Going for Broke Ten years ago, record companies dictated the rules. Think Britney Spears or boy band sensation ’N SYNC. You take a couple of kids with a little bit of talent and a lot of personality; enter Jive Records and BMG; and after two years of development and thousands of dollars on marketing, branding, tours, and airtime, the record companies cash in millions from their new artists’ big “break.” Today it’s a different story. As record companies struggle financially, they are less willing to sign artists and less likely to deliver commercial success. Today, as one music critic put it, if financial success is what you’re looking for, you need to “operate less like a musician and more like a corporation.” Radiohead front man Thom Yorke recently spoke out against the music industry and in favor of independent pursuits, saying, “Signing a record deal is like tying yourself to a sinking ship.” He’s got a point. Since 2000, CD sales have dropped over 48 percent and approximately 2,680 US record stores have gone out of business. In 2007, Radiohead walked away from their longtime label, EMI, and began independently working on their album In Rainbows, which was released exclusively online for donations only. The pre-release online profit alone for In Rainbows exceeded that of their classic record Hail to the Thief. This model may have worked for the successful British band that has built a loyal fan base for the past 25 years, but what about the emerging independent artists with a much smaller fan following? “Sure, sounds really great to do it by yourself and be independent, but how?” asks a Columbia Pictures VP. “So you go on tour from New York to LA, earning maybe $300 a night for 20 shows, but spending $10,000 on gas alone. Not counting food, tolls, hotels, and parking, you’re $4,000 in the hole before you even start.” But it’s worth it if it leads to your big break, right? Herein lies the question, then. Is it possible for an artist to “break” anymore? Or, is the music industry entirely broken? Singer/songwriter Will Gray has been asking this question for nearly five years now.
A rt & Soul “There would be no U2 after that second album. We wouldn’t have the songs. No ‘Beautiful Day,’ no ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday,’ no ‘Unforgettable Fire,’ no ‘One,’ no ”Where the Streets Have No Name,’ no ‘With or Without You.’ I would like to ask the music business to look at itself, to ask itself some hard questions because there would be no U2 the way things are right now. That’s a fact.“ - Bono at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, March 14, 2005. With over 60 interviews from New York to believe that investing in culture is of the Los Angeles and more than 200 hours of utmost importance because culture is so footage, Will Gray has just completed his influential in shaping ideas and, subsedocumentary, Broke, in pursuit of this very quently, our lives. With technology that question: Can an artist break? delivers round-the-clock content to indiArtists aren’t necessarily after the viduals everywhere, the impact of the fame and fortune. In the documentary, entertainment sector on world view and John West, an independent attitudes is greater musician in LA, says, than ever. “Success for me is just havWedgwood proing enough financial stabilivides investors and ty to be able to continue foundations with making music.” the necessary netFor many artists, breakwork and strateing would mean finally makgies to wisely ing enough money to put invest with a doufood on the table, take a ble bottom line: trip home to visit family, financial return afford health insurance, or and positive social Singer/songwriter Will Gray pay their bandmates what outcome. In the they deserve. It’s about being able to pur- words of our namesake, Josiah Wedgwood, sue a calling, do what you love, and reach we call this “doing well, while doing good.” hearts through the power of a song. In 2008, Wedgwood launched the “Great music will find a home and it Sapere Fund to support a small cadre of will find its way into people’s hearts,” says independent music artists, including Will singer Sam Brooker in Broke. “The Gray, to assist/equip them in their profesresponsibility of the artist is to make an sional/personal journeys. A total of 28 album that’s worth buying. Somehow grants ($2,500 to $25,000) were awarded, music does touch people and that’s what and a regional music tour was underwritkeeps us going. When [we] look out and ten, encouraging young musicians to consee smiles and tears at a show, [we know] tinue following their creative calling and we’re doing something right.” impacting the culture for good. Since When Adjoa Skinner explains what it’s record companies aren’t making the rules like for her to write a song, she talks about anymore, the faith community will. waking up in the middle of the night with a lyric in her head or standing in the groLearn more at BrokeDoc.com and cery store and hearing a melody. She canWedgwoodCircle.com. not not make music. So where can musicians like her turn now that the music industry appears broken beyond repair? Kristin Neal is director of Wedgwood Circle is a faith-informed communications and events organization that exists to promote the for Wedgwood Circle. She creation of cultural artifacts that are good, loves classical dance, a true, and beautiful for the common good good book with tea, and in the art and entertainment space. The the Red Sox. folks at Wedgwood (of which I am one)
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