Showing posts with label Metallica. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Metallica. Show all posts
Monday, February 02, 2009
Iraq Metal Band Finds Shelter in NJ
Acrassicauda has been running from the devil for the past few years. They are a heavy metal band from Iraq, were the subjects of a documentary made by a Brooklyn media company in 2007 and spent two years as refugees in Syria and Turkey. They are now legal refugees in NJ. Metallica welcomed them to their show in Newark and handed them a signed guitar that said "Welcome to America". I'd be hard pressed to find a band out there with the road stories these guys must have. Read their story in the NY Times.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Lack of Radio An Issue for Metallica?
This was part of the Lefsetz letter today. He is so spot on when he says the Metallica record probably won't do so well because there is no place to hear it.
I hope the cornucopia of purchase options for the Metallica CD generates a heap of cash, because I don't expect that album to sell in prodigious quantities after the first week or so. Sales will tank soon. Not because the album is bad, but because there's nowhere to hear it. There's no exhibition in areas where people might be turned on to their sound, whether it be for the first time or once again.
When I managed bands such as Los Lobos and Luscious Jackson, I looked to everything except radio to further their careers. Most of the bands I worked with were not going to get the kind of airplay needed to sell millions of records. Building and keeping a solid fan base, touring, film and TV placements, corporate events, etc were the cornerstone of these bands daily routine. While the bands weren't headlining arenas, it provided a very good living for them. The artists kept their integrity. Now this seems to be the paradigm, when there is no alternative. It wasn't an alternative for these acts or me 10 years ago, which we realized and used it to our advantage.
I hope the cornucopia of purchase options for the Metallica CD generates a heap of cash, because I don't expect that album to sell in prodigious quantities after the first week or so. Sales will tank soon. Not because the album is bad, but because there's nowhere to hear it. There's no exhibition in areas where people might be turned on to their sound, whether it be for the first time or once again.
When I managed bands such as Los Lobos and Luscious Jackson, I looked to everything except radio to further their careers. Most of the bands I worked with were not going to get the kind of airplay needed to sell millions of records. Building and keeping a solid fan base, touring, film and TV placements, corporate events, etc were the cornerstone of these bands daily routine. While the bands weren't headlining arenas, it provided a very good living for them. The artists kept their integrity. Now this seems to be the paradigm, when there is no alternative. It wasn't an alternative for these acts or me 10 years ago, which we realized and used it to our advantage.
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