CODA
[ Bob Bennett ]
Every once in awhile, when I’m scheduled to
mostly extinct or radically altered enough as
good deal of the time. I know painfully now
write a column for Christian Musician, I have
to be unrecognizable. I expect some things
that sometimes when you overproject your
an email exchange with my friend (and CM
never change and that cross-collateralization/
own neediness, you wind up fueling your own
publisher) Bruce Adolph. Sometimes it’s about
recoupment is still the order of the day.
self-fulfilling apocalyptic prophecy. Whether
deadlines, other times it’s about the content
You probably still need an experienced and
ultimately accurate or not, Music Business folk
of that month’s offering. With this issue, it was
competent entertainment attorney to walk you
have a keen sense of “winners” and “losers”.
“Bruce, I’m having trouble with ideas. I’m still
through the minefield that’s thinly disguised
Leading with my woe-is-me, Eeyore-persona
trying but...”
as the boilerplate draft of a record company
certainly didn’t scream, “Spend your cash and
contract. But now instead of your publishing
time on me!” to my colleagues. I should hasten
He replied back in his usual calming and
being part-and-parcel of your deal, you can
to add that a lot of record company associates
reassuring manner (I want to be like that when
sign what’s called a 360-Deal where the Record
still managed to work around my weaknesses
I grow up) that everything would be just fine
Company has a share in almost everything you
and did a lot of good for me in ways that I
and he sent along some questions as possible
do, whether they directly have a hand in it or
could’ve never done for myself. (Phillip Sandifer
topics. The one that stood out is the basis of
not. Some swear by it, others just swear at it.
of Urgent Records releasing “Songs from Bright
this month’s musings and, perhaps, one of
Avenue” might be the grandest out-on-a-limb
the thorniest things I’ve addressed in print. He
As a young man, I longed after a deal. It was
record company move I’ve ever benefited
simply asked me, “How did you overcome any
my destiny. It was a good part of why anyone
from.) Without some of that goodwill covering
record company let downs over the years?”
persisted in making music. In the case of
my first six albums, God only knows what job
Note that he didn’t ask if I had any let downs.
“Christian” record companies, the deals were
I’d be doing now without a guitar in my hands.
The question rightly assumes that I did, but I
strikingly similar to mainstream companies but
suspect it could be asked of virtually anybody
for the fact that we called each other “brother”
Although
who has recorded more than one or two
and expected better of each other. My rookie
aesthetic avails guys like me of opportunities
albums over the course of a life in music.
mistake, oft-repeated, was the belief that “they”
not dreamed of just fifteen or twenty years ago.
could advance my
The fact that almost anybody can do this is
career in ways that
both the good news and the bad news. Good
they were either not
news because I can still do the thing I love so
set up to do or that
much, bad news because there is so much
were not available
“noise” and competition, it’s hard to distinguish
to me. You can sign
yourself from the gazillion people who are
with
largest,
only a short-attention-span-click away from
most capable record
wherever you might be online. It used to be
company on God’s
that whatever a Nashville guy in a suit thought
green
but
was the standard as to whether or not I got to
is
make records. Now, as Seth Godin suggests,
always what they will
aside from the work itself, a major part of my
actually do for you
task is to find and serve my tribe: the loyal band
as well as what they
of people who still care about what I do. My
expect from you.
dreams of being Jackson Browne’s famous
First, I should clarify that I
don’t know that there’s really
been much “overcoming” in
my history, but if we interpret
that to mean “how did you
get past,” then I suppose I
have a little to say. Please
keep in mind that, other than a
wonderful earlier-this-century
association with Steve Bell
and Dave Zeglinski’s Signpost
Music, I’ve pretty much been
label-less since 1997, which
means that if my remarks seem
like a well preserved copy of a
20-year-old newspaper, take
[ ...I’ve pretty
much been (record)
label-less since
1997, which means
that if my remarks
seem like a well
preserved copy
of a 20-year-old
newspaper, take
what you can and
discard the rest. ]
what you can and discard the
rest.
the
the
Earth,
true
issue
the
current
DIY
(do-it-yourself)
younger musical brother are but a distant highI didn’t understand
record-deal
school-crush memory now.
math.
I couldn’t understand the disparity between
Do I have my moments where I still feel insecure,
how a company positioned different artists of
overly-competitive, entitled, etc. Oh Good
Of course I know that labels still exist (duh)
seemingly equal footing on the roster. I came
Lord, yes. Just ask my wife. But I do my best
but the Music Business I came up with is
to feel as though I underwhelmed them a
to control and tamp down these dead-man-
44
Sep Oct 2016
ChristianMusician.com