Why we all run the music business, and the big labels come second

By Markus Sargent on Jul 13, 08 10:00 AM in

Hello again! One whole zoomin' week later!

Today I'll be at my favourite village café, reflecting and savouring a busy week. Such a pleasurable, self-educating and balancing thing to do.

It makes all the difference to how we see and feel about so many of the meaningful aspects of our lives.

For this week's blog, I'm going to drift back in time to when both the music industry landscape and music lovers' access to discovering music was so much more limited and controlled by the egotistical plans of major record companies.

I shall then share a few gems and best kept secrets with you in the form of emerging bands that have played the Glee this year!

My connecting to the music industry was born out of quite wayward times of life.

If my memory serves me well, I had just returned back to Wolverhampton, having enjoyed two years of travelling Europe on the Inter-Rail ticket and found myself somewhat searching for substance and direction in-between inappropriate jobs!

Sentimentally, I distinctly remember a few albums that were the soundtrack to travelling trains, waiting all through the night at stations and drifting around streets, intrigued and enamoured by new faces, places and cultures.

The albums were Faith No More's Angel Dust, REM's Document, Life's Rich Pageant and Fables Of the Reconstruction and Pearl Jam's Ten, all of which stirred the spirit .

JB's club in Dudley was the place (on its original site) and I was there to see my cousin's band play.

Within weeks, I found myself relinquishing my dole money for the purchasing of envelopes, stamps, photocopying, and sometimes train tickets, in the pursuit of the dreaded A&R men, in the hope that they would see a glorious path to be beaten by the contents of what I'd sent to them.

Our next step was to form a management company and release our own 7", which was a great learning curve revealing of the reasons you do, or maybe don't, believe in all the ideas, dreams, people and ultimately yourself, as you perhaps thought you did!

Eventually, after everyone concerned had given all they could, the band and the project drifted off individually into pastures new. I later repeated the process with another band from the town, which had it's own story, before coming to the same junction.

It was a time when the hearts and minds of young wishful songwriters and musicians carried a fearful expression of innocence as to what might be required to scale the intimidating walls of the music industry and be judged before they could let loose their urgent and natural creativity.

I also remember having to pay up £15 to see if a band I'd heard and liked one song by, might have a great album, before having to spend the same amount again to get the gig ticket.

We now have access to tap into the vibe of the music via myspace etc. and how it's getting fellow fans going before heading to the gig bristling with anticipation.

It pleases me endlessly to now see that there are far fewer restrictions for artists to gain information on being a musician and de-mystifying what the paths into and through the music industry are, mainly from the benefit of the internet.

The fact that artists can communicate their experiences and ideas by the same medium is wonderfully empowering to the artist.

Although I believe we need the structure of an industry and its organisations to keep the vital aspects well organised, it's immeasurably fantastic that the industry is being challenged by endless and unlimited waves of individuals with ideas ranging from the acutely personal to the stimulating cross-fertilisation of others.

The freedoms to write, distribute, promote and connect with who becomes your audience is a truly inspiring experience by which to educate yourself and define the meaning of success in your life.

So, is there anyone to blame? Anyone to feel sorry for?

No! it's all about life's learning curves and appreciation of who we can be for ourselves and each other, whether we're entertaining or addressing personal or worldly issues.

There are many different ways to see and feel the same experiences in life before we choose to apply our meanings. Let as much as you can be your soul nourishment, dark or light, and burn of all the ideas that are not you on the road to discovering yourself.

The above notions naturally apply to all the new artists that visit the Glee Club, often before they go on to greater heights and recognition in their careers, notably Duffy, Adele, Kate Nash, Damien Rice, Bat For Lashes, Scott Matthews, Beth Rowley and Laura Marling.

We often share moments of conversation with them, hearing their humble versions of the same story and how they have gone about making progress.

What is relevant in this blog is that anyone reading should hopefully be able to take great confidence and hope in launching themselves into their own experiences and learning curves!

Substance over style any day.

Given our internet playground, I would like to leave you with a shortlist of new artists who have passed through the Glee this year and left mesmerising impressions.

Angus & Julia Stone, Johnny Flynn, Jaymay, Stephanie Dosen, Lykke Li, Melody Gardot, Phoebe Killdeer, Duke Special, Marissa Nadler, Dawn Kinnard, Ida Maria, Noah & The Whale and Jens Lekman all have engaging songs to captivate hearts and minds.