Brown: Film pleads case against music biz

Published December 16, 2006 at midnight

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The complaints Before the Music Dies levels against the music industry (more specifically, the profits-obsessed suits slaughtering the golden goose) have been around a long time.

Their case: Big business has ruined virtually every aspect of what made popular music great. Those fears have been borne out far more quickly and devastatingly than anyone had feared. It's a no- brainer.

What makes the documentary must-see viewing, however, is the way filmmakers Andrew Shapter and Joel Rasmussen present it. Using the words of music fans, musicians and industry executives, they've laid out the case (and its consequences) in the most direct language, the most basic cause-and-effect scenarios.

"We ignored the very thing that made the song. That was heart. Like they used to have. Like it used to be," guitar legend Les Paul says early in the documentary. "It's something that's so important and missing so much."

The filmmakers have used unusual distribution for the film, showing it at film festivals and art houses. This week it's out on DVD, but they're not expecting you to rush out and buy it. Viewing parties are being held across the nation, XM radio is pushing it heavily and a Web site lists myriad options to see and hear it.

Because you do need to see it. The stories are compelling and sharp musical performances are scattered throughout, including the Dave Matthews Band performing Bartender before a stadium of fans and Eric Clapton joining guitarist extraordinaire Doyle Bramhall II in a small club for some searing blues.

What's chilling and even more compelling are the segments that break down what's wrong with the industry today - very few of them, unfortunately, finding bright solutions to the problem. Even the people who were part of the system that brought music down speak of how disheartened they are. Some film highlights:

Profits, profits: The careers of the Rolling Stones, U2, Bruce Springsteen, Green Day and more took years to develop.

Unfortunately, quarterly profits get reported every three months. So short-term projections take precedence over the long-term business strategy that made the record business.

"It may be successful for a while, but it's dehumanizing. It inevitably fails because it sort of eats itself," says Matthews.

Radio consolidation: "The thing that's really striking about radio now and radio consolidation is that you're very aware that things are not programmed for 'How much do you like them?' They're programmed for 'Do you not dislike it enough that you won't turn it off?'," says Rolling Stone writer Alan Light.

Veteran DJ Nancy Giles of New York remembers being handed her first playlist: "What do you mean? We have to play this? We have to play this in this order? These same songs over and over?"

Branford Marsalis on listener focus groups: "If you ever want to guarantee yourself the wrong answer on anything, get 100 people in a room and have them vote on it."

Technology: Says former exec Goldberg, a friend "walked into my office and said 'The music business is over. Let me show you something.'

"Then he typed in www.napster.com and said 'Pick a song, any song.' Ironically I chose Estimated Prophet by the Grateful Dead. He typed it in, downloaded it in about, I don't know, two minutes, even with a dial-up connection. He said 'There you go, it's over.'

"I think that moment was when it really jelled for me that the business was never going to be the same."

Prefab stars: One entertaining and disheartening bit occurs when the filmmakers have musician Steve Poltz (Jewel's early co-writer) create a song on the spot, Mama's Not Comin' Home Tonight.

They then take 17-year-old model Taylor Hannah and have her nasally warble the song in an Austin studio while studio ringers lay down the musical tracks. That recording is taken to San Francisco, where it is Auto-Tuned and technologically massaged into a listenable track Finally, Hannah makes a sexually provocative music video on the final cut - a video interchangeable with the latest offerings from Britney or Ashlee. Inspired, insightful, but utterly depressing.

Changing times: "Today, Ray Charles would not get a shot. Today, Stevie Wonder would not get a shot," says Marsalis, who offers a simple explanation of why: "They're blind."

Guitarist Bramhall was disillusioned in his own abilities after his albums failed to satisfy the expectations of record executives. He was spiritually (and financially) saved by Eric Clapton, who loved his work and gave him a leg up. When he first heard Bramhall, Clapton says, his thought was "thank God some young guy is playing like that . . . he plays like nobody else."

His story is the rare one with a happy ending. Bramhall is on the current Clapton tour and has filled in for David Gilmour's guitar and vocal on Pink Floyd songs when he toured with Roger Waters.

See for yourself

• What: Before the Music Dies, a documentary about the music industry

• DVD: In stores now; $24.95; BSide Entertainment

• Host a screening: There are no screenings scheduled now locally, but you can sign up to host one (or search for one) at: B4MD.com

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