I am prone to dark hyperbole. If I had a dollar for every time I heard
myself say “If it was not for music, I would have been dead long ago,” I would
be a rich person. It might be true. I depend on music for my daily happiness. I can’t remember the last time I went 24 hours
without hearing music of my own choosing. The point is -- I love music. I consider myself in the 99th
percentile of music-loving. I love music
way more than the average human does. (Disclaimer:
I don’t even know what a percentile is and everything I say should probably be
taken with a whole container of Morton’s Salt)
The moral conundrum I seem to find myself running into quite
often (especially recently with the advent of Spotify) is “how much is that
love worth to me?”
On one hand, not only do I revere the musical artists who
make me happy and think they are well-deserving of all the money I already give
them, I also want to make sure they have even more money to continue to buy
gear and make new awesome music to keep me satiated.
On the other hand, music is really an amorphous
currency. Bear with me on this example
because I understand an obscure band is difficult to grasp if you have never
heard them or understand why I love them. I, Lauren, love Acid Mothers
Temple Acid Mothers Temple Acid Mothers
Temple
Why even think about it? Why not just go through live liking
weirdo electro like Pantha Du Prince, side by side with the intangible
nostalgia of the Doobie Brothers?
The reason is that I’m confused by the current state of
music and the way artists are paid in much the same way I’m confused by any
industry and the way people are paid for their time and efforts. Since music happens to be the industry that is
such a large part of my life, it occupies my consciousness regularly.
Here’s the problem. Musical artists as a population of
people are relying on a product that is doesn’t actually exist. Yes, they spent two years in the studio
hammering out 12 songs that they feel proud of and finally gathered the label
support or independent support to secure the physical dollars needed to put
those 12 songs on CD or release them as digital files for purchase by all
potential listeners. Now, with the
advent of streaming services such as Spotify, there’s a whole other revenue
stream that is difficult to quantify. The
payers are a fractured group. The money
spent to advertise your music or tour with your music is now cutting into your
bottom line. My ten dollars I spent to see you play at the nearest tiny music
venue is now barely covering your cup of tea after a long night of singing. That money is going to print ads, youtube
ads, last.fm banner ads, etc.
The system is broken.
To explain how to fix things, I always like to examine the empirical
nature of things. I recently tried to search
engine (that’s a verb! ©Tobin & Mike) “who was the first person to get paid
from doing music” and I really couldn’t come up with anything. At what point did music become a commodity?
When did music start, why is it valuable to humans? Remember? Music started
before we even wore clothes or knew what fire was? Music has been made and
enjoyed prior to the advent of recorded history. So, who said musicians one day would be paid?
Like any talent, you pay someone who can do something for you that you cannot
do yourself. It makes sense to pay
them. So why is it so difficult to get
paid nowadays for all your hard work.
It’s really so simple:
too many people are making music. Too many fans of music don’t know what
the ___ they’re talking about. Advertisers and media conglomerates glom on to
anything that sells and making money in music almost becomes a game of chance
rather then a profession where skill and expertise is rewarded with a premium
payment.
How to remedy the situation? I read an article recently (http://www.vulture.com/2012/09/grizzly-bear-shields.html)
where Travis Morrison, former frontman of the Dismemberment Plan, summed up my
thoughts on the subject, saying, “you know how some people say, ‘I would really
like to make a middle-class living doing the arts; I feel like I deserve that’?
Honestly, I never felt that. I never felt like artists deserved a living. I
feel like getting a million dollars for my songs is just about the same as
getting it from playing a card at 7-Eleven.”
As defeatist as that sounds to some, especially those who
toil day in and day out trying to make a living with their music, it’s what I
believe to be true. If you’re
compromising your creations at all to make a buck (and you can argue the line
at which that compromise starts to happen), then everything is really rendered
useless.
“He’s in it for the money, not the science!” –quote from the
movie, Twister
I’m not saying every musician is a money-grubbing greedy
person, they only want to be paid for their efforts just as any other person
might want to be paid to make spreadsheets or get coffee for their bosses or
operate on hearts or do brain surgery.
I would hope one day the playing field will level, but it
won’t. In the meantime, love music to
your heart’s desire, buy the records of artists you love, listen to that
ad-supported radio, go see bands that you want to see. If Joe Schmo recording artist has to close up
shop because he’s not making enough money, that’s really too bad, but I have
faith that most artists that are deserving of continuing their careers will get
the chance to do so even in this broken system.
Welp, this one really derailed at the end. Apologies - the train is always teetering off the tracks on a regular basis.
