7/30/22 by Pavel Z. Papagallo - Europa Music Review*

 

Since 2009 when they formed the K3 Sisters Band (K3SB) Kaylen, Kelsey and Kristen have generated over a billion views and likes from over 50 countries on their four verified social media platforms and website traffic.

 

To get a better idea of how and why this band is exploding on the international music scene it is helpful to understand the way the band operates. We will briefly examine them in the context of the history of jam bands, music business models, and the often opposing ideologies of the traditional music industry and independent music acts whose compositions are sometimes pejoratively labeled “underground music.”

 

Let’s begin by reviewing Wikipedia’s discussion of the nature and history of jam bands in the USA. As you will see, there are astonishing parallels with the K3SB.

 

[Law professor Mark Schultz found that jam bands had fundamentally different business models from the mainstream music industry. This could be seen in the perceptions of their fans: Jam-band fans view themselves and the band as part of a shared community, which the band management serves. In comparison, fans of mainstream music "often portray band management as part of a ruthless industry that mistreats fans and musicians alike".

 

Professor Tom R. Tyler considered the main law-enforcement strategies for copyright protection, finding that deterrence and process-based strategies could both be effective, but that the latter was more efficient.

 

Jam-band artists often perform a wide variety of genres. While the Grateful Dead is categorized as psychedelic rock, by the 1990s the term "jam band" was applied to acts that incorporated genres such as blues, country, contemporary folk, funk, progressive rock, world music, jazz fusion, Southern rock, alternative rock, acid rock/jazz, bluegrass, folk rock and electronic music into their sound. (Many of these genres are represented in the K3SB repertoire.)

 

Although the term has been used to describe cross-genre and improvisational artists, it retains an affinity to the fan cultures of the Grateful Dead or Phish.

 

Jam bands encourage fans to bring recording equipment to live performances and give away copies of what they record. This practice may increase the sizes of their audiences and the total revenue received from concerts and the sale of recorded music.

 

The fans reciprocate the generosity of the jam bands by helping enforce the copyright rules that the bands write, consistent with Tyler's "process-based" law enforcement. Schultz said the Recording Industry Association of America seems to call most fans pirates intent on stealing their music.

 

Schultz said that the key concept here is reciprocity: Fans treated with generosity and respect by jam bands tend to be more loyal even to the point of helping enforce the copyrights the jam bands claim. Fans similarly reciprocate the hostility they perceive in the anti-piracy lawsuits filed by the mainstream recording industry.

 

It is unclear which business model is most remunerative for music industry managers, but Schultz insisted that jam bands tend to have more loyal fans, and the mainstream music industry might benefit from following this model and treating their fans with more respect.]*

 

In contrast, the K3SB treats their fans with respect, and generosity not only by making their music available for free, but with continued band merch give-aways, and showcasing fan art submissions and video edits. And, their fans display a fierce loyalty to all members of the band in exchange.

 

Due to the ravages of the Covid-19 pandemic the K3SB is currently live streaming their concerts worldwide exclusively on social media. They also make their original music available for free to their K3SB FAM fans and the general public on their website k3sistersband as well as for sharing with other fans of new music.

 

The day may come, however, when like their musical predecessors the K3SB will perform their wildly diverse genres of music including soaring vocal harmonies, multi-instrumental improvisations and spontaneous stage antics live in open air or in enclosed stadium concert venues.

 

Unlike many jam bands of the past and present, the K3SB is not held captive by the “copyright demons” of the traditional music industry moguls and major record label infrastructures that plague artists. This band does not do any “covers” of other artists’ music. They only perform their originals or short movie jingles and content in the public domain.

 

Under their wholly owned indie label Bruce Ray Productions, the family band jointly owns all the master recordings, copyrights and publishing of the songs and music they perform in person and live stream on social media.

 

Summation: In light of the above, it appears that the K3SB comprised of the three Texas sisters along with their K3 Sisters Momma Jamie and enigmatic The Bruce are functioning as a unique, fan friendly, international jam band.

 

*Excerpts in [ ]s taken from Wikipedia Article on Jam Bands