Presently, I intern with Ropeadope Records, and I am at that point in my life where I gotta start making moves if I want to be serious about a career in the music industry.  I always joke with myself, punning Nietzsche, by saying that "record labels are dead and we killed them," mainly because of illegal downloading.  It is illogical and naive to think that everyone still buys Cd's, when the truth is that everyone is a "smooth criminal" downloading a song illegally now and then or trading studio albums with their friends.  So if record labels are dead, but you want to be involved in the music industry, what can you do?

Like a toaster in the bathtub, I saw the light: Live Music.

In such a vast field, what are some potential occupations to which one can pursue?
  • lighting director for a band/venue
  • promoting/marketing upcoming events or concerts
  • booking agent
  • tour manager for a band
  • night manager for a venue
  • owning one's own bar that hosts concerts
  • soundboard engineer
  • working for a soundboard recording distribution company (i.e. live downloads)
Lastly, the influx of diverse multi-day music festivals from Lollapalooza to Rock the Bells have opened the gates of possibility even wider for music enthusiasts itchin' to get in the game.  I mean, Lollapalooza is even in my Microsoft Word spell check dictionary now.  All I've got to say is kudos to The Man for that one- and by the man, I mean Bill Gates.

To segue back into my allegory of professional turmoil and self-doubt, do you have what it takes to deal with the perpetually evolving foundations of the music biz?

Now I must take a few steps back and mention that I have been to over 200 concerts in my blip of a 23-year existence.  Despite my youth, I believe I know what sets a timeless live band from drunken fools on a stage.  Therefore, it would appear that I would be a perfect candidate for a job with a venue or live-music production company, but after majoring in political science in college, I know better.  Politics is like god: omnipresent; impossible to escape.  The old saying, "it's who you know, not what you know," holds true today in all types of business.  Finding a job is harder than it seems.

However, if the world was raining chocolate-covered gumdrops, and I could choose exactly what I wanted to do in life, in the spirit of what the Point used to be, I would love to own my own coffee bar that moonlights as a BYOB venue. All you 'burban Philly folks know what I'm talking about.  Many moons ago, the Point hosted a show that co-billed Bruce Springsteen and Jackson Browne, which is still a sought-after bootleg for any hardcore fan of the Boss.  To burst my own hypothetical bubble, the reality of the situation is that I am one of the hundreds -nay thousands- of recent college graduates who thinks to themselves,"Hey, why not music?  I could be the next Bill Graham for live promotion and venue management; I could be the next Tom Dowd for production;  Or the next Steve Lillywhite for engineering..."

Will you rise to such great heights or are you just some guy or girl that likes music?

At work one day, I was conveying my occupational struggle to my boss at the label, Louis Marks.  I explained to him that the past, present, and future of music has and always will be on the stage.  Louis agreed, the death of the record label has made every band hit the road, "so you have to choose between Phish, String Cheese Incident, and the Dead on any given Friday night."  Although all three bands are broken up, I got what he was saying: The increase in the amount of concerts in a given night are decreasing the amount of tickets sold with each individual concert...it's basic economic theory.  But has that come to fruition or does it foreshadow what's to come?  Has this trend already affected behemoths like Live Nation and Ticketmaster?  Will it affect them?

In the future, I predict this:

  • Bread: An increase in the number of reunion tours.  Have you heard the rumors of Talking Heads getting back together for Bonnaroo 2008?  Doesn't KISS already have either a farewell or reunion tour annually?
  • Butter: Advertising placement for songs by Indie artists like Feist.  I loved the song "1,2,3,4" until recent iPod campaigns ruined it for me.  It reminds me of that SNL skit where Helen Hunt and Will Ferrell forcibly sequestered Hanson in an elevator and played "Mmmm Bop" on repeat.
  • Knife: The trend of bigger acts playing smaller venues for a higher ticket price will become more prevalent.  Smashing Pumpkins sold out four nights at the Tower Theatre in October and Mars Volta sold out the Fillmore at the TLA in less than 30 minutes a few Fridays ago.

I might be wrong.  All I know is I want to be along for the ride- The music is just that good.