special event at The Music Hall features music, film, discussion

On Thursday, Oct. 25, The Music Hall will screen “Before the Music Dies” as part of its Wildcard Movie series, in conjunction with Portsmouth Community Radio and the RPM Challenge. Narrated by Forest Whitaker, the film explores some of the alarming questions currently facing the music industry. In the film, musicians and experts address the numbing effects of big label marketing, the declining influence of independent radio and the growing tendency for talented artists to remain veiled in obscurity. The movie features performances and interviews with a diverse array of artists, including Eric Clapton, Dave Matthews, Branford Marsalis, Erykah Badu and Questlove.  

For “Before the Music Dies,” filmmakers Andrew Shapter and Joel Rasmussen traveled the country, seeking answers to why what is popular in music is not always best and why what is marketed is not always right. Where once artists were nurtured and encouraged by their labels to be themselves, today’s musicians are faced with the dilema of the record companies having the final say.

“Who’s going to get signed,” says Rolling Stone contributing writer Alan Light, “are the ones who fit the existing formula, because they’re the most likely to have a hit the quickest, the most immediately and the most risk-free.”
 
Badu weighs in with caustic observations on how a woman’s physical appearance and age is more important than her music, and how musicians are used to sell product, not sound. “You’ve gotta sell your Coca-Cola and your Chips Ahoy and your Nabisco and your super-deluxe tampons, and then, you figure out how to fit the music in.”

Marsalis, (who steals the film), explains how Bruce Springsteen would never be allowed to make “Nebraska” in this day and age, and how artists who who were so revered thirty or forty years ago would never stand a chance. “Superficiality is in and, you know, depth and quality is kind of out,” he says. “Today, Ray Charles would not get a shot. Stevie Wonder would not get a shot. They’re blind.”

“Before the Music Dies” brings to light the frustrations musicians feel about the direction the music industry is headed in and the need for change in the balance of power.

The event at the Music Hall begins at 7 p.m. with a performance from Twinemen, a band featuring former members of Morphine. Following the film, Music Hall film coordinator Chris Curtis will moderate a panel discussion with five esteemed panelists: Bruce Pingree, Portsmouth Community Radio host and manager of The Press Room; Jo Lenardi, of Barsuk Records and Flea Marketing; Chris Dahlen, contributing writer to Pitchforkmedia.com; local musician Jon Nolan; and Al Barr, lead singer of Dropkick Murphys.Panelists will address many of the issues raised in the film, such as whether major labels are sucking the life out of the music industry.

“Labels have lost much of their power,” says Dahlen. “New ideas about making and selling music come up every day, but almost none of them come from the major labels. Musicians are more cynical and more cautious, and nobody expects one guy in a suit to be able to make you a star.”

In anticipation of this event, The Wire listened to the latest release from Twinemen and interviewed Al Barr about the new Dropkick Murphys album.