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Wednesday, Feb. 4
"Turbulent
Times...
Where are the answers?"
Rob
Light, CAA
I am honored that Pollstar has asked
me to address a room of my peers, as we share a common bond of this
thing called the “music industry,” an industry where I
believe every person makes a difference.
As you no doubt have read, you have seen the title of my talk is “Turbulent
Times: Where Are The Answers?” I didn’t title it “Here
are the Answers,” as I am not presumptuous or smart enough to
think I know the answers.
I used the preposition “where” to hopefully flesh out
some ideas and inspire you to find the answers, nurture them and help
us all use them to grow within this wonderful business in which we
work.
The changes and problems we face have hit us hard and fast; they are
unnerving, disruptive and debilitating. We constantly look at our
world as if we are the center of the universe and how dare anyone
change it. But, 78s became 33-1/3s; LPs became 8-tracks which became
cassettes; CDs wiped out all that came before and, to a new generation,
stereos don’t exist.
CDs are a nuisance and the center of the universe is a computer screen
that can lead you to anything, musical or otherwise.But I don’t
believe you can look forward without looking backward. Winston Churchill
said, “Wise men who wish to foresee the future might be best
to consult the past.” The trials and tribulations of what the
record business, and therefore the entire music industry, is going
through is
not unique.
My intent today is to look back at our industry and its innovators.
Then through market research, look at where we are today not to just
identify the problems but try and look behind them to see if maybe
those answers are somewhere in this room, bubbling in the back of
someone’s brain.
Many of you weren’t alive when the Beatles premiered on “The
Ed Sullivan Show” 40 years ago this
coming Sunday. You would have never experienced the phenomena of Elvis,
Woodstock, the Fillmore East and Altamont. You wouldn’t know
the legacy of Colonel Parker or Brian Epstein – all passing
historical
references. You would have little or no knowledge of how the agency
system developed or which promoters created unique venues and promotions.
Some of the younger agents in this room probably have no sense, when
screaming at Alex Hodges of House
of Blues, that he had one of the most innovative and important agencies
in the business. He yelled louder and demanded more than you ever
did.
You probably would have no sense of the incredible entrepreneurs or
innovators who built the cornerstones of what we get to call a career.
Some of you over 40 have probably forgotten. And yet, that knowledge
and the
desire to learn and understand will lead to what I truly believe are
innovators and entrepreneurs in this room who will change the face
of what we do with our work.
Every new technology since the beginning of the last century has caused
that generation to scream “the sky is falling.” The silent
film business was a wonderful new technology that captured the hearts
of America. The industry screamed when talkies were developed.
And for every piano player and high-pitched actor put out of work,
20 jobs were created in their wake
for sound techs and those who score orchestras. The car destroyed
the need for horse and buggy, trucking undermined the rail business
and the airlines reinvented travel. In the 1920s, radio proclaimed
the end of records. In the ’50s, TV pronounced the death of
radio and film.
Every change in technology was destined to ruin the business it evolved
from while most of that original industry tried to cling to the status
quo and avoid change.
My own life as a young teen was turned upside down when my Dad was
thrown out of work because
LIFE magazine folded as a weekly. In the ’50s and ’60s,
LIFE and LOOK (those of you under 40 won’t remember) were the
way we saw the world – through pictures. There was no cable,
no CNN, no satellites to take us around the world in an instant.
Yet, by 1972, technology had changed and the weekly picture news magazine
that my dad was the art director for was no more. He was a brilliant
artist so he found work, but technology had changed the magazine business.
Did magazines disappear? Obviously not, and today the business has
never been hotter. Newsstands
are overstocked with magazines tailored to every niche audience imaginable.
In the early ’60s, rock ‘n’roll was in its infancy
and a new generation emerged – a generation that would never
use the words “music” and “business” in the
same sentence.
Back in the ’40s and ’50s there were touring swing bands,
cabaret singers, even Sinatra and Crosby (Bing,
not David). There were powerful personal appearance agents, local
club owners and orchestra
promoters. But, for the most part, those agents, promoters and most
of the venues looked at the coming of rock ‘n’ roll as
a passing fad. They didn’t pay attention to what the youth of
America was clamoring for. They didn’t see an opportunity to
do anything but make some quick money and denounce the art form.
And,
as the ’60s came upon us, they bitched about the technology
(45s, 8-tracks, amplification, FM radio) and complained about a bunch
of young, disrespectful executives who were biting at the bit.
On the promoter side were a bunch of young entrepreneurs and innovators
who challenged the status quo and did something new and different.
They were developing rooms in their home towns to give this new generation
of bands a place to play. Bill Graham, Mike and Jules Belkin, Don
Law, Jack Boyle and Sam L’Hommedieu, Larry Magid (who gave up
a job as an agent in New York), Allen Spivak, Barry Fey and Cecil
Corbett are but a few, as I could name so many more.
About this time, a young man named Frank Barsalona was working at
an agency in New York called GAC. Norman Weiss, who ran the PA department,
hated that Frank kept an incredibly messy office and one day walked
in, told him to clean it up and proceeded to take his arm and literally
sweep everything off Frank’s desk.
Infuriated, Frank quit and opened Premier Talent. Where would we be
if Norman Weiss had been a little calmer or a little less anal? To
many in this room, Premier might seem like that “old”
agency that just closed. But Frank was a true entrepreneur and innovator.
He saw a huge opportunity in a changing world and quickly weaved together
a network of rooms and promoters to house this new art form. He created
a number of the deals
we still use today, pushed rock into the arenas and allowed a number
of equally talented people to create a new business where one didn’t
exist.
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