Yesterday, the Associated Press released a poll saying that 9 out of 10 Americans were hit hard by gas prices, with people giving up on luxuries like eating out and fancy soaps and pizza places raising their prices in order to compensate for higher delivery costs. While living in public-transportation-heavy New York (and not having a license) (I know, I know) makes the pain of higher gas prices a little less of a direct burden for me, I have noticed other ways that the musical economy at large might be affected.
• Touring is becoming more prohibitive. We’ve covered this in the past, but an item on the Velvet Rope about the California band the Exies allegedly canceling its tour because it couldn’t afford the gas it needed to travel has sparked a discussion worth reading, particularly the posts about smaller bands being resigned to losing money on their road jaunts. [Velvet Rope]
• Touring might also become more regional. Again, this is something I wouldn’t really notice as much given the relative smooshed-togetherness of the East Coast, but that AP story from last week noted that cities in the West aren’t as lucky: “”It does screw up a lot of bands on the West Coast, ’cause … there are very few cities to play in under seven-hour stretches, which can be costly,” LoveLikeFire singer Ann Yu told AP. Also, given that airline travel is becoming more inconvenient and expensive, could the idea of the foreign jaunt become more, well, foreign as well? [AP]
• The gas-price-precipitated decline in cruising is the real reason there’s no definitive summer jam for ‘08. Over the weekend The New York Times ran a piece on how fewer teens were going out cruising this summer, and the rich girls are weeping noted that as a result, the normal “car radio test” for definitive summer jams would take a big hit, thus depriving the world of a song to rally our collective summer around. While I’d argue that the increased fragmentation of the musical landscape is just as much to blame, (seriously, some of the songs that made it to the second round of our poll had no chance in blaring from cars owned by people outside the music-blog-reading world), this is a theory worth entertaining. [NYT / the rich girls are weeping take notes]
What have you noticed? If you live in an automobile-required area, are you less likely to go to shows because of the added expense of driving? Have higher mail-order prices resulted in more people buying digital albums? Are abandoned McMansions going to become the new rock club-slash-squats?
I recently found out that Greg Dulli and Mark Lannegan’s tour (as the Gutter Twins) recently came to a halt due to gas prices being so high. This is alarming.
I wonder if the Exies will be added to Cruefest now. I’m surprised they weren’t on it to begin with.
I don’t think $34 for a 4-CD box-set is too expensive, actually
(sorry, I had to do it)
I used to drive to DC (100 miles away) at the drop of a hat to see shows, often 4 or 5 times a month, and almost always by myself. Now unless I can find a passenger it’s hard to justify the $30 investment (before tickets, which are sometimes free for me thanks to a connection at the Black Cat). So far this year I’ve missed David Berman at the Corcoran, Times New Viking, and The Black Angels, among others. Tonight I’m missing Psychedelic Horseshit and Fabulous Diamonds. It’s freaking painful.
There is one positive that could come out of this.
High gas prices means less people going to Clear Channel/Live Nation ampitheatres, meaning that more artists are forced to play in actual CITIES rather than the “30 minutes outside the city”. Which also means that more people (like myself who lives in NYC and doesn’t have a car) can go see some of the “larger” bands and not have to haul ass on trains/buses to get somewhere for the sharp 6:30 show start time.
We’re sitting out all kinds of shows this year. We have to burn up too much gas to get to the venues, and with everything, from gas to food, getting so bloody expensive these days, it’s no longer a luxury we can afford. Sux out loud.
Don’t these folk all have excess money from not paying for music?
Maybe we’ll seen legitimate local scenes arise again, the way they did in the economic downturns of the late 70’s and early 90’s.
@janine: line of the day.
@Cheap Shot: Wait, what? NOOOO.
Also, I didn’t get into this until the much crabbier reblog posts on the Tumblr, but … there’s two weird things going on with cars & summer jams in Bed-Stuy right now:
1) This is totally unscientific, but there really are fewer people cruising around with the windows open, playing their jam OVER AND OVER AND OVER. The Soulja Boy listeners are hanging out on my stoop, not cruising the block (which they were last summer!). And they don’t have boomboxes, they have iPods, so they can’t even share music that way. That being said, I’m trying to pay more attention to what’s coming out of people’s phones for a better idea of what’s really popular, but it’s always so tinny, I can’t tell what some songs are sometimes.
2) The people who ARE doing the driving are not teenagers, they’re somewhat older — so I’m hearing a lot more hip-hop (but NOT, as others are, any Lil Wayne) and classic soul/dancehall/disco and less sparkle club jams (sadly, as much as I love Michelle Williams’ “Break the Dawn,” I don’t really see that becoming my friendly neighborhood G’s jam of choice — then again, plenty of them put “Umbrella” on repeat last summer.)
@the rich girls are weeping: 2) The people who ARE doing the driving are not teenagers, they’re somewhat older — so I’m hearing a lot more hip-hop (but NOT, as others are, any Lil Wayne) and classic soul/dancehall/disco
I will back you up on this — so far in my Brooklyn neighborhood, it’s been some hella old-school stuff pumping from cars (not that I mind per se).
@Chris Molanphy: There is a guy who was on a “Dark End of the Street” kick for about a week, and I WAS SO GRATEFUL.
I have a neighbor who I can only assume is a gay stereotype from about 7 years ago (may also be a spin instructor). It’s all Donna Summer and Beyonce all the time. He did convince me to re-buy “listen without prejudice.”
In response to both not finding a suitable summer jam and the existential gas conundrum, I’ve been cranking (ahem) Juliana Hatfield’s “Fleur de Lys”, from her MBV-period record, on my way to and from Target, before and after dusk. If there is a way to be both triumphant and nostalgic at the same time (tristalgic?), then that would be me.
In the neighborhood, thankfully, the casual drivers pump more Use Your Illusion over Kid From YouTube MP3s, which reminds me more of better days, tristalgically.
I’m in a local San Francisco band and we’re on a small label and they always are pushing us to tour more. But we don’t get guarantees of any kind at shows and our van costs around $90-110 to fill depending on what the prices are at a given gas station. And everything comes out of our pockets, so extensive touring just isn’t possible since none of us are rolling in money. It’s totally depressing.
While living in public-transportation-heavy New York (and not having a license) (I know, I know)
Never apologize for that.
fleur de lys was a really important song for me, since it’s what made me take high school french instead of spanish. which led to lots of french in college, and now lots of sullen staring at french novels i’ll never again be able to finish.