MUSIC FESTIVALS: GETTING THE BALANCE RIGHT

From Woodstock to Live Aid to Live 8, music festivals can make or break both a music promoter and a music artist.

At first sight, the concept of a music festival per se is a logistical nightmare in anybody’s mind. How do you control the weather, the artists’ performance, the sound quality, the crowd’s behaviour et al?

With so many obstacles in play, why do promoters continue with the concept of a music festival?

Recent data released in Australia indicates that people in the 18-35 age bracket remain keen to attend music festivals, thus it’s a youth thing.

This being said, we are only touching the surface with this revelation. A youth audience will pay to attend a music festival if the music acts are appealing. This is a particularly important point, because Australian music promoters are generally filling their festivals with unknown local acts, on the pretense that they will “become” a major act on the back of their live performance.

Thirty years ago, the Narara Music Festival on New South Wales Central Coast was an artistic and financial success because the headline acts were Simple Minds, The Pretenders, The Eurhythmics and [the relatively unknown] Def Leppard. Great musicians who could all cut it live. The following year, Narara took a risk by leveraging off the “goodwill” of its name, and cut its costs by hosting only local acts. That was the final Narara Music Festival.

Nothing has changed in 40 plus years of music festivals. Yes, it’s going to be hot [or wet], crowded and uncomfortable, however all is forgiven if a promoter can attract great live acts. 

SUPERIOR COVER VERSIONS

Recent media reports that Linda Ronstadt is privately battling Parkinson’s Disease has been a genuine cause of concern for her many fans around the globe. The extent of the disease has rendered Ronstadt unable to sing, thus the music world will never hear her superb voice again.

Ronstadt is best known as an “interpreter” of other people’s songs, and some say that she is the best in the business at this craft. Roy Orbison had a smash hit with his self-penned “Blue Bayou” in 1963, however Rondstadt’s 1977 cover version may be the apex of her 40 plus year singing career. “Hurt So Bad”, “It’s So Easy”, “When Will I Be Loved”; these songs are key components of her body of work however we often overlook that each song was a hit in its previous life.

Rarely is a cover version of a song “better” than the original version. Let’s outline a selection of Superior Cover Versions:

“Without You” – Harry Nilsson heard the 1970 original by Beatles protégés Badfinger at a party, and made a mental note that this album track held all of the ingredients of a hit song. Nilsson hit the top of the charts in 1972 with his memorable re-work, and it is his version which still gets regular airplay to this day.

“Jealous Guy” – rarely can anybody “out-Lennon” John Lennon, however Roxy Music’s 1981 cover version surpassed the 1971 album cut from “Imagine”. Notwithstanding the “tribute” aspect of the release of Roxy Music’s version in the wake of Lennon’s assassination, Bryan Ferry’s vocal sensitivities and seminal whistling outro make this song very special.

“With A Little Help From My Friends” – Lennon and McCartney knocked out a catchy little ditty for Ringo Starr’s vocal debut on 1967’s “Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”, however Joe Cocker chose the following year to transform the song into an unforgettable psychedelic soul anthem. It’s also impossible to acknowledge that each version is one and the same song.

“All Along The Watchtower” – plenty of artists have covered Bob Dylan, ranging from The Byrds’ “Mr Tambourine Man” to Olivia Newton John’s “If Not For You”. Jimi Hendrix waited 6 months to re-work Dylan’s 1968 release of “Watchtower”, and in doing so he invented psychedelic rock.

The sure fire method of releasing a hit song is to release a cover version of a popular song. The real art is “outdoing” the original version of the song…

SINGING FOR THEIR SUPPER: MUSICIANS AND THEIR RESTAURANTS

Media reports indicate that Pete Murray is a co-investor in the recently opened “Frankie Brown Café” located in Byron Bay on the North Coast of New South Wales, Australia. Murray, who is a highly respected singer-songwriter and a local resident, will be occasionally performing at the new eating establishment albeit the focus will be upon showcasing new musical talent in conjunction with an up-market menu.

It’s no secret that Murray is no longer burning up the music charts, however this investment outlines a shrewd equation of eating + music = general entertainment. Murray remains a famous and popular face in Australian music, thus we can expect some large crowds at “Frankie Brown Café” for the immediate future.

Musicians and their restaurants is not a new phenomena; Alice Cooper [Cooperstown Sports Bar in Phoenix, Arizona] and Bill Wyman [Sticky Fingers Café in London, United Kingdom] are some of the famous pioneers who have successfully combined the art of music and food.

Here are some other musicians who have quietly made the foray into the restaurant trade:

• Boz Scaggs – the success of 1975’s “Silk Degrees” enabled Scaggs to acquire the “Blue Light Bar and Restaurant” in his home town of San Francisco, where Tex-Mex dominates the menu.
• Bill Danoff – “Afternoon Delight” was a speciality on the menu of his favourite café AND the music charts in 1976. Danoff sang and composed “Afternoon Delight” for the Starland Vocal Band, and he is now the proprietor of “Starland Café” in Washington, DC.
• Jon Bon Jovi – the “Soul Kitchen” in Red Bank, New Jersey operates on the premise that you PAY WHAT YOU CAN when ordering meals. If you can’t afford to pay for your meal, JBJ and his crew will set you a simple task to complete within the establishment as your gratuity.
• Toby Keith – when you have a hit record named “I Love This Bar”, it only makes sense to open an eating house named “I Love This Bar and Grill”. Keith is a success; he now has establishments in 9 US cities.
• Jimmy Buffett – they don’t come any bigger than Mr Buffett. “JB’s Margaritaville” [named after his 1977 smash “Margaritaville”] offers up a seafood menu in more than 20 cities in the USA, plus Mexico, the Caribbean and Sydney, Australia.

This puts a nice little twist to the homage of “singing for your supper”!!

A DIFFICULT DECISION: VIVENDI RETAINS UNIVERSAL MUSIC

Recent news reports that media giant Vivendi rejected an $8.5 Billion offer for Universal Music from Japanese telecom group SoftBank has many music writers scratching their heads.

At face value, Vivendi have foregone an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to sell the asset at a significant premium; Bank of America Merrill Lynch valued Universal Music at $5.8 Billion in June. Simple numbers aside, the intricacies of the offer warrant comment.

SoftBank have acquired US telecom firm Sprint Nextel, with a vision of providing music via its wireless services in the huge North American market and their homeland. There are many observers who state that SoftBank have a viable strategy, as market research firm Nielsen SoundScan have released figures to suggest that digital albums now account for more than 40% of all recorded music sales and music streaming subscription services have increased almost 25 % in the past 12 months.

On the flipside, Vivendi are placed in an awkward position because asset sales are urgently required. The European corporate owns global media assets however attempts to sell telecom assets in Brazil and Morocco have failed to reach closure.

Notwithstanding the very tempting offer from SoftBank, Vivendi can’t afford to sell Universal Music. The music imprint is the pivotal asset, without Universal Music it is feared that Vivendi’s market value would suffer a substantial decline as the balance of assets have minimal synergistic worth.

And who said you don’t need a record label in modern society?

MUSIC SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES: IT’S A CULTURAL THING

Many people believe that Apple dominate the paid music market by way of the enormously popular iTunes brand. The general consensus has been that the public haven’t changed their behaviour towards music; people are willing to purchase their favourite songs in order to be able to play these songs as and when they choose to.

The concept of music subscription services or “streaming” music services is a relatively new process, however it is changing the manner in which the public are willing to pay for and listen to their favourite songs.

Recent data has revealed that about 20 million people worldwide pay a monthly fee to listen to music on the Internet. Sweden, South Korea and France lead the way in this cultural change, with music subscription services outweighing paid download services three-fold. Interestingly, the largest music markets [USA, UK, Germany and Japan] still favour the paid download service.

QUESTION: Why is this happening?

ANSWER: Smart-phones.

Music lovers appear to be happy to pay about USD$10.00 per month in order to hear their favourite tunes via their smart-phones 24/7. This change in mindset has forced Apple to strategise a music streaming service, in order to stay competitive with the likes of Spotify and Google.

But what about the recently revamped MySpace music streaming service? The public can join MySpace for free, and choose from an impressive catalogue of songs for free.

Music copyright owners probably aren’t making as much money today compared to previous generations, however the general public have never had a better opportunity to listen to music for next to nothing [or nothing at all!!].

THE CONTINUING DECLINE IN MECHANICAL ROYALITIES

A composer’s ability to sustain a livelihood from the collection of mechanical royalties remains in serious doubt.

Recent studies released in Australia indicate that 1 in 5 people are most likely to illegally download music from the Internet or share files from other illegal sources.

If we delve deeper into this study, it has been revealed that 30% of these people earn in excess of $100,000.00 per annum and almost half of the study group are less than 30 years old.

This shift in consumer sentiment towards not paying for music suggests that the 18-35 age group continue to love music and they certainly have the financial resources to acquire music, however they are merely reacting to a changing culture in the marketplace. It’s very easy to forget that the first instances of “pirated” on-line music occurred more than 15 years ago, thus the youth market know no other way than to acquire music on a free basis.

In Australia, the physical music retailer almost ceases to exist, other than corporate models which aggregate DVDs, computers, televisions and phone technology for retail sale. As it stands, the range of recorded music for physical sale is limited to known artists, thus emerging artists have an extremely low success rate of gaining an audience in this manner.

Whether we like it or not, music composers are compelled to “give away” their work with respect to the traditional retail sense, on the hope that an audience is gained via touring, cyberspace or television/ movie licensing.

It’s a lot of money to forgo, however you can’t fight progress…

VALE GREG QUILL

Australian and Canadian music fans alike are mourning the passing of respected singer-songwriter and journalist Greg Quill.

Quill enjoyed minor success in 1972 as the lead singer for Australian roots band Country Radio; their single “Gypsy Queen” [written by Quill and the equally-respected Kerryn Tolhurst] continues to identify with the greater music audience by way of radio airplay and movie soundtracks. Country Radio disbanded soon after, and Quill’s 1974 debut solo album earned him a travel grant from the Australian Arts Council and a destination of Toronto, Canada.

Whilst critical acclaim for his music was always at hand, commercial solo success eluded Quill thus he returned to Australia in the late 1970’s to form the country-rock band Southern Flyer. Quill bounced between Australia and Canada as he sought an accepting audience for his music however Toronto became his permanent home for the most unexpected reason.

Quill’s musical talent extended to journalistic writing. During his early days as a musician in Australia, Quill also wrote for the popular local music magazine “Go-Set”. The desire to write never disappeared, and Quill’s ad hoc contributions to Canadian music publications saw him land the coveted role as Entertainment Reporter for the Toronto Star, of which he held until his passing.

A “musician’s musician” rather than a bone fide star, Quill leaves behind a unique legacy with his dual artist talents. His colleagues remember him as a man of humility who rarely spoke about his “time in the sun”; not because he held any resentment about his music career, rather he was comfortable with his place in the industry.