Commerce, The Fortunate and Unfortunate Effect of Art

The minute you take your song out of your bedroom or the garage and into the studio or performance space, your art becomes commerce. Most of us prefer to get paid for our creations.  We’d do it either way, but if we had our way, we’d get paid.  Nothing wrong with this.

There are people who see they can make money off of artists, and these people definitely want to get paid.  There’s nothing inherently wrong with this either.  It’s when these people pressure the artist to change for the sake of commerce, or when the artist starts seeing the possibilities of fame and fortune that they change for commercial reasons, that’s where the problem lies.

This morning, in my five minutes of daily scrolling, I saw two very talented women, at two different points in their careers, going two very different directions.

The first story, about Amy Grant, discusses her new “anti-MAGA” song, “The 6th of January”.  Amy made her career in Christian music, before crossing over into the pop market for as long as she could, before retreating to some kind of middle ground (best I can tell, she’s not my style of music).  I don’t know Amy Grant, so I can’t tell you what her motivations are, I can only point out the inconsistency of calling yourself a Christian and then writing a song that lists “Imagine” as part of your belief system.  And, I can ask questions.  

Is this how Amy has always felt and she used Christians to make a career?

Is this the product of a spiritual change in her, and this is how she feels now?

Is this just a business move to try and expand her audience now that she’s much older and her audience is declining?  Or, related, is she just trying to get her name in the news to be relevant again?  

I don’t know the answer to any of these, though I have my suspicions that it’s the second one and she’s choosing not to disavow her faith and lose that fan base while actively pursuing new fans and being honest about how she feels.  

The second thing I saw was a reel from a podcast with Mary Kutter, a young singer-songwriter with some success as a writer who is on the rise as her own artist.  In this clip she describes a change in her life, both through discipline and through the decision to be herself at all times, no matter the cost. 

Full disclosure, I’ve never cared for the music of Amy Grant, though incredibly talented, and I do very much enjoy Mary’s music.  I’m not rooting against Amy in any way, but I am 100% rooting for Mary’s success.  

I don’t know either of these women or their motivations, or their true feelings.  And yes, they’re seemingly at opposite ends of the cultural spectrum, but the perception, at least to me, is that one is pandering for the sake of commerce (either money or industry pressure) and the other is setting out to be a maverick, consequences be damned.  Amy Grant, on her own, and through her marriage to Vince Gill, is probably worth more money than Mary will ever see.  She’s more subject to the pressures of the industry.  Mary, much like myself, is trying to build a career by being herself.  It’ll work or it won’t.  

Whatever the truth is about these women’s sense of purpose and beliefs, it just highlights the pressure that the machine creates.  We all need money to live.  We all want to be artists.  Everyone wants to be financially secure.  When people dangle this in front of people, it’s hard for the artist not to bite.  It takes a lot of courage to stay on your own artistic path, whatever that is.  With the success of American Idol, America’s Got Talent, and The Voice, the industry is only furthering the idea that the path to success in entertainment isn’t getting together in your mom’s basement with three friends and learning to play your instruments and write songs by performing cover songs at teenage parties, it’s by going on a TV show where they dress you, do your hair and make-up, and they choose you.  Bob Dylan and the Beatles didn’t wait to be chosen, they went and did it.  We came to them.  

To paraphrase Noel Gallagher, “the people didn’t want Jimi Hendrix, they didn’t know what they wanted, we had to tell them what they wanted.”  There are two truths in that statement.  One, that great art, if given a platform, will find its audience.  And two, and the powers that be know this, the audience is made up of followers.  If you tell them something is cool, they’ll want to like it before everyone else does so other people will think they’re cool.  Regardless of the quality of the thing.  

I’m as guilty of this as anyone, but if you like an independent artist, buy their music on Bandcamp.  Buy their merch.  Go to a show.  Donate to their GoFundMe so they can make their next record.  If not, don’t complain about the garbage on the radio or the Grammys.  If you like what’s coming out, great.  And, believe me, I know quite a few people who listen to music but don’t really care about it, that’s fine.  Let them engage in commerce, but if you like art, find someone who you think is doing it right and support them.