So my 90s streak continued with a few other things thrown in. Counting Crows’ first album, the first Jane’s Addiction album, Cracker’s ‘Kerosene Hat’ and some Shostakovich all came off the shelves this week and most of it has been ripped.
‘Kerosene Hat’ is another one of those end of high-school discs that sticks in my mind. I think I got the promo for it probably right around graduation, and played it quite a bit over the summer. Though I don’t associate it directly with me and Tamiko getting back together, that was a good summer and those good feelings were mapped onto that and a few other discs. Which is funny because ‘Low’, ‘Take Me Down To The Infirmary’, and a GREAT cover of the Grateful Dead’s ‘Loser’ aren’t exactly chipper tunes (though I do remember clicking through over 60 tracks to get to ‘Euro-Trash Girl’ so that I could play it loudly as I drove down I-80 … and that song is just damn fun). Regardless of the mood in the songs though, I still remember how good the summer of ‘93 felt as we were getting back together, and this was one of those discs that was in my car.
‘August and Everything After’ was one of the discs that, about a year later, was in Tamiko’s apartment after I first moved down to Berkeley. It took a little time for Counting Crows to take off, but once they did they were certainly a band that was noticed around Berkeley. When I put the music on last night, Tamiko immediately started to bop to it, and like me I imagine there is the feeling of us starting our lives together in the Bay Area in the back of her head as well. At the same time, the guitarist from The Counting Crows also gave me (and my old Tower friend Jordan) an early lesson in the inequities of the rock and roll lifestyle.
I think it was between Christmas and New Years in 1994 when a guy came into Tower with a stack of $100 gift certificates (3 or 4?), and Jordan noticed when he was cashing them in that they were from Adam Duritz. Then Jordan noticed that the guy cashing them in was David Bryson (I think?), the guitarist for the band. It was funny – because we had a Counting Crows poster on the wall behind the guy. It was one of the biggest selling albums that year, and here he was cashing gift certificates from the lead singer! We were jazzed to meet him, but somehow the conversation got around to why he had these gift certificates. I remember him telling us that since Adam was the songwriter (and therefore got writing credit) that he was the one that made all the money. And while the rest of the band did ok, they were basically employees. They liked the gig (he wasn’t complaining), but he certainly didn’t have $400 of his own to go out and spend on music. So Adam had given them gift certificates to Tower that year as presents.
I think both Jordan and I were floored by this… this guy was on a record that had sold millions, yet he wasn’t a millionaire. Maybe with the next record, but that initial contract didn’t have him sitting pretty yet. While I wasn’t entertaining ideas really of rock and roll stardom anymore at this point (I was going to make millions as a composer of new music!!!), it still struck me just how messed up the music industry was (and of course I remember remembering this night a few years later when I saw a little clearer what my role in that messed up situation was).
a good read, as always, thanks! (though i was hoping for a Shostakovich connection 🙂
“my role in that messed up situation” — what do you mean?
eddi
well – there is more Shostakovich up for the next couple of days… there will be something soon 🙂
“My role” has to do with how over about ten years I worked at record stores, mostly as a buyer. I’d pay $7 to get a CD that we would then sell for (at the time) $14.99. With over a 100% markup on our end, the stores would STILL barely make enough to cover expenses (employees, power, rent, etc.) plus have enough left over to re-invest in purchasing what might or might not be the next big thing. Of course, this is how business in general works, but it wasn’t a surprise to me when Tower Records finally went bankrupt for its last time and closed its doors.
The band made between $.50 and $1.00 on each CD sold to a store AFTER the label and distributer made up its costs. Of course there is risk to the labels / distributers as well, but they offload as much as possible to the bands / stores. Again – not a bad business model for the labels / distributors! But it disgusts me that a guy who had sold MILLIONS of records can’t go out and splurge on some music. There could be lots of reasons for this (maybe he did have millions at one point but had blown it all??? I didn’t get that feeling, but it is surely a possibility).
But when I signed up with ASCAP as a composer, I finally connected how important it was to be the author of a work. At ASCAP, authors get half the royalties, publishers half. Again, another business model where the artist is probably not getting there share of the money that is coming in. But this is what happens when business and art / music / entertainment start to support each other. The irony being that through this mechanism you have the possibility (though a small one still) of reaching a huge audience, though your stakes are higher as well. You can end up broke, and even if you DO sell millions, well, you might not be able to afford to head out and purchase music for yourself.
I’m not saying it’s evil… just that it is messed up, and I was part of that for a decade… a decade when I barely scraped by while paying for school, guys with platinum albums under their belts made an ‘ok’ living, record stores started to shutter yet Universal Music and Sony are still going strong. And complaining that they aren’t getting enough at the same time 🙂
The situation for musicians is described really well by Steve Albini (Big Black, Shellac more 90’s music) in his essay “The problem with Music”. Posted on negativeland.com. Explains his view of just why musicians, even successful ones, can be poor.. Kinda makes you want to go DIY