Draw | All Kinds of Pottery

Village Covered

May 30th, 2009 admin No comments

Village Covered

Music Business Lessons From The Village People

Just saw Can't Stop the Music, which is the Village People's big
screen debut...

What a great movie. Lots of inside jokes, a good "time capsule"
of disco culture, and a great lesson on the music business.

The movie wasn't entirely true, but the Village People has been
a business from Day One and there is plenty to learn from these
guys.

For one, they started with a market and then put the band
together. The first album, a self-titled EP, was recorded by
studio musicians and made specifically for the gay audience and
featured songs like "San Francisco" and "Fire Island."

When that took off, the "band" was put together...

And even though the Village People went on to mainstream
success, they didn't forget who had given them their original
break. You don't have to go too far to see plenty of gay
references throughout their songs, album covers, image, or
anything else the group is involved with.

The very first album I owned was 1978's Crusin'. I played it
hundreds of times.

Years later, I asked my mother if she knew they were gay...

"Of course," she said.

Good to see Mom was on top of things. I'd hate to think she
would miss that with songs like "I'm a Cruiser" and "My Roomate."

People did miss it though... The Daily Association used "Milk
Shake" in its ad campaign and the US Navy used "In the Navy." At
least for a little while...

From Wikipedia:

The United States Navy considered using the Village People hit
"In the Navy" in a recruiting advertising campaign on television
and radio. They contacted Belolo, who decided to give the rights
for free on the condition that the Navy help them shoot the
music video. Less than a month later, The Village People arrived
at the San Diego Naval base. The Navy provided them with a war
ship, several airplanes, and hundreds of Navy men. When the
video started showing and the Navy started the planned ad
campaign, some newspapers protested using taxpayer money to fund
music videos (especially for a group considered by some to be
"morally dubious"). The Navy quickly cancelled the campaign. The
scandal tremendously boosted the popularity of the song

About the Author

David Hooper is the founder of Kathode Ray Music, an artist
development organization specializing in promotion and marketing
of independent musicians and bands. Visit http://WWW.ROCK-MUSICIANS.COM for more tips and hints for musicians, bands, and
songwriters.