12 years ago I recorded my first full length album. The journey was tumultuous, my resources thin and the songs precious to me. I was surviving on stories of home recorded albums and “did I know Radiohead recorded that in a stairwell” type tales. I wanted so badly for this album to “make it” against all odds. So badly did I want it that I killed the joy and the faith and the art of the process and in so many ways the satisfaction in the end product. So I named the CD “Ripples” to remind myself that even if it didn’t crack it big (and it didn’t!!) I was still sending my creation meaningfully out into the world. Because I didn’t know and still don’t know what kind of butterfly effect my creating has.
My CD may not have “made” it but it did provide a happy soundtrack to a friend’s road trip, brought joy and energy to my neighbors cleaning routine and got my step kids in sing-along mode when they were little. That CD created small waves that I can’t measure the impact of. That CD also brought me to my current partner, meeting up with him and his 3 kids at a local market 9 years ago to give him a copy. He liked it enough to play bass in my band and eventually liked me enough to create a family and a home. Who knows what legacy our art will create.
I think about the amazing Searching for Sugarman story, if you haven’t seen it watch it NOW!! Here was this guy Sixto Rodriguez, living in a hovel, working a back breaking job as a tradie convinced that his record deal had been a failure and his music career was long ended. Meanwhile in a series of bootleggings and underhanded distributions in South Africa he was inciting revolution completely unbeknown to him. Maybe if Van Gogh knew what was coming he might have cut himself some slack and held onto that ear.
I recently read an article that really resonated with me. In the entrepreneurial world it’s all about making it BIG. Big figure salaries, big recognition, big, big, big. This article was called “why “not playing small” is bullshit” (I’ve posted it below, read it it’s awesome). When I work with artists we spend a lot of time on vision and creating a holistic picture of their creative life.
Yes I want to help you sell, reach wider audiences and make money from your art. I want to shake the poverty consciousness of the starving artist archetype. I want you to thrive as an arts-entrepreneur with tools and techniques to give this creative life your best shot. But more importantly I also want you to remember why you love creating in the first place. I want to remind you that your dollar value doesn’t reflect the actual value of your art. Sales and audiences aren’t actually the barometer of the ultimate value of your creating. The profound and true value of your art is in the sharing of your creation with however few or many other beings might resonate with it.
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