Music is like a garden; water it, tend to it, and it will be a blooming beauty that can attract visitors from miles around. But forget to water it, let the weeds take over, and you’re left with a field of crackling, dusty sticks that at best annoy your neighbor.
Local music is a gorgeous varied Valley garden and it’s up to all of us to keep it sustained and vibrant.
Here’s why you need to get to a show and support local music now:
Local shows are the best shows
Rocking feet away from the lead singer, shouting out requests and actually getting them played, buying drinks for the band afterward, and cheap tix all come together to make local shows often a better time than major concert events. At smaller local shows, tight spaces make for an intimate, often sweetly sweaty musical experience. Communities spring up around the local music scene with the late night revelers bonding over their favorite bands and bumping into each other at concerts around the Valley. Shows in venues named after a soda, bank, or cable company can be a thrilling experience, but it comes with outrageous drink prices ($9 for a Sam!), long lines, and rows of seats blocking your crazy dancing legs.
Excellent artists
Banish Misfortune, And the Kids, Pretty Penny, Truck Stop Troubadours, Problem With Dragons, Rusty Belle, Shokazoba, Mikey Sweet, Presha, MVP, Solid Romano, Jamie Kent, Alex2-e, Thunderforge, Angry Johnny and the Killbillies, Bella’s Bartok, Bright Lines, The Gaslight Tinkers, Zach Deputy, Rhythm Ink, The Primate Fiasco, The Mary Jane Jones, Lich King, Doc Ross, Hunter, Speedy Ortiz, Potty Mouth, California X, LuxDelux, Wishbone Zoe, Frankie Hayze, Bunk, The Black Rebels — my apologies to the scores of awesome bands not on this list. I really could go on.
Economic growth
Studies show that music is an economic stimulant. People arrive for the music, then get a bite to eat, spend a night in a hotel, or do some nearby shopping. While studies on the impact of small venues are difficult to find, there are a handful of economic impact analyses on large concerts. For example, in 2013 the University of Maine found that over three years, the annual waterfront concert series in Bangor injected $30 million into the local economy and created 160 jobs. And when The Tourism Research in Economic Environs & Society looked into the impact of Usher’s South African 2012 tour, they found it infused the local economy with $3 million.
Musicians need you
Everyone loves music, but not everyone wants to support music. For many people, if it’s not streaming free, they’re not going to listen. The Internet has been great for getting small bands exposure, but terrible for small bands trying to make a living with music. But bands can survive the Web by playing live shows and selling merchandise.
Musicians can’t pay their bills on adoration alone. Bands need you to go to live shows and buy merchandise. If people don’t support local music, there won’t be any local music. Unfortunately this slide away from local shows has been going on for decades. Just like the larger economy where the 1 percent of the wealthiest Americans are doubling their incomes, the biggest acts — musicians like Madonna, Justin Bieber, Beyonce, Sting — are consuming a larger share of live music revenue. Meanwhile the share of entertainment dollars going to small bands has shrunk by 20 percent since the ’80s.
According to Chairman of Economic Advisors to the White House, Alan Kreuger, in his remarks “Land of Hope and Dreams: Rock and Roll, Economics, and Rebuilding the Middle Class,” the top 5 percent of the wealthiest musical acts in America are taking home more than 80 percent of annual concert revenue in the U.S., but three decades ago big names were only eating up 60 percent of concert revenue.
If you’re itching to get out and support local music, you’re in luck: the Advocate’s Grand Band Slam is Saturday, Sept. 12, at One Bar & Grill in Northampton. It will feature four local bands battling it out live for your votes and the grand prize: a recording session at Rotary Records in West Springfield, $500 at Falcetti Music in Springfield, and two gigs: one at Falcetti’s new performance space in October and another at One Bar & Grill.
The top four bands, as voted by readers, playing GBS are: Irish jig-masters Banish Misfortune, metal meisters Pretty Penny, sci-fi rockers Problem With Dragons, and country kings Truck Stop Troubadours.
Show starts at 8 p.m. and the Advocate will be raffling off prizes, including a $500 gift certificate to Off the Map Tattoo in Easthampton.•
Contact Kristin Palpini at editor@valleyadvocate.com.
