Friday, February 03, 2006

Independent Musician Lower-archy:

Indie Level I
Signed to Subsidized* “Independent” Record Label

You’re pampered like a rock star** but treated (and paid) like a pizza delivery boy*** (your roadie will make more money than you at the end of the tour).

*Actually owned by Time Warner or Disney in an attempt to suck in cash from alt-musos
**Everything is done for you, including having your songs written, played and produced by others
*** You will actually become a pizza delivery boy


Indie Level II
Signed to or Distributed by Small, Independent Record Label

You get to call the artistic shots but your record (and career) will languish in a cardboard box on the merch table during your opening spot at “Nick’s Chug ‘n’ Spew”. Your fortune cookie says: “You like to travel (and sleep) in “vintage” Econoline vans. Collecting money is a challenge for you. Your lucky numbers, 8675309* ”

*With apologies to Tommy Tutone

Indie Level III
Owner/Operator, Micro-label

You are an “uncompromising artist*" with eclectic taste**
You smugly refer to your real job as your “day gig”
You still play Dungeons & Dragons*

*You are also “single” for good reason
** You own copies of Lou Reed’s Metal Machine Music in all formats, including 8-track

3 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

That post is absolute platinum! A touch of humor has been a needed addition to your blog.

Saturday, February 04, 2006  
Blogger myshkin2 said...

Agree! Thanks for making this clear--very different from my understanding of the po-business, though maybe not so different after all.

Monday, February 06, 2006  
Blogger Eric Wallack said...

Heh, well I did exaggerate a "little" bit...

Sadly it's probably truer across the board for the independent arts than any of us would like to admit or acknowledge.

Monday, February 06, 2006  

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