Haven't written anything in a while, which is quite a good sign in terms of having a life, however I did up spending last night (Friday) scoffing cheap wine and watching DVDs (Dig !- hilarious, The Libertine- tedious).

Dig ! is a documentary following the relative fortunes of two bands, The Dandy Warhols and The Brian Jonestown Massacre, over almost a decade.

The Dandy Warhols will probably be familiar now to most people courtesy of their song "Bohemian Like You", used in a Nokia ad a few years ago. However, at the film's start, in 1995, they are just as unknown as their friends and compatriots the BJTM. Despite their rampant egotism, the Dandys retain enough professionalism to get a record deal, tour consistently and achieve success. The BJTM, meanwhile, spiral into chaos, mostly generated by their psychotic vocalist, Anton Newcombe. The BJTM is basically him, as the Fall is Mark E Smith. His various triumphs include-

-You have a gig where the reps of a certain record company will decide whether or not to sign you. Of course the sensible thing to do is to start a fight with your guitarist.

-You get a record deal and are given the money to house your band, build a studio and record an album. Naturally, you develop a heroin problem.

All of this is so typical it's almost tedious, though the scale of Newcombe's problem makes it more compelling. The interesting revelations mostly concern the nature of the music industry. Most of what it describes is now almost out of date. Most companies cannot afford to operate any more on the basis described. Basically, indie companies usually had one major act (eg Oasis on Creation, Depeche Mode on Mute), whose mass success cushioned the failures of other acts (on a scale of only 1 in 10 albums actually recouping its costs). As is observed in the film, no other industry would tolerate that ratio of risk to success.

It's a little depressing for someone on my scale. I've just finished recording, mixing and mastering enough songs to release a new "album", but really, who cares ? It would be feasible for me to get it into shops, pretty much, but without widespread reviews and radio play it would just gather dust on shelves. I doubt if the download generation would be interested in the noodlings of a 30something songer-songwriter, so that just leaves me with the traditional means. That would involve potentially massive debt, even if I were to succeed in getting some exposure.

Life-changing stuff, which would shift the nature of it completely from its present status of glorified hobby, but with the risk of complete failure, like any business venture. Fuck.