Being a musician in Baton Rouge is not an easy thing. In a city overwhelmed by a hand full of seemingly impossible hurdles, an obsession with college football, a scarcity of venues to perform in, and the looming cultural shadow that New Orleans casts over us, it is easy to get discouraged. Let me be clear though: This is a great time to be making music in Baton Rouge. This is the time to be making music in Baton Rouge. We have never had the depth or breath of musical talent as we do right now. If ever Baton Rouge had the chance to become an Austin, Seattle, or Athens it is now. It’s not going to come from local government, or city planners. It’s going to come from you, the musicians. There are many things that are being done right and a few things that could be done better.

The Good Stuff:

Community. The community of musicians is wonderful. Most people seem to know that you can’t do this by yourself. Many musicians play in multiple bands. Many musicians are close friends. Bands help each other out, setting each other up with gigs and coming out to support each other. The importance of this can not be understated. We can always be better at this, but the way bands support each other here is not something that one finds in every city around the country. Talent. For a music scene to take off it’s got to be brimming with talent. There are so many good bands right now doing interesting, catchy, fun music I think people take it for granted. Don’t let them! Go for the jugular. Keep writing great music. Keep getting it out there. Recording. I, for one, believe in the recording studio not the home studio. I think it is important to get out of your house, into a place that is professionally built and surrounded by people who aren’t in your band to give you objective criticism on what you’re doing. But technology has given everyone the ability to build a recording studio in there garage/ bedroom/ living room/ closet. So use it! Record often. Rework songs multiple times. Put out three Eps, then put them all together for an album. Record! Bands around town are doing this. Some put out wonderful packaged vinyl with free digital downloads. Some put songs up on Facebook. It doesn’t matter. Just get it out there.

Things to remember:

Use every inch of the Internet. Technology is your friend. The world is at your finger tips. It’s also at everyone else’s finger tips, and you better believe they will all take advantage of it as well. Facebook ‘likes’ matter. Have a website. Have a bandcamp. Use iTunes. These days it’s all on you. No one is going to be there to help you. Because… (This note does not apply to country or rap artist.) Record companies don’t matter. Several bands from Baton Rouge have gotten signed to major labels in the last ten years, and it’s bitten everyone of them on the ass. Because of the above technology everything a record company will charge you to do, you can do yourself. Record companies have not caught on to how utterly useless they are yet. Physical medium is a dinosaur. Everyone is still trying to figure out how anyone is going to make money off of musicians; it’s not going to be CD stores in shopping malls. It’s going to be the Internet. Just remember, you have the same access to the Internet that record companies do. There will come a time, if your band gets big you will have to go down this road; but do it carefully, and with absolute distrust of these prehistoric monsters. I hope a whole bunch of Baton Rouge bands get signed. I hope they all do. But remember that they need you more than you need them now. Tour! Get the hell out of here. I’m tired of looking at you. Not really. I’m kidding, kind of. Touring is damn hard. You have to quit your day job, pack up, and spend weeks in a smelly van. But no one cares if you’re the biggest thing here. Go work on being the biggest thing everywhere. Sell your music in other cities. Hell, give it away. People have to hear you. Then they have to like you on Facebook. Once they know you exist you can keep in touch with them without showing up in there town once a month. Although nothing beats showing up in there town once a month. Enjoy your freedom. Now is the time to explore and be experimental. Once someone is paying you to make music they will have expectations of you. You will never be as free as you are right now. So try lots of things creatively. Make a reggae album, unless you’re a reggae band then make a country album. You’ll spend the rest of your life fighting your own stereotype. So play around now. Figure out what kind of band you want to be. I don’t mean this stylistically. I mean, are you a weekend warrior? Are you trying to get world famous? Do you want to be a respectable touring musician. Weekend warriors should not be in any band with anyone who wants to be a professional musician. The big difference? A day job. Sorry to tell you this, but if you claim to want to be a touring musician quit your day job, right now. Can’t? Then keep playing around Baton Rouge, have fun, and enjoy yourself. But to make it in this business it has to be your day job. There’s a tremendous amount of work that goes into being a musician, and you can’t afford to turn down, tours, shows, or band practices because you have to wake up early in the morning. If you’re wondering how to pay your rent, reference #3. You have no business being home that often. Go tour!

Double Edged Sword

This isn’t New Orleans. This is bad because New Orleans has more resources: more venues, more musicians, more people interested in seeing live music. New Orleans has a deep, rich cultural history with incredible icons to look to for inspiration. But we aren’t New Orleans. This is good because you don’t have to constantly reference a deep, rich cultural history. Because Baton Rouge is a bit of a blank slate culturally you aren’t forced to sound like anything in particular. You can paint this blank canvas anyway you want. 50 years from now bands should be worried about whether they’re going to sound like you. (Baton Rouge has a blues tradition and other things. I know. No angry emails from people who want to pretend that Baton Rouge is culturally equivalent to New Orleans. It’s not.)

I’ve never been so excited about the Baton Rouge music scene as I am right now. The thing we really need more than anything else is fans; more people to come out and hear and support these incredible bands. This could be a historic time to be in Baton Rouge if we continue to work hard and support each other.

Here’s a great resource to find out what’s going on around town called Jive Flamingo.