This has been a steady trend for 2 generations now. Began with high school dances changing from a live band to a DJ.
The next attack was liquor tax. In many regions the "sin tax" added 20-25% to the cost of goods. This had to be passed on to the consumer. Bar managers noted the decline in nightly receipts and only so much would be acceptable by the patrons in cost escalation or they'd go elsewhere. This left few options for managers to cut costs. Entertainment was the victim. From rooms hosting bands for 6 straight nights to 3 nights over a weekend, eventually lead to duos and singles acts. Bands had trouble finding places to play. Few gigs, fewer clubs and much less exposure to live music.
Computers, Internet and Mp3s were the kill shot. Rather than buying a band's album in anticipation of an upcoming tour in your town or one close by, listeners "snacked" on music like hors d'oeuvres. Play a track then switch to something else. Often only playing a single heard on heavy rotation. The concept of a B-side was lost, as was the long play format.
If live music ever had a chance to come out of its coma, streaming took it off of life support.
As a result of the above; music became about the latest musical fad rather than discovery. The formula involved 13 weeks. Push a song performed by anyone that fit the suit, pump it then dump it. Song factories wrote the hit and everything started to sound similar, so it mattered not who performed the number. It became about how they looked or about something shocking to break through the overcrowded soundscape of millenial woop sound alikes.
Inevitably, music became a throw away. Rather than a vinyl album that is a part of an audiophile's treasured collection, music is now merely background to a Tik Tok influencer's 15 min of fame. The band that wrote the song (if it isn't in fact AI), gets no recognition. Their musical work is treated like the paper liner on an In-N-Out Burger tray.
Bands haven't been appreciated for what they do or how they impact our lives for more than 40 years now. Unless they are crammed down the throats of the pre-teen set (Taylor Swift) most will have no connection to the idea that music is performed live.
Independent venues are the last bastions of a culture that used to thrive, launch careers and break out talent on a nightly basis. Go to the club Monday, check out the band to see if they're happening, if so, you'd be back Friday and maybe Saturday too. You could stumble across an act that was touring in support of an album you'd never heard on local radio. After they blew the doors off the place, you were at the record store the very next day buying their album and then sharing it with friends who'd also go grab a copy.
We need to support independent clubs as an endangered keystone species. Otherwise their loss will cause a cascading effect across a system barely hanging on. If we let this element of the music world go extinct, it will never come back and the knock on effects will only be apparent when irreparable damage is done.
Projects on Nostr like
@nprofile1q... are doing something about this threatened extinction event. Using the Internet to launch independent artists and put a cushion beneath them until they are able to draw well at an independent club, not only works for the artist, it supports the club, it supports the eco-system.
