If you are a musician working in a "First World" country (the major economic powers), you are probably familiar with the ups and downs of dealing with the business of music. There are certain rules you must follow in order to be successful and there are certain rights that you can count on to even the score when you are dealing with this sometimes-unpleasant parts of music.

As soon as you step into a "Second- or Third World" environment however, things get really different. It gets very cultural, and each territory has its own set of realities that color how music gets out to the public.

My own experience is with Guatemala, where I have been playing music for 20 years. There are no copyright laws in Guatemala, or at least none that are enforced. Bootleg CDs are hardly rare; they are freely available and cheap from street vendors and big counterfeiting rings operate in the open, selling product they manufacture- usually whatever CD happens to be a hit all over the Americas.

The typical Guatemalan popular musicians have a hard road to travel. Most of the available live gigs are playing at different villages' annual patron saints celebration. This generally means work for a seven- or eight-piece marimba band that will play in different places all over town celebrating. The musicians are contracted for the length of the festivities, usually three or four days. The music is a 24-hour deal. The musicians will do a three-hour set in front of the municipality building, rest for half an hour, then play for the patron saint at his shrine for a set, then rest a bit and drink some cane liquor, then play again.

Can you imagine this kind of a gig in America? Or even Europe? Usually by the end of the fiesta the musicians are playing asleep. The trumpets can't do anything but blat; the wind section is breathless, the drummer tapping to some other song. Lo que pasa es que la banda está borracha!

After a few days of this, the musicians get paid about Q1000, the equivalent of about $120 U.S., and it's off to the next town.

With the modern bands it's a little different. The music business has its entrepreneurs and is more organized. In fact, if you don't have any connections, it's almost impossible to get any airtime on radio or ink in the press. You need serious payola for that. This is a totally acceptable practice in Guatemala. The bands that are promoted heavily usually include the sons and daughters of press and radio station owners.

As far as venues go, there are the usual tourist bars and hotel lounges, but there is only a very tiny "music scene" and the pay for playing these clubs isn't really worth the work. Needless to say, this is not my idea of fun, so, what do you do?

You get very creative. What we did was to create a musicians' cooperative. Discos Atitlan is a loosely knit group of international musicians who realize that there is some power in numbers, especially when the numbers are talented ones. In an atmosphere of mutual aid and understanding (check your ego at the door) we are trying to become a new force in the way music is produced in Guatemala. The idea is that, instead of just competing with each other over the few choice gigs there are, we can do better by helping each other and backing each other's music up. So, instead of a bunch of solo performers, we have a bunch of complete bands, each one with its own personality.

To date we have produced 12 CDs and have set up a small distribution system (very local). We have hosted many concerts and are planning the second annual Lake Atitlan Music Festival for March. And the public is definitely paying attention.

In my next installment I will describe how we set up the business and distribution and the incredible amount of steps that it takes produce a large festival here. If you are from some other Second- or Third-World country and have an interesting alternative music experience, please let the ESJ know about it so we can share your experience with our readers.