3.17.14 Adam teaches spelling?!, Houston QAL today, St Pat's

Every so often (ok - fairly often), an Adam pic will stop me in my tracks...  this is definitely one!

I think there are multiple forces coming together:

a) I think that on the inside of the industry, Adam did receive credit as well as attention for the fact that he worked in 2011 and 2012 on a style of music that would eventually become to define the year 2013. Insiders did take note of the fact that THE two break-out stars of 2013 in the areas of dance and funk music ended up being both represented on Adam's album (Nile and Pharrell). Adam's music was ahead of its time. Trend-setting is not a quality typically associated with idol. Imo, he artistically put idol far behind him with TSP, even though he could not commercially materialize from it, because it was not understood at the time. There are a few comments from key people at Billboard, that indicated that this was very much noted by some people in the business.

b) The second question that always surrounded Adam, and still does to this day, is: What is his market? And where is his place in the industry? Well, money speaks, and in the concert touring market, QAL just added 30-50 million to the pot. Quite obviously, there is a market, and these arenas would have stood empty otherwise, because it is not such that arena filling acts are lining up and fighting for space. To the contrary, the industry is trying to find acts that can fill the available seats. Well, they just found one.

There is in my mind no question, that it was the combination of Q+AL that made this happen, neither would have sold a tour like this without the other. But the combination does seem to make sense to enough people, that there is a market for this ticket, and a hot one at that. Again, some folks, who may have discredited Adam in the past, are starting to change their tone. So, now they have two reasons to do so.

This leaves the question, where the market for Adam is, when it comes to his solo career? And while future music has to still speak to that, it is clear that  he will be taken seriously on an artistic level. With new label in tow and with renewed interest in him both by a young TV audience and by some re-awakened rock music fans, on top of the ever loyal Glambert fanbase, that thrust is about to become much more than just a stage extension in 2014.

c) The music business is in a time of transition, both business wise as well as -when it comes to Top40, artistically. The question, where music is headed next, is wide open. PDs, A&R folks, promoters, have all learned over the past few years, that surefire acts are anything but that, and that new trends open up quite suddenly and with marketable force.

I believe Adam's voice will be heard. In more ways than one.