A notoriously tough industry, the business of music hasn’t gotten any easier in the last decade.
That’s a fact not lost on members of the recently reunited Rawlins Cross, who are touring the Maritimes this week fresh on the heels of the release of Anthology, a CD collection of Rawlins Cross’ most popular songs, as well as three new songs and an instrumental set.
“With music in general, and what’s developed over the last 10 years or so, the whole industry has been and continues to be in a real state of flux because of the way that people get their music — the downloading of music over the Internet, some of which is paid for, some of which is not,” said Rawlins Cross member Ian McKinnon.
“One of the challenges for us sort of coming back into this is to appreciate where we are and, what I see now, as a terrific opportunity with the Internet to be able to connect directly with our fans, both in the selling of our music and concert tickets, but also just to develop and to deepen communication and our relationship with fans.”
Formed in the late 1980s, the Newfoundland group made quite an impact on the region’s musical landscape throughout the 1990s, producing hits like Colleen, Reel n’ Roll, When My Ship Comes In and MacPherson’s Lament, before parting ways to pursue other projects in 2001.
But a little more than a year ago when record company Warner expressed an interest in co-producing an album of the group’s best songs, McKinnon and his band members decided to bring the band back together.
