The Future of Music in The City Written and Designed by Drew Garvey
Acknowledgments I am beyond stoked to acknowledge Freestyle Academy for providing me with all the tools and knowledge to complete this novel. I would like to personally thank Mr. Greco for his countless hours of guidance and Ms. Parkinson for her endless knowledge on Adobe programs. A huge thank you to Music City and Ben Givarz for allowing me to pursue my passion on this awesome location.
Table of Contents Preface 7 Introduction 9 Chapter One: Happiness 11 Chaper Two: Lost 15 Chaper Three: Found 19 Conclusion 22 Works Cited 23
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Preface Music serves as the most rewarding aspect of my life for many reasons. A major one, the live music experience. My passion for music exploded after my first music festival, in which I did not know it was that possible to have that much fun in life. In an environment where you are hearing beautiful sounds, your mind wanders into beautiful places that does not happen in a normal environment. This passion of mine began rapidly expanding as I explored different genres and attended many shows. I soon started traveling across the state to attend music festivals where I began taking photographs and video footage. My huge passion for music drove me to a choose location specifically focused on live music and Music City served as the perfect location in my favorite city, San Francisco.
Introduction What a strange sight it is to see, billions of them, humans, listening to and playing with beats and musical patterns. Our lives all have a soundtrack, however many of us are unaware of the real effect our soundtrack has on us. Music serves as one of the most rewarding and soothing escapes in human life. Music City San Francisco is a rehearsal studio, however its main goal is to provide a network of musical services to preserve creativity and unity within the music scene. Music has the power to influence emotion and as you step into Music City, its friendly and passionate atmosphere of sound envelops you. This location delivers a profound emotion because it remains San Francisco’s only rehearsal studio focused on providing inexpensive collective resources for artists and musicians. Music City offers an environment in which individuals feel connected to music at a higher level due to the passionate atmosphere music lovers create. Located in the heart of San Francisco, this harmonious haven is housed within a building that is more unique for its acoustics and artists than its outward appearance. Music City understands the various
struggles artists face, which is what drives them to support growing artists in a very unique way rather than the original, financial way, such as record companies. This business is expanding beyond money. In fact, they are feeding artists with inexpensive resources which are necessary for their success, whereas in reality they are extremely expensive. By providing artists with the tools necessary for success, they demonstrate a thorough understanding that the music industry is very difficult and that recording artists need support throughout the beginning of their musical career. Unfortunately, the music industry is making many young artists give up and risk their lives for their passion because it is so rigorous and demanding, however Music City is there to help them on their way. With affordable rehearsal and recording studios and housing, Music City is a one stop shot. Although the music industry is immensely challenging and demanding due to its overwhelming competition and cost, Music City is specifically supporting artists in innovative ways to preserve the arts from disappearing. They are making inexpensive resources and opportunities
available such as performing on a stage to an audience and affordable living spaces and musician tools. The help Music City provides is the beginning of advanced thinking in the middle of a larger music industry that often fails to go beyond mere financial investment.
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Chapter One: Happiness The beautiful sounds begin to penetrate warming, yet frigid chills on your skin. Your eyes and mind ease smoothly away to the compelling performance. Your ears sustain beauty and erase reality. A place many of us would rather be, a live music show. Music attracts people in many ways, however music acts on the body in a live music setting much more. The intense flow of rhythm has the abilit y to provide such a wide spectrum of emotions during a live performance. It has the power to deliver a surreal emotional meaning, not just loud sounds and bright lights. When surrounded in an environment in which your mind and ears are full of your favorite beats, you escape reality into a world full of tranquility, euphoria, and bliss (Turley). As Jaemie, the operations manager at Music City stated, “If it’s good, you kind of get caught up in the moment, and I think that with our society it is really easy to overlook that, when you’re at a really good live show and the artist is sharing their music and creation and creating the audience you kind of lose yourself in that time and space”(Fortier). Jamie highlights a very important point, that in our
society there is so much chaos and stress in our lives, and these events provide an escape from all of that madness into a world you enjoy. Live music implements an ideal state of mind that not many other things can offer. It is because a musical performance or music alone stimulates the left side of the frontal lobe of the human brain, known as the prefrontal cortex, which is active when people feel happy (Breazeale). Thus, an emotional experience is the result of electrochemical reactions in the brain, brought by stimuli, which is what delivers the euphoric emotion during a show (Clark). Music City highly supports the value of live music, demonstrated through their current creation of a live venue inside their space. Individuals who visit Music City emphasize what they love most is the jubilant emotions it conveys to them, almost as if this location is an escape from their reality. Positive emotions are flowing and minds are content, walls are shaking, music is loud, artists are producing sounds, bodies are grooving out, and heads are moving to the different beats. Welcome to Music City. Responses to music are significantly observed in the brain, and much
more seen live. One main influence music acts upon is the brain. Different parts of the brain respond specifically to the music. In the past, it was thought music only affected the right side of the brain, the creative hemisphere and not the left side because it is for thinking. However, due to monitoring brain waves, it is recorded that the brain reacts to music in all different lobes (Cooper).The prefrontal cortex is active when the brain analyzes rhythms, or when you get into the music on a deeper level, such as feeling the live music. The motor cortex is used when the simulation of neurons buildup, which causes you to go along with the beat, or dance, which is very active when listening to music. Another huge factor for the psychological aspect and music is the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus is located above the brainstem and produces chemicals. A chemical that the hypothalamus creates is dopamine, which is associated with pleasure and euphoria. Listening to music that triggers happiness or positive memories releases dopamine to the rest of the body (“How Music Affects The Brain (“Health Infographics”). Music City is an environment in which live music is con-
stantly present and being played, there- ing live music for artists through their fore the brain is always acting in a unique current and new location. setting in that environment. While live music is already present in this location because it is a rehearsal studio, they are further enhancing the live music experience through the construction of a live performance stage for the public. After artists spend countless hours and years constructing pieces of music, they aspire to share their creation to the world. One rewarding way for both the artist and the public is live music. However, finding an ideal live music venue is not easy. More than likely the artist who is dreaming of sharing their music to the public is not very well known, therefore their money expense is limited (Goldstein). However, Music City is in the process of building a live performance venue to support artists with the live music struggle. One hardship emerging artists face on their journey is finding a location to the play their music with an audience. Paul Wells, curator of the Music City project said, “We are composing not only a rehearsal studio and a live venue, plus a hotel. That is what makes us different. There are nightclubs, hotels, venues, and rehearsal studios but this is going to be an all in one. And Rudy is dedicated to making it inexpensive because of the struggle musicians go through to get anywhere.� This unique adding of a live venue, rehearsal studio, cafe, music education, and a hotel is an important, inexpensive place for musicians. Music City highly believes in preserving and advanc-
Chapter Two: Lost In the past, the key to success in the music industry for an artist was to produce good songs, release an album, sell tons of copies, and begin touring. Today, that is not so easy, even for popular bands. The 90’s was a great decade for the music industry. Music was thriving and records were really selling. Then technology increased, corrupting the music industry. One major way was in the sales. People began downloading music for free and listening to music through free alternative ways, whereas before these programs did not exist. Thus, consumers did not purchase music like they used too. While free music is rewarding for the public, it is really hurting the bands in come (Gerber). These challenges artist faces contribute to why music is such a rigorous passion to pursue. If an artist decides to enter the music industry, they are making a life changing decision and more than likely not doing it for the money. The brave individuals who choose this path are essentially giving up the majority of their life to pursue their passion because it is so hard and risky to become successful. Jaemi Fortier of Music City was once a musician and from his experience he shared, “Music and art is never an easy thing to
pursue, there any many challenges that come up that are both in personal and professional rome of it”(Fortier). It has never been easy to make a living as a musician, and in today’s world it is getting even harder to accomplish that dream. As a musician, it takes a decent amount of time before you start earning a comfortable living in the music business. This is due to a number of factors that affect musicians along their way, a crucial one being competition. Every artist wants to be known, however this is the exact same dream as many others. Another impactful aspect in our society is the price to obtain what you need. To be a successful musician you need technology, equipment, a rehearsal studio, instruments, food, and a place to live. In big cities where music is popular, such as San Francisco, the price for everything is increased. Brian King, Japandroids drummer said, “I spent a lot of last year selling my belongings on Craigslist to pay the rent, eat and buy groceries and get by so that I could just keep playing in the band,” says Japandroids guitarist Brian King. “You do what you have to do”(Sydell). Brian, an emerging artist and musician allows us to gain a vivid insight into what it is like to give up your life to pursue your dream. All of these obstacles
make it very challenging for individuals who probably let alone have a low income because their job is a musician, which is not always a paid job. Not only is it challenging for musicians, it also difficult for Music City to continue supporting artists with inexpensive resources. Jaemi brings up a very important problem Music City faces in order to help artists, “One thing was always having the budget, the gear is really expensive. We are primarily giving rental to people that have day jobs and dreaming, so having those restrictions and having to work as a profitable business, even a sustainable business, while keeping the cost low for the people that utilize the services”(Fortier). While the music industry is highly threatening to artists, Music City is supporting artists in a variety of ways in order to decrease the immense challenges artists encounter.
Chapter Three: Found Imagine waking up in a car every morning. Working a job seven days a week while still squeezing in time for practice. Barely surviving each day, however still pushing to reach your dreams. This is the life of some struggling and emerging artists. Unfortunately, we live in a world that is growing and expanding rapidly. The higher prices start going, the harder it is for growing artists to pursue their passion. Major cities, such as San Francisco, are main locations for artists. However, with larger cities you tend to see an increase of price for almost everything an artist needs to survive. Transportation, housing, rental, food, etc. While these life necessities are so demanding, artist tools are even more exhausting. Finding the right location to record or rehearse and the right price is even harder. Often artists cannot even find one because everything is booked, or is way out of price range. As all of these demands increase and further impact artists, this affects the art generation. Many artists are struggling and even more struggling with finding the correct resources. Unfortunately there are not many resources that support musicians and their journey because it is unprofitable for the business, therefore it is not something someone would enjoy. How-
ever, one business in San Francisco is willing to risk a low profit to support the arts because they understand the struggles. Music City is a team full of musicians and/or involved in the music industry. Therefore, they know from a personal experience what it is like to be an emerging artist and all of the obstacles you may confront along the way. After encountering and understanding all of the hardships, they decided to dedicate their lives to making others struggle less. Rudy Colombini, founder of Music City Rehearsal San Francisco is a musician, therefore he truly understands how difficult the journey is as a new musician. Thus, he created this business with true understanding of what musicians go through to support them in as many ways as they can to preserve the arts of San Francisco. Paul Wells, curator of the Music City project, stated, “So what Rudy’s goal is he would like to help bootstrap musicians back up to a level where theres a pipeline, there use to be a pipeline, I could accurately predict who the next band out of the bay area that would break nationally would be at one time cause we had so many and they would rise to the top like Train, Counting Crows, Metallica, Huey Lewis, Journey, etc”(Wells). Music city is feeding artists
in a very unique way. The original way is to let artists get famous on their own and pay them to keep on going. However, Music City is feeding them from the start where the struggles are most faced. Ben Givarz, general manager, similarly states, “The main goal of music city rehearsal is to offer an affordable network of services for artists and musicians. There are very few affordable resources left for artists and musicians and many of the music establishments are being pushed out of the city due to zoning regulations around noise, commercial rents are astronomically high so we are trying to offer this affordable network of services to preserve the arts in san francisco, something that we feel is at risk of going away and disappearing completely if we do not step in” (Givarz). Ben highlights many important points that are occurring in San Francisco and why Music City is doing what it is doing. Not only do they support musicians in the musical aspect, they support them in housing because they understand the demanding rental prices in the city. The Music City Hotel, “is a newly renovated, combination hotel and hostel in San Francisco that is centrally located near Van Ness and the Union Square shopping districts. Among the budget hotels in San Francisco, you
can’t find more variety in room options: We offer rooms for every budget� (Music City). By making available a variety of inexpensive resources that are highly resourceful for artists, Music City is creating the solution to supporting emerging artists.
Conclusion Music has evolved into a very arduous passion to pursue. This blockade is making it very challenging for artists to accomplish their dream because of all the competition and the strenuous resources needed to get their music career started. Although there remains many challenges to be successful in the music world, artists are still risking potentially their lives to pursue their passion. Rudy Colombini, founder of Music City, faced the challenges musicians go through which is what drove him to create this amazing location. If artists are unable to display their talents because of these barriers, then future generation of musicians cannot replace the current higher class ones today which has the potential to degrade the music and arts industry. It serves the Bay Area an affordable network of services for artists and musicians, while cherishing talent and the love for the arts. Music City was created because there is very few affordable services left and they want to preserve the arts of San Francisco, something they feel is at risk of going unless they step in.
Works Cited Barnett, Eileen. “From the Couch to the Crowd: The Beauty of Live Music - WTJU.” WTJU From the Couch to the Crowd the Beauty of Live Music Comments. WTJU, 24 July 2014. Web. 19 Mar. 2015. Cooper, Belle B. “8 Surprising Ways Music Affects the Brain.” Buffer Social. N.p., 20 Nov. 2013. Web. 13 Mar. 2015. “Features : Breaking into the Music Industry.” Features: Breaking into the Music Industry | Prospects.ac.uk. Prospects, n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2015. Gerber, Ross. “Making Money In The Music Industry.” Forbes. Forbes Magazine, n.d. Web. 11 Feb. 2015. Goldstein, Jerri. “How To Find The Right Venue for Your Live Show.” Performingbiz. Performingbiz, n.d. Web. “How Music Affects The Brain (Health Infographics).” How Music Affects The Brain (Health Infographics). Design InfoGraphics, n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2015. Sacks, Oliver W. Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2007. Print. Sydell, Laura. “How To Succeed In The Music Business (By Trying Really, Really Hard).” NPR. NPR, n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2015. Turley, Cooper. “What Is Music?” Bass Feeds The Soul. Bass Feeds The Soul, n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2015. “Why Is Live Music so Much Better than a CD?” Kids Music Corner RSS. Kids Music Corner, n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2015.
Drew Garvey is a Junior at Freestyle Academy where he studies film and design. He lives in the bay area, which has thoroughly influenced his musical passion, and is an avid live music fan. The main genre that drives his passion is instrumental electronic as well as indie rock. His plans for the future are to attend a four year college in California where he will study medicine.
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