My friend, the highly successful singer/songwriter, James Talley sent along an interesting article about an independent band called Wednesday that recently posted about their tour to SXSW.  For those of you not familiar with those letters, they stand for South By SouthWest, which was originally an independent music festival in Austin, Texas.  In the early days, it was only an independent music festival, back when Austin was a pretty cool town to visit and even better to play in.

But like a frog boiling in water, the industry took over the festival and the hip Austin vibe. It eventually killed the original charm of the “live music capital of the world.”   Add in some tech industries that settled into Austin and now it is a very different place.  Still, gigging bands, such as Wednesday will travel to SXSW in order to be there in the belly of the beast and get noticed by someone in the industry.  

Wednesday is by no means an unsuccessful band, they have almost a quarter million listeners on Spotify and for those of you who will not read the article, I’ll cut to the chase.  The band’s tour resulted in a net loss for the band.  When the lead singer posted this out on Twitter, he wanted to show how important something as simply listening to their music on Spotify should have an impact on their bottom line.  The lead singer was sharing a very common frustration about playing music independently, it is hard as the playing field is not level. 

But the responses from the public also revealed an ugly part of what people feel about artists and musicians in general.  To quote the article, the post:

“provoked lots of dismaying responses from people essentially blaming the band for not sacrificing all worldly comforts or pulling themselves up by their bootstraps or whatever. “Sleep in the van” was a common refrain. Other disheartening replies included “shower at trucker stops'' and “being in a band is supposed to be a slog.”

That doesn’t surprise me.  As an independent artist, surviving for 35 years as an artist has had me come face to face with those sentiments.  The American independent artist is an extremely tough creature, but part of the expectation from the public is that suffering for art’s sake is part of the gig.  

A successful artist is one that “gets a break” and this fairy-tale is usually exploited to further perpetuate the myth that an artist deserves to suffer.   For example, some years ago, I auditioned for a national television talent show.  On the questionnaire,  there was a question asking: “what sort of hardships, personal tragedies or obstacles in your path have you had to overcome?”  The angle was that if an artist had a drinking problem, got divorced a couple of times, became depressed, set themselves on fire and was trampled by an angry bull at a rodeo he entered because he was drunk, depressed, arguing with three ex’s and still smoldering, is good entertainment. 

This myth unfortunately is also held by fellow artists.  Switchback knew an artist who was a mentor and friend.  We used to stay at the studio of this artist and looked upon the artist as an inspiration on how to make it as an artist.  This artist overheard us working on some marketing ideas for nursing homes.  We were going to pitch several show options, like an Irish show, a classical music show and such.   He didn’t like that we were even thinking along the idea of marketing.  And he didn’t like that we might be making some money as well, even if it was a nursing home. 

Later, he announced that we were not “Bohemian” enough to remain his friends.  It hurt and was a revelation to me that somehow, even we artists believe we have to cut off an ear like Van Gogh in order to get some credibility among ourselves.  Believe me, there are a lot of “artists” walking around earless.   

To quote the article:

Zachary Cole Smith of the band DIIV was one of the artists who expressed sympathy for Wednesday’s predicament on Twitter. “It did really disturb me,” Smith says of the harsh reaction to the group’s viral tweets. “It’s a long, long tradition of people wanting musicians to suffer. There’s this expectation that musicians transcend the capitalist framework. You sell out when you act in the interest of making money… It plays into the idea that musicians are seen as just commodities, and not as people.”

So what is the point with all of this?  The ugly truth is that the general public likes a good spectacle at the Coliseum.  It cheers on the person in the ring with a menagerie of beasts arrayed against him.  And they are disappointed if that person lives.  A brutal end is so much more entertaining.  Makes a better movie in the long run.   We want our artists, poor, struggling, in pain and taking inordinate risks because “wouldn’t it be nice if we had that cushy lifestyle, too?”  

As I journey on with my art, I have come to see the better angels as well.   There are people who do understand that the very struggle to create takes up a lot of time and energy.  That art that resonates with their souls does matter.  I have been lifted time and again by those angels who believe in what I do.  Somehow, those people have not been poisoned by the notion that art equals suffering.  That the arts are not only fractured but rigged to promote suffering and failure by the very industry that profits from it.   

And admittedly there are times that I feel I must not be suffering enough.  That in asking for money and support reveals I am not a success.  My own Catholic guilt goes right to the darkest corner in my soul:

I am not worthy of your love. 

Thankfully, my angels have bought my music, my art, supported my craft by putting money where their hearts are.   Will it change their lives?  I believe it does and that is what my calling is about.   

And yes, it takes money because, surprise, surprise, the world works on money.  Best wishes and prayers are inedible.  But they also underpin that ugly truth that artists don’t deserve success.  They must suffer if they are meant to be good enough to survive.  And if they don’t “get that break” they must not have suffered enough. 

There is no tidy ending here.  This cycle will continue on and on because we love our myths.  We love our heroes that struggle and suffer.  Even better if they fail.  Because then someone can paint a picture, make a movie or write a song about it.