Syracuse Ska Forum

An interesting article posted elsewhere points out some very interesting quandries ...

Big labels are "... always going to have a bigger army that is going to help them win most of the time."

"The major labels simply have more money and manpower to wheedle programmers into adding their music to broadcast play lists. The big players, far more so than their independent rivals, also have the wherewithal to build demand for their acts by subsidizing their tours and record-store advertising, producing music videos and landing them on television shows."

"This imbalance in resources accounts, in part, for the disparity between sales and airplay in the music business."

"The independent sector, which includes hundreds of labels that may specialize in genres from polka music to speed metal [and ska, of course], and that sell music directly or through one of the bigger companies' distribution arms, accounted for an estimated 18 percent of new album sales in the United States so far this year, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Their combined share of the industry, as measured by these sales, is larger than that of two of the four big companies, Warner Music Group and EMI Group. The independents, however, command a far smaller share of the limited slots on play lists in major radio formats, as the Top 40 chart illustrates."

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Ska is primarily underground music, worldwide. Read another article that has a very intellectual explanation of why ska is treated so badly by major labels and mainstream radio ...

BTW, I would be extremely remiss if I neglected to mention that I put my money where my mouth is on this, not only putting on ska shows for years via Kingston Beat (our infamous "Experiments in Ska" series was widely predicted to fail miserably), but also with Syracuse Community Radio, which is a serious attempt (after many poor decisions we're now recovering from) to bring real independent radio to Syracuse.

If you're into ska, you're already thinking for yourself in direct contravention of corporate America. Go the next step and help others find a voice ...

i think that ska is tribute to the underground scene even though major radio stations dont play ska everybody knows what it is and most can even name a ska band. Even warped tour featured 2 ska bands big D and i dont remember the other. This shows you can try to hold us back but we keep coming. People who come out for shows either read this forum the website or friends tell them about them. There have been many examples of widely succesfull bands who got no airplay and didn't have a contract with a major label but most people knew who they were.

Big D.. then they have Monty's Fan Club, who I hear DOES in fact have a trombone player, and a trumpet player, but they don't ever actually PLAY. I honestly have never heard them/of them before, so I don't know.

I'm reeeeeally diggin' Bedouin Soundclash though. Like, to an EXTREME degree.

i once met a girl who thought flogging molly was ska

not to mention 99% of people i know hate ska... and usually when people say they hate an entire genre its because they dont understand what it is, they havent heard it, or someone else told them its bad
i've had to explain to many many people "its kinda like reggae but different"

so im gonna have to disagree

Thinking of the majors as a foe constrains your thinking to engaging them on their own terms (which is how they got major, playing by their rules reinforces the status quo)

"Aikido marketing is using an opponent's brute strength against itself instead of meeting brute force with brute force." (click to read a sample)

-Guy Kawasaki, Rules for Revolutionaries

Buy, beg, borrow or steal this book. Particularly applicable to ska, because he discusses the business phenomenon of evangelism, which happens when people who love something so much that they want to spread the good news. I know that's why I'm banging away at my keyboard when I should be sleepin'.

the big thing with the majors is the profit. i think it's funny, i have a bunch of friends who are into "indie rock" and listen to bands signed to capitol...???

the thing with the indies, mike park has numerous songs about it [the chinkies - "where's the avenue" for one], they're not going to change just because the market's down or whatever. they're making music because that's what they love to do. music's not important to some people. it's just something to listen to mindlessly or have on in the background. it means a lot to me, and i know it does to you too. this whole RIAA fiasco is nonsense. my friend is getting sued for downloading music. wtf?! non riaa bands don't care...because they know the bands don't see that money anyway! that's another reason i support indies any way i can.

granted the majors offer bands lots of money sometimes, and they can stay good and true to themselves while rolling in dough, but the fact of the matter is, when you're doing what you love, simply because you love it, money doesn't matter as much as being able to have that experience. that says a lot more to me than the top 40.