Hello people.

It’s been a while since I posted last.

What moved me to pick up my keyboard and do this one, you ask?

Well, I don’t want to come across as one of those luddite-whingeing-indie-music-types but the short answer is I wanted to share with you a Facebook posting from John Parker (musician extraordinaire, bassist, beat-boxer, guitarist par excellence and all round good human being) who recently shared his experience of trying to keep working in a music industry that is broken. I think JP’s situation and his FB declaration typify what it’s like to be a working musician in the digital age – an age that promised so much but delivers very little in return for the working musician, unless you’re Elton John or Paul McCartney. We’ve never had greater access to so much amazing music but rarely have such world-class music-makers had to choose between earning money as a gardener or barely scraping a living (or going into debt) to do what they love.

[*More info at the bottom of this blog on streaming and artists’ pay.*]

 

The wonderful world of streaming has been a boon to the music fan who can now access virtually any music anywhere they choose – but at what cost to the musician? The shift to streaming has meant greater access and flexibility but the money that now goes to artists is a fraction of what it used to be. Not enough of that money trickles down to the artists at the sharp end whilst the major labels continue to profit from a broken system.  Just a few short years ago, musicians could sell CDs (remember those?) at gigs. In the early Nizlopi days, CD sales at gigs and from our online shop was what paid the bills and kept the lights on, and allowed Luke and John to at least make something of a living without taking on another job.

What bothers me most about this situation? It’s that so many musicians now find themselves in a similar situation to John’s. Having to choose the day job over the music job because music no longer supports the majority of artists. Yes, I empathise with artists like Lewis Capaldi and others desperately trying to hang on to their mental health but try schlepping up and down the motorway on your own 5 nights a week for a couple of quid (if you’re lucky) and giving your all at a gig only to come away more broke than you were when you started, year in and year out! Not wishing to sound overly dramatic here, but there is something about JP’s words that remind me of stories from the front line of some epic battle, and in reality, that’s exactly what it is. JP and his peers have been on the front line of live music for a long, long time, and that exacts a toll far beyond what might be apparent at a gig. It is the Hero’s journey in a nutshell. Check out John’s words below, he says it so much more eloquently than I ever could.