Why do we post vidcasts on artists or musicians that might not be known by the general public?
Why would should I waste precious time filming an artist sitting in his/her apartment or a musician playing on the subway? And then spend countless hours editing and posting it to my site?
Well, that's one of the cool things about this site and why I started it. Culture Catch can and will continue to showcase the high-profile folks, but we'll also help boost the careers of the artists who need a platform.
And I love doing it. I can help artists get their music or art or literature or acting out to the world. And we're getting tremendous response back. Don't get me wrong, we certainly like the high-profile acts, but we really want to champion the smart culture set. We want to share the should-be-knowns and nearly-knowns too, because the Internet is the perfect place to share them with you. We can co-op our space to them and let them share their art/work, their passion, in ways that might not be able to afford otherwise.
As many of you know, in the glory days of music -- the '60s and '70s -- the labels use to do it and the real A&R men helped launch many storied careers. They helped foster the creative process and they were patient. Sadly, those days are long gone, as the marketing boys now dictate policy. But the Internet has proven how an artist can reach out and touch many people in ways we couldn't have imagined even 10 years ago. I was a William Morris agent back in the early '80s and we'd do it with blossoming talent, too. I took a chance with a young comic named Andrew "Dice" Clay and he hit big time for the agency, grossing nearly 20 million dollars just one year later.
A few years ago I met a young singer-songwriter named Richard McGraw; I met in the lobby of the Beacon Theater during a Nick Cave concert. He was handing out his CDs for free; like a modern-day Johnny Appleseed. (If you like his music, you could send him a check.) Well, I loved his introspective folk-rock music so much so that I wanted to help him. But back then all I could do was write a review of his Her Sacred Status My Militant Needs CD for a local periodical. But last month he sent me his new CD, Song and Void: Volume One, and I loved it even more than his debut. And now I was in a position to help him even more. I could interview him and film him singing and post his vidcast and let the rest of the world find him on our site. He may never reach the status of a Cat Stevens, Nick Cave, or even a Mark Kozelek, but his passion will touch people. That much I am certain.
I'm not competing with AOL or myspace. I want this site to resonate with smart culture people. I don't need, nor want, everyone. I want smart folks who trust me when I share someone they don't know. That may be arrogant on my part, but I feel passionately that it's worth the gamble.
And that's why I love the fact that I can share art with the world with this website. For every Les Paul, there might be a dozen who will never get the opportunities that fortune/luck/talent afforded him. But who knows, the way viral marketing works on the web... anything is possible. He/she could be the next big thing in a matter of months, the next person to reach the stars.
And while I have many high-profile podcasts/vidcasts getting ready to post, including such artists as Echo & The Bunnymen, Buzzcocks, actor Matthew Modine, writer Gore Vidal, adult film star Tera Patrick, etc., I'll be posting the nearly-knowns and the should-be-knowns, too. And they will have their opportunity to share their art with the world.