Selling Out

[sam]

I'm sure someone can add more detail, but I like this (long) graphic a lot.

[sam]

I’m just throwing some guesses out for the live performances, but it looks like getting a small deal can loose you money.

A weekly coffee house gig might net $100. Another live performance every couple weeks could be worth an additional $300. If they sell 10 self-pressed CDs at each of those and another 100 cdbaby downloads, they are up to $1174 a month. Not much, but they’ve probably put 6-8 hours of performance time into it, plus a similar amount for travel, etc. Maybe they net $40 an hour and have time to write new music and work a part time joe-job.

Sign a small record deal and your album shows up in a couple hundred independent record stores. They each sell 5. You play one show that nets you $500. Now you are up to $800 but you’ve spent all your time involved in record company promotions, travel, etc. All of those expenses are being billed against your future sales and you had to live off your advance money because you lost your joe-job.

[James]

don't get me started.

I will say I made more money per performance just before the whole Spree explosion happened. Then it went downhill as it went uphill, so to speak. Good thing I got a wealth of experience from it Because I couldn't buy that stuff. But as far as making ends meet, yeah...selling out is the worst possible thing you can do...

[mere1975]

Unless it's "selling out" for an endorsement deal to have your song used in a film, tv show or commercial. I wonder what the average band gets to have a song used in an advertisement for HP, Kodak, Nike, iTunes, etc. . .

- Mere "remember Amy posted a link to an article from Apples in Stereo guy a long time ago about how 'selling out' like that helped him have a life, food on the table, diapers on his kid" 1975

[mr_j]

friend of mine in chicago got paid 75K for a 30-second clip of incidental music for Apple Computers. With that check he could tour the country with his band, which would put them in the black and he wound up making most of his investment back. Took him all of two hours to write. I'd like a job that pays 37,500 an hour, please.

[katie]

- Mere "remember Amy posted a link to an article from Apples in Stereo guy a long time ago about how 'selling out' like that helped him have a life, food on the table, diapers on his kid" 1975

kevin barnes from of montreal has a similar quote about selling the melody of "wraith pinned to the mist and other games" to outback steak house.

[mere1975]

I'll say this -- Outback Steakhouse must have one cool employee at corporate or something because they actually play good music when you're dining!

- Mere "I sing, 'Let's go Outback tonight, let's pretend we're in Antarctica'" 1975

[katie]

- Mere "I sing, 'Let's go Outback tonight, let's pretend we're in Antarctica'" 1975

+1

[Jan]

- Mere "remember Amy posted a link to an article from Apples in Stereo guy a long time ago about how 'selling out' like that helped him have a life, food on the table, diapers on his kid" 1975

kevin barnes from of montreal has a similar quote about selling the melody of "wraith pinned to the mist and other games" to outback steak house.

Yes, but he is prostituting his art to make that money.

[mere1975]

If you got paid enough for a Panda Eyes song to quit your job and tour full-time or buy a house, wouldn't you?

- Mere "I'd sell out for less than most" 1975

[Irock]

what you got against prostitutes?

i "'m only half joking" rock

[katie]

- Mere "remember Amy posted a link to an article from Apples in Stereo guy a long time ago about how 'selling out' like that helped him have a life, food on the table, diapers on his kid" 1975

kevin barnes from of montreal has a similar quote about selling the melody of "wraith pinned to the mist and other games" to outback steak house.

Yes, but he is prostituting his art to make that money.

no, he was selling his art to make money so that he could afford to continue creating art. making money off one's art != prostituting oneself. it can be, but it isn't always. the two are not mutually exclusive.

[aquaphase]

not to interject on the whole "sellout" argument, but it makes me infinitely happy to see "!=" used in a logical argument.

However, I do think you are spending too much time at Blockdot, Katie.

[sam]

I don't think artists in most other media are as nearly attached to the concept of their own integrity as musicians. Is this something we want from them more than from actors or writers?

[katie]

not to interject on the whole "sellout" argument, but it makes me infinitely happy to see "!=" used in a logical argument.

However, I do think you are spending too much time at Blockdot, Katie.

heh. i'm a big fan of the !=. nerdery at its finest.

I don't think artists in most other media are as nearly attached to the concept of their own integrity as musicians. Is this something we want from them more than from actors or writers?

i think do we sort of expect it on some level of all artists. an actor who only does theatre or independent films is seen as having more artistic integrity than someone in blockbuster movies. a visual artist who does tagging instead of showing in galleries is seen as more pure in intent. art for art's sake and all that. i think sometimes it's fair and sometimes it's bullshit. i don't think making a living or even becoming wealthy off one's art immediately means you sold out to do it.

for me, selling out is when you give up artistic control or make artistic decisions you are letting someone else (i.e., a record label) influence you to make solely for the sake of money or fame. this could also go along with personal ideals. like, if kevin barnes were a vegetarian and sold his melody to outback steakhouse, that'd be hypocrisy for the sake of money. but selling the melody to be in a commercial that reaches millions of people daily and will give you a fat check in order to produce the spectacle that was the skeletal lamping tour... shit, why not?

here's what he had to say on the subect, btw.