sometimes I believe they are; yet if I didn’t have hope that OffBeat could help effect a positive change for music, I wouldn’t be able to go on (this job’s way too hard, believe me). So these are my Christmas wishes and dreams: we can all work together to make something good happen for music; we can continue to strive to preserve the musical heritage that permeates our culture and makes it unique, yet expand upon it humbly, through technology, so that the world will understand and appreciate it even more; we can acquire some leadership (public and private) that’s less concerned with lining its pockets and acquiring power than having a vision to benefit the common good; we can educate local musicians and music businesses so that we can enter the fast-changing world prepared and ready to take advantage of opportunities.
And in my dream, the music community would be less apathetic and stand up for itself politically and financially. Those are my Christmas wishes.
LMNOP Scales Back
A recent victim of politics that I mentioned above is LMNOP, the music conference that was instituted here by Louis Jay Meyers, who was a founder of the South By Southwest Conference. Meyers tells OffBeat that this year’s conference will be postponed, due to lack of monetary support.
“We were told by the Louisiana Music Commission that their support would have to be scaled back because we didn’t show the numbers that the Cutting Edge [Music Conference] did,” said Meyers. Reportedly Cutting Edge figures showed that the conference had 600+ registrants with an economic impact of over $1.2-million (this “economic impact study” was prepared by Scott Ray, a regular participant in such studies which justify grant money for non-profits).
I guess I’ve missed it, but if the music community as a whole can truthfully tell me that the Cutting Edge is a better, more well-organized, more successful music conference than LMNOP (attendance-wise and economic impactfully speaking), I’ll eat my hat. Looks like LMNOP fell victim to the usual political machinations to me. Any comments from readers who attended one or both of the conferences?
Cash Money Gives Back
In this issue, I have to pay tribute to Cash Money Records. These guys have made a lot of money, and as we go to press have helped to give back some of that “cash money” to the poor neighborhoods from whence they came (they distributed food to over 2,000 families in the C. J. Peete Housing Development). Talk about visionary! How direct is that for public service? Can you guys get more involved in music education and politics too? We need you!
Best of The Beat Ballots On-Line
Look on pages 11 and 12 of this issue for your ballot to vote on this year’s best music. The nominating ballots have been compiled (from ballots sent to over 4,000 musicians and music businesses), and the nominations are in: this is your opportunity to vote for the musicians, bands, and music businesses that you think deserve the city’s highest recognition by receiving a Best of The Beat Award, the equivalent of a New Orleans Grammy®. You can also vote for your favorites exclusively on-line at insideneworleans.com. This year’s event will take place on February 1, 2000 at our sponsor venue, the House of Blues, with the Music Business Awards event to take place on January 31, 2000 at Le Chat Noir. So vote now, as the deadline for ballots is January 3, 2000).
In the meantime, get rid of your handguns so we can all have a safer future and New Year’s Eve. Love one another. See y’all next millennium!
