Musicians Reduced to Begging

[Midnight Toker]

Musicians Reduced to Begging - Just say "No" to digital in general (but "Maybe" to CDs).

Musicians reduced to begging, great musicians at that - Norma Waterson, Martin Carthy and Eliza Carthy.

Norma Waterson was a major UK cultural figure, a giantess in the world of traditional Folk Music. She received an MBE from Queen Elizabeth in honour of her cultural service to the UK. Norma just recently passed away.

RIP Norma Waterson

:cry: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-humber-60199744

www.letstalkguild.com

Norma Waterson - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Order of the British Empire - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Her husband was Folk Revival pioneer, Martin Carthy, another giant. He was also awarded an MBE.

Martin Carthy - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Without Carthy we might have somewhat different versions of Bob Dylan and Paul Simon - both were inspired by Carthy when they visited England in the early 60s.

Simon badgered Carthy to teach him a traditional Yorkshire/North Umbria [Edit: Northumbria - Thx PoD] area song he had heard Carthy playing and singing. Carthy showed Simon his arrangement and gave him the words. Simon took it all home, did a minor bit of rearranging, merged it with one of his own earlier pieces, and claimed authorship of it.

History of the Folk Song 'Scarborough Fair'

Simon & Garfunkel's 1960s version is famous, but this old folk song dates back to medieval times in England.

www.liveabout.com

Scarborough Fair (ballad) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Carthy and Waterson's daughter is Eliza Carthy, another performer of huge stature in the Folk world. She has also been awarded an MBE.

Eliza Carthy - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Eleven years ago, she, along with her two children, moved in with her parents to help support them in their old age. Martin and Norma were in poor health and were unable to perform.

In the last two years, they have approached destitution.

Collectively, Norma Waterson, Martin Carthy, and Eliza Carthy have a massive back catalogue of recordings. This is even larger if we add in the back catalogue of The Watersons.

The Watersons - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The back catalogue does not produce enough revenue for a conformable life.

Reduced to Begging - "Spare change for a coffee, Mister?"

https://ko-fi.com/elizacarthy

Musicians used to earn decent money from vinyl and tape sales and radio play. Collectively they got screwed over a bit with CDs. The industry was given a royalties break by artists in order to help launch the new format which required expensive changes to studios and the development of new manufacturing facitlites. Nobody, perhaps not even the Industry iteslf, could foresee what would happen. Nobody imagined that CDs would displace vinyl and tape. Nobody imagined the massive piracy that would ensue - copying of CDs, fake illegal CDs, and the Internet distribution of pirated MP3 files. iTunes is an extension of the transition to CDs - my understanding is that an iTunes sale does not give an artist as much money as a CD sale. And Spotify revenues are an insult for anyone less popular than Taylor Swift or Ed Sheeran. At multiple live concerts in the years before the pandemic, I have heard musicians begging from the stage - "Will sell CDs at the merch table for food!"

We all like to laugh at the musician jokes - "What's the difference between a musician and large pizza? A large pizza can feed a family of four." - but really, they're not all that funny, are they?

If you like an artist, buy a CD. If you really like them, buy new vinyl. Just say "No"to Spotify. Don't pirate music - it is definitely not a victimless crime. When it is safe to do so, support live music with a vengence and do go to the merch table.

I agree w/ not pirating, but I don't think cd's hurt any artists. The 86-92 era was the biggest album selling era in the history of the music business. LP's, cassettes, and cd's were all still selling and for many, they felt compelled to repurchase much of their LP collection in the new CD format, so many of the biggest bands of the 70's actually had their biggest album sales peaks after 85...when 1st gen fans repurchased their albums coupled w/ 2nd gen fans buying it for the first time. It was a win/win for everyone. Then Fast forward another 15-25 years, and the realization that nearly all of those original digital transfers were done in a hastily manner using what are now considered subpar A/D converters, so people are re-re purchasing remasters of these albums yet again!! I happened to be one of those guys for 14 months in 86-87. I was working for Polydor/Polygram (then run by Phillips/DuPont Optical/Siemans) in the world's largest cd manufacturer in Langenhagen just outside of Hannover Germany. It was painfully boring work. Every day I'd have a giant stack of Umatic tapes that were recently transferred from analog. I'd load them into a Sony PCM editing bay, listen for pops, clicks, warbles...take counter notes, track end/beginning counter notes, then they would go on to the next person that cleaned them up and edited them. We were basically given the task of taking 100 years worth of recorded audio and having a pressed sellable product of it on store shelves within 3-4 years time! Impossible, hence most early cd's being junk.

Fact is, we live in a different world today, and sadly, if you didn't earn enough in your formidable years to carry you through your twighlight years, just like Joe Public w/ the daily 9-5 grind, or made sound investments for a secure retirement, then that's on you. Sorry, but it's not the public's fault. Unless you're a global household name, the folk genre in general likely hasn't been a sustainable income since well before digital took over, and jobs becoming obsolete via technological changes/advancements has been a fact of life for hundreds of years. Today we are seeing numerous 60's/70's rock stars that once regularly played in front of tens of thousands and were rolling in the dough, now living in a 150,000 house and selling their instruments and personal memorabilia to pay their bills. So it's nothing new. And it's not because of digital. Simply because the bulk of folks that would buy their album, already have, and kids today have no interest in it anymore. This has been going on for a long time. Art simply ages out. Always has, always will. Only the cream of the crop gets to ride the wave until the very end. The rest, even one hit wonders, if they don't take a day job while still young enough, will have a hard time getting by.

 

[walrus]

I agree w/ not pirating, but I don't think cd's hurt any artists. The 86-92 era was the biggest album selling era in the history of the music business. LP's, cassettes, and cd's were all still selling and for many, they felt compelled to repurchase much of their LP collection in the new CD format, so many of the biggest bands of the 70's actually had their biggest album sales peaks after 85...when 1st gen fans repurchased their albums coupled w/ 2nd gen fans buying it for the first time. It was a win/win for everyone. Then Fast forward another 15-25 years, and the realization that nearly all of those original digital transfers were done in a hastily manner using what are now considered subpar A/D converters, so people are re-re purchasing remasters of these albums yet again!! I happened to be one of those guys for 14 months in 86-87. I was working for Polydor/Polygram (then run by Phillips/DuPont Optical/Siemans) in the world's largest cd manufacturer in Langenhagen just outside of Hannover Germany. It was painfully boring work. Every day I'd have a giant stack of Umatic tapes that were recently transferred from analog. I'd load them into a Sony PCM editing bay, listen for pops, clicks, warbles...take counter notes, track end/beginning counter notes, then they would go on to the next person that cleaned them up and edited them. We were basically given the task of taking 100 years worth of recorded audio and having a pressed sellable product of it on store shelves within 3-4 years time! Impossible, hence most early cd's being junk.

Fact is, we live in a different world today, and sadly, if you didn't earn enough in your formidable years to carry you through your twighlight years, just like Joe Public w/ the daily 9-5 grind, or made sound investments for a secure retirement, then that's on you. Sorry, but it's not the public's fault. Unless you're a global household name, the folk genre in general likely hasn't been a sustainable income since well before digital took over, and jobs becoming obsolete via technological changes/advancements has been a fact of life for hundreds of years. Today we are seeing numerous 60's/70's rock stars that once regularly played in front of tens of thousands and were rolling in the dough, now living in a 150,000 house and selling their instruments and personal memorabilia to pay their bills. So it's nothing new. And it's not because of digital. Simply because the bulk of folks that would buy their album, already have, and kids today have no interest in it anymore. This has been going on for a long time. Art simply ages out. Always has, always will. Only the cream of the crop gets to ride the wave until the very end. The rest, even one hit wonders, if they don't take a day job while still young enough, will have a hard time getting by.

+1. I bought some albums multiple times as they came on CD, then got remastered, etc. The Beatles come to mind. And how many times can John Lennon be repackaged? Sheesh...

CD sales today are one of the few ways an artists can get some money at all for their music, Spotify sure doesn't pay anything.

Let me add one more thought. There are too many artists to mention, but I am surprised/disappointed with the number of "vintage" artists that simply do not care to create new music, or have lost their muse, or whatever. They can't complain about sales if they don't produce anything new - as MT said, we've bought the old stuff already.

Jimmy Page is still living in the world of Zeppelin. The Eagles only tour. The Who? And where's Peter Gabriel? What happened to Pearl Jam? The Stones have sort of kept up, Paul McCartney certainly has, Bruce has, etc., but they are outliers.

We could come with a much bigger list, right? The Doobie Brothers, Cheap Trick, most every hair metal band, etc. Nothing new in years.

Oh well, it's a bitch getting old. For these bands, and for me!

walrus

 

[Canard]

I agree w/ not pirating, but I don't think cd's hurt any artists.

CDs themselves only hurt a little. Artists took a hit on royalties. They made more money per sale with vinyl and cassettes.

The unseen consequences of CDs hurt everyone a lot. Industry and artists alike.

The rest of your argument I see, understand, and mostly concur with. I am, however, slightly more sympathetic than you.

The situation of the Waterson/Carthy family is something that just happened to present itself to me. But as you point out, they are only one example of many that could have been chosen, which is sort of what I was thinking but did not say.

My intended general point, one that perhaps I did not make clearly enough, was that life is hard for musicians in general, more so now than in the recent past. If you like a musician, support them in a way that they actually get some money from their work - buy a ticket - buy a CD. Don't steal their music.

 

[Midnight Toker]

Cd's made the industry boatloads. They are dirt cheap to manufacture compared to vinyl. When you paid $12 for a new vinyl record back in 82, after pressing, printing, packaging, shipping, and retail, there were only $4-6 left for the artist and record company profits. When you bought a cd in 1988 for $12, after pressing, printing, packaging, shipping, and retail, there was $10,if not more, left for profit.

Overall, it's just another era of change society has to come to terms with. Same thing for theaters, VHS, DVD, and streaming. That transition is still better than if you were a silent film star with a hideous speaking voice in the mid 20's!

If anything, for the artists in the OP example, remaining proactive in the folk community, embracing younger artists you may have influenced, and collaborating on projects like maybe a tribute album of your music performed by current talent might be your best bet at getting a few checks in the mail. Of setting up a Facebook page and/or website and sell your wares directly, and forgo the industry altogether. Especially if they own any masters of archival recordings... outtakes/demos/live performances.

In Annapolis, we have a musician's co-op where local talent performs 3-4 annual fundraiser shows that provide help to musicians who are on hard times (be it sick, injured, or aging) (like our annual 2 nights of dozens of bands playing Christmas tunes to a packed Ram's Head....all playing for no wages. Tix are like $70 a head. It's a great time!)

Bottom line though. You have to take care of #1 while on this rock hurling through space. You can't depend on industries, employers, corporations. More now than ever. My parent's generation were the last to enjoy having a pension to depend on. In the US, more than anywhere, greed from the top has done away with all of that. My own employer is just 5-6 years away from selling his businesses and cashing out into an early retirement. Think he's thinking about me? Think again! Everything changes...in time.

 

[Walter Broes]

CD's had advantages too - they're smaller and less fragile than LP's and eventually became very cheap to produce, stock and ship, all of which were great for independent labels and musicians. If anything, they killed the 45rpm single forever, and the profit margins on 45's were pretty good.

It's the current model that has me worried and scratching my head practically every day. Streaming hardly pays anything for writers or musicians, and if you don't play that game, you don't exist. It's become the way people discover music and listen to music. Radio has substantially better percentages for writers, but it's dying too. I don't see this ending well no matter from what angle I approach it.

Being an independant act playing shows and selling your CD's straight to your following was entirely possible, hard work, but even with a relatively small fan base not unrealistic.
Now, it's fast becoming dang near impossible - streams and social media "likes" and "follows" will not put food on your table.

You still have to record and promote an album, even acts that didn't need them are doing videos now bc social media and youtube work that way, and make no mistake - in the current streaming model you're investing in "content" only to give it away, quite literally.
You might make some nickels and dimes, or if you're one of the lucky few that gets a TV/movie/series deal you might make some actual money. But even there, the industry *knows* how desperate writers and musicians are now, so those rates aren't as good as they used to be.

Artists are and have always been creative, so now people are getting album budgets together with crowdfunding, so you're effectively buying/preordering your copy before it gets made.
That sort of works to some extent, but it evidently won't for new artists who have yet to try and get a following, and it won't work in the long run, because physical music carriers and players are on their last legs - the average household already does not own a CD player or a turntable any more.

Also, as Robben Ford recently said in an article I can't find right now, artists are now recording, mixing, video-ing, promoting, social media-ing, etc.. their own music because there are hardly any percentages to spend on delegating all that, and finding theirselves in a situation where they have a lot less time to devote to developing their craft, practising, writing, rehearsing,.....

Anybody got anything to cheer me up with?

 

[Midnight Toker]

Anybody got anything to cheer me up with?

If you are talented enough, and original enough, and willing to put yourself out there on social media, and also police and report social media, you can still have a voice, and be in control of it. During the height of the industry, to record a decent album, you either had to have a recording contract, or have a couple hundred grand sitting around. Today all you need is a few mics, an interface, and some recording software. $1000, with the right ears and knowhow gets you in the ballpark of a finished product you'd have no problem slapping a price tag on. There are platforms where you can sell downloads that only charge a small fee, and offer it in multiple formats (MP3/wav./flac.). You just put a couple edited samples of it on a Facebook or YouTube channel, and provide a link to the downloads. Charge like $5 for a full album. No up front costs, no overhead. Just checks in the mail. I know a few bands that went this route during Covid... (and playing live in their home on Facebook Live w/ a PayPal donation link) and they've done pretty well. Enough to pay the bills anyway.

Of course, this is all dependent on already being somewhat of an established musician with a semi decent following. Nothing even on the industry's radar, but at least known in clubs around a couple hundred mile radius.

 

[Walter Broes]

If you are talented enough, and original enough, and willing to put yourself out there on social media, and also police and report social media, you can still have a voice, and be in control of it. During the height of the industry, to record a decent album, you either had to have a recording contract, or have a couple hundred grand sitting around. Today all you need is a few mics, an interface, and some recording software. $1000, with the right ears and knowhow gets you in the ballpark of a finished product you'd have no problem slapping a price tag on. There are platforms where you can sell downloads that only charge a small fee, and offer it in multiple formats (MP3/wav./flac.). You just put a couple edited samples of it on a Facebook or YouTube channel, and provide a link to the downloads. Charge like $5 for a full album. No up front costs, no overhead. Just checks in the mail. I know a few bands that went this route during Covid... (and playing live in their home on Facebook Live w/ a PayPal donation link) and they've done pretty well. Enough to pay the bills anyway.

Of course, this is all dependent on already being somewhat of an established musician with a semi decent following. Nothing even on the industry's radar, but at least known in clubs around a couple hundred mile radius.

I hear what you're saying. Pandemic times were weird that way though - most of the musicians I've talked to about live streams have found people exceptionally generous, there did (does?) seem to be a conciousness among the public about "musicians are SOL right now, and they need help". I'm also hearing that most of that generosity has dried up by now.

The recording/artist contract with a major label is one thing, but then you're talking about rock star size artists. The recording contract thing has historically killed more artists' careers than launched them, probably, because once you get to that level and don't deliver, you'll be dropped like a hot potato.

But there have always been independent labels, and they've always done an impressive amount of business. For a lot of artists, from tiny to pretty huge, licensing deals have worked great : you give the label finished product, they handle everything from pressing physical copies to promotion to distribution, and in the case of independent labels more often than not the artist can get a great price for CD's they can make a sweet profit selling CD's at the merch table at shows. I know people who actually hàd major label artist contracts and went back to licensing deals with independents in a hurry once they could - because they make about the same (or more!) and are much more in control.

Labels love licensing deals too - no (or low) advances, simple deals to get out of if they don't work, etc... - a lot of major labels work that way now too.

and recording at home on a computer works great for electronic music, or if you live in a big house in the country - once you have neighbours and/or live in a densely populated area and acoustic drums come in, it tends to get a little more complicated. And then there's the issue of intellectual rights - if you're basically selling bootlegs (no ASCAP or BMI), and netflix decides to like one of your tunes enough to want to use it, the bootleg thing can get a little complicated. I'm a relative nobody, not much more than a local hero especially by US standards, but much to my own surprise I've had songs in two movies, two commercials, and recently, out of the blue, a song I released over 20 years ago has made it into a (Belgian) netflix series. Not bragging at all - what I made from that is still pretty pathetic in the big scheme of things - Just to explain why I'm not so keen on putting up a garage recording on a website,...etc.

The thing I was getting at is that for artists/bands who don't even get counted into "the industry" because they're too small or specific or local or whatever, releasing a record/CD every so often, playing a lot of gigs and selling CD's at shows is/was a viable business model. I've been there myself - I was dirt poor, but very happy and productive And it still kind of works, for now, but realistically speaking, in a relatively short amount of time there aren't going to be CD's or LP's any more to sell, or they'll become even more of a niche item than they already are. Streaming is not going to keep (non-major-type) bands making albums and keep them on the road - that's not even some kind of pessimistic fear - it's happening as we type.

 

[Midnight Toker]

^true, but for folks that do actually support live music and local/regional talent, there will always be a market for physical media. I know more folks that want something tangible in their hands more than they care about bytes on a hard drive. While vinyl is certainly a niche market, it is sustainable and actually growing. More small pressing facilities are popping up as well. Either way, there are ways of getting it done. Heck, you could buy a couple hundred cheap low capacity thumb drives in bulk, load them with your album at home, and sell those at shows. Put a few bonus tunes no available online as incentive. People could plug into their car's USB port and listen to it on the ride home from the show. There's always a way.

But as far as the "industry"...the record company part of it was ruined long ago. When the actual music loving folks that started the companies, the Ahmet Erteguns of the world, when they retired, everything fell into the hands of business major number crunching CEO's that had no heart for nurturing a music career. It became heartless in the 80's/90's. If a band was successful, they would do stuff like sign any band that were in the vein of that hit band, promise them promotion and support....then shelve them. All just so they can't fall into the hands of another record company and compete w/ their star act. Now a viable act loaded w/ talent and a decent following would watch their window of opportunity wither away. Contractually stuck in a well of despair, and come out of it in debt! That's another thing. Back when you used to hear about a band getting a million dollar recording contract. What that actually meant was being approved for a million dollar loan. For studio time, producer fees, artwork, printing, promotion, distribution, video production, and tour support. ALL of which has to be paid back to the record company from record sales. You'd have to sell 1/2 a million records to even see a $5 check! For many bands that had a weak sophomore release, it was actually a blessing to get dropped, as their debt would have just gotten bigger and bigger. Sure, being signed might seem like a fairytale. You get to play big national festival stages, support national acts, have a video on MTV, have hotties back stage....but unless you're a real diamond in the rough that puts out a string of gold/platinum records, chances are, you'll be right back where you started monetarily when it's all over. Heck, tour support alone is crazy money. Bus rental, tech/crew salary + lodging/3 meals a day/per diem. A little 4 piece band playing 120 shows a year can have annual touring costs that exceed a 3/4 of a million dollars. You better be making 10-15k a night if you want to make a few shekels. It's a ROUGH business. I wouldn't trade my road experiences for anything, but I also wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy!!

 

[Canard]

Some Indie bands have reverted to cassettes for distribution.

You can do them at home in small batches with a bunch of daisy-chained decks. You can print your own case inserts and labels. And you can produce them as needed.

You need a bit of cash up front to get a batch of CDs made up commercially. And the dyes in home burnable CDs and DVDs are not always very stable - a lot will eventually fail spontaneously - a caveat for people doing data backup - do it multiple times on different brands of media for long term storage.

 

[fronobulax]

live music and local/regional talent, there will always be a market for physical media.

Maybe. But I have so much physical media that I have not touched (or listened to) in years that buying more doesn't make sense. I tend to put $10 or $20 in the tip jar and walk past the media table. On those rare occasions when I did buy something I was disappointed because a CD full of original material did not capture the passion or excitement of the performance I had just heard.

 

[Bernie]

Nice to hear. Carthy, himself, never claimed authorship of the song, ever, only the arrangement.

Thank for posting this Canard.

Saw the Carthys in concert 25 years or so ago -- wow!, an immense amount of talent in that family.

Sad that talent doesn't count for much when it comes to making a living in the music biz though. You have a whole generation who grew up thinking all music should be available for free, because it was.

Musicians who made decent livings in the '60s and '70s could never have done so in the '90s and oughts.

And that's not even taking into account Covid, which has put the careers of thousands of touring artsts on the skids. With a few exceptions, you can't "Support Live Music" even if you want to.

Paul Simon did eventually acknowledge Martin Carthy's significant contribution to the authorship of "Scarborough Fair," and got Columbia / Sony to pay him a percentage of all back royalties on it, which was huge and a lifeline for Carthy at the time. No idea if Carthy's name was added as a co-author of the song, however. (EDIT: See Canard's clarification, below.]

What about having Bob Dylan showing some generosity too ? ° www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-59979164 ° After all his Bob Dylan's Dream owes a lot to Lord Franklin (originally Lady Franklin Lament written by Lord Franklin's wife, known as early as 1850, and which was probably one of the things Bob learned from Martin Carthy during his 1960 trip to England... ° www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBi-C_kFmpg&t=46 www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAgWklREPWI

 

[Opsimath]

Eye opening discussion on how hard it is to make a living in the music/entertainment business.

My guitar teacher was offered an opportunity to tour with a group. He turned it down.

A few decades ago I went with a friend to a musical performance, either Cats or Jesus Christ Superstar but I think it was Cats. Because she was a member supporting the arts we went to a party after the performance which other supporters along with the cast were invited to attend. It seemed to be pretty much patrons on one side of the room and cast on the other, but I was not far into ballet at the time and jumped at the opportunity to talk to the performers, tell them how very much I enjoyed the show and how incredibly talented and accomplished they were, so dove into a group of them, passing out compliments and asking questions.

When I got to the, "What is it like to be in the show?" type question I was fully expecting to hear answers like, "I'm living my dream", or " I trained my whole life for this" but what I got were things like, "I haven't seen my family in xx amount of time", and, "We're in a different city almost every day and seems like we're always on the bus."

About that time the announcement was made that everything was packed up and it was time for them to get on the bus. It was quite eye opening. Seems that a life of entertainment is not always as glamarous as it looks from seats in the audience.

The performers were such wonderful people and I so enjoyed the short time we had to talk. I remember as we were saying our good-byes that the young man I first approached took my hands in his, gave them a squeeze, and told me to, "Keep working on those fouettes, you will get them". Such a sweet thing to say to a 30-something year old beginning ballerina.

Although I don't recall his name (I'm terrible with names) I remember him. Sometimes I wonder if he remembers me. I hope he's doing well and has plenty of family time.

 

[merlin6666]

Times are changing and unfortunately artists have to adapt if they want to survive. Because they were able to sell recordings decades ago does not mean that they still can generate sufficient interest now. I don't use steaming services and I do buy CDs at merch table, even though my only CD player is in my 23 year old car that I haven't driven in two years. And I don't believe that downloading unlicensed music has impact on earnings or survival, as those pirates who do this would likely not bother with the music if it was not "free", and those musicians at the top of the industry continue to report earnings in the millions. It is not piracy but the huge inequity between the millionaires at the top and the paupers at the bottom that needs to be addressed. We need a fair music industry that distributes earnings more evenly.

 

[GAD]

Eye opening discussion on how hard it is to make a living in the music/entertainment business.

My guitar teacher was offered an opportunity to tour with a group. He turned it down.

A few decades ago I went with a friend to a musical performance, either Cats or Jesus Christ Superstar but I think it was Cats. Because she was a member supporting the arts we went to a party after the performance which other supporters along with the cast were invited to attend. It seemed to be pretty much patrons on one side of the room and cast on the other, but I was not far into ballet at the time and jumped at the opportunity to talk to the performers, tell them how very much I enjoyed the show and how incredibly talented and accomplished they were, so dove into a group of them, passing out compliments and asking questions.

When I got to the, "What is it like to be in the show?" type question I was fully expecting to hear answers like, "I'm living my dream", or " I trained my whole life for this" but what I got were things like, "I haven't seen my family in xx amount of time", and, "We're in a different city almost every day and seems like we're always on the bus."

About that time the announcement was made that everything was packed up and it was time for them to get on the bus. It was quite eye opening. Seems that a life of entertainment is not always as glamarous as it looks from seats in the audience.

The performers were such wonderful people and I so enjoyed the short time we had to talk. I remember as we were saying our good-byes that the young man I first approached took my hands in his, gave them a squeeze, and told me to, "Keep working on those fouettes, you will get them". Such a sweet thing to say to a 30-something year old beginning ballerina.

Although I don't recall his name (I'm terrible with names) I remember him. Sometimes I wonder if he remembers me. I hope he's doing well and has plenty of family time.

Touring shows are quite different than Broadway shows. That said, my daughter (who wanted to be on Broadway since she was 10) and I went to a show on Broadway after which some of the actors were doing collections for Broadway Cares (an excellent charity that we support). With my then 16-yo daughter next to me I asked the performer, "What advice would you give for an aspiring young actress?"

She smiled and said, "Follow your dream, but major in something else."

 

[Bernie]

It's mostly promotion that makes the difference ; most stars are made up, which means that there are business people who earn money on them, and sign deals that are good for them mainly in the 1st place...In early Rock nobody could think there was much money to be made, but there was money around, and a taste for leisure, art, or/and fun - the war was over, many people who had recovered had a taste for real life and so on. People in the biz took risks on artists they didn't know would become successful...They did; but there were still business people around (everybody know early Beatles managers for instance). Then people saw the music got very popular, and everybody went looking for new people, new trends and so on...Sharks gradually took over, musical movements left place to musical trends, fashions took the lead... It started as early as punk rock in my opinion - not saying punk was the first one, but i wouldn't deny it may have been either. A guy such as Chris Blackwell, promoting artists like Stevie Winwood, or a band such as King Crimson, a singer like Bob Marley, would not be able to succeed "so easily" nowerdays it seems to me...Artistical filters have disappeared, in the time where music became available more easily and at a lesser cost. Publicity overwhelmed everything ; it's everywhere, medias, internet, walls, bus stops, tube, television, sports and so on. And it's almost as if what was first expected to free upcoming artists (web) ends up enslaving them instead, for those that are good at business defeat those that are good at art I see. The music around was much better in the mid 60/70s than it is now I believe.

 

[EWH]