Reflections on 30 Free Shows

originally published April 30, 2008

The fact that some 30 free concerts took place all over Athens this April, most of which had no recognizable headliner and featured at least one band that formed the day of the show, constitutes a big change in how we’ve come to think about live music. It occurs to me that as a member of a band that benefited greatly from the "Jammy Jamms," I can at best only offer a one-sided opinion on what happened this last month, but I want to try and give some perspective on the matter. Mercer West's project is not just an event to piss off club owners and the more traditional concert-goers, and it may be a step too far; but it’s the first step towards the kind of music scene we can expect nowadays when so much else about the music industry is in upheaval. Really, it’s almost overdue.

If the Internet has done one thing for how we as fans look at artists - disregarding sales for a minute - it has rid us (or robbed us) of the burden of “big” bands. When you have easy access to every record and are listening to a new band every day; when Pitchfork adds another band to “Best New Music” every two weeks - in short, when you no longer experience recorded music through the one record you buy in a month that you play over and over, two things happen. The first is that there are no new bands like The Beatles or The Rolling Stones. Whether or not you think this favorable, it is hard to imagine another band approaching even Radiohead’s popularity. But what really interests me is the second effect of the digital age: that we no longer think in terms of bands or musicians, but rather of music itself. The idea that the artist has become an ever less significant entity is nothing new to other media; popular music is following an established trend.

This is, of course, where West's shows come in. The traditional concert setup, a headliner with two or three openers, requires an audience that really wants to connect with a band. A good part of the audience at these shows has to have some familiarity with, or even adoration for, the headliner and a mild tolerance for the openers. This model still works to some extent, especially with larger touring acts - some recent examples would be Black Lips or The New Pornographers/ Okkervil River shows. The crowd comes to see a specific band, or at most a couple of bands. But the fact of the matter is this, at least for local bands - the market is flooded. You can’t expect a big audience for a local band’s record release party when there are at least 10 other bands in town as big or bigger. It’s just a question of logistics.

Anyone looking to criticize what Mercer is doing has first to acknowledge this fact, that the days of big crowds worshipping a small number of bands are over. So, how do you keep people coming to shows when no one has a favorite local band? You make the scene itself the attraction. How do you design a show for a bunch of kids who listen to a lot of music? You load a bill up with six bands and you make them play short sets so that people don’t get bored. The idea is pretty simple: people aren’t going to pay to come see a headliner they barely know and two openers they don’t know at all, but they might go to see six bands they don’t know if they don’t have to pay. In other words, people might not show up to concerts for bands they don’t know if the reason for going is to see those bands, but they just might go to a concert, even if they are unfamiliar with all the acts, if the reason for going is that they like music.

This kind of concert might not be sustainable for either venues or bands, but I doubt if the old model will continue to be. There aren’t that many bands in Athens who can bring in big crowds every weekend, and I would be willing to bet that more Best New Music means that big touring acts are going to start bringing less people. If a free show every night is overreaching, it is at least an attempt to respond to a changing musical environment - and the fact that the venues themselves are participating indicates at least some acknowledgment that this change is occurring. Whether or not you like West's ideas, you’re going to have to get used to them, even if the change is somewhat alarming. I, for one, would rather pay nothing to see six up-and-comers than save up for weeks to see R.E.M.

Marshall Yarbrough

Liner Notes is Flagpole's music opinion column.