PHOTOGRAPHY BY HAROLD BAQUET While he may be best known as the lead guitarist of the Bucktown All-Stars, a nine-member ensemble that has been a fixture on the local scene for 25 years, Wick is also a passionate advocate for the music industry and those who make their living from it. A voting member of the Recording Academy (Grammy Awards) and a member of numerous other music-related organizations, he is in the forefront of the effort to pass legislation that will help the industry assert its importance to the economy of Louisiana. “I’ve been active in the music business – as a musician and as an advocate – for a long time and I continue to be one,” Wick said. “I’ve got a lot of irons in the “A LOT OF IRONS IN THE FIRE” Bucktown All-Star Reid Wick Advocates for cover story Some people play music. Others promote it. Reid Wick does both . . . and more! fire; these days especially.” Among those “irons” are two bills that were introduced in the Louisiana House of Representatives during the current session that, if passed into law, will benefit the music community and their families. The first is a bill named after the late Allen Toussaint that allows heirs of deceased musicians and other creative individuals to control the rights to the deceased’s identity, image or other likeness. The second bill, Wick explained, is “an enhancement of the current sound recording investor rebate program.” Designed to lessen the financial start-up burden that normally falls on musicians the Music Industry By Dean M. Shapiro and music industry professionals when they begin undertaking a musical project, the bill also “adds a job creation aspect for fulltime jobs in the music industry.” In lobbying for passage of these two bills, Wick emphasizes, “We need for them (the legislators) to take us seriously as an industry.” The economic impact of music in a state where many distinct genres of music either originated or were incubated in their formative years is substantial. Music is a major draw for the state’s lucrative tourism industry. However, the dollar and cent amount of that impact is not known, Wick explained, because “An economic impact study of the music 16 | BREAKTHRU MEDIA | breakthrumediamagazine.com MAY / J U N E 2 0 1 7
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