Vane Glory

A local nonprofit hopes to give independent musicians a fighting chance.

by A.D. Amorosi

Know what you never hear about Brian McTear — maestro of Miner Street Recordings, leader of Bitter, Bitter Weeks, producer behind Philadelphia bands like The Capitol Years, Matt Pond PA and The Swimmers?

What a great guy he is.

Kidding.

Always concerned with the future and fellowship of the independent music community, the Fishtown resident has been pouring his time and energy into Weathervane — a new nonprofit organization that'll attempt to develop an alternative model for how indie music can get funded and produced.

"And eventually find its way into the psyche of our culture," McTear finishes. "Because the music industry can no longer handle the task of supplying the culture with great music, the bottom has dropped out of the business."

Music is no longer an enterprise that revolves around revenues from record sales. It's risky to pay for artists to make albums if they're simply just loss-leaders.

"My answer to that is, 'Why don't we all pay for it?'" says McTear. "As it is, we've become really isolated in how we consume music, just as artists are in making it. Doing a little something to reconnect the bond between art and the culture that produces it is a very healthy thing."

Basing Weathervane's ideas on public radio and television models, McTear and high school pal Bill Robertson hope to establish membership programs along with asking crowds to donate to their cause. The idea is to make and present music and videos with artists he believes have depth and meaning but little means to express it.

To McTear, these things should not be inextricably tied to financial factors.

"The problem is that the one part of the process absolutely essential to make great catalogs of music — namely quality recordings — is expensive enough that if you are not already a successful artist, no one will have the incentive to pay for that startup cost," states McTear. He's a studio owner and a producer — he should know how pricey things are.

As curators, Weathervane and its initial "Project Series" features area acts such as Sunset ("Fishtown," produced by Quentin Stoltzfus, is Weathervane's first cut) and East Hundred, not only with recordings done in Miner Street Studios but documentaries culled from those same sessions. Currently filming and recording stories and songs for Weathervane's next sessions are BC Camplight and Danielson.

"The video documentary idea was mine and I think it serves a couple purposes," says McTear. "As a society, we are ready for a refresher course on what it means to have an artistic vision and make art.

"Plus it's great exposure for the artist and great for people to get to know a musician right in the setting where he or she is most comfortable and most productive. We'll do well to reacquaint ourselves with creative genius."

It's lofty business and heady stuff, but McTear seems up to the task. He'd like get catalogs of music — on CD, vinyl, video and download — made and disseminated before music becomes fossilized.

"The music business is in dire straits whether you're a pop singer or an avant-garde noise artist" he says. "It's at a point that if we don't conjure new models for finding and presenting artists in ways not attached to record-selling revenue, then we simply won't have great music in a very short period of time."

(a_amorosi@citypaper.net)

Weathervane's launch event, Thu., June 25, 8 p.m., $10, with Papertrigger and The Armchairs, Kung Fu Necktie, 1250 N. Front St., 215-291-4919, kungfunecktie.com, weathervanemusic.org.