Don't Take The Piss With Live Music
Support it or lose it
This post is inspired by an article in The Guardian entitled ‘The working class can’t afford it’: the shocking truth about the money bands make on tour. I can’t add much more to this thorough, illuminating and depressing read but what I can do is share it and implore music lovers to get out there and support artists. If you like music, it is your duty to sometimes get off Spotify, and to not take the piss.
“[Playing] live is becoming financially unsustainable for many artists… Artists are seeing [playing] live as a loss leader now. That’s if they can even afford to make it work in the first place.”
The article include many examples of artists sofa-surfing and struggling to make it from one month to the next. Brexit has made it more expensive for British bands to tour Europe so 74% less bands do it, meaning that there’s more competition for your attention, making it even harder to survive and thrive. All this means that artists often have to work other jobs, meaning they have less time working on their art. Is that what we want?
I got chatting to someone who works a bar at a gig venue. She is gigging and has a couple of headline slots coming up but she works five jobs. Five! If she doesn’t make it big soon, she’ll burn out. Something has to give.
Artists rely on sold-out venues and merch sales. If you can afford to support an artist or an independent music venue or independent music shop then you must. The world would be a fucking boring place if people stopped making music. Worse, if the working/middle classes stopped making music leaving music only to the most privileged. Let’s not take it for granted. Let’s not take the piss.
English singer Bess Atwell, recently took to Instagram to write:
This is the third year I’ve been booked for the festival (SXSW) and haven’t been able to go. The first time, the festival was cancelled due to Covid. The second and third times I haven’t been awarded funding from PRS, and as my record deal doesn’t include tour support (money to tour), I’ve been left to pay for the trip myself which I cannot afford…I’m a privileged, lucky person so I’m not sharing this to claim otherwise, I just want to be honest and to shine a light on how difficult it is to be able to afford to tour.
Spotify is somewhat to blame but plenty has been written about this. Truth is, Spotify/YouTube/TikTok etc is only a problem if people only ever use free (or cheap) music providers. I’ve found loads of amazing stuff on Spotify and have gone on to support the newly-discovered artists by seeing their shows. If we value it, we cannot pay nothing for it. We cannot take the piss.
There was another great article written a few months ago, Can Anyone Still Make it as a Country Singer in Nashville, which expands on this. It’s quite extraordinary that the home of country artists Cash and Parton, and Black artists Hendrix, Redding, and Little Richard, now struggles to keep its reputation as The City of Music. Part of the issue, of course, is streaming:
Unlike most creative industries, songwriters are still subjected to a 1909 law that requires the US government to set their royalty rates every five years. In the age of streaming, when Spotify, Pandora and other platforms hire the best lawyers, the rates have remained low.
But also, part of the issue is tourism: “Tourists tend to only want to listen to the hits. In the past, Nashville was the place for aspiring songwriters; today, it’s the place for cover bands.”
Covers bands are fine but I’m astonished by how popular they are. We should all actively seek new, independent creativity. Not live in a constant state of nostalgia. Let’s not fall into the trap of thinking the best music existed when we were teenagers*. We should all be more open-minded and appreciative of proper art. I’ll say it one more time: we should not take the piss.
Think I’m done getting on my high horse. Going to get off the horse now and run a bath.
Recent and Decent playlist #20 out in a couple of days. Have a lovely weekend.
*Incredible evidence which supports this statement. Well worth a read.
YES! I agree wholeheartedly with everything you’ve said here. I find my Spotify subscription invaluable but only in so far as it guides me to new music. I go to a lot of live music and where I can I also try to support a band by buying merch (my selection of band t-shirts may be out of control!) but I don’t have infinite amounts to spend so it is incumbent upon all music lovers to do their part!