Bob Cramer's Blog

The big city, here they come.

I just dropped my oldest son, Ben, and his friend, Sean, at the airport for a three-day recording trip in New York City, my old hometown.   Amid questions of how the subway works and is Park Avenue east or west from Lexington, these musically talented young men, armed with melodies and lyrics, ambition and energy, are taking another big step in pursuit of their rock n’ roll dreams.

It is certainly a tough road to travel.  The odds of making it big in music are probably smaller than playing in the NFL.   The power of the large labels has declined, and over-the-air radio, the way people my age were first introduced to hot new music, is now shared with the online Pandora’s, Spotify’s, XM’s and of course iTunes.   Clearly, the music industry, like the book industry (good-bye Borders), is going through digital growing pains.

These new realities don’t discourage them.   Playing shows still remains one of the bright spots, as people still want to hear live music.  Music piracy is on the decline, and according to reports today, even Baidu, the Chinese Google equivalent, is starting to actual pay royalties for licensed copies of songs.

After spending a year at the Frost School of Music in Miami, Ben is taking his musical talents to the more rock-friendly confines of Athens, GA this fall.  I expect this week’s new recording to have a more upbeat, jamming rock orientation (I hear them in my basement so I have a sneak preview) from some of his earlier work, including last summer’s more folk-rock orientation (click here to listen).    

I don’t know much about music.  I’m just learning how to blog.  But I do know this, it is great to see young people follow their passion, and that journey can take them to lots of unexpected places.  For me, there is also a nice irony or poetry to watch my son travel to where I was born, to stay with my Mom, to practice his craft: musical chairs of sorts, generation after generation, different creative talents but sharing a common familial bond and start-up instinct.  My grandfather started his magazine in NYC; I started my (brief) journalism and entrepreneurial career in NYC.  It is nice to see my son start or resume his musical ambitions in NYC.

I wish the boys well this week and you can be sure I will be promoting their new work on my world-wide blogging network soon.