Always Be Closing.

It was November 1995 and little did I know that I would need to persuade a music loving friend of mine to check out a new band by the name of Ben Folds Five at the 9:30 Club in Washington D.C.  In my head, my friend liked piano based rock (i.e. Billy Joel), was interested in going to see live music and clearly nodded his head to the rhythm of the few tracks that he heard off of the self-titled album (i.e. "Jackson Cannery" & "Sports & Wine").    

However, I needed to make a pitch.  And according to “wiki How?” to succeed in closing a “sale”, it is important to remember three skills:  Ease Into the Close; Close the Sale; Make a Lasting (Favorable) Impression.  In this particular scenario I was going to the concert regardless of my friend’s interest so it was a no pressure situation for him, and although I could not guarantee that it was going to be a great show, I already had FREE tickets and lastly I knew Ben Folds, Robert Sledge and Darren Jessee were going to be able to handle the rest if I got him threw the door.  Fortunately, we both went to the show (and Ben’s Chili Bowl), had a great time and became fans of the band.  However, this scenario really drove home to me that when pitching new music to a potential listener there is a business transaction taking place.

Flash forward 10 years later to March 2006 and the tables were turned.  A musician friend of mine and his “cousin” convinced me to check out the band the Avett Brothers.  "Four Thieves Gone: The Robbinsville Sessions" had just been released and little did I know that by attending that show and hearing “Talk of Indolence” would get me back in the game of selling my friends on new music.  So how do you make the pitch to a friend, or explain why it is worth to “invest” in music?  Years have passed since the record label was supposed to have died, but new labels continue to appear and new music continues to get released.  Music is still a place where you can take risks.  There is typically a list of free shows printed in your city’s weekend section or you can preview an entire album or a single before making the purchase or downloading the track.

Yes – I know that this post contributes to the thought of the art form of music as a product.  And of course music purists do not view music as a product.  However, according to the Music Think Tank, "When the phonograph debuted in 1877, the traditional service of music (live performance) was transformed into a product (recordings)”.   The late, famous pop-artist Andy Warhol also said “Being good in business is the most fascinating kind of art. Making money is art and working is art and good business is the best art.”  It is a reality that bands need to draw attention to themselves and their music.  And although there is no one way to succeed as a professional musician, the idea of charging a cover/ticket price for a concert and/or making sure that music is available for sale on iTunes; Spotify, etc. quantifies the art of music as a product.

So who are the new bands that I am selling these days?  Denitia & Sene – catch them live at the 720 Music Café in Pittsburgh on Saturday, January 25.  Please go out and support live music or purchase one of their tracks on-line.  Thanks for reading!

My Adidas walk through concert doors/And roam all over coliseum floors.

A Tribe Called Quest vs Run the Jewels?  Not your typical rap battle on the stage of “the Shelter” in Detroit, MI or on the web at Rapt.fm.  I am asking which side of the fence do your eyes and ears fall on, in the discussion of live vs. recorded hip-hop.
  
Per The Free Dictionary(.com), "rap is a style of music marked by the rhythmical intoning of rhymed couplets to an insistent beat".  And it is hard to believe with such a popular form of music like rap that the idea of hearing this style of music versus seeing it in person can be worth much of a debate, but for over 20 years, it is unclear if rap has gotten over the idea of pacing back and forth and a DJ blandly standing behind turntables.  

Having seen The Roots literally and figuratively bounce off of the walls at an in-store performance at Tower Records in Washington DC in 1996 to support “lladelph Halflife” to later on checking out the late Guru’s set at The Middle East in Cambridge, MA in 2001 to promote “Baldhead Slick & da Click", unfortunately you never know what to expect musically at a live rap show. 

Even with the success of Jay Z’s “Magna Carter World Tour” and him being on the road with a backing band featuring Timbaland on keyboards, there is the flip side of live hip hop that has the auto-tuned voice of Kanye West pumping out of the speakers at arenas nationwide.  Can we expect all hip-hop to arise from the same family tree as the 1970s pioneering group Stetsasonic? 

The torch was carried by The Fugees with their ability to work in classic break-beats and freestyle verses into their set and the production level bar was raised by Dr. Dre, but I agree with James Haskins (author of ‘One Nation Under One Groove’), that while many listeners are caught up in the storytelling of rap music, the musical backgrounds against which raps are set are significant and need to be taken seriously.  

When there are dozens (or hundreds) of fans in the crowd who can keep lyrics flowing without missing a beat but the artist is unable to do it or the dubbed in rhythm tracks are slightly off, that can clearly be a huge turn-off and lead to simply spinning their records at home.

I heard two extremely similar comments from friends when reviewing the year in music in 2013 when they stated that “it may have been the venue, it may have been the moment, it definitely was the music . . .” and that music is felt in “a moment, a time, a place, a situation”.  

I believe that with today’s hip hop artists if they incorporate aspects of live music into their set, put the preparation into their shows and can keep the crowd engaged they will be reducing their risk of being booed off the stage as if it were ‘Amateur Night at the Apollo’.  

Thanks for reading.