Won't Anybody Listen (2001)

Filmmaker Dov Kelemer's initial project, to create a video of a California rock band to be sold at concerts, eventually evolved into this fascinating and eye-opening feature-length documentary examining the harsh realities of the contemporary music business. Founding members of the band NC-17, brothers Frank and Vince Rogala, left rural Michigan for Southern California, hoping to sign a recording contract and fulfill their dreams of rock 'n' roll glory. Now they just want to make ends meet. What they encountered was a world populated with rock wannabes, where the fewer than one percent who actually achieve some fame seldom see a cent for all their labor. By focusing on the real-life experiences of NC-17, Kelemer reveals an all-too-common portrait of what it is like to be a contemporary musician in America, where life consists of taking part -time jobs, dealing with IRS audits and enduring the scandalous creative accounting practices prevalent in the recording business. "An intriguing, cautionary parable about the fickle nature of stardom" - Variety.