Reading about the historical transition from the artist as servant to the artist as showman entrepreneur made me think of recent attempts to re-engineer a democratized version of the former system. In this case I’m thinking specifically about Patreon, a platform that links creators with a community that is willing to subsidize their creative output by pledging to pay so many dollars per post or month. This means the creator gets paid regularly, and the fans become miniature patrons of the arts. Artists will often produce extra content for their patrons, such as first listens to unfinished demo versions of their material. Certain subscription levels cover special drops of physical merchandise. What’s interesting in this dynamic is that musicians once again become servants, not in the sense that they must submit themselves to a higher authority, but in the sense that they have a responsibility to someone (or rather, many people) to generate artistic output. This is a very promising model that should get a lot more institutional support.
I was also reminded of musicians who’ve very deliberately put their creativity at the service of anybody who has the money to pay. Pianist, vocalist, and ultimate 21st-century hustling musician Matt Farley will write a song on any subject for anybody willing to pay a fee. Once I asked how much a Valentine’s Day song would run me: “basic” songs went between $44 and $65, whereas “Deluxe” songs went between $140 to $175. In an interview he claimed to earn $2000 a month from these custom songs.
Finally, it’s worth thinking about the different audience engagement mechanisms that were developing before but have been accelerated by the pandemic. First is the importance of merchandise. The collapse of album sales as a viable revenue source left touring and merchandise as the principal income streams. With touring a thing of the past, merchandise has become all-important. Second is the necessity of making oneself personally available online. Musicians don’t have the luxury to ignore YouTube, Instagram, streaming platforms, and other emergent platforms. But beyond that, they need to use the internet to break the wall between artist and audience. Holding question and answer periods, switching on the camera for rehearsals or songwriting blocks, and giving creative glimpses behind-the-scenes are ways a musician can keep the eyeballs flowing their way.
In a time when musicians cannot count on making money from crowds of people, we will need to make closer connections to smaller, niche audiences.