Blues Bash Interview: Thomas Ruf Of Ruf Records (Part Two) - Page 4

The English blues musician is nothing new, that dates back to the early days of the Rolling Stones, but now it seems like more and more Europeans aside from the Brits are taking to it. Is this a recent development or are we in North America just finally hearing about it because of the efforts of people like you?

Well, I tried to promote a couple of European performers, but it does in fact not really work. You can sell American and British blues in the USA, Germany, France or Japan. But you cannot sell a French blues artist in Germany, or a German artist in Sweden, a Swedish in Spain. It doesn't work. There are hundreds of European blues bands and they are incredibly good, some of them truly original.

The small country of Norway for example must have at least 200 very solid blues bands. There is a young blues player in every town. Only you never hear about them, as they cannot be picked up by international labels. Erja and Ana are exceptions to the rule. They offer the press something of an exotic story, a new story to be told, paired with the right amount of sex appeal and pop appeal (this is the marketing guy talking now).

What do you see as the future of blues music, and what role do you envision Ruf records playing in helping that become a reality?

I used to use a crystal ball and got pretty good at it, until the market totally changed a few years ago. With the rise of the digital sales (downloads), the industry goes back to the early '60s, when the record labels produced single songs, not albums. Why spend the money to produce a full album – 12-14 songs – when the consumer later on only picks one or two to download? The guy who used to spend 15 bucks for the entire CD might now only spend 99 cents with us through iTunes and download one song he likes. The existence of record labels per se in their traditional form as talent-developing and career-building service companies is changing.

So no, I haven't used my crystal ball too much lately. It's hard to predict. It's clear that the traditional stand-alone retail store with a true music mission - we carry any new CD of any genre and also deep catalogue - is history with the decline of Tower Records, the most prominent chain of this old school record store concept. There are as few as maybe 200-300 record stores with a good full assortment of music around the globe. The rest is chains with selected limited stock (they carry hits, not blues), mom and pop stores for a specialist clientele – many of them carrying second-hand - and the Internet.

Article Author: Richard Marcus

Richard Marcus is the author of the forthcoming book What Will Happen In Eragon IV? and has had his work published in print and on line all over the world. The not so long-haired Canadian iconoclast writes reviews and opines on the world as he sees …

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