What Am I Making #038 - Nate Dorough

Nate Dorough is exactly the kind of person that I love to spotlight here at WAIM. He’s a dude making shit happen. In his case, that shit is live shows. More than 3500 of them in fact. He currently works as the Michigan talent buyer for the independent production Kickstand.In roughly 20 years of booking shows, Nate has seen the entire landscape change completely. As corporate control has squeezed every last drop of profit from the live music maschine, the underground and DIY scene has also changed. As technology and ways of communication have ebbed and flowed its led to periods of feast and famine for both artists and audiences. We go back to Nate’s first show at a commuter college in a small Michigan town and how he built a business by booking VFW Halls for high school bands. Nate has maintained that fierce independence as he continues to find a way to carve out a living booking live music without having to engage with the industry behemoth Live Nation. Nate offers some sage advice for bands who might be letting their self-confidence and bravado mask their true intentions. We also discuss an idea I am calling Cultural Newtonianism. It’s essentially that once the momentum of culture begins to speed up, it becomes impossible to change its trajectory. This concept is now directly tied to the way musicians are paid now that listeners can listen to all recorded music for just a few bucks a month. This is a story of determination, resolve, and doing what’s needed to keep a scene moving forward. Cheers,Matty CNate Dorough LinksInstagramFacebookKickstand Productions Get full access to What Am I Making at whatamimaking.substack.com/subscribe