On The Record: Where have all the music industry mavericks gone?

The music industry ran the mavericks out of town a long time ago. Oh sure, there are still some dodgy geezers and chancers lingering around the edges who fancy themselves as outsiders or are mistakenly tagged as such, but nowadays, they rarely get near the levers that matter. There’s no room in the conventional business any more for the head-the-balls.

If you want the wild ones these days, you'll have to read about them. Gareth Murphy's fine book on the record business Cowboys & Indies, for instance, is full of them in the shape of people like talent-spotting genius John Hammond, peerless label boss Seymour Stein, Elektra Records' luminary Jac Holzman and many more.

The more you read about these true originals in Murphy’s readable run through how the record industry became the record industry, the more you miss this cast of oddballs, misfits, Machiavellian charmers and freewheeling snake oil salesmen. They were the reason so many decided to have a go at the music business, Many of us weren’t qualified to do anything else and felt if those loopers could get away with it, anyone could.

But the industry went straight a long time ago. We now have a record business which sold the farm to the techies and is beginning to rue how it went about its business. We have a live sector which seems solely concerned with making bucketloads of cash for multinational mega-corporations and their many offshoots. No room in that mix for a Sam Phillips or an Andrew Loog- Oldham, no matter what kind of antics they care to engage in.

However, you have to point out that much of the industry of old was as cash-crazy as the industry of today. A lad like David Geffen wasn’t working his way out of the mail-room solely for the good of his health and execs of old were every jot as concerned with the cash. So were the acts. “Bob Dylan is as interested in money as any person I’ve known in my life,” noted Geffen.

What’s changed is access. Like many creative industries, the music business establishment has become a closed shop. Existing players draw new recruits from the same pool as themselves and that kind of in-breeding contributes to the same conservative attitudes and perceptions.

The real action is outside this pale. Away from books, the maverick behaviour of old can be found within those underground scenes which come into being beyond the control of the permanent establishment. Be it hip-hop in hubs around the United States or grime in London, the underground provides opportunities for rogue players to have a go.

Of course, just like Real Madrid with the galacticos, the industry will later pay large to bring them into the fold and the mavericks will enjoy a large pay-off before probably doing it all over again. History repeating itself.

Gareth Murphy will be talking about Cowboys & Indies at the Dalkey Book Festival on Sunday, June 14th. dalkeybookfestival.org

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