"Profits"!
Jim - first of all, i gotta say, the concept of making a profit off of any musical endeavor is completely exotic to me. This is part & parcel, i think, with the problem most people have in valuing art and artists in their community. If i were to even give myself minimum wage for the hours I spend on a single CD that is sold for $10....... well suffice to say i would need to sell a few thousand of them to even begin dreaming of encountering a profit, which has never happened. Which is all a way of saying that i consider my time of value, and my art of value, and that others should do the same for themselves and their art and the artists/art within their communities.
So, secondly, i think the glaring detail that you are overlooking is that none of the people contributing to this, or most, fundraising campaigns are blankly throwing money at an artist with no return. They contribute $10.... they get the record. Granted the exchange is slightly different than in a normal retail situation, but the novelty of it allows for the artists to offer special incentives, and for the audience to show support during a crucial stage in creation. Honestly, its no different than a CSA: people are paying money in advance to support someone who is struggling to provide them with a thing of value that they desire to have.
I congratulate you for finding a way to fund your book on your own. I have funded the creation of 7 albums before this one, spent every paycheck, sold my car, pawned my tools, borrowed money from my mom, you name it, i found a way. So i feel you, and theres a reason i've never tried this before, it does seem kind of "icky". But its a tool and it exists and i'm interested in at least giving it a try. Will i do it again? Probably not. But my aversion to re-engage with this medium has nothing to do with any shame at asking people to consider valuing my art. And at the core, it is a question, not an ultimatum or a demand. So people can just say no and life will go on. That said, I posit the scenario to people who love music and art and have the means to support it: there will come a day where the stress and the scrounging and scraping by take their toll on a great many artists and, while they may not stop creating altogether, they may stop doing money-intenstive public gestures such as making albums and touring, because if people don't support it, it gets harder and harder everytime to get up there and give it to them for free.
I hope, more than any publicity for my stillborn record, that this article instigates a dialog on how we value art in our communities, and how we plan to go about manifesting that value to the people who work hard creating art for your, and my, personal benefit and entertainment.
-Ry
Recent Comments
Jim - first of all, i gotta say, the concept of making a profit off of any musical endeavor is completely exotic to me. This is part & parcel, i think, with the problem most people have in valuing art and artists in their community. If i were to even give myself minimum wage for the hours I spend on a single CD that is sold for $10....... well suffice to say i would need to sell a few thousand of them to even begin dreaming of encountering a profit, which has never happened. Which is all a way of saying that i consider my time of value, and my art of value, and that others should do the same for themselves and their art and the artists/art within their communities.
So, secondly, i think the glaring detail that you are overlooking is that none of the people contributing to this, or most, fundraising campaigns are blankly throwing money at an artist with no return. They contribute $10.... they get the record. Granted the exchange is slightly different than in a normal retail situation, but the novelty of it allows for the artists to offer special incentives, and for the audience to show support during a crucial stage in creation. Honestly, its no different than a CSA: people are paying money in advance to support someone who is struggling to provide them with a thing of value that they desire to have.
I congratulate you for finding a way to fund your book on your own. I have funded the creation of 7 albums before this one, spent every paycheck, sold my car, pawned my tools, borrowed money from my mom, you name it, i found a way. So i feel you, and theres a reason i've never tried this before, it does seem kind of "icky". But its a tool and it exists and i'm interested in at least giving it a try. Will i do it again? Probably not. But my aversion to re-engage with this medium has nothing to do with any shame at asking people to consider valuing my art. And at the core, it is a question, not an ultimatum or a demand. So people can just say no and life will go on. That said, I posit the scenario to people who love music and art and have the means to support it: there will come a day where the stress and the scrounging and scraping by take their toll on a great many artists and, while they may not stop creating altogether, they may stop doing money-intenstive public gestures such as making albums and touring, because if people don't support it, it gets harder and harder everytime to get up there and give it to them for free.
I hope, more than any publicity for my stillborn record, that this article instigates a dialog on how we value art in our communities, and how we plan to go about manifesting that value to the people who work hard creating art for your, and my, personal benefit and entertainment.
-Ry