The Spotlight And the Shadow

The Spotlight and the Shadow

A deep dive into the music industry’s nuanced ecosystem

Story by Samuel Newmark

In the live music capital lyrics and performing songs, time, and Seides finds lyrics of the world, Austin, Texas, at while booking agents are vital are no longer as challenging as 2247 Guadalupe Street, there to ensuring that songwriters they once were. exists a small restaurant and have places to perform. Originally, Seides’ bar called the Cactus Cafe. Although they might appear to process began with the lyrics, Inside the restaurant, an be, these people aren’t born with a melody coming to aspiring artist steps up to the perfect, and there is always her later, while other times microphone and starts to sing room for improvement. a melody would come while their first song. The audience Jan Seides is one of writing the lyrics. After the listens for several minutes and those people who started out lyrics were complete, Seides thinks the lyrics and melody at an open mic and climbed would find an instrument she could be improved. Some her way to where she is today. thought that the melody would begin to stand up and sound good on. quietly exit. When the However, song finishes, the artist looks disappointed, even though this scenario could occur to any individual who is just beginning to get into the “Since last March, when we were all locked down, I’ve written 90 or so songs. And that’s because I just sit down to write whenever I have the opportunity to do that.” this process changed a couple years ago when she attended a songwriting class. Seides learned music industry. On the surface, - Jan Seides two things from that class. The the music industry seems first being that very straightforward, but she no longer when taking a deeper Seides is a singer-songwriter in believes in writer’s block, and dive into the many different Austin, Texas, experienced in the second being that she can jobs that are vital to its piano, guitar, and ukulele. She write when she chooses to. success, it’s a very nuanced also teaches music to students. “Since last March, when ecosystem. Two of the most One of the hardest we were all locked down, I’ve important jobs in the music things for Seides whenwriting written 90 or so songs,” Seides industry are singer-songwriters songs is finding inspiration for said. “And that’s because I just and booking agents. lyrics. With help from others, sit down to write whenever I Singer-songwriters are her process for writing has have the opportunity to do that, directly involved with writing evolved and improved over which is most days.”

Jan Seides plays guitar and sings at the CBGB music club in Manhattan, New York. (Image courtesy of J. Ryan Roberts)

Elaborating on how much her process has changed since she attended the songwriting class, Seides explained that it no longer always starts with lyrics, as well as how she utilizes digital resources to help her create songs.

“It still mostly starts with lyrics. But since I’ve learned to use the recording app to create music, sometimes it starts with a beat. Sometimes it starts with a melody that’s running around in my head with no lyrics,” Seides said. While writing lyrics is a solitary task for Seides, there’s a very human aspect to both teaching and performing. Her favorite thing about teaching is being able to pass on the tradition, and also showing people how much of a rewarding experience music is. Her favorite aspect of performing is the connection with the audience. “My favorite moment is when I’m singing a love song, and one person turns to put their head on the shoulder of the other person; that’s gold,” Seides said. Each individual has their own story for how they got to where they are today. For Seides, that was during college. She wrote her first song in a pickup truck on the way to Nashville, driving by herself, with nothing else to do. Seides sang it enough times to remember it, and when she came back to Austin, Seides sang at an open mic at Charlie’s Open House. “Basically, getting into it, after you’ve developed some skill at it, you just get out there and show people that you have the skill, and hopefully you have enough to draw their attention. Hopefully, you are engaging enough as a performer to make them want to come back. That first gig, currently, because this has been going on for a long time, that first gig is a little hard to come by. But there’s open mics all over Austin, and there’s a whole website devoted to open mics.

Take your pick. A lot of people start creating a following by doing that,” Seides said.

Although songwriting is one of the most wellknown jobs in the industry, booking agents are equally as important, responsible for making sure their clients (songwriters and bands) have venues to play at. Their key roles include booking shows and routing bands on tour between shows. Todd Gardner, a booking agent in Austin, Texas, says that most of his day revolves around contacting buyers, typically the owners or managers of clubs. “My typical day [is that I’m] involved in lots of phone calls, lots of emails and text messages, talking to people all over the region or country depending on where the act is going or needs to go...It’s not very glamorous. In fact, it’s something I ran from most of my life,” Gardner said.

Each of Gardner’s clients has a different need when booking shows, and Gardner adjusts accordingly depending on those needs. “Sometimes I’m just desperate to find a show, so I might throw a wide net, in a reasonable area. If the band is based in San Antonio, I’ll call 20 different places, six hours from there, in every direction,” Gardner said. Other times, however, he has to be more selective when trying to find venues for clients due to more specific needs. When Gardner is trying to route a band, he has to contain his net to an area that is easily accessible along the route. Experience helps significantly in this regard. For Gardner, being associated with

a company that has made a large number of contracts makes it easy for him to find venues for his clients. That company has a database containing all the contracts that they have made over the past 10 to 15 years. ‘Who do I know? Who have I done business with before? Who has the band not annoyed the last time they were there?’ are all questions that Gardner asks himself when he searches for venues. There are some challenges associated with searching for venues, but the pandemic has been by far the most impactful, essentially halting Gardner’s work completely. Most music venues are classified as bars, which aren’t allowed to be open at all due to safety measures, while restaurants are allowed to open at up to 50% capacity. Some have started to adapt by changing their menus so they classify as bars, but those are few and far between, according to Gardner. The pandemic has also created challenges for Seides’ work. Since she has to play songs remotely, internet latency is a significant issue both logistically and emotionally. “[It’s] a drawback when I’m doing performances with songwriters, because when we do it on a physical stage, we can play with each other and we can sing harmonies with each other. We can’t do that right now,” Seides said. “And that goes back to connection too, because that connects you to the other people on the stage as well as the audience.” These situations pose major issues for both songwriters and booking agents, but Seides says that one of the most important things to overcome these challenges, and to be successful in the industry in general, is to never give up, and to not run out of energy. She explained that discouragement will happen, but the key is to not give into it. Gardner expanded on this idea, saying that hard work was another key aspect. The music industry is not a very forgiving place, and working hard and not giving into discouragement are important mindsets to consider in order to be successful. Open-mics are a popular way to get started in the music industry, and a comprehensive list for anyone looking to that first gate is available at https://www. openmic.us/.

Jan Seides concentrates on melody while playing guitar. (Image courtesy of L. Andrew Sterling)