Ed Kowalczyk Rejuvenated By Solo Career (article) Options

[LivesMeltdown]

Ed Kowalczyk Rejuvenated By Solo Career

After recording music as the front man for Live for nearly 15 years, songwriter Ed Kowalczyk said that he knew a change was necessary to continue on as a musician.

“For me as an artist, I had been doing it the same way for so long, it just came to a point a couple years ago where I needed a change,” Kowalczyk told Alternative Addiction during an interview this week. “I needed to enter a new chapter in my life. If anything, I kind of lost the spark, I was just kind of doing the same thing over and over. I needed to get out of that and become a creative individual again.”

Kowalczyk said he wasn’t sure what that next chapter was going to be, but he knew that a change was needed to re-inspire musically and lyrically. About a year and a half ago, Kowalczyk said he began kicking around the idea of writing some solo material, but instead of jumping directly into the studio, he decided to head out on the road for the first time in his career as a solo artist.

Joining with Art Alexakis of Everclear and Leigh Nash of Sixpence None The Richer, Kowalczyk started the “Open Wings Broken Strings Tour” in the fall of 2009. Initially, Kowalczyk said playing songs completely by himself definitely took some getting used to.

“About halfway through the show you realize you’re the whole show,” Kowalczyk explained. “You can’t throw to a big band jam or something like that. You are just there with the people in a different sort of way.”

Even though his solo shows were completely different than playing with a band, Kowalczyk started to realize that playing solo was also an incredible opportunity to connect with his fans in a more intimate way than he had as a part of Live.

“I think a lot of people were surprised with the voice and clarity that my songs had without the production and [a full band],” explained Kowalczyk. “That kind of started a whole process of reconnecting with the fans, inspiring new material, and re-inspiring me as a person.”

Entering the studio earlier this year, Kowalczyk began the process of recording his solo album, feeding off the energy he picked up out on the road last fall. The result is an album that Kowalczyk says is somewhat experimental from albums he’s record in the past with Live, although it maintains the core of the type of rock music he’s known for throughout his career.

Despite the uniqueness of the album, Kowalczyk says the writing process for the new album wasn’t much different than how he approached writing albums for Live.

“I didn’t really approach it differently at all. I sat down with an acoustic guitar and started writing out the lyrics and melodies that moved me,” said Kowalczyk. “The process it really wasn’t any different for me at all.”

Titled, Alive, Kowalczyk’s new album is due out July 6th. A full tour is planned to kick off in Buffalo on July 1st, with opening act Alex Band planned for the first leg of the tour. Kowalczyk has dates currently slated through mid-October, including a short run through Europe in late August and early September. Kowalczyk also says that an additional run of the “Open Wings Broken Strings Tour” is being planned for late this year.

As for Live fans who are upset with Kowalczyk for leaving the band, he hopes most will understand that the change was necessary for this new chapter in his musical career.

“You can fake inspiration as an artist, you get it where you get it,” says Kowalczyk. “I think the most important thing is that I have re-found that inspiration. It’s a really exciting time for me, and the response to the music has really been pretty awesome.”

http://www.alternativeaddiction.com/musicn...-By-Solo-Career

[Bremang]

Live got $50,000 to $75,000 per night to play in front of audiences in the US. Probably more overseas. They maintained a pretty good touring schedule. I'm guessing each of the members of the band made a decent six figure income from live each year for the last decade. There was probably more money in touring than there was from publishing from SFBM. I would guess that is why C, C & P signed the ultimatum contract. That, in addition to their friendship, enjoyment of playing with each other, and love of the road, fans and playing before an audience. I would guess that the thought of doing something like TGF didn't really present itself as a viable option for their future as musicians playing in a good band before a loyal audience. They probably wanted to hold onto their connection with the loyal fanbase of Live, and given the choice of Ed walking away and watching the temple they built get destroyed, or take it with an ultimatum, they chose the ultimatum.

I don't fault Ed for making the ultimatum or them for taking it. I don't think they took it purely out of friendship. Obviously, Ed didn't make it from a motivation of friendship. It was business. Ed grabbed the creative reigns and then wanted the majority of the financial compensation to go with it.

How should C, C & P feel?

1. Ed took over creative control and went in a direction that C,C, and P didn't like. Live went soft and churchy. The popularity of Live went down the tubes as soon as the other three were excluded.

2. C, C and P took the ultimatum and accepted their 10% each.

3. Then they find out that Ed signed a publishing contract for $1,000,000 and didn't tell them and didn't give them their $100,000 each.

4. Then Ed starts touring the world, in all of Live's best markets where Live's loyal fanbase lives. Ed is playing Live's music catalog and selling tickets to the Live fanbase all for himself, to the exclusion of the other three.

5. Then Ed is selling recordings on his website of these songs from Live's catalog to Live fans to the exclusion of the other three. And he is not even paying them royalties for the sales.

6. Ed was using Live's mailing list, which is it's proprietary intellectual property, which has value, for his own exclusive purposes to the exclusion of the other three.

7. Ed started selling trinkets and coffee and T-shirts and stick figures to Live's fanbase on his website. He was cheapening the brand.


Ed was looking to make a buck off of the loyal fanbase that was the bread and butter of their careers and their life's work. He was essentially "consuming" the "commodity" that is the Live fanbase. The fanbase has a capacity to consume concert tickets, music and merchandise. And Ed not only forced an ultimatum to take 70% for himself, but then he set out to exclude C, C and P from publishing money with the secret contract and then he went out alone to make as much as he could for himself without the other guys. They stood by and watched this happen to their livelihood and the friendship.

How should they feel? Should they be so p*ssed that they might fire off a few impationed tweets?

Imagine how good Live could have been if the 4 guys continued to stay friends, and wrote everything together, living around York and Lancaster, drinking beers and rehearsing in garages. We might have gotten 5 more MJ's or TC's.

So CCP agree'd to Ed's ultimatum, and it makes sense that friendship and the love of music and touring played a role. But they sold out if they didn't like Ed's music in the first place. They bought into Ed's vision after hearing the music. They signed themselves away, and went full speed ahead. Ed's direction wasn't exactly a pivotal deterrent. They bought into an album, a world tour, etc.

When you mention CCP not wanting to ruin what they have built, and that a new band wasn't a viable option, it sounds like CCP considered just how much Ed is the key to Live and their success, and how irreplaceable he was. That is because Ed, since day one, was the unique genius spark that created and sustained Live for the most part. He had the golden ideas and voice. Ed also connected with the fans because he was the spirit and the image of the band.

Thats why in a deal in 2005, Ed gets 70%, and the 3 others get 10% each. And in some ways, Ed going behind CCP's back was good for everybody, a smart move. Ed never expected the band to fire him. Let Ed reach out the Christian rock, AC world, and let TFG reach out to the alternative rock world.

I'd like to see CCP find themselves a million dollar advance. I don't see how much harm Ed did by making a deal, where CCP get 100000 dollars each by doing nothing, writing none of the new music, doing none of the touring, and selling none of the website records. We still don't even know if Ed did or did not have the legal right to go ahead and do this. According to CCP's complaint, Ed's correspondents don't seem to think Ed is in the wrong at all, legally.


Who says it was a huge change for the band to not include the other guys. Ed wrote all of V and it sold plenty of copies. BOP with the full band didn't exactly sell that well, nor do most people think that it is definitely a better record, so whats the use?


And then, corresponding to your numbers and how CCP should feel....you might consider the following...

1. The other 3 have been excluded for V, which didn't exactly crush the band. V and SFBM were both a success internationally. Other factors beside the music also contributed to the lack of sales in the US in the past 10 years.

2. See above.

3. See above. We don't even know whether this was wrong of Ed yet. They did get 25000 each so far. The situation doesn't add up yet.

4. Is there anything wrong with playing in the market that he created?

5. Ed was selling albums on the internet, out in the open, nothing to hide. What makes you think Ed wasn't planning on giving up the royalties, they were obviously going to get this if they asked, if it was even worth the hassle. How many of those packages do you think actually got sold?

6. Ed built that list more than anyone. Why get fussy if Ed uses it? CCP have everything to gain by Ed using the list. When fans think of Ed, they think of Live, which is great for CCP. It is free advertisement. Creating and broadcasting a message to a mailing list cost tons of money and is lots of work. Does this mean CCP should be forced to put money up front for the initial payment? How exactly do you think they should be compensated?

7. When you call it a brand, you make it sound cheap already. Why don't you look at any mainstream rock bands website, and tell me if it isn't loaded with merchandise. What makes clothing less cheap than food or drinks. It is all marketing. The intentions are the same for all the products: to make money and sell to the fans. Maybe Ed's fans like coffee. Maybe Ed really loves the coffee.



So maybe Ed is trying to make a buck more now that hes a grown man then back when he was a kid. So maybe Ed tried to get away with the million dollar deal initially. His talent has provided millions of dollars, fortune and fame, and a wild ride/fulfilled life, to his band mates already. Many of us agree that Ed's talent seems to be unfortunately fading, and for the first time he has other mouths to feed. Is it definitely justified, after someone writes hit songs that will be played on radio for many years, that your band mates hold on to a third of your earnings your whole life? I'm not saying that Ed definitely deserves all the money. I know the rest of the band have worked really hard, came up with great things, and are very talented. But there are countless broke musicians/players who fall under the same description. The difference is they didn't have that super element that Ed had...anyone in the industry will tell you that overall, the singer/songwriter has the most important role in modern music.

How should CCP feel? Maybe they should feel blessed to know Ed, happy to be millionaires, happy for Ed for the 1000000 dollar deal Ed landed, happy to be getting 300000 of that deal, happy that Ed sustained them for 20 years so they could still have a presence in the industry with a new band. Or maybe they should be completely angry despite all this.

Sure, they can shoot off a few angry tweets. But I think the insults online were unnecessary, corny, and maybe hurtful to Ed's reputation.

And as for that stuff you were saying about the fans:
Warm bodies I sense are not machines that can only make money. Fans are not a commodity the way you put it. The people at his shows and who read the mailing list are people with opinions. They have a choice, and they chose Ed, or Ed won their patronage.

This post has been edited by Bremang: Jun 23 2010, 8:54 pm