Merrily we roll along . . .
. . . to another sinister_cat cartoon. It is Tuesday, after all!
Ah, yes. I wanted to post something. This was taken directly from a post by Ghastly in a FARK forum thread talking about an inane situation in the UK where a store is now under fire for playing its radio too loud in the store, thus constituting it as a "public performance" which violates copyright and deserves a hefty *droool* fine. The thread went to bitching about music industry boards and to how individual artists get screwed. From there it went to how an artist can rake dough on their own without getting the RIAA involved.
It was at this point that our man Ghastly (who had been helpfully contributing industry information all throughout) posted an excellent set of guidelines for functioning happily as an independent musician. Of course, these same rules can be easily reformatted to apply to online artists and comic creators, so feel free to let your mind paraphrase just a tinge. ;)
If you really want to know the secret to being a happy musician [comic artist, etc. - Ed.] it's quite simple.
1) Get a day job you love. Don't go with the "I'll work at pizza hut until I make it big" plan because statistically speaking you have a better chance of being killed working at your day job than you do "making it big". Making it big has nothing to do with how talented and skilled a musician is. It actually has to do with hundreds of factors that are not in the musician's control but in the label's (which is just the way they want it). So assume you're going to be working your day job for the rest of your working life. Assume your day job is going to be your primary means of support for the rest of your life. Get a day job you love.
2) Make your own album. Learn to do all the button monkey work yourself. It's educational and it's actually a lot of the fun in making music. Plus it can be a skill to have. Build your own little studio in whatever space you can find. Garage, basement, attic, spare bedroom. I've seen some very inventive studios built into very small spaces. Also, a lot of old gear is just as usable now as it was when it was the cutting edge. It's also a lot cheaper. One box might not have all the bells and whistles of its modern equivalent but when you can buy 3 boxes to make up for it at less than half the price of one new box you're coming out ahead of the game.
3) Learn to win the internets. There are lots of tools online designed for independent artist. Services that sell an distribute your music like CD Baby and services that help you promote your work. Take a little time and research which ones are best suited to you. It also takes more than simply putting up a webpage to promote your stuff. Learn the subtle art of self promotion, or get the biggest attention whore in your band to do that for you.
4) Stop wasting time pining away because you're not the next biggest superstar. This is the hard one. We've all been raised to believe (because the labels wanted us to believe it) that if we're only good enough then success is guaranteed. This is bullshiat. It's hard to accept but it is. Success depends on so many things outside your control that you'll drive yourself crazy chasing it (let's face it, how many mentally balanced superstars are there anyways). Instead of lamenting your lack of solid gold cutlery instead take joy in the fact that every dollar you make is one less music dollar in the hands of the Big Four and you are part of a growing army of truly independent musicians (not one of those musicians who signs with an "indie label" that is actually owned by someone owned by one of the Big Four) who are each doing their part to chip away at the Big Four. Measure your merits by what you have, not what you don't have. Nobody ever has it all. Learn to enjoy the small victories.
5) Just make the music that gives you the most joy. Don't try to emulate something popular if it isn't something you're enthusiastic about playing. It's cliche but it really should all be about the music. Maybe the stuff that turns your crank only appeals to half a percent of the population. On the internet Buttfark Nebraska is just as close as Tokyo or London or New York City. Half a percentage of the internet is a hell of a lot of people who would really dig your stuff.
6) Every now and then have your significant other pretend to be a groupie and ask you to autograph an intimate part of your body or make a plaster mould of your genitalia. I believe this is self explanatory.
Ah, yes. I wanted to post something. This was taken directly from a post by Ghastly in a FARK forum thread talking about an inane situation in the UK where a store is now under fire for playing its radio too loud in the store, thus constituting it as a "public performance" which violates copyright and deserves a hefty *droool* fine. The thread went to bitching about music industry boards and to how individual artists get screwed. From there it went to how an artist can rake dough on their own without getting the RIAA involved.
It was at this point that our man Ghastly (who had been helpfully contributing industry information all throughout) posted an excellent set of guidelines for functioning happily as an independent musician. Of course, these same rules can be easily reformatted to apply to online artists and comic creators, so feel free to let your mind paraphrase just a tinge. ;)
If you really want to know the secret to being a happy musician [comic artist, etc. - Ed.] it's quite simple.
1) Get a day job you love. Don't go with the "I'll work at pizza hut until I make it big" plan because statistically speaking you have a better chance of being killed working at your day job than you do "making it big". Making it big has nothing to do with how talented and skilled a musician is. It actually has to do with hundreds of factors that are not in the musician's control but in the label's (which is just the way they want it). So assume you're going to be working your day job for the rest of your working life. Assume your day job is going to be your primary means of support for the rest of your life. Get a day job you love.
2) Make your own album. Learn to do all the button monkey work yourself. It's educational and it's actually a lot of the fun in making music. Plus it can be a skill to have. Build your own little studio in whatever space you can find. Garage, basement, attic, spare bedroom. I've seen some very inventive studios built into very small spaces. Also, a lot of old gear is just as usable now as it was when it was the cutting edge. It's also a lot cheaper. One box might not have all the bells and whistles of its modern equivalent but when you can buy 3 boxes to make up for it at less than half the price of one new box you're coming out ahead of the game.
3) Learn to win the internets. There are lots of tools online designed for independent artist. Services that sell an distribute your music like CD Baby and services that help you promote your work. Take a little time and research which ones are best suited to you. It also takes more than simply putting up a webpage to promote your stuff. Learn the subtle art of self promotion, or get the biggest attention whore in your band to do that for you.
4) Stop wasting time pining away because you're not the next biggest superstar. This is the hard one. We've all been raised to believe (because the labels wanted us to believe it) that if we're only good enough then success is guaranteed. This is bullshiat. It's hard to accept but it is. Success depends on so many things outside your control that you'll drive yourself crazy chasing it (let's face it, how many mentally balanced superstars are there anyways). Instead of lamenting your lack of solid gold cutlery instead take joy in the fact that every dollar you make is one less music dollar in the hands of the Big Four and you are part of a growing army of truly independent musicians (not one of those musicians who signs with an "indie label" that is actually owned by someone owned by one of the Big Four) who are each doing their part to chip away at the Big Four. Measure your merits by what you have, not what you don't have. Nobody ever has it all. Learn to enjoy the small victories.
5) Just make the music that gives you the most joy. Don't try to emulate something popular if it isn't something you're enthusiastic about playing. It's cliche but it really should all be about the music. Maybe the stuff that turns your crank only appeals to half a percent of the population. On the internet Buttfark Nebraska is just as close as Tokyo or London or New York City. Half a percentage of the internet is a hell of a lot of people who would really dig your stuff.
6) Every now and then have your significant other pretend to be a groupie and ask you to autograph an intimate part of your body or make a plaster mould of your genitalia. I believe this is self explanatory.