Netphoria Message Board


Go Back   Netphoria Message Board > Archives > Music Board Archive
Register Netphoria's Amazon.com Link Members List Mark Forums Read

 
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 01-05-2013, 02:28 PM   #1
D.
Consume my pants.
 
D.'s Avatar
 
Location: Missouri
Posts: 36,099
Default Related: "Why 'Just Go On Tour' is an idiotic idea".

http://maura.tumblr.com/post/3576881...-for-music-you

Quote:
Six reasons why “if you want to get paid for music you should play it live” is an idiotic argument.

Some bad-ass dude replied to Damon Krukowski’s breakdown of how much money he makes from streaming services with a sneer and a windy response that basically boiled down to “duh, quit yer bitching and make your money on the road, old man.” Which… are we really still having these arguments, especially against people who are OK with putting up their old records on Bandcamp but who just want to make a point about how the music business has shifted even further away from artists’ interests, even on the indie level? I guess so, which I guess means it’s list time. Here are six reasons why “just go on tour” is a bullshit response.

1. Touring costs money. Not sure why this fact doesn’t come up more. But being on the road doesn’t involve plucking bills from Cash Trees lining the highway—you have to pay for transportation (including gas, about which more in a second) and food and lodging, not to mention whatever calamities (medical issues, broken strings, etc) might crop up on the road. There’s also the opportunity cost of losing work in order to go on the road for a week/month/year. Should only people who can afford to do that be able to make music? Do we really want a world of Kula Shakers?

2. Money from fans isn’t infinite. This week I was up north for Nova Scotia Music Week, an industry conference/showcase that is the province’s equivalent of South By Southwest. Thanks to its remote location, it (and by “it” I mostly mean Halifax) doesn’t get a lot of acts from the US—maybe two or three a month. I was talking about this with a guy who promotes a festival up there and he said that even with the relative paucity of “major” acts coming through, getting people excited for a second go-round by any out-of-town band was tough—fewer advance ticket sales, etc. How would that not be the case in any market where bands come through multiple times a year? Fans’ money doesn’t grow on trees, either.

3. Playing a show is not necessarily a license to print money. This is a corollary to the above point, but given the sneeriness of this post, I feel like I should ask: You do know that not every show sells out, right? Even for shows by bands that are good and beloved?

4. Sometimes getting to those markets that aren’t saturated with your live show and are thus likely to pay for tickets once the demand has been met in markets you’ve already visited, is way too costly. A drive to Halifax (Nova Scotia’s major market) from the Maine/New Brunswick border takes about six hours each way. There are maybe two cities en route to Halifax that could also be tour stops—and realistically I should probably be plotting the distance from Portland to Halifax, since Portland is probably the biggest market. (That’s a 10-hour trip, plus time for the border crossing.) Would the draw from playing live in that city be worth the cost of getting there?

5. Playing live only really “works” as a revenue model (let alone a constant one) for certain types of acts. Hello, rockism? Hello, privileging youth? Hello, how are we still having this conversation in 2012? (You don’t have to tell me. I know how.)

6. Shit happens. How does a touring band “take it on the road” when they can’t gas up their van, or if the price of gas goes way up, or if they get caught in a region-wide fuel shortage? Or when they can’t leave a city they’re in because of, say, a hurricane that also shuts down all methods of leaving that city?

I am so tired of Internet people who scream TOURING WILL SOLVE EVERYTHING, especially when it is yelled at people who are simply trying to make a point using math, and not being self-serving or “poor me.” Why are we letting geek-defined Darwinism (and the destructive hypercapitalism that comes with it) take over every goddamn aspect of culture? Why can’t the system be criticized for not working for people who create culture, even though it “works” for shareholders and executives? Why is it only appropriate to celebrate those at the top of the heap, or those who have pandered successfully to the “thought leaders” (I’m putting that in quotes because I basically mean the Reddit-beloved likes of Jonathan Coulton and Am*nd* P*lm*r here), when tech people and executives are deified? Why can’t musicians who make records that people enjoy speak out about how the revenue model for that enjoyment has changed, and how it might affect not just the way they make music in the future but the way others will?

“Just go out on tour” makes me so angry. And in a lot of ways it is akin to the “start your own” defenses put up by the Uncool people over the weekend when they were asked about diversity. Both statements are full of unexamined privilege from top to bottom, and having them parroted over and over again by people in power sets up a future where a lot of people can’t see how starting their own thing is even possible, given their station in life.

(Bonus point: The idea in the original post that trying to make money off recorded music is akin to being “a typesetter, a blacksmith [or] a fax machine repairman” is also dumb, since the stats quoted by Krukowski in the piece show that there is in fact still a market for recorded music (and I mean people still fax, too, but whatever). And boo hoo to Spotify not making a profit—why didn’t it build in the fact that music has value to its accounting? What would it and other sites of its ilk be without the music flowing through its systems? I seriously doubt an all-Creative Commons version of any of these services would attract as many users—yes, even with Am*nd* P*lm*r’s hoary, overblown presence.

 
D. is offline
Old 01-06-2013, 01:50 AM   #2
redbull
Immortal
 
redbull's Avatar
 
Location: like liutenant dan i'm rollin'
Posts: 21,016
Default

well this certainly doesn't make me want to give this person money

 
redbull is offline
Old 01-06-2013, 01:49 PM   #3
SlingeroGuitaro
Starbucks addicted minion
 
SlingeroGuitaro's Avatar
 
Location: Billy Corgan Kazoo Revue
Posts: 6,629
Default

The dude is bitching about a 6 hour drive? What a douche.

 
SlingeroGuitaro is offline
Old 01-06-2013, 03:07 PM   #4
MusicMan4
 
Posts: n/a
Default

the rockist comment is really weird
all those touring djs and electronic and pop acts must really hate how nobody comes out for their shows
i mean it must be devastating for these one person acts to not have to share the money with another guitarist, drummer bassist and keyboardist

 
Old 01-07-2013, 10:00 PM   #5
killtrocity
Saturday Night Goth
 
killtrocity's Avatar
 
Location: POLLOS
Posts: 9,207
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by SlingeroGuitaro View Post
The dude is bitching about a 6 hour drive? What a douche.
BUT THERE ISN'T ANYWHERE COOL TO STOP ON THE WAY...!

 
killtrocity is offline
Old 01-07-2013, 10:21 PM   #6
Trotskilicious
Banned
 
Trotskilicious's Avatar
 
Location: I believe in the transcendental qualities of friendship.
Posts: 39,439
Default

lol rockism

 
Trotskilicious is offline
Old 01-07-2013, 10:28 PM   #7
TuralyonW3
Immortal
 
TuralyonW3's Avatar
 
Posts: 25,684
Default

I've always thought the "go on tour" argument was idiotic. I also don't think music is a reliable source of income

 
TuralyonW3 is offline
Old 01-07-2013, 10:29 PM   #8
Trotskilicious
Banned
 
Trotskilicious's Avatar
 
Location: I believe in the transcendental qualities of friendship.
Posts: 39,439
Default

and should it be?

i like my musicians to be regular middle class people

 
Trotskilicious is offline
Old 01-07-2013, 10:31 PM   #9
soniclovenoize
Minion of Satan
 
soniclovenoize's Avatar
 
Location: Minneapolis, MN
Posts: 5,595
Default

I agree with you (obviously) but know that albums such as Siamese Dream probably could not have been made by a part-time musician.

 
soniclovenoize is offline
Old 01-07-2013, 10:35 PM   #10
TuralyonW3
Immortal
 
TuralyonW3's Avatar
 
Posts: 25,684
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Trotskilicious View Post
and should it be?
No more so than anything else no

 
TuralyonW3 is offline
Old 01-07-2013, 10:55 PM   #11
noyen
Immortal
 
noyen's Avatar
 
Posts: 26,795
Default

i hate amanda palmer. i hope she finds this in her google searches for herself.

 
noyen is offline
Old 01-07-2013, 11:36 PM   #12
Sonic Johnny
Through Silver In Buds
 
Sonic Johnny's Avatar
 
Location: Centralia
Posts: 16,502
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by TuralyonW3 View Post
I also don't think music is a reliable source of income
QFT

 
Sonic Johnny is offline
Old 01-08-2013, 01:04 AM   #13
noyen
Immortal
 
noyen's Avatar
 
Posts: 26,795
Default

anyone who thinks there is money in the music industry suffers from brain damage. look at the church, galaxie 500, cat power.. all sharing stories of being bankrupt. it's less than 1% that make a living. there is no solution. it's part luck, part hard work i suppose. but anyone who stands up with a complaint or a solution is just passing gas. there is a long revolution ahead. there will always be one or two people making it through some sort of formula, like fugazi or whatever but there really isnt one. why is everyone reforming and cashing in on nostalgia? its because that is how bands from 20 years ago can get a check now, going on tour and selling it with a tshirt. its all a facade. there are a million sob stories for every success.

i fucking hate amanda palmer.

 
noyen is offline
Old 01-16-2013, 10:21 AM   #14
Bread Regal
Banned
 
Posts: 5,711
Default

Not that pirating music is the nicest thing to do to an artist you ke, but if you got into making music because of the expectation that you wouldn't making money because you play music, you're seriously delusional, and smacks of white privilege.

Anecdata: My dad is a pro musician. It's a feast or famine type of deal. When he has a steady gig, he considers himself incredibly lucky. When the work dries up (as it has right now), he doesn't complain and finds another way to pay the bills. He doesn't talk about he's entitled to make full time wages from playing bass in a cover band.

 
Bread Regal is offline
 


Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is On
Google


Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
9/11/01..........9/11/11 The Omega Concern General Chat Archive 70 09-30-2011 07:28 PM
COUNTERCULTURE MAINSTREAM Jesus Cambodia Pumpkins Archive 5 01-17-2009 10:24 AM
This is a long post dokhma Pumpkins Archive 28 11-28-2008 09:20 PM


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 05:55 AM.




Smashing Pumpkins, Alternative Music
& General Discussion Message Board and Forums
www.netphoria.org - Copyright © 1998-2022