By now many of you (at least the musicians among us) have probably read Emily White’s NPR piece “I Never Owned Any Music To Begin With”. If not, take a moment before proceeding to read her article. It is basically an admission of having barely ever actually paid for music whilst enjoying it as a central part of her life.
Now, there have been many well-written reaction pieces to Ms. White’s, and I don’t feel the need to add to that in the same way. I would like, however, to make an appeal to the rest of you. I think that many of you probably don’t realize the power you have to make sure that the music you love keeps on thriving. By simply purchasing music whenever you find something you like, especially when it was made by an independent or small-label artist, you are being a patron of the arts, keeping the music coming. It really is that easy. Whether you buy it in person at a show, at a record store, or as a digital download, money does actually make it our way… how much depends on where you buy it.
Chances are, if you are buying a physical copy at a band’s show 100% is going to the musicians, so this is probably the best option if possible, plus you’ve probably bought a ticket to get into the show, doubly helping the artist. Now obviously sometimes your favorite acts simply aren’t touring anywhere near you– perhaps you live in North Dakota or the Yukon Territory. Some people might ask, “what is the next best thing? How can we ensure that the majority of the money we spend goes to the musicians?” You could go download albums from iTunes, which is certainly easy, but if you think of a $0.99 song, the musician generally gets $0.69 for every download. This can also be substantially reduced if the artist has released said song through a label, depending on that contract. This brings me to my favorite two choices, used by most independent musicians I know: Bandcamp and CD Baby. The former is my true favorite. I love Bandcamp. It is sleek, easy to customize, and artists see 85% of the sales on digital downloads, and 90% on physical orders (CD Baby pays out around 91%). It also makes it really easy to discover new music, through the great new Discoverinator section on the website. I recently stumbled onto this wonderful Montreal-based duo, Lizzy & the Orca, through Bandcamp. I liked what I heard, and for a mere 10 Canadian dollars I ordered the CD copy, which came with a sweet coloring book as well. The point here is that my purchase directly supported Lizzy & the Orca. There are 300 million people in the United States, and if only 1% of that number are BIG music fans, imagine the power to support the arts held in that 3 million people if each spent about $10 a week. That is a couple of beers plus tip at your favorite bar, or one lunch eaten out.
So get out there, find some music you love, and buy it! In many cases, you aren’t supporting some “phantom corporation”, but the musicians themselves. And hey, we might even some day be able to quit our day jobs and release EVEN MORE music!
Thanks for reading,
John
p.s., you can always find my music at the above-mentioned spots 😉 –