Justin,
As usual, knowing NOTHING about the Texas chart system, I am not going to be able to give you anything near an educated answer on your question. But hazarding a guess, I would say that the always independent Texas is about to be dragged kicking and screaming into the era the rest of the music world has entered. The era of enormous supply and finite demand. Money, charts, even venues are about to make some huge changes. And the bubble Texas artists have lived in for a long time is about to burst.
Charts are usually compiled by individuals or companies, compiling sales, radio airplay, and critical acclaim. Usually one major magazine or company does this. For the rest of the world it is BILLBOARD. They tally radio, sales, electronic media, and basically are the Bible for everyone else. They even have independent charts including Texas charts. There are hundreds of similar charts for other countries, states and types of music, and thousands of Internet charts. None of them really mean much outside of some bragging rights. I mean you could be at number one on the JUSTIN PARKER charts, and that and ten more dollars will get you a cup of Starbucks coffee. In the overall music industry that determines trends, purchasing power, marketing, these ‘charts” mean nothing.
It sounds like the company that has been controlling the Texas charts are finally giving up the business. This is usually because they can’t get advertising rates or the business just no longer pays for itself. This is probably due to radio stations, venues, magazines, etc, no longer finding it profitable to pay advertising costs to those entities.
The big thing that is liable to happen is those big Texas artists are going to suddenly be exposed to the rest of the world and going to have to include National and International standing . When that happens you are going to find the artists are more isolated than most people realized. Frankly outside of Texas , most of those artists are completely unknown outside of niche marketing. We see it in many products and a lot on the Internet. You can be on top of the world in a certain genre or market, and then rules are changed and that market expands. Suddenly, being on top of that world no longer matters and your popularity drops immediately.
But Texas actually has a much bigger problem on the way. Many of the old standby Texas road houses and live venues are closing. Some is due to changes in tastes, in people’s spending habits, and just plain the economy changing. I would think the encroaching from Mexico, with Tejano and other Hispanic influences are probably putting pressure on “traditional” Texas artists. As more of the public tastes go to those types of music, the Texas artists will be diminished in terms of market share. Just like when Rap and hip hop encroached on pop and rock, soul and “R and B” music, a lot of what you consider Texas music will disappear as demand for it decreases.
Increased competition with more and more artists, willing to take less and less to play, and there being less and less money overall for music are having an effect. And don’t forget that there may be changes coming in the designation of “Texas music.”
Just like there used to be one “country” chart, now there are dozens, contemporary country, blue grass, traditional, urban, etc. Texas music will be redefined as well. And as it happened in our world thirty years ago, what you consider “Texas country” might no longer be “Texas country” in the eyes of people who market and merchandise Texas country. Formats do contract and change.
Guess what? You are going to get a bunch of that ‘That AIN’T TEXAS COUNTRY’ arguments between all your friends, just like Nashville has been going through for forty years. In some ways, in five to ten years, you will probably not recognize Texas country music.
Then ASCAP and BMI are clamping down on licensing across the board as their revenues decrease. They are shutting down venues all over this country, as the venues decide they can no longer afford music licensing costs as a cost of doing business. They would simply prefer not to be in business. I read an industry report recently that over the next few years they are expecting about half of the Texas live venues to cease to exist.
The overall effect is that just like in the rest of the world, there are more and more Texas artists. Those artists will receive less and less money overall. Those long standing gigs, traveling, creating an insulated world, are about to thin overall. It might not be overnight, but it is coming. I would say you have to just get ready for it. We all have had to.
It will be harder to launch artists. There will be less opportunities for the new artists, especially to make money. There will be more playing for free or tips. It will be harder to get songs to artists because as money decreases, they will be doing all their own songs instead of outside songs because again, the costs of licensing are prohibitive. It’s just going to get tougher.
And since Texas for so many years have been the independent people they are, they have ruffled a lot of feathers so they are probably not going to find as many allies as they really need from the bigger entertainment world.
You see, you have to remember that in history there used to be a LOT of music centers. Cleveland is where the phrase “Rock and roll” came from, which is why Cleveland has the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. St. Louis had the Blues, then Rock and Roll, with Chuck Berry and Chess records. Detroit had Soul and Motown, Philadelphia had the Philly disco sound, Memphis, Muscle Shoals, New Orleans, all had very vibrant scenes, Macon and Atlanta had Southern Rock, Seattle and Athens had grunge and alternative music, all had live venues, record labels, charts, magazines, newspapers, agencies, etc. all built around those industries. They made millions and even BILLIONS of dollars.
But sooner or later, they all needed larger allies. The blended into New York, Los Angeles and Nashville. The places were all centrally located, and were where people involved in those musical genres moved. Those older areas are still there in their own ways, Beale Street, Bourbon Street, Motown etc. But the huge industry side of those areas is gone. They are now more museums than operating music centers.
I don’t think “Texas is closing”, but I do think a lot of changes are coming. And as a lot of the “old diehards”, the Willie Nelsons, the Jerry Jeff’s, the Ray Willie Hubbards, the Joe Ely’s, Guy Clarks, the older legends of country and Texas music die out, or retire, they are probably not going to be replaced, at least not like the old days. The public will not have the patience for it and are too fickle and change their mind too much to provide the support they once did. And they are going to be less likely to pay for it as the Internet continues to make inroads as the old ways die out.
There will be more “here today, gone tomorrow” artists and careers will get shorter. In a lot of ways, the quality of the music will decline as well as the talent level of the artists. And the public won’t even notice it. Just like in the rest of the music genres that everyone complains about.
It is never going to completely go away. But it is going to redefine what it is and what it will be. Most of it is just the inevitable encroachment of “free music” which most that people just don’t feel the way about music as they used to.
It is progress. It is what happens. It is easier to deal with if you know what is coming and prepare for it. It is never enjoyable, and in a lot of ways very sad. But it happens and can’t be stopped, any more than you can stop time.
MAB
As usual, knowing NOTHING about the Texas chart system, I am not going to be able to give you anything near an educated answer on your question. But hazarding a guess, I would say that the always independent Texas is about to be dragged kicking and screaming into the era the rest of the music world has entered. The era of enormous supply and finite demand. Money, charts, even venues are about to make some huge changes. And the bubble Texas artists have lived in for a long time is about to burst.
Charts are usually compiled by individuals or companies, compiling sales, radio airplay, and critical acclaim. Usually one major magazine or company does this. For the rest of the world it is BILLBOARD. They tally radio, sales, electronic media, and basically are the Bible for everyone else. They even have independent charts including Texas charts. There are hundreds of similar charts for other countries, states and types of music, and thousands of Internet charts. None of them really mean much outside of some bragging rights. I mean you could be at number one on the JUSTIN PARKER charts, and that and ten more dollars will get you a cup of Starbucks coffee. In the overall music industry that determines trends, purchasing power, marketing, these ‘charts” mean nothing.
It sounds like the company that has been controlling the Texas charts are finally giving up the business. This is usually because they can’t get advertising rates or the business just no longer pays for itself. This is probably due to radio stations, venues, magazines, etc, no longer finding it profitable to pay advertising costs to those entities.
The big thing that is liable to happen is those big Texas artists are going to suddenly be exposed to the rest of the world and going to have to include National and International standing . When that happens you are going to find the artists are more isolated than most people realized. Frankly outside of Texas , most of those artists are completely unknown outside of niche marketing. We see it in many products and a lot on the Internet. You can be on top of the world in a certain genre or market, and then rules are changed and that market expands. Suddenly, being on top of that world no longer matters and your popularity drops immediately.
But Texas actually has a much bigger problem on the way. Many of the old standby Texas road houses and live venues are closing. Some is due to changes in tastes, in people’s spending habits, and just plain the economy changing. I would think the encroaching from Mexico, with Tejano and other Hispanic influences are probably putting pressure on “traditional” Texas artists. As more of the public tastes go to those types of music, the Texas artists will be diminished in terms of market share. Just like when Rap and hip hop encroached on pop and rock, soul and “R and B” music, a lot of what you consider Texas music will disappear as demand for it decreases.
Increased competition with more and more artists, willing to take less and less to play, and there being less and less money overall for music are having an effect. And don’t forget that there may be changes coming in the designation of “Texas music.”
Just like there used to be one “country” chart, now there are dozens, contemporary country, blue grass, traditional, urban, etc. Texas music will be redefined as well. And as it happened in our world thirty years ago, what you consider “Texas country” might no longer be “Texas country” in the eyes of people who market and merchandise Texas country. Formats do contract and change.
Guess what? You are going to get a bunch of that ‘That AIN’T TEXAS COUNTRY’ arguments between all your friends, just like Nashville has been going through for forty years. In some ways, in five to ten years, you will probably not recognize Texas country music.
Then ASCAP and BMI are clamping down on licensing across the board as their revenues decrease. They are shutting down venues all over this country, as the venues decide they can no longer afford music licensing costs as a cost of doing business. They would simply prefer not to be in business. I read an industry report recently that over the next few years they are expecting about half of the Texas live venues to cease to exist.
The overall effect is that just like in the rest of the world, there are more and more Texas artists. Those artists will receive less and less money overall. Those long standing gigs, traveling, creating an insulated world, are about to thin overall. It might not be overnight, but it is coming. I would say you have to just get ready for it. We all have had to.
It will be harder to launch artists. There will be less opportunities for the new artists, especially to make money. There will be more playing for free or tips. It will be harder to get songs to artists because as money decreases, they will be doing all their own songs instead of outside songs because again, the costs of licensing are prohibitive. It’s just going to get tougher.
And since Texas for so many years have been the independent people they are, they have ruffled a lot of feathers so they are probably not going to find as many allies as they really need from the bigger entertainment world.
You see, you have to remember that in history there used to be a LOT of music centers. Cleveland is where the phrase “Rock and roll” came from, which is why Cleveland has the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. St. Louis had the Blues, then Rock and Roll, with Chuck Berry and Chess records. Detroit had Soul and Motown, Philadelphia had the Philly disco sound, Memphis, Muscle Shoals, New Orleans, all had very vibrant scenes, Macon and Atlanta had Southern Rock, Seattle and Athens had grunge and alternative music, all had live venues, record labels, charts, magazines, newspapers, agencies, etc. all built around those industries. They made millions and even BILLIONS of dollars.
But sooner or later, they all needed larger allies. The blended into New York, Los Angeles and Nashville. The places were all centrally located, and were where people involved in those musical genres moved. Those older areas are still there in their own ways, Beale Street, Bourbon Street, Motown etc. But the huge industry side of those areas is gone. They are now more museums than operating music centers.
I don’t think “Texas is closing”, but I do think a lot of changes are coming. And as a lot of the “old diehards”, the Willie Nelsons, the Jerry Jeff’s, the Ray Willie Hubbards, the Joe Ely’s, Guy Clarks, the older legends of country and Texas music die out, or retire, they are probably not going to be replaced, at least not like the old days. The public will not have the patience for it and are too fickle and change their mind too much to provide the support they once did. And they are going to be less likely to pay for it as the Internet continues to make inroads as the old ways die out.
There will be more “here today, gone tomorrow” artists and careers will get shorter. In a lot of ways, the quality of the music will decline as well as the talent level of the artists. And the public won’t even notice it. Just like in the rest of the music genres that everyone complains about.
It is never going to completely go away. But it is going to redefine what it is and what it will be. Most of it is just the inevitable encroachment of “free music” which most that people just don’t feel the way about music as they used to.
It is progress. It is what happens. It is easier to deal with if you know what is coming and prepare for it. It is never enjoyable, and in a lot of ways very sad. But it happens and can’t be stopped, any more than you can stop time.
MAB
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