What are we up against?

Here's an excerpt from my response to the CL ad that prompted this blog, which asked the unmusical question, where did all the fans go? :-D

"Live music -- particularly rock-oriented -- is on a long, slow decline. There are numerous reasons for this, here are a few good ones:

• the aging of the baby boom generation, coupled with declining birth rates among Americans of European ancestry
• the lack of vitality/innovation in rock music
• proliferation of entertainment alternatives
• DJs

I've played live for 25+ years and my dad was bandleader longer than that. I'm also a demographer. In my opinion you're seeing much more vitality in the Latin and urban music styles than we have seen in rock in decades (Nirvana was the last really "big thing" in rock and that was almost 20 years ago). Combined with demographic change and the internet and cable and you have fewer people going out or having big private parties. And when they do they are as likely to be entertained by a DJ as a band. Ironically I think the quality of bands today is superior to what I saw in clubs 15 or 20 years ago. The equipment is better (especially PA equipment) which has been a big help to singers and there is so much information on how to play an instrument (internet, instructional DVDs, etc. that didn't exist 20 years ago) that I think the bar is actually higher than its ever been.

So what's the answer? My opinion is you have to form clubs, associations of people who like similar kinds of music and who want to physically connect with other people in their community. Obviously that's built-in with college, but once you get out of school it takes more effort. The desire to find a mate is a major motivating force, it's one of the reasons people go to places where a live band will be playing. They're hoping they might meet somebody they'll like at the show. There's a lot more I could say about this but I don't want to write a book, it's just something I've been thinking about for a while. Bands have to get a lot more savvy about marketing themselves and, in particular, they need to think about why people come to their shows and they may need to make some accommodations.

I'll expand on these ideas in future blogs.