Before the Music Dies
Andrew Shapter:
Before the Music Dies (USA, 2006)
95 min - DVD - English
Production: B-Side Entertainment
Never have so few companies controlled so much of the music played on the radio and for sale at retail stores. At the same time, there are more bands and more ways to discover their music than ever. Music seems to have split in two - the homogenous corporate product that is spoonfed to consumers and the diverse independent music that finds devoted fans online and at clubs across the country.
Before the Music Dies tells the story of American music at this precarious moment. Filmmakers Andrew Shapter and Joel Rasmussen traveled the country, hoping to understand why mainstream music seems so packaged and repetitive, and whether corporations really had the power to silence musical innovation. The answers they found on this journey - ultimately, the promise that the future holds - are what makes Before the Music Dies both riveting and exhilarating.
At the heart of Before the Music Dies Dies are interviews with musicians, industry insiders, music critics, and fans that reveal how music has reached this moment of truth. Featured performances from a truly diverse group of artists, ranging from The Dave Matthews Band to Erykah Badu. Before the Music Dies will renew your passion for great music, and inspire you to play an active part in its future.
Andrew Shapter
Andrew Shapter is an award-winning photographer, well known in the US and internationally. His assignments with the music world in the past 15 years have included everything from major labels to Mtv. After years of working in music, Shapter began to understand the increasing struggle musicians faced while maintaining their careers. Shapter has turned his lens on the industry itself in this groundbreaking examination of the current state, as well as the future, of the music industry. Before the Music Dies promises to be only the first of many films for this director.
