Struggles for the creative

The dream of becoming a professional artist is becoming more unrealistic and almost impossible. Unless, of course, you know someone in the business or are rich, which eliminates about 99.9% of us.

David Felton

Let us take the world of music. It seems the more money record companies make, the more they want. In the past, when all a band needed was some good songs and the passion to perform them, record companies would take a chance on signing struggling artists. Record companies made a fortune off musicians back then and still are today.

The only difference today is they want the musicians to do all the work. This includes building a huge following, promoting self-produced albums and in general, proving to the record company that its own part in the job is already going to be a success.

Being a musician, who has played in various bands for almost ten years, I am familiar with the scheme of things. I have seen many talented artists in music, film, literature and painting become extremely bitter and give up on the struggle.

It is true that not everyone should be signed, because then the market will be overflooded.

The thing that I do not understand is, why do they let these corporate business people, most of whom know nothing about music, decide who should be promoted?

Yes, I answered my own question. It is all about money and not art. This not only hurts us as consumers, but will eventually have a devastating effect on our art and culture.