NAMM 2024 Part II: Top Four Education Tracks
Here are some highlighted talks from the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) show that recently took place.
In Conversation with The Immediate Family
The Immediate Family is a super group of famed session musicians Danny Kortchmar, Waddy Wachtel, Russ Kunkel, Leland Sklar,and Steve Postell. Their work includes James Taylor, Jackson Browne, Linda Ronstadt, Keith Richards, Carole King, Stevie Nicks, Don Henley, Billy Joel, David Crosby, Joni Mitchell, Phil Collins, film, live theatre, and countless other credits.
Also on the panel was filmmaker Denny Tedesco (director of The Wrecking Crew film) who directed the new documentary on them, release date February. I interviewed Tedesco on The Wrecking Crew film, which he presented at the Alcazar in 2014. This second group of session musicians follows suit. With the presentation, clips from The Immediate Family film were shown and a few songs off their new LP, “Skin in The Game.” Forbes’ music editor Steve Baltin moderated the session.
Points of interest: Skylar credited the late Lisa Roy of Rock & Roy Entertainment, for the band getting together and doing the documentary with Tedesco. The musicians all said they were happy to be doing session work together for 50 years and it is like a family and they refused to talk about the pranks they have done. They just thought about their present and future music work, and the film made them really look back on their careers; it was natural for them to be a band at this point. Postell talked about getting David Crosby to comment on the film; Tedesco commented that all the people asked to talk about these artists for the film were on board in one phone call because of the love they had for them. The audience Q&A provided the band the opportunity to talk about musicianship. They advised if one wants to be a musician, in addition to practicing, going out to listen to other musicians, playing with other musicians and having “skin in the game,” not sitting at home alone making music by yourself and a computer. The band is performing February 14 at the Lobero Theatre.
Keeping up with Innovation: Who Should Control the Right to Remix?
The astute panel was Tony Berman, Berman Entertainment Technology Law; Kenji Nakai,mixer/recording engineer/producer/engineer (L.A.); Bob Clearmountain,mixer (Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, Grammy awarded); Ryan Ulyate (Tom Petty, George Harrison); Chris Lord-Alge, five-time Grammy-award winning American mix engineer; and artist Stanley Jordan.It was moderated by Heather Rafter,attorney.
Clearmountain explained this session was prompted when the album, Sports by Huey Lewis and the News – which he mixed in the ‘80s – was remixed for Atmos by Universal Music in 2023. The issue was the band did not really know what Atmos was. He ended up remixing two full albums for no pay to correct all the mistakes Universal made paying someone from Atmos. He said, “If the label owns the masters, can they do whatever they want? No matter what the law and contract says, I think it’s unethical. The label should not be doing it without the artist, producer, and the mixer.”
Lord-Alge agreed adding, “The subject is remixing, and the artists have no rights because they signed their work to the label. I want every artist to pull away from the labels and streamers, for artists to own their own masters, and redo those contracts. The artist needs to approve of anything that has to do with their song, their master, their record. Apple needed content so they funneled money to the labels to get it.”
They discussed The Beatles remix using AI to pull John Lennon’s voice for the reissue of “Now and Then” as an allowable use of AI to make an authentic Beatles song with the original band members. Jordan said he was never told about a song remix that dropped out a full guitar part, until he heard it in Canada, saying, “What an artist creates is sacred and they need to take care of it.”
Berman reviewed artist contracts to include “Protective Licensing Provisions” for unapproved use of AI, Derivative Works and Marketing Restrictions. Other recommendations were to join the Human Artistry Campaign against AI, and have NAMM lobby for artists’ contracts.
Vinyl Record Manufacturers Association
Vinyl Record Manufacturers Association(VRMA) session detailed info on cutting and recording for vinyl. VRMA is a professional trade association of independent businesses committed to the craft of vinyl record manufacturing with members in the vinyl biz from Oxnard, CA, to the U.K. The sale of Vinyl Records has seen continual growth year-over-year for the past 17 years. The year 2022 was the first time in over 30 years that vinyl record sales surpassed the sale of CDs. Luminate’s 2023 mid-year report showed a 21.7% increase in vinyl sales in the United States. The panel explained how vinyl records are made, and how to record music for vinyl.
Amp Up Your Music
Amp Up Your Music session was a panel of industry experts weighing in on presenting and promoting your finished album. It was moderated by studioexpresso’s Claris Sayadian-Dodge and Brad Lunde of the TransAudio Group. Speakers were Brent Fischer (Beyoncé, Elvis Costello), Ian Charbonneau (Eric Clapton, Neil Young), and Ryan Ulyate(Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers). Advice was given on how to prepare and create their brand, create opportunities to grow markets and a fan base, performing in settings from clubs to stadiums, interfacing with fans and audiences, staying healthy on the road, and band rehearsing tips. The panel shared their relatable work stories as examples of strategies that did and did not work, including Ulyate’s newly-released Grammy-nominated album titled, ACT3. Fischer provided while touring to find out where the locals buy basic needs, don’t use the hotel, don’t use fast food, be prepared for sound-check before the show, take care of yourself don’t leave it to your promoter, and be well rested and well-fed so it does not affect your performance.
