For a while I had a website where I put my music, with a Stripe button for donations.
Now, I didn't make as much money as T.Swift, but I chalk that up my music being not quite as polished (still working on getting access to a multi-million dollar recording studio with a $10,000 microphone and $500,000 mixing console staffed by a team of world-class music producers, sound engineers and hit makers like her), not because some capitalist mega-machine is keeping me down.
I guess I'm more of a believer in the 1,000 true fans [0] mindset.
Yeah, that's the problem if we're talking about cultural relavance. We all have accedd to 24/7 on demand media, and that inevitably means we will form our on cultural bubbles based on taste, community, etc. There really isn't any single TV show these days that everybody watched compared to Breaking back in the '10's, or The Wire in the 00's, or Friends in the 90's.
We're a culture more specialzied than ever and lonlier than ever. Especially if you don't like Sports (pretty much the last remaining "cultural media"). That also makes it much harder to get the 1000 true fans you linked to (interesting read, thanks!).
Kind of tangential, and I know this is taking the number too seriously but: it doesn't help that 1000 true fans can no longer sustain an artist either. I want to work on my own game, and even if I could somehow get away with 1000 copies sold at $30 (basically pricing myself at the top of indies)... I wouldn't even make minimum wage in California. With no benefits!. and of course that's before the platform cuts and potentially paying for any tools I use. And assuming I work alone on all this. Making more monetization in games these days is still a controversial topic evolving in real time.
1000 true fans more became 10000 true fans these days. Thanks, inflation.
If you think a $10,000 microphone and a $500,000 mixing console and a team of people to.man them is what's standing between you and Taylor Swift level polish, I'd argue that is is the capitalist mega-machine keeping you down. If it weren't for capitalism, you'd have access to those things and be able to give your music that kind of polish.
Of course, in this day and age, access to quality gear and talent doesn't that quite that much money. Garage band isn't just the name of the recording software, but also a statement on how accessible technology has made being a musical artist.
For a while I had a website where I put my music, with a Stripe button for donations.
Now, I didn't make as much money as T.Swift, but I chalk that up my music being not quite as polished (still working on getting access to a multi-million dollar recording studio with a $10,000 microphone and $500,000 mixing console staffed by a team of world-class music producers, sound engineers and hit makers like her), not because some capitalist mega-machine is keeping me down.
I guess I'm more of a believer in the 1,000 true fans [0] mindset.
[0] https://kk.org/thetechnium/1000-true-fans/
PS: oh, and I dig the Jam reference. I'll be Going Underground if you need me ;)