17 Indie Artists on Their Oddest Odd Jobs That Pay the Bills When Music Doesn’t (not a poll)

I was teaching at a US college the last three years but a coastal elite one tbf. Obv jazz has had a few more decades of academic institutionalization than rock so yeah if we're talking strictly about academic institutionalization. I guess I was thinking of "institutionalization" as something that could also refer to the institutions of major record labels, the broadcast industry, etc.

playlists of mainstream politicians

I regret to inform that energy drinks will no longer be giving EDM scholarships soon :(

I’m finally watching “The Good Place”; an ep. in S1 has one of the best EDM jokes evah

I have several music teacher friends who play in proggy bands.

― All along there is the sound of feedback (Sund4r), Wednesday, April 17, 2019 8:17 AM (one hour ago)

i know a lot of musicians who teach, and they are either strictly classical people (including traditional folk genres), or they play in proggy bands

IME musicians who get grants seem to be more aligned with experimental or otherwise artworld adjacent music scenes. Feel like stateside it’s more normal for visual artists to get grants

― Vapor waif (uptown churl), Wednesday, April 17, 2019 6:52 AM (three hours ago)

Not really. There is more grant money available to the performing arts vs. visual art in the U.S. ... and it is often built on the following ideas/assumptions: visual art is more commercial -- in that the work is more easily saleable for significant sums of music; and performing arts are more public, in that they provide more of a "service" to the public, that is, audiences. It depends on the genre/sub-genre of both disciplines however.

I'm not sure I really think of rock as less institutionalized than jazz, although I'm not really clear on what is meant by "institutionalized". Certainly not when it comes to Suicidal Tendencies.

― All along there is the sound of feedback (Sund4r), Wednesday, April 17, 2019 8:44 AM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I mean taught in schools & universities, accepted on a mainstream level as a cultural good, available support from grants, organizations, local government, etc.

Suicidal Tendencies??? :)

― change display name (Jordan), Wednesday, April 17, 2019 8:51 AM (one hour ago)

There are also political issues involved in the institutionalization of jazz, in that it stands in for "artistic accomplishment by African-Americans" at a socially-acceptable "high culture" level. ... which has led to a lot of problematic arguments and discussions re the evolution of jazz and the role of white ppl in it, and class differences among African-Americans, and whether jazz is still "radical" because it has a presence at lincoln center as opposed to rap ... and way too many thinkpieces involving Wynton Marsalis and Kamasi Washington

but then Rat Bastard got a huge ass Knight Foundation grant for like putting on the International Noise Conference, but that's an outlier in terms of the conventions of music/arts funding

also i would like to thank ilx for expressing interest in the generally boring rarefied things I know/deal with as part of my job (or rather, many past jobs). ... feeling lots of <3 rn

This is honestly so interesting!

I have some imaginary comedy sketch in my head where a group of musicians from different parts of north america are talking about funding and grants and one ends up pointing a finger and exclaiming "but you're subsidized.. BY CANCON!!"

Sarahell, def otm about the jazz stuff.

At one point I got really sick of doing jazz gigs because it felt irrelevant, was often musical wallpaper, etc. Now I love doing them because you get paid and it doesn't matter if anyone comes or if they listen, and the free food and drinks are way better than playing original music in a diy space.

I can see the transition from the paying for a copy business model to the paying for usage business model reaching a climax
when they finally get the chips planted in our heads. Music lovers, who have songs floating in and out of their consciousness
all day, will have a hefty bill to pay at the end of the month.

a chilling vision of the future

https://www.riaa.com/u-s-sales-database/

this is through 2018. Adjusted for inflation, the 1999 peak is $21+ Bil., with 2018 revenues at $9.5 Bil.

people must've been downloading like crazy in the 1970s

i think it was due to the changes in British currency?

lmao

lol

the real winter of discontent: huge threepenny-bitBerg of '71 causes greatest threat to sterling since some numpt bought too many tulips and ended up eating them.

https://www.riaa.com/u-s-sales-database/

this is through 2018. Adjusted for inflation, the 1999 peak is $21+ Bil., with 2018 revenues at $9.5 Bil.

That's helpful, thanks. It seems that the industry is back to about inflation-adjusted 1985 profit levels, which is not disastrous by any stretch, and if artists are being compensated or treated worse than they were at that time, that would be a shame. The CD boom of the 90s was something of a bubble.

Ringtones still raking in a cool 25 mil.

Karlheinz Stockhausen working as an *accompanist to a stage magician has to be up there in the oddest odd jobs department.

(*not assistant, sadly)

When I heard that Philip Glass and Steve Reich both worked as movers before they were able to make a living off their music, I invented a "joke". I pictured them moving a heavy wardrobe up a flight of stairs. Philip says, "Steve, you're always moving slightly faster than me and we're getting out of sync." Steve said, "Phil, that's the twentieth time you've said that and it's getting tiresome."

wow lol !

yeah, that's a really good joke! I may steal that one

i laughed irl

spectacular
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larspectacu
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rspectacula

lol

LOL!!!

:)