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EntertainmentThe New Music City is in Town - Yes Our Town
7/19/2007 1:10:14 PM | Chuck Collins
Music City: think Akron, Ohio. Plenty of musicians flee to follow trends and grasp onto a part of the buzz in New York, Los Angeles, Nashville or the like.
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Others embrace their own culture and flourish. Think: Neosoul. Original Motown used with some 70's funk amped up for today's market. Think local talent: 1959, Drop Soma and Sean Benjamin.
You can't turn on the radio in Northeast Ohio without hearing hip-hop. This merges with soul and is thus familiar yet new - easy for people to latch onto. Simply: it is universal. You can dance, you can chill and most importantly, you can relate. Fifty somethings can appreciate as well as the college or even high school scene. The bands can pack Cleveland's local blues venue, Fat Fish Blue and then turn around and pack the Grog Shop the next night.
The market is saturated with several genres of music directed at one generation at a time. Namely, hardcore. Neosoul entrepreneurs embrace what has worked in the market for hardcore and apply it to the neosoul.
"Neil Sheehan is a huge success story in our music market." Said local FTF Records' president Jeff Gargas. "So many of my business plans are modeled after his proven mold."This local music progression was change only waiting to come full circle.
"Music is cynical. In the 70's it was funk and purpose, in the 80's glam & excess, 90's grunge and heartfelt scorn. Recently it's gone back to excess with the local scene embracing the hip-hop about rims and grills. It is about time the music has purpose again." Said Drop Soma Drummer, Will Wells "We are filled with a need to change. Inheritably bringing meaning back."
Empowering this local community force are the new media networking devices of Myspace, message boards and blogs.
"The Indie market in NE Ohio is really bustling. It is incestful. The scene is a close knit family." Said 1959 drummer, Justin Hoffman. "We are constantly supporting each other by attending their local musicians shows. This allows us to build off each other. I know I'm moving to Akron to be a closer part of it"
The growth of digital technology in relation to sound engineering is also enabling bands to step into limelight without ever having to leave the state.
"In effect this should help the NE Ohio scene to keep some of our great bands that not only perform amazing shows but also inspire other local bands to follow in there footsteps." said local recording studio Sound Engineer and Producer at Amberwolf Studios Randy Biddle. "I'm really optimistic about the future that NE Ohio has in the music scene."
So what does this mean for the market as a whole: Networking.
"The more the local businesses can work together to draw more attention to the music industry the bigger the buzz will grow. People that normally would not go out start want to see what all the talk is about." Said Biddle. "In return this generates more cash flow for the clubs, bands which the generates a better cash flow into local music stores, studios, and other music related businesses."
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