About Me
ROCK+PAPER+MUSIC came to life in a burst of inspiration:
A group of veteran musicians and their Baby Boomer fans were asked what they felt was their place in the current cultural landscape; their answer was another question: "How can we fit into the equation when the music we want to hear, the artists we want to see discovered and recognized, and the sensibilities of our generation are too often lost in pop culture's youth focus?"
Good question. We were inspired to find an answer.
For those of us who grew up in the 50's and 60's, the list of "what bothers me most about aging" is a different one, perhaps, than that of previous generations. But an undeniable fact of growing older, for everyone, is the teeth-grinding way in which our culture regards us, or rather, disregards us, once we pass those certain life milestones. It's rampant and pervasive and perhaps nowhere more obvious than the arts and media. Clearly many people feel that TV, film and music are too heavily fixated on servicing the young and, OK, we get it - young people are typically more enthusiastic about embracing new media, spending their disposable income on entertainment sources, seeking out and supporting new music, new movies, new..whatever! - but there is a "chicken/egg" aspect to this, too. When artistic options narrow, when popular culture tangibly reduces entertainment choices to only what's considered "hip," (i.e., young), the Boomer generation drifts away from the marketplace and the cycle continues: "Older people don't care about new music/movies/art; younger people do...so we'll make stuff for them."
But maybe it's that the "stuff" that's available isn't necessarily the stuff we want. And too often what pop culture thinks we want is the retreaded music of our youth. While we all love revisiting our youth from time to time, some of us can't help but wonder when the world is going to hear some new music from some NEW artists of the age.
Then it struck us: What if a music company existed that marketed and promoted the work of NEW, original recording artists of our generation, making music we wanted to hear, inspiring the Boomer demographic, both audience and artist, to reassert how much we have yet to contribute to the artistic conversation?
Since no one else was doing it, we decided to. ROCK+PAPER+MUSIC was born.
Does it make commercial sense to consider and recognize the artistic tastes of our generation enough to provide meaningful, artistic fare specifically for that group? Especially when too many have long stopped patronizing CD stores, have no clue how to work an IPod, seldom go to clubs and rarely seek out a new artist? Another good question; a good answer will most definitely require the heft and expertise of marketing and promotion gurus able to apply some truly out-of-the-box thinking to the challenge, a piece of the puzzle we're actively and currently exploring. But where we can start the momentum in a tangible, viable way is to actually discover the artists and provide the material that does appeal to the tastes and sensibilities of the coveted young Boomer demographic and go from there.
Where you, the audience, can play a part in this refreshing cultural shift is simple: PAY ATTENTION. Listen to these artists, buy their CDs, download (legally!) their songs, request their tunes on radio, follow their careers, just LISTEN.
And mostly, enjoy the music!
