WHILE “THE PRIZE” IS A NICE SONG USABLE TO FILL OUT AN ALBUM, IT DOES NOT HAVE THAT SOMETHING TO “HOOK” A PERSON TO BE A NEW FAN OF AN EMERGING ARTIST.

THE RIGHT SONG IS “HARD TO WANT”. HOW ARE YOU NOT HOOKED IN BY A SONG THAT BEGINS WITH THIS LYRIC: “SUPERMAN PAJAMAS, LIVIN’ WITH HIS MAMA, ONE SCREW LOOSE AND TWO GOLD MOLARS, BACK HAIR, BACK THERE, LOOKIN’ LIKE A PORCUPINE….”

EVERYONE I PLAY IT FOR LOVES IT…..I MEAN LOVES IT…..THE LYRICS ARE HYSTERICAL AND THE MUSIC SHOWCASES JOANNA’S JUILLIARD QUALITY PIPES.

SAW JOANNA AT THE BLUEBIRD IN NASHVILLE WITH TY HERNDON, GREG BARNHILL AND DAVE MATALSKY. BOUGHT THE FUNKABILLY CD AND HAVE NOT BEEN ABLE TO GET IT OUT OF MY CD PLAYER. THAT SONG WILL GET HER NOTICED. HER VOICE WILL MAKE HER A STAR……

AM A MIDDLE AGED, JERSEY YANKEE LAWYER WHO NEVER REALLY LIKED COUNTRY MUSIC. JOANNA CHANGED ALL THAT….

Jim: Just to clarify, you aren’t saying that its harder for indie acts to break into overseas markets, are you?

The costs of doing business in this market are too high to give people three albums. When a major label is investing a million dollars in breaking an artist, and that artist’s product isn’t well received, the label is going to move on the the next project.”

This is a huge problem. What you’re saying is that the costs of breaking a new act have sky-rocketed out of control compared to 30 years ago. And yet, with all that money being spent, the product that is being delivered these days is decidedly inferior to what we were getting in years past. I think that there is very little hope for the future of real country music unless the incestuous relationship between the major labels and conglomerated radio can be somehow undermined. There’s plenty of good talent out there; it’s a shame that so little of it is getting widely heard.

An indie label cannot, just based on sales or chart success, become a “major.” Major labels are “major” because they have the ability to leverage three key components-promotion, publicity, and distribution–on a world-wide scale. These companies have hands in television, movies, print, web, billboards, etc., all of which contribute to the label’s success.

No matter how successful an indie label gets, it will ultimately still rely on third parties to achieve many of these same goals (related to PPD). That’s the difference, and that’s why the mobility you wrote about in your comment does not exist.

What we have seen in the past, however, is the indie label being consumed by the major.

As far as Reba–it’s hard to compare an artist in the digital era to an artist who broke in 1976.

Reba may not have had a mountain of commercial success, but she did give her label enough reason to lengthen her gestation period as an artist. Her second album produced five (I think) T40 singles, while her third produced three (I think) T20 singles. She managed to show a steady improvement over the course of those albums.

In today’s marketplace, radio doesn’t want a long introduction to an artist. It wants something that, as Ray Scott said, is going to blow up big out of the box.

The costs of doing business in this market are too high to give people three albums. When a major label is investing a million dollars in breaking an artist, and that artist’s product isn’t well received, the label is going to move on the the next project.

The thorny issue of major labels requiring instant success is disturbing on a number of levels. Some of the major stars would never have made it if instant success had been required in the old days. Reba McEntire’s first album flopped and her second didn’t do much better. In today’s environment, a major label would almost certainly drop an artist at that point, if not before. There were plenty of good female country singers around at that time as I pointed out in my Amazon review of Reba’s debut album, yet if Reba hadn’t been allowed a third album, she would, like Jacky Ward (with whom Reba recorded three duets early in her career) have faded back into the obscurity from which she came.

Short-termism isn’t limited to the music business; it can be found in all industries. Corporations become big by mostly getting things right but once they are big, it’s like they feel they’ve done it. The entrepeneurs who built the business are often replaced by managers of a different type, who prefer to “play it safe”. Sound familiar?

Back in the seventies, IBM ruled the computer world and seemed untouchable. But new developments occurred and IBM weren’t as quick as their much smaller rivals, so Microsoft ended up taking their place as the world’s computer giants. And no doubt, they’ll eventually lose out to some other yet-unknowm rival for much the same reason, but probly not while Bill Gates (the entrepeneur) is still there.

The same sort of change can happen in country music, at least in theory. Any major labels that can’t sell records won’t remain major, while small independents that do well could become the majors of the future. The precedents are not good, as anybody who remembers Ovation and MTM knows. Both were extremely successful for a few years before closing down. Maybe one day, another independent will avoid the problems that Ovation and MTM had, break through and become a major. Incidentally, one of MTM’s former artists, Judy Rodman, posted a comment on Joanna Cotten’s MySpace blog page, saying “Been there, done that”.

You hit so many points square on the nose, I don’t know where to begin. Instead I’ll just mention one of the problems with Nashville, and the music industry in general, is they are relying on an outdated system they should be moving away from EXCEPT in A&R.

The old fashioned art of finding unique and superstar talent has been handed to reality shows, American Idol, Nashville Star, social networks, publishing companies, and other factory testing grounds. A trend in crossing over pop artists to country or letting independent labels do the ground work is also prevalent.

Letting others define the talent for you is not a stellar way to run a company. A few labels in town are trying to do it right, but they are the exception.

I know there are incredibly talented and authentic artists out there who do not want to sell their soul to a TV show, who can’t dance, and can’t spend 24/7 marketing themselves on MySpace.

We can keep signing safe artists that appeal to the lowest common denominator or we can try to find phenomenal artists that will grow the format.

Where the heck is the image control with this guy!? From the song, I click on his myspace photos and expect to see rattlesnake wrangling or having a staring contest with a grizzly bear. But instead I have the displeasure of seeing a concert butt shot – sort of makes that song lose a bit of credibility in my mind. At least they took down the beach photos, thank goodness.