Music•Noise•Art

Hurray for Hollywood script writers – they now get to have a share of the income generated when their creations help to sell ads on the internet. I loathe advertising and usually don’t watch their work because of it, but hurray for them for sticking up for what is rightfully theirs.

What about musicians? Unfortunately, most pop and independent musicians have not shown any interest in solidarity as far as economics is concerned. In his keynote speech at at SXSW a few years back, Morrissey stated that perhaps there is ‘just too much music’ out there – giving musicians very little economic bargaining power. Imagine the hub hub that would have occurred if a performance strike had transpired! Unfortunately, the hundreds of hungry young artists and bands playing around Austin, hoping to sign a crappy recording contract with a business that held all the cards were all too busy drinking beers at bbq’s to figure that one out.

Since the death knell of the old model for paid-for music has been rung, I wonder if the new model (free music will eventually get you somewhere) will hold true. For some, it will be a salvation. But for many (especially new and unknown) artists, there seems to be a disconnect on the part of listeners between purchasing music and supporting the artist – that the two are not connected somehow. It’s great if an artist want to give their work away, but if it is being enjoyed, perhaps it needs to be rewarded. Much of the free music out there (MySpace, etc) is selling ads, bandwidth and other sources of secondary income and musicians are getting pretty much nil. So it’s great if people put your new song on their iPod, perhaps you’ll blow up into the next big thing, but if not and you don’t get paid for it, how do you, the music artist survive?

One way is to become an artiste – one ‘who doesn’t do it for the money.’ Fine, no problem with that – that’s real artistic freedom. But for those would like to survive on their skills, they’ll just do it with live gigs, right? Well, in case you didn’t know, original music in clubs doesn’t pay very well. It would be a great idea for musicians to go on strike and refuse to play the shit clubs and venues that are generally treating musicians like second class citizens, yet still asking to help sell their liquor and pay their rent. For me, playing in the vibrant punk scene, parties and cafes was often more fun and lucrative (all without a cover charge in sight) as there is some support and solidarity with artists there.

I have talked to many folk about it and there seems to be a general ‘throwing up of the hands’ uncertainty about it all. It is also a bit of a ‘chicken and the egg’ thing, ‘if we don’t offer it for free then no one hears it and if we don’t play the gig others will, etc, etc.’

It is an axiom in economics that scarcity creates demand and what we have is a glut. For many, this is not a bad thing. With so much amazing music available and still more being made, it’s like being on the Willy Wonka factory tour – just remember not to get too greedy, Veruca…