Oh Joy!

New Doves record coming in spring '09!! Rejoice!

Here Comes The Fear...Again

A lot is being made of the current "economic downturn", but those of us toiling in the music sector have been witness to a slow-motion apocalypse for nearly a decade now. The phrases "job security" and "career in music" are rarely uttered in the same sentence, but lately things seem to be getting a lot worse, a lot faster. It's kinda like when a ship sinks - once the stern is vertical, you know you'll be wet soon.

Just today Viacom announced the down-sizing of 850 people, including a number of cuts in the NYC office of the Rhapsody music service. As someone who's actually been down-sized by Viacom (back in '01), I can attest to the fact that getting laid off really sucks, and my heart goes out to those folks.

The thing that really interests me is the number of "music professionals" that are / will soon be out on the street trying to find jobs in music. Frankly, I don't think our industry - which is relatively small and insular - can sustain them, and I suspect that many people who've spent their entire professional lives parked at the intersection of Music and Business will soon be exploring new career avenues.

That's a tough pill to swallow. What if you were a pastry chef and suddenly someone told you, "That's it - out of the kitchen!" Yet, that's what's happening. The technological disruption occurring in the music space - and the resultant file-sharing - is unprecedented and it's making a lot of people either 1) unnecessary or 2) redundant or 3) unemployable.

We here at Brandracket take some comfort in the fact that we don't pay our rent selling music. We're essentially a service business - helping brands find and license music for a variety of purposes. Lucky for us, brands will always respect copyrights (thanks to the armies of lawyers they employee...), and they will always need someone to help them navigate the musical waters.

But that said, don't think for instant that we're not battening down the hatches over here. The looming economic storm is gonna rain on everyone's parade, including ours. So we're doing everything we can to keep existing clients and aggressively (but nicely!) go after new ones. Ultimately, that's really all we can do.

And if it doesn't work, we'll just ask for a bailout. :)

Enough hand-wringing. Last time I checked, none of us are in a Turkish prison, so let's keep things in perspective. (Apologies to anyone who actually is in a Turkish prison. Keep digging.) If I don't get around to writing something here before the end of the year, we wish you and yours a happy and healthy holiday season. See you in '09! ~ Tim

OMG: DBT

I contend that Drive-By Truckers is currently the best band in America. Over the last two decades, this Alabama-by-way-of-Athens, GA outfit has honed its songwriting chops to a knife's edge, as witnessed by its latest platter, Brighter Than Creation's Dark. Yeah, I know, the album came out in January, but I'm still listening. It's good, people.

There's no musical slight of hand occurring here, and no incredible production job. There is simply a group of super-gifted songsmiths with an uncanny knack for putting just the right words to just the right music.

DBT represent the melding of Skynnrd-inspired Southern Rock with a northern/western/eastern indie rock sensibility. But where they depart from current indie rock - and where they earn the title of Best Band In America - is with their lyrics. DBT do not traffic in irony, or witty turns of phrase. Their lyrics are literal; you know exactly what they're talking about. It's this ability to articulate their thoughts in a down home, funny, poignant and more than anything human manner that puts them far ahead of their peers.

I challenge anyone to read this horrifying story about the murder of ex-House Of Freaks singer Bryan Harvey and his family, then listen to "Two Daughters And A Beautiful Wife" from Brighter Than Creation's Dark, and not shed a tear. Of course, the story itself is an unfathomably sad tragedy, but the way in which Patterson Hood answers the event - not with righteous anger or calls for blood, but with a heartbreaking vision of Harvey and his family - is truly poetic.

Two other songs on BTCD deal with the emotional and mental cost of the war in Iraq, a topic that most American bands seem to avoid like the plague. "That Man I Shot" is a harrowing first person account (with an awesome Afghan Whigs-inspired riff) of the enduring horrors of war, while "The Home Front" is a Springsteenian portrait of a wife and mom struggling to keep it together in the face of her husband's deployment. In both cases, Hood paints detailed portraits of lives torn asunder by a morally ambiguous war. [NOTE: for another heartbreaking commentary on the Iraq conflict and its aftermath, check out "Dress Blues" from ex-DBT Jason Isbell's album Sirens Of The Ditch. It's one of my favorite records of the year.]

I could go on with my praise for DBT and try to convince you of their greatness, but it's late and I gotta work in the morning (I'm sure Patterson could write a great song about that). The band is currently headed to the West Coast with another lyrically gifted American band, The Hold Steady. Do yourself and favor and check 'em out. ~ Tim

No Drummer Jokes

Last night, Chris and I attended the launch party for Fallout 3, the third installment of Bethesda Softworks' massively popular Fallout video game franchise. We music supervised the game, including licensing a great collection of classic vocal jazz from the 40s and 50s. (Full disclosure: Chris did pretty much all the work on this one. Nice job, buddy.) Set against the post-apocalyptic carnage of the game, the music comes off as super spooky.

Anyway, the launch party was at LA Center Studios and it was pretty much off the chain. We're talking red carpet, tons of paparazzi, 15 open bars, and about 1500 mostly beautiful people, many of whom looked like they were trying desperately to get a part on The Hills. Oh, and the Foo Fighters played.

Now, I give Dave Grohl mad, insanely huge props. Not only is he one of the greatest rock musicians of all time, but if you want to zoom out a bit, he's also the living embodiment of the American Dream. The guy grew up poor with a single mom in Virginia, joined a punk band called Scream, spent years on the road, joined another band called Nirvana, buried his singer, then parlayed his fame and immense talent into a whole second career. Which brings us to the present, where Grohl and his fellow Foos are headlining Wembley Arena. Basically, they're one of the biggest bands in the world. Which makes me sad that I don't really like their music anymore.

By all accounts Grohl is an absolute sweetheart. Every person I've met who's had an interaction with him says the same thing: "Man, he was so nice and cool!!" And his musical prowess has been well established (the dude is one of the greatest drummers E-V-E-R). But I gotta say, I think Grohl and the Foos are done. I think they've reached the terminus of what they're capable of. It's all starting to sound the same to me and I kinda wish they'd stop.

And what's up with Dave looking like Lemmy these days? Dude has long stringy hair, a beard & 'stache, prominent tats and a little cross medallion/choker thing...just like Lemmy. My theory is that Dave really wants to be seen as part of the Continuum of Rock, a big dot in the straight line that goes from Pete Townshend to Jimmy Page to Ritchie Blackmore to Lemmy and on and on. And that's fine - part of the allure of rock 'n' roll is the ability to reinvent yourself. I just think he might be trying a little too hard.

But in Dave's defense, it's gotta be kinda tough to maintain your edge if you're him. I mean, what's left to accomplish? What's left to kick against? Courtney Love? I think that battle has been fought and won. It just seems like Dave is kinda treading water. I think he'd be much more creative if he was put into a situation where he can contribute, but he's not running the show (like playing drums for Queens of the Stone Age, which he did).

Anyway, something tells me Dave doesn't really care what I think (probably 'cause he'll never know I exist...[sob]). I still respect the hell outta the guy, and wish him nothing but the best.

I kinda hope some 14-year old Foos obsessive stumbles upon this post and lambasts me in the comments section. Have at it, kiddies. ~ Tim

The Kid Is Alright

My 3 year old son Aidan is bonkers for a book/cartoon series called The Magic School Bus, wherein a teacher named Ms. Frizzle takes her class on crazy field trips to the stone age, outer space - you name it. Aidan is now convinced that "Magic Bus" by The Who is about The Magic School Bus, and he insists on hearing it on the way to daycare every morning.

Now, The Who is my favorite band of all time. Actually, let me clarify: the Who between the years 1964 and 1973 is my favorite band of all time. For me, there is no other band that has so perfectly combined epic song craft with unhinged rock power (haters: watch this in its entirety and then let's talk). So the fact that my son is now a Who fan? Worse things could happen. I just pray that we can get through the teenage years without him embracing godawful music (i.e. whatever his generation's version of Korn is). For now, I will appreciate the fact we get to listen to cool music in the car. It's better than Barney. Much, much better. ~ Tim

He Lost Control

With 2 boys aged 3 months and 3 years running us ragged, there's precious little down time around the Scanlin household. But last Saturday night, after the jammies/teeth-brush/bed time stories routine was completed, I managed to stay awake long enough to check out the Ian Curtis biopic "Control". Being a massively huge Joy Division and New Order fan, I've wanted to see the movie ever since it came out.

The verdict: it was just OK.

Much has been made about director Anton Corbijn's decision to film the movie in black and white. I'm a fan of Corbijn's iconic shots of bands like U2 and REM (and Joy Division) as much as the next guy, but the reason those shots are so powerful is that they're moments captured in time. They're iconic. But there's nothing iconic or powerful about a guy waiting for the bus, or brushing his teeth. In other words, it's difficult/impossible to sustain Corbijn's dramatic aesthetic over the course of a 2 hour, live action feature film. It really just ends up looking like any other black and white movie.

The film's star, Sam Riley, bears an incredible resemblance to Ian Curtis, and his acting was proficient if not revelatory. His singing on the other hand was awesome. The guy does an almost spot-on Curtis. But that's not enough to save the film.

I think director Michael Winterbottom did a much better job of contextualizing and portraying Curtis and Joy Division in his kick-ass film 24 Hour Party People. That movie contained versions of all the pivotal scenes portrayed in Control (Ian's first seizure, Ian's confrontation with Tony Wilson at the club, Ian's last moments), but dealt with them in a much more compelling way. And while Winterbottom was at it, he managed to chronicle two decades of Manchester music - no small feat. (I think the coolest scene in Party People is when we see the newly christened New Order, still mourning Curtis's death, fumbling their way through an embryonic version of "Blue Monday" in their dank practice space. The song would go on to become the biggest selling single in UK chart history.)

So now, some random thoughts about Joy Division and "Control":

- It's awesome that Corbijn references Curtis's love of The Doors early in the film. By his own admission, Curtis owes a tremendous debt to Jim Morrison, and the snarky music fanatic (and unabashed Doors fan) in me thinks it's awesome that Corbijn acknowledges this in his film.

- Joy Division were so fucking cool it's kinda ridiculous. Their dark hooks continue to be pretty much irresistible to generations of angst-ridden kids, while their unrelentingly linear sound has been massively influential (we must also credit production genius Martin Hannett here). And their look! In the annals of rock history, you will find only a handful of bands that so effortlessly looked as cool as Joy Division. It's like their clothes were the perfect compliment to their sound. Yes, you can say that about a lot of bands in this day and age, but it's always contrived. Joy Division's fashion sense looked as if it literally seeped out of their amp cabinets and onto their bodies.

- If my boys ever endeavor to be in rock bands (and I pray that they do), I will sit them down and play for them choice cuts by JD. At the end of this little listening session, I will enumerate the lessons learned: 1) You need to have a sound that is your own. 2) Less is more. Listen to the sparseness of this music. Listen to what is not there. Listen to how powerful simple bass, drums, guitar and vocals can be. 3) You need to look cool. 4) Be mysterious - the world does not need to know everything about you, or what you had for breakfast. To which they will of course reply: "Whatever, dad. We wanna hear that Poison record - the one with 'Talk Dirty To Me.'"

- Ian Curtis was kind of a narcissistic dick. If you were going to kill yourself, why would you hang yourself in your living room, knowing that your loved ones would find you and be scarred for life by the image of it? David Foster Wallace just did this exact thing. WTF, people? If you must shuffle yourself off this mortal coil, please have the decency and foresight to do it some place where a complete stranger will find you, instead of the people who really care about you. I mean, c'mon. It's just rude.

I'm off to listen to Unknown Pleasures for the 14th time this week. Toodles! ~ Tim

Taillights Fade...

Great article in Advertising Age this week about how major labels - with the help of the RIAA - are slowly digging their own graves. Check it out here:

http://adage.com/mediaworks/article?article_id=130766

And it's pretty much true: majors are so fixated on making money the old school way that they can't - or won't - embrace new technologies and the new playing field that has unfolded before them. In a way, you can't blame them. These are massive machines that support thousands and thousands of people (except for those who are getting laid off...). It's like trying to turn around an air craft carrier: it's gonna take a few days, only in this instance, a few days equals a few decades in major label years. And by then, it'll be way, way too late.

This is why we love to work with independent labels. Because they are quick and nimble and open-minded and they get it. They understand the awareness = new fans = revenue equation. And they have (in most cases) the lean infrastructure to be able to adapt to change. One of the key differences between indies and majors is that indies (and particularly artists) have been able to use disruptive technology to their advantage, whereas majors - having sunk billions over the years into establishing slow, lumbering machines - have been caught completely offguard.

It's sad and frustrating watching the majors try to wring every last drop of blood from their once fruitful stone. For me, the most telling "we're completely hosed" moment was when they started charging media outlets blanket fees to stream their music videos, seeing as how videos were totally promotional for, oh, about 40 years.

I could go on and on (just ask my fellow Brandrackateers...), but you get the point. Jack be nimble, Jack be quick. Whatever you do, Jack, don't be a major label in 2008. ~ Tim

News Flash: People Like Free Music

Here's an interesting article from Wired:

http://blog.wired.com/music/2008/02/free-music-boos.html

It talks about how Last.fm's traffic went up 58% after they added free, ad-supported music to the site. Hmmm...kinda like what we've been doing for our clients over the last 3 years, in a much cooler, less-obtrusive way (if you ask me).

Yes, it's true: people like free music. They especially like free music with no strings attached. They get the music, they share it with their friends. This leads to more fans for participating artists and labels, resulting in more cash in their pockets via the sale of music, concert tickets, DVDs, merchandise, ringtones, and whatever else they want to sell. Meanwhile, the site on which people find the music gets more traffic because people are telling their friends about it.

This is not rocket science, people. Free music is good for everyone. Learn it. Love it. Live it. ~ Tim

Well, hello there...

Aloha and welcome to the Brandracket blog. In the coming days, months and hopefully years we will use this space to pontificate, explain, implore, inform, rant, rock, roll, laugh and cry (among other things).

If you haven't already, please visit our web site at www.brandracket.com to learn about who we are and what we do.

We look forward to getting our blog on...and reading your insightful, thought-provoking comments.

Yers,

Tim Scanlin