The Artist’s Dilemma

Last week, we posted an interview with Jerry Goolsby talking about the sometimes touchy issue of art vs. commerce.

Today, we’ll revisit the issue. George Howard’s blog, 9 Giant Steps, featured a video earlier in the week, and I thought it touched on several important points.

As Howard has talked about on his blog, trying to make money off of your music is not inherently evil and does not present an inherent conflict of interest. It’s all about finding a balance and the way you go about it. You can be genuine and authentic, maintain your artistic integrity, and earn enough income from your music to pay the bills (and hopefully more). When you think about it, this doesn’t hinder art; this is really in art’s best interest - the less time musicians have to spend at day jobs, the more time they can spend honing their craft. Of course, the gift of creativity can be abused, but those artists will become irrelevant soon enough. Let’s just focus on you for now.

Further, when a musician is financially independent it is easier to maintain control of that music instead of having to surrender it to someone else as barter.

Yes, maintaining the balance is a difficult feat. Yes, there is a fine line. But as musicians, we have to acknowledge that the dilemma exists in order to move forward. To get your thoughts going, I present to you Twyla Tharp:

If you enjoyed Twyla’s thoughts, check out her book, The Creative Habit: Learn it and Use it for Life.