Hard News: Out of the Groove
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No, I think its much more than that...its the diversion of funds to projects inside the system, because the system validates that funding and nothing else. I can think of many examples, some in the last month or so.
I have huge respect for what NZOA, and in particular Brendan Smyth, has achieved in the past decade and a half but if any agency was screaming out for radical reform....
I could say a lot more but I'm going to edit myself.
Actually, I think you should have written that opinion piece. I'd like to read that.
Part of the problem is that NZOA started getting a lot of work that was outside its brief as a broadcast funding agency. Culture has also tended to go out the window on anything touched by the Ministry of Economic Development.
But that's not entirely the case now - the NZ Music Industry Commission has quite a different brief, and seems to do useful things - including, it appears to me, the things that Angela Means was demanding in the Real Groove piece.
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My feelings about "barbecue reggae" (Salmonella, Freddies, Black Seeds et al) are distinctly mixed, but I think there's no denying it's an indigenous genre.
I liked Grant Smithies classification of it as 'hippy trumpet dub'.
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What you can say is that the bands who target themselves at radioplay aren't the ones who succeed at any level overseas. Even Evermore - who always get left out of these discussions - seem to be doing their own thing.
Absolutely.....so one must question the value of all that money tossed into all those other acts, esp since it's not even giving most of them sustainable careers. Mainstream airplay in NZ doesn't really help the industry longterm.....the likes of FFD and SJD do.
Wonder what Dei Hamo is doing now....
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His methods remind me of something not very American
Was it from a link here that I saw Jon Stewart interviewing Kurt Vonnegut? That was double proof that at least some Americans get irony.
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Mainstream airplay in NZ doesn't really help the industry longterm....
whoops...I meant "obsessively targeting mainstream airplay..."
dunno what happened there..it was on the preview but went back to my first edit when I posted
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Yeap would definatly be interested in hearing your thoughts Simon (as your posts so far have echo'd my thoughts for the last couple of years)!!!
I've been holding back from expressing my opinions on NZOA and funding because there seem to be people who are more eloquent at expressing their issues than I probably am!
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merc,
Simon, not marginalization of their work, or them really, wrong word, surely you know what I mean? A sort of attitude that somehow by pursuing creative things you are an unproductive loafer or some bloody thing. God, the margin, that moves hourly for me.
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Absolutely.....so one must question the value of all that money tossed into all those other acts, esp since it's not even giving most of them sustainable careers. Mainstream airplay in NZ doesn't really help the industry longterm.....
I thought it was pretty cool when More FM started playing Goldenhorse, who seem mainstream now but were a student radio band at the time.
And mainstream radioplay does help anyone who gets it in a material sense: that of APRA cheques.
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I have a question.
Why do we think that NZ can produce world-class examples of both artistic and commercial success in the film industry which is not replicated in music?
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And mainstream radioplay does help anyone who gets it in a material sense: that of APRA cheques.
agreed but see my edit correction...I love mainstream radio performance income
Why do we think that NZ can produce world-class examples of both artistic and commercial success in the film industry which is not replicated in music?
I think we can, it's just that the media are just looking in the wrong place...Russell pointed out a few. Forget Brooke Fraser (who ain't doing so well in Oz right now...they have a dozen acts better in the same genre) and the like...look a little deeper. The artists to watch are doing quirky live to air shows on the B-Net, or sitting at home like Greg Churchill..who is putting vocals on his tracks for his UK labels, and had a UK top 100 single, but has always been turned down by NZOA.
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Something has drained NZ music of its uniqueness in the last few years. Some guy from a band was on Nat Radio this morning and he put his finger on it,NZ bands feel they need to compete with overseas acts. They do to be commercially successful I guess, but as Russel says, it's nigh on impossible to make a crust on music in NZ anyway.
With respect, that's bollix, or at least an observation based on a very narrow window of kiwi music. I know there's a lot of bands that ape non-nz acts, badly, and some of them are pretty popular. Lots of young enthusiastic bands that want to copy their heroes, and probably have aspirations of cracking the States. However, of all the kiwis I know that actually make an income (or supplement their existing income) from music, none of them write music they wouldn't otherwise want to listen to, just because it'll sell (I've heard rumours about one band, but they're pretty much the hall-emptier of the industry).
Dave Gibson once told me (somewhat tipsily) that he'd love to make music like Radiohead, but he just writes the music that's in his head. Their music is honest, they're not trying to be anyone else but themselves. I know not many people like Elemenop, and fair enough, but to snub them for not being 'NZ enough' is pretty unfair.
There's plenty of debate about what does, or should constitute 'NZ music' anyway. I listen to (many, many, many) kiwi bands of varying genres - some of them are currently enjoying a little overseas success, some are just cruising the pubs. A lot of them get played on bFM. None of them are played on The Edge, or Sleepytime FM or whatever. Frankly, now that the Datsuns wannabes have calmed their strats a little, and making music is more normalised, there's a *lot* of really diverse, interesting music in NZ right now. Most of it can be traced back to non-kiwi influences, but that's no reflection on the authenticity (or outright enjoyability) of the music at all.
The main argument is one that's been made before: that the government support and involvement of NZ On Air have ushered in a mainstream that is essentially aping overseas genres to get played on the radio.
This is true to some extent...
There is a good case that NZOA have actually succeeded in a "de-mainstreaming" of kiwi music being funded. Radio stations ultimately make the final decision about who gets NZOA funding, based on a shortlist selected by NZOA. From what I've heard, the NZOA boffins (props to Brendan Smythe) stack the deck in favour of a bunch of really good acts that aren't mainstream enough to get major label interest. Just through this exposure the final funding choices have, over time, skewed towards some more interesting music.
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Man, that post took a page's worth of comments to write. I think I've been pre-empted a few times since I started.
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His methods remind me of something not very American
I spent all of last year in North America falling in love with Jon and Stephen Colbert. However, he's disappointing me a bit lately. He's so, so much better when he tones it down a little - but he seems to be doing less and less of that, at least on his own show. I'd be far happier if he dropped most of the correspondent reports (tiresome and painfully American, almost slapstick) and just focused on exposing the lies and interviewing.
He even said on a show last week that if the Administration keeps on going like this, he wouldn't even have to present the show, and then showed a little kid presenter saying 'blah blah blah'. I'd argue the same, but in t'other direction - the over the top reactions and most of the impersonations really undermine the otherwise intelligent and restrained treatment he gives them. I know he claims to be 'just' a comedian and not a journalist - my point is that he's a far better comedian when he lets the material breathe a little. We have Stephen Colbert if we want loud and abrasive!
The Daily Show book, meanwhile, is an absolute must-read, and even has a very dismissive page on New Zealand.
Wonder what Dei Hamo is doing now....
Not sure, but he's still wearing that amazing white tuxedo on my wall. That poster will be worth hundreds in a couple of years, honestly.
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I'm kind of confused as to how it's destroying NZ music, though. I mean, you can play something different and be broke (like you could before) or play something more mainstream and be less broke (not so much before). It's not like anyone forces you to change your art (unless NZ On Air have firearms that I'm unaware of).
its because musicians now think "potential of rent cheque" when they sit down to write a song, as opposed to the hey day of kiwi music where they thought, 'not a hope in hell' just write what I feel.
While that is not NZ on Air's fault exactly I would suggest that it is actually their responsibility to consider such out comes.
What NZ on Air have done is criminally mismanaged the natural resource they were set up to encourage.
can you imagine the outcry if parks and recreation managed to wipe out indigenous wildlife in their attempts to make our national parks more accessible to the public.
them - "but there are nice concrete paths and benches to sit on"
us - "yeah, but its not New Zealand anymore"
them ".....oh,.... whoops....... "
Brendan Smyth hasn't done his job for almost ten years now and the result of the last ten years has been to fulfilled the letter of NZ on Air's goals (more new zealanders playing music on air) but not the intent (more of us feeling comfortable being who we are on air). There is not more of us being ourselves on NZ radio airwaves. simple as that.
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Radio stations ultimately make the final decision about who gets NZOA funding,
and regardless of what Brendan does, that is wrong wrong wrong....do we honestly think Split Enz or The Clean or OMC would have had any funding if radio programmers had their way. They should be, more or less, kept out the loop totally until they are presented with finished product.
Radio is shrinking anyway....in the centre anyway...so its getting more and more academic.
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Dave Gibson
Man, gotta ask other people - who here has seen those C4 NZMM ads? With all the musicians eating.
Whoever edited those ads must really not like Dave Gibson. I'm very suspicious that he's not as much of an idiot as he's made out to be.
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who's decision was it to let mainstream radio programmers pick who gets funding anyway?
of course they're going to pick all the easy 'soundslike what we already play' stuff. Which person who earns a nice government wage didn't see that one coming??
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The artists to watch are doing quirky live to air shows on the B-Net, or sitting at home like Greg Churchill..who is putting vocals on his tracks for his UK labels, and had a UK top 100 single, but has always been turned down by NZOA.
But that still doesn't come close to the fact that NZ has world-class professionals who're both independently creating and working around the international industry creating both artistically lauded and commercially enormous pieces of cinema. Not only that, it's grown an industry that has made a great case for bringing overseas work to NZ because we have the professional infrastructure and skills to support it. It doesn't, for the most part, produce world-class musicians of any description. At best it seems to produce one-hit-wonder pop cultural drops in the international ocean or cult-within-a-cult invisible fan bases.
As an example, I managed to rent "The quiet earth" once in a small-town video library in Yorkshire. I doubt there was a single NZ CD available to buy within a hundred miles at the time, and that's being charitable.
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its because musicians now think "potential of rent cheque" when they sit down to write a song, as opposed to the hey day of kiwi music where they thought, 'not a hope in hell' just write what I feel.
Only if they choose to.
The the "peak of New Zealand music" will likely tell one more about the listener than the quality of the music produced at any particular time.
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Same guy that gave the TVNZ and TV3 the exclusive right to chose what NZ on Air funds for television...
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I thought Smyth was only messing up the musicical arts side of things. has he got his finger in the visual arts as well??
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when I did my OE I could easily buy many a NZ bands release in many stores around the UK - all of whom pre dated NZOA... was an xpressway devotee and didn't miss one 7" whilst away
Not to mention the many many talented kiwis involved in the music biz internationally
great read here... nothing to add really excpet to say as a huge follower and fan of our local musical fare for far too long we have so many terrible and amazing acts in this country right now - be it due to NZOA and all the mediocrity pushers or not, the scene (not industry) is healthier than its ever been, no matter what ya tastes
its bloody great!
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merc,
I play every night to an audience of two (one has fur), some nights to five, never more than that. Been doing it for years now, last year I got an amp, the crowd were a little worried when I set it to 80's Nu Wave but they've come along with me and I'm comfortable switching between my acoustic and amp sets, though the Fur Fan just wants to hear tremolo Am with reverb up, all the time.
I'm figuring at this rate I should be able to reach the 30,000 concert mark in 10 years or so, it's demanding because I've got to be on my game every night, new material too or The Critic tells me I just rehashed last nights, and the night before and sometimes the Really Cute One in the audience, well I gotta play lo-fi every now and then.
I'm gigging, I'm playing, I'm writing new material, do the odd cover (badly) and my fans love me, what more need I? -
its because musicians now think "potential of rent cheque" when they sit down to write a song, as opposed to the hey day of kiwi music where they thought, 'not a hope in hell' just write what I feel.
Any half decent artist should be able to deal with that issue.
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Only if they choose to.
that's a bit naive.
We've all got choices but the overriding insentive is that if you want a crack at doing this for a living you better tow the commercial line and that commercial line is sound as much like what we already play as possible,
if you don't want to do that feel free to continue being poor and sooner or later having to devote less and less of your time to making music, till you completely stop. that's the message that is being sent.
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