New Orleans Recording Industry Dwindles

Stephen Maloney - New Orleans CityBusiness

Some of the biggest names in music flocked to New Orleans to record Grammy-winning albums in the late 1980s and early 1990s, but local studio owners said the city is unlikely to regain its status as a recording destination.

Piety Street Studios co-owners Mark Bingham, John Fischbach and Shawn Hall said the recording industry has changed dramatically over the past decade, leading to the decline in professional studio recording locally and nationwide.

"Instead of five majors and big indie (independent studios) controlling 95 percent of the distribution of recorded music, we now have tens of thousands of small entities, bands, individuals and boutique labels selling just as much as the old system did," Bingham said. "Studios get business by doing good work and the word of mouth that comes from the good work."

The success of legendary producer Daniel Lanois' Kingsway Studios -- which recorded major acts such as Pearl Jam and Bob Dylan -- in the French Quarter 20 years ago helped spread the word that New Orleans had something to offer as a recording destination, but Hall said that momentum has been hard to regain.

When one of music's biggest touring acts, the Dave Matthews Band, came to New Orleans in January to record a Mardi Gras-themed album at Piety Street's Bywater facilities, Hall said the positive effects did not extend beyond the businesses directly affected.

"It helped our business, it helps the economy of the city: restaurants, hotels, cabs, caterers, rental car companies, lighting companies, music stores, etc., but not really the music scene," Hall said.

But Jared Marcel, studio manager at Music Shed Recording Studios in the Lower Garden District, said there was at least one positive corollary effect to Dave Matthews coming to the city.

"Boyd Tinsley, the band's violin player, spent a lot of time at our studio working on a side project, so we sort of felt a direct effect from that," Marcel said. "I don't know if the fact that Dave was here contributed to any referrals or side business that we've gotten, but the whole band has been around here enough that Boyd felt comfortable recording here."

Scott Aiges, director of marketing and communications for the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation, said the state's sound recording tax credit program makes it profitable for big touring acts to record in Louisiana by refunding up to 25 percent of production costs.

"There are artists of a certain level that are still able to spend large budgets and go on location to make new albums," Aiges said. "Because of the economics of the recording industry these days, you don't see that as much as you used to. But 25 percent back from the state is still a significant incentive."

Hall said the credit doesn't filter down to the smaller local acts that are the lifeblood of local studios.

"I don't see the tax incentives helping our business much, and even with the incentives, big budget projects still want to skimp at the level of the studio," she said. "The tax incentives don't help local or out-of-state artists with small budgets at all, yet I think we all pay for those incentives with our tax dollars.

"And businesses like us that provide discounted rates on a regular basis for locals and small budget productions get no incentive for that."

Fischbach said having clients such as the Dave Matthews Band with large recording budgets helps Piety Street stay afloat as economic concerns loom.

"... Having larger label acts come to use our facility in a way subsidizes the local and smaller artists that want the quality that Piety affords them," he said.

Say Yes Recording Studio owner Chris Polacheck said he offers local musicians the use of his Carrollton studios for $25 an hour, keeping production costs out of the range of the tax incentives, which kick in at $15,000.

While getting the local recording industry back up to what it once was may be a daunting task, Polacheck said it isn't impossible given the quality of the city's studios and musicians.

"New Orleans has a real cache with the rest of the world," he said. "Sooner or later every musician in the world comes through this town, and they dip into the well and they use what's available. For the most part, this is still a very viable destination."

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