Rick Beato and Tim Pierce discuss a dramatically altered music industry compared to what it was like in their formative years.
Oh man – this hit home in a bigger way than I could have expected given its grim sounding title at first. And in a good way!
How so? Well, it sort of firmly put me at ease about my years as a fledgling professional musician, because it confirmed that the way I’d been rollilng myself back then was exactly right and the only “reasonable” and feasible thing to do: Grab every opportunity to play and “learn on the job” that presented itself! And I have! No dive too shabby for me to still enjoy filling it with my band buddies, no venue and ride too far, no night too long, no haul of gear to cumbersome. It was all physically very challenging and not only physically. But it was what I had meant to do with my life then and that’s what mattered. I was content in knowing that I was doing what I thought to be my dream at the time.
There was one major difference here in the country as opposed to there, in L.A. or the US in general: The industry was far less open to giving everyone being serious that much of a chance as Tim describes, the ‘gatekeepers’ as they were called would really make sure that the gates were locked when “unmanned”. In fact, it was more like the opposite: Tightly knit, closed circles that seemed impenetrable to get into unless you were family or romantically involved with one of the “alpha characters” in whatever band, act, setting. I remember booking one such demo studio the kind of which Tim pierce describes whose gear was still pretty professional, but maybe “not all that” for the major labels to book their top acts into. So they’d advertise their services and equipment for the rest of us and I got hold of such an ad at times pre internet, pre smartphones in one of those special interest music industry magazines that had everything from your local music retailer to luthiers, your “craigslist” / pre eBay / pre Reverb.com–versions of classifieds with new and used gear, to music schools and private tutors and eventually also listings of labels, record companies and the industry proper.
So I took my military enlistment end-of-contract bonus and used it on 2.5 days of professional “taping” or tracking in one such studio run by two nice professionals both playing themselves when they weren’t recording a band or singer or other “wanna be” spending their bottom dime on their very good services. (They kindly donated the 3rd day of mixing and mastering to me and were really very supporting and cooperative, efficiently working and just super nice guys!) I remember meeting our band’s drummer and my pal out front on the day of picking up the master tape and a bunch of cassettes – remember those? 😉 – on the day when they had completed the mixing and mastering job and we’d listen to the two original songs I got down in those two days, playing it back on the car stereo of my first car that I also got from my military wages. He freaked out, exclaiming “You’re nuts!” – as a compliment 😉
So I had a professional sounding demo, got me the list of record labels all over the city – including the major ones – and had the audacity of asking for appointments with their A & R people directly. I guess, you might say I felt confident that I had something that they might be interested in. While I didn’t land me a deal of some kind, which was the only known way back in those days to get your “break” from the “wanna be” department and entering the “might become” section, I was offered an opportunity to become the second half of a “Schlager” (roughly “folk pop”) duet with a lady my age, which the studio planned on pitching as a contestant for a major European song contest that was the industry’s version of today’s casting shows more or less and aired on all public TV stations across the continent in those days (Eurovision Song Contest; I think they still run those to this day). The studio owner and CEO of that outfit looked back on a prolific career in that particular walk of the industry herself, which had afforded her this studio facility in one of the highly desired parts of this Bavarian capitol along with a comfortable lifestyle and a network of trusted business connections and affiliations. It was a huge opportunity that had worked for a known Pop Rock artist as well who also owns a major recording facility in Bavaria/Germany that had seen some of the highest grossing Rock and Pop bands recording their albums there. The lady was very convincing in making me understand that by accepting her offer it might open doors for me that otherwise would remain shut forever. And I clearly heard and understood her!
Only…. it wasn’t anything I had ever considered for myself, let alone see myself and my name connected with for everyone to see and potentially forever… I felt it too embarrassing to commit to, but agreed on a “test taping” with them and prepared the song(s) they had me learn, appeared on the day of recording and nailed it upon 2nd or 3rd take. They were happy – I wasn’t. The more excited they became to have found “the guy” to complement their female counterpart, the more specific it all became with contracts being handed to me to look over, the more it felt like a one way street that would eventually land me somewhere I didn’t feel I belonged. Eventually, I had to walk away, much to the barely veiled chagrin and even open rage of the assistant producer.
But I’m digressing and getting lost in personal memories as usual. What I meant to say is this: The “vibe” and mentality in my country was nothing like Tim Pierce in the video describes, at least not per my experience. I mean, I knew a lot of working musicians at the time, who’d be regularly booked for recordings and came home with really nice salaries. Numbers were thrown around that sounded too good to be true, but must have been for the A–listers at least.
I had attended a prestigious private music school for one semester prior to all this, then took any odd job to support myself and keep a room with an elderly lady to bunk in and practice. I’d be a pizza delivery guy, a mailman, a relocation/moving business service hand, a part time janitor – anything to pay bills. Eventually I had depleted one of my savings account and needed “fresh money”. So I responded to an ad looking for a guitarist, vocalist for a professionally working cover band in Switzerland, met the band leader twice prior to learning which songs to prepare for auditioning, then received info about the location and date to show up for getting “vetted”. Mind you – all this long before GoogleMaps, GPS systems in your car and whatnot, let alone YouTube or Spotify to find and learn the songs and lyrics.. Long story short: I got the gig halfway into the second song I performed with them when auditioning and stayed with the act for about 18 months after. Even there… I did everything I could to “move up” and find better, bigger opportunities or make contacts that I thought would get me there. To no avail.
Being young and impatient, I felt I had had my little “post adolescent rebellion” and sat myself down one late afternoon as we did soundcheck in one of the resort hotels we’d get booked into. I looked at the other guys who were well into their 40ies at the time, maybe minus the keyboardist, he might have been a few years younger. I was 23, 24–ish, if memory serves. So I looked at them on stage as I signalled back to the stage whether the sound was balanced and pleasing to the ears of an audience on the small dance floor in the basement bar area. “Are you really going to do this for the next 20-something years”, was the question on my mind. “Do you really see yourself chasing barely legal girls because that’s what they expect of you to live up to their ‘reputation’? Is that what you went to grammar school for and graduated from while having your parents pay for text books, extracurricular music lessons and other activities to give you a chance of making a good life for yourself?”
The answer was very clear: No. That is not where I wanted to see myself. So I gave them notice that night that I’d quit. I returned, doing odd jobs again and ultimately landing me a proper day job in the financial department of a major public administration, later worked the airport charter front desk for a tour operator and again in their administrative department, the complaints section. Ultimately, the lady I had befriended and become romantically involved with convinced me to sign up for a university program, which I did and completed my master’s degree in linguistics, while teaching myself everything about the burgeoning internet-/software-/computer business and finally making my living in that field.
So the peace I derive from Rick Beato’s conversation with Tim Pierce about the way the business worked for them, basically reads: I had the right ideas and approach about getting where I thought I wanted to be. The fact that it didn’t produce the desired outcome is something I really have to chalk down to this lack of open-mindedness for contenders and “outsiders wanting in” like myself. It was more like you’re either born into their closed circles, marry into them or arrive there with an existing track record of charts topping hits, be it as an artist, songwriter or producer. Coming from modest means I could never afford to devote all my time to music except for the time I toured with this cover act. (where I’d really continue practicing and composing at pre-DAW times and devoted what little spare time I had to that).
In other words: I can rest easy now knowing that I had done it right as best as I knew how to at the time. Sometimes that morsel of luck has to factor into the equation to get your major break. All good, I had my way and put in every effort I was capable of.
Thanks to Rick Beato for producing such educational and informative content on his channel, it’s literally priceless!
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