The Dilemma of Art and Commerce
November 15, 2007
Welcome, new visitor! My name is Ari, the man behind Aries9. Here I share my thoughts on music and life, so you can get to know me and my music. Thanks for visiting!
Ah, the age-old question. It goes like this.
We musicians are not in it for the money. Heavens, no. We are in it for the ART. We don’t care about becoming rich and famous. Hell, everyone who does is a sell-out. We’re not selling anything. We’re just creating our art, that’s all we care about.
That’s what we’d like our dear rock gods to say. Myself included — if Bono was standing in the street corner, throwing out sales pitches left and right, I’d be so totally turned off. Why? Because I’d like to believe that he’s in it for the art, not for commerce. That he got into music because he loved music, not because he wanted to strike rich. (From everything I read so far, and I’m a fairly big U2 fan, that seems to be true)
Ever since I entertained the thought of releasing my own music, I’ve been tempted to just give away my music. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want as many people as possible to listen to my music. Plus, it’s impossible to make money from making music, right? If it’s impossible, why not just skip the game? Not even get in the ring?
To support that argument, there’s the whole open source movement online over in the software world. Founders of Craig’s List and Wikipedia talk about “the culture of trust.” Trust that if you’re truly doing something the world needs, then the world will support you. Does that apply to music, though?
It did, somewhat, to Radiohead. Many people downloaded their new album for free, but many others did pay, and couple that with the fact that they didn’t have middleman to pay and digital delivery being cheaper than physical products — and I’m sure they came out quite ahead. In addition to making profits, they made headlines and got everyone’s attention. A brilliant move by a brilliant band.
But then there’s been a huge debate going in the indie music world, people wondering if that same model can help an indie band. There are arguments for and against. My opinion is that if the goal of the musicians includes getting paid for their efforts, then the chances look grim. We, and I have to include myself on this, don’t pay for something we can get free. Radiohead, some of us pay, because their value is already established in our minds — they’re brilliant, and we want to reward them for giving us brilliant music. With indie acts, we don’t have the assurance of mass media and critics to confirm that what we’re getting is brilliant, valuable. Less people believe in its value without this support, the evidence.
In a capitalist society, we judge the value of products based on its price. Radiohead’s mp3 album had an average of $6 or something — that was the market value that the market picked. For an indie act, that value goes down, way down. There are simply too many acts, many of them mediocre I’m afraid.
However, if releasing my music for free means conceding that my music is valueless, then I’m not really willing to make that concession. I obviously don’t believe that. I think that it’s worth every penny of the $14.99 I’m charging for my CD, at least to some people. If every 1 in 1,000 or 10,000 people agreed with me, I’d still be making quite an income. That means that I’ll be hearing 9,999 rejections, but I don’t have a problem with that. Taste in music is very subjective — someone not liking my music doesn’t make it bad.
Then there’s the other reason why I charge for my music. It’s because of my goal. Yes, I do think that if I wanted to strike it rich, I should’ve chosen a different vocation. I make music because I want to. But unless I make it my business, I can’t justify spending days and nights doing it. Not if I want to survive, providing for my own and my family’s needs. It is my goal to create a situation where I can and can justify making music all day, every work day.
In the other words, creating that situation is my goal, which is not the same thing as selling my CD and making huge profit. I think it’ll help, but it’s obviously possible to make that situation happen without doing so. I don’t buy lottery, though. Believe it or not I am enjoying the process of going after my goal. That said, I’m fully prepared to accept the possibility that my rock music and sales of its CDs or related merchandise may not be what will take me there. Hopefully it’ll help, but by itself it may not be enough.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m neither pessimistic nor desperate. I know, personally, people who make a living making music that they want. I have had an excellent start so far myself, and plan to do this for years to come. I really haven’t resolved the question of business models and value of my music — but I’ll figure it out, sooner or later.
Finally, if you any of you believe that I should give away my entire album for free — and can give me compelling reasons why and how it will better help me in achieving my goal — by all means, please let me know, and I will give you my music. And I’ll definitely consider giving it to everyone.
Filed under: Ari, Aries9, Music, Reflections |