It takes serious money to be a struggling musician

[krispn]

The idea of the ‘the struggle’ romanticises most art forms and it’s often the inspiration/catalyst of the work produced. Most artists, writers etc will have had to endure the lows before the highs. Without quoting Common People by Pulp there’s likely many privileged folk who wish they had a bit more hardship as they believe that’ll tap them into something inspirational to give their particular art form more meaning/authenticity etc or it’s a great excuse for other artists to explain their lack of imagination/skill/success etc.

Its in our nature to use the excuse of having or not having as the reason for our own lack of success or the reason for someone else’s success. The tales we tell ourselves to reinforce our bad choices, lack of talent etc etc. 

 

 

[Al Krow]

@krispn great post. 

[4000]

3 hours ago, Crawford13 said:

I'm not going to lie, I couldn't care less about the financial background of an artist / band. All I care about is the music.

Rich or poor what does it actually matter to the music? 

The one thing that hasn't been talked about on this thread yet is crowd funding. This seems to be very popular now, sell the album to the fans before it is made. If you have the fan base this works and you can cut out the labels altogether. 

The music should be all that matters. My favourite artists include Floyd, Genesis and Kate Bush, all from reasonably well-off backgrounds. I’m just glad they got to create music, however it came about. Surely there are much greater inequalities in the world to worry about than if your favourite/least favourite artist came from money?

Surely it’s all relative anyway? Growing up in a working class town, I was sometimes classed as ‘a bit posh’ as a kid and was sneered at because we were effectively, by that point, lower middle class (the fact that my parents were originally working class and worked their way up didn’t come into it). We must have been well-off (we weren’t), we had a tv and went on holidays abroad! 

We haven’t yet crowdfunded the actual recording of a cd, but we have now twice crowdfunded the physical cd itself. 

[Waddo Soqable]

1 hour ago, LukeFRC said:

I guess the question is - Would our current welfare state make any of this possible today?

Very unlikely in anything resembling the way it was back then.. Plus in the late 70s early 80s squats were a popular option for music types with zero money, that whole 'thing' no doubt doesn't exist anymore..

[OliverBlackman]

I remember Janek Gwizdala saying in a vlog he could only afford to live in Boston and New York by maxing out credit cards. Then there was the financial crash and I think the debt was written off. By that point he hade made his name and was on tours.

[Lozz196]

4 hours ago, LukeFRC said:

I guess the question is - Would our current welfare state make any of this possible today?

 

2 hours ago, Waddo Soqable said:

Very unlikely in anything resembling the way it was back then.. Plus in the late 70s early 80s squats were a popular option for music types with zero money, that whole 'thing' no doubt doesn't exist anymore..

And given the “I want it all now, but most of all I want more than those I know” mantra where everyone has to have better than everyone else, and be able to show it off I’d doubt many would choose this anyway. 

[Waddo Soqable]

12 minutes ago, Lozz196 said:

 

And given the “I want it all now, but most of all I want more than those I know” mantra where everyone has to have better than everyone else, and be able to show it off I’d doubt many would choose this anyway. 

Indeed....I actually can't imagine any of the young from nowadays even existing in "our" world back then !

.....remember if you wanted to phone your mate? ..you had to walk down the road, find a phone box, dial the number, and ( when the pips went) put 10p in.. always assuming your mate's mum had a phone at home !

....if I could, I'd jump right back there in a heartbeat...

[Dad3353]

8 minutes ago, Waddo Soqable said:

...put 10p in...

What is this '10p' or which you speak, young lad..? 

[Waddo Soqable]

Ten "New Pence"....  aka, two bob..

[MacDaddy]

8 hours ago, uk_lefty said:

... you can't polish a turd ...

You can if you freeze it.

- Pete Waterman.

[Dad3353]

48 minutes ago, Waddo Soqable said:

Ten "New Pence"....  aka, two bob..

Two bob..? For a 'phone call..? Nah, it'll never catch on. Fourpence is already too dear..! 

[Quatschmacher]

9 hours ago, uk_lefty said:

you can't polish a turd

You can:

 

[Waddo Soqable]

1 hour ago, Dad3353 said:

Two bob..? For a 'phone call..? Nah, it'll never catch on. Fourpence is already too dear..! 

I know!.. Think it was 2d when I used to go down the road with my gran and phone,  you had to press button A or B then tho....

[Nail Soup]

1 hour ago, Waddo Soqable said:

I know!.. Think it was 2d when I used to go down the road with my gran and phone,  you had to press button A or B then tho....

And try explaining this joke to the youngsters these days:

[Waddo Soqable]

13 minutes ago, Nail Soup said:

And try explaining this joke to the youngsters these days:

You definitely had to 'be there'.. ! 👍

[Dad3353]

18 minutes ago, Nail Soup said:

And try explaining this joke to the youngsters these days:

Should be in the 'You know you're old when you...' topic..!