Finland’s Rock Ambassadors Abroad
@ 4:10 am The New York Times ran an article this past Sunday on the interesting phenomenon of foreign governments fronting the costs of US tours for their rock bands. While the article is actually a good example of the kind of interesting, minor-issue journalism that the left-leaning Times is good at, the writer of this piece seems at a loss in understanding what the phenomenon really means, – always a good sign, since journalists should only report facts, not their own opinions.
The Finnish band Bloodpit is included, though they get mentioned only at the very end (view this link soon, as the NYT permits free viewing for only about a week or two before articles disappear to their pay-only archives)
The piece highlights a lot of good questions, and even points to a government study (that of Scotland’s) which examined if it’s worthwhile to spend taxpayers’ money like this. Yet the question that was never asked is why would foreigners need to spend tax money on marketing in the US to begin with, if they have self-sustaining welfare states?
In any case, most of the Finnish taxpayers’ money spent on Bloodpit might have gone down the drain, as the conclusion of the article points out:
In their home country, Finland, and at European rock festivals, the earnest rockers Bloodpit are used to playing to hordes of fans. But when a government grant brought the band to America earlier this year, it played at a Los Angeles club during Musexpo, an upstart music conference specializing in international talent.
“The only thing that was different,†said Matthau Mikojan, who sings and plays guitar with the band, “was that in the audience, instead of our fans, there were suits.â€Â
Did these band members realize they had just hit the jackpot? Or did they disappear into a bar after the gig, instead of mingling with the audience and making contact with the music industry heavies?
Oh well. Not to worry. The pockets of Finnish taxpayers are, in the end, a bottomless pit.
