The economics of rock n roll

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Since 1996, I’ve occasionally had to supplement my income as a full-time musician with temporary, freelance and “quit-able” jobs — contracted construction and carpentry work (mostly flooring, house painting, and hanging drywall), writing and copy editing, truck driving, and the like. I’ve rarely held any job for longer than three months and have never worked for more than a third of any given year doing anything besides music. Wooden Wand is not what you’d call a household name. I make it work because the idea of doing anything else, for me, is death. I do without health insurance, cable TV, “date nights,” and other perks others may take for granted. I don’t mind. Neither does my wife, a PhD candidate in English whose long-term job prospects are ultimately as grim as my own. We’re in this together because we agree that even being destitute is preferable to not doing what we we feel we were put on Earth to do. In short, we’ll always choose a cot at the YMCA over a 40-hour work week doing something we hate.

Because of this, I expect to be paid for my work, because, like anyone, I must survive. I do not play free shows, I do not allow my music to be used in films (even student films) without a fee, and I do not give away music for free on the Internet. If that makes me a capitalist swine, then so is your plumber, your dentist, the dude who sells you kale at the farmer’s market, and the girl who serves you your mocha latte, none of whom are expected to work for free. Bands who give music away for free essentially reinforce the idea that music is valueless. It also sets a dangerous precedent, and is not altogether different from crossing a picket line.

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