Since we don't have a .5 new version of Biab to talk about I figured I would cheer everyone up with this:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/zackomalleyg...ghest-paid-djs/

I've posted about this before but on a much smaller scale. I knew there was a sea change happening right before our eyes, I could just feel it but I had no idea it was like this. Some notable snippets from the article:

“The rise of dance music has been astronomical in the last three years,”

"Even at age 45, the Frenchman shows little signs of slowing"

Does this make anybody here feel old?

“I think Las Vegas is really taking over..."

I drove out there last year for a seminar and did some club hopping. All young kids partying to EDM. I felt like grandpa at a high school sock hop. The old Vegas is dead, dead, dead. I like to watch that show Bar Rescue. A recent episode was a blues bar in Vegas called the Sand Dollar. Without going into the whole show Taffer says to the owner demographic surveys say only 3% of the bar going public identifies with blues music. Three percent. It's probably the same for jazz and classic rock. Not much market there.

It's looking more and more like if I want to play out it's retirement home gigs for me. The commercial general public type things are really fading out fast.

Bob

Bob you bring back some old memory's. A friend of mine used to be in the house band at the Sand Dollar. I remember on Thursday nights they would allow fellow musicians to sit in and play a song or two.
My niece worked as a cocktail waitress in them high end clubs and told me she can make a grand in one night in tips.

Brian

Very interesting article, Bob! Thanks for posting that one!

I followed the links and read some of the corollary articles. Apparently even the DJs are afraid of getting stuck in a rut, and they're introducing live musicians into their shows. Imagine that!

But, the main message I get from all of this is that music has always been in a constant state of change, fusing elements from the past with whatever is currently working. Whether we think of ourselves as musicians or performers or businessmen, we need to adapt. But adaptation means different things to different people, and change creates new adaptive niches.

Some people adapt by becoming purists, seeking to preserve the traditional elements of a specific genre.

Others adapt by abandoning what they once did in order to embrace what's currently popular.

I see the role BIAB plays in all of this as part of the adaptation. They provide software for real musicians to branch out and become more productive in multiple genres.

If nothing else good has come from the DJ explosion, I think it has at least opened the door for a single person to provide entertainment for a crowd... whether that takes the form of DJing, or playing a real instrument with backing tracks.

dj's of course aren't new we had them back in the 50's and 60's with the record hops

i'm wondering what will replace the dj

how abut streaming

someone comes up with an idea for a club concept where all the music is streamed they could provide the same or different music to multiple clubs from a single location like the national radio broadcasts

of course as silvertones has shown biab\rb can drive lights so maybe a biab\rb sets driving multimedia presentations with possible audience participation of some type is also possible

the common thread to me seems to be people gathering at a location where there is music and refreshments and food

the type of and presentation of the music is what has changed over the years

Very good points Pat. I agree it's good that the DJ's are including some live players, I've seen that in some videos I've watched. One was a pure rap act backed up by a trio playing to recorded tracks.

I've been an adapter my whole life which is why I've always gotten calls for gigs. I've done it all from old 50's R&R to modern contemporary jazz to country to big band. The thing that saddens me is it looks like that adapting is over for me. All the different styles of music over the last 40 years I've actually enjoyed and it was fun learning it. Not this stuff. This finally is the really big generational change I've been expecting for the last 10 years or so. I cannot get into it at all and I have no desire to listen to or learn it.

After years of consciously breaking the conventional mold of older folks being stuck in the past, I've finally turned into my parents who loved Glenn Miller and Tom Jones but hated the Beatles and the Stones. I am definitely stuck in the musical past now and I will tell anybody who asks, "This new stuff sucks and they don't make music like they used to anymore."

Of course, there's pockets of musical sanity still around, the internet is my savior now but down in the trenches where most of us live, it's basically over. I'm a big UFC fan and if I can't get together with friends to watch a pay per view I'll go downtown Hermosa Beach to a bar that has it. After the show I'll walk around Pier Avenue and check out all the bars. One after the other over the last 5 years, the live bands and even live singles have gone to be replaced by 30 flat screens with some showing sports and some showing this crap music. The lone holdout is the old, venerable Lighthouse. Two weeks ago on a Saturday night all those bars were completely packed with lines outside while the Lighthouse had a good rock band and a decent crowd but it was not full and certainly had no lines. The contrast was stark and I wonder how much longer the Lighthouse is going to last as a live venue. I really hate to say it but from a business perspective the Lighthouse needs to be Rescued.

Bob

to me the main paradigm change is WHERE the people who want to hear the music I want to play hang out. Boomers rarely go to clubs, which is why clubs don't pay for music that appeals to people who never show up.

Boomers hang out in restaurants, wineries, retirement villages, rest homes, campgrounds, family reunions, private parties, retirement dinners, parks, state fairs, churches, resorts, cruises etc etc.

As long as people our age are still alive, they will want to hear the same music they grew up with... we just have to find them, go where they go

Granted, NC is surely a lot different than California... but there's a principle here that remains true to some extent no matter where you go.

Yes!!!! I think the sooner we quit trying to be something we are not the more we will start having fun with our music. I am definitely taking this one home. My most rewarding gigs are when people enjoy listening to what I play and yes, they are mainly older folk but a few of the younger ones enjoy it too. Thanks Pat!