I’ve been saying for a very long time that it’s a crime that Louisiana doesn’t have a real music industry. In fact the reason why I got into this business was to help to develop the music industry here.
What I found out very quickly is that our fantastic musicians play their hearts out, but a lot of them don’t have a clue how to make (and keep hold of) money. There are many more music business attorneys and managers when I first started doing this 15 years ago, but we still have no publicists of note, record labels are still struggling, and so is the music “business” here. I think that what happens is musicians here are sort of integrated into the cultural magic of Louisiana, which falls into the catchall of the “arts.”
Now it’s true, music is certainly an art form, and what musicians do definitely qualifies as something inspired by the muse, but unfortunately, making music hereabouts is not considered as serious business for our struggling musicians and music businesses. It’s all kind of lumped into the arts category, and much of it is supported by non-profit organizations (such as the Arts Council and the Jazz & Heritage Foundation). I’m so sick of hearing “Let’s get a grant to do such-and-so!”
I say if musicians and music-related businesses ever want to be taken seriously, then they have to educate themselves, stand up for their rights, take care of making themselves successful (in a business sense so you can pay your rent and support yourselves properly) and make sure that they’re not getting ripped off by unscrupulous music business types–and those “arts” organizations.
One of OffBeat’s writers found a very interesting web site for anyone interested in finding out how much money non-profit organizations have in their coffers. Check into www.guidestar.org and look at the assets of all those non-profit organizations who give out grants and support the local community. Assets of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation in 1998 were almost $3.9-million; income was almost $8.3-million. The Contemporary Arts Center has assets of $2.4-million with income of almost $1.5-million in 1998. Some interesting “non-profits” were missing, such as the Cutting Edge Music Conference & “Roots Music Gathering” which, despite its terrible reputation both locally and throughout the country as a poorly-organized and attended event, has managed to pull in enough funding year after year through government-subsidized grants.
OffBeat’s editorial voice–shouting from the wilderness, and standing outside the standard political clique represented by the local music commissions, city government and the quasi-public domain of the Jazz & Heritage Foundation and other powerful non-profit organizations–asks–why do you musicians take this crap? Why don’t you demand to know what’s going on and make a positive change for yourselves? Most music people I know certainly have access to the Internet–it’s a great tool to market your music and your business, and to find out something about your community. Use these resources, and get organized! I bet if all the local musicians refused to play at the Jazz Fest, they would tend to change the payment schedule for local bands.
Movin’ On Up…
Scott Kirby, who’s been written up in OffBeat several times over the past twelve years, is leaving New Orleans with his photographer-wife, Marie-Dominique Verdier, to live in the wilds of Idaho.
Kirby is best known for his habit of playing ragtime and blues on Jackson Square on a piano that he stored in a French Quarter garage and wheeled out to the Square every day.
Over the years, he’s developed his musical art to become “one of the best interpreters of ragtime music on the scene today” (Charles Osgood on CBS News’ Sunday Morning) and has been at the forefront of the “Terra Verde” movement, compositions which combine ragtime sensibilities with Latin overtones. Kirby is also the Musical Director of the Rocky Mountain Ragtime Festival in Boulder, Colorado.
His latest CD, Centennial Sampler, Vol. 1, has just been released. The compilation highlights Kirby’s varied influences and includes samples from classic ragtime, French musette, Brazilian tango, Haitian merengue, Creole mazurka, waltz and original Terra Verde compositions. Snug Harbor will host a CD release party on Thursday, August 10 for Kirby, also a farewell party for the pianist who’s leaving New Orleans after 11 years. The CD is available from the Louisiana Music Factory or through www.viridianaproductions.com.
Good luck, Scott and Do. We’ll see you soon (but not next winter)!
