Bandcamp is slowly, but surely, shifting towards favoring streaming service shareholders, since the company which now owns it IS a shareholder. Check out Subvert, as it actually is a member-owned cooperative launching later this year!
I guess I put it the wrong way. What I mean is that the company has changed hands twice in the past few years, so the future is uncertain and it prioritizes artists’ interests less than it has in the past. It’s arguably a good platform at this point, but the fact that it’s owned by a streaming service shareholders is unsettling, and if there’s a better option out there it should be considered. Or at least added into the rotation of music providers.
Ah, I see. Yeah, I was definitely nervous when they changed hands. From my point of view nothing seems to have changed but we’ll see. I mean, I buy a ton of music from them so it’d be a shame if they went downhill.
Ahh, hi-fi. I have a medium end audio system, records and cds, but it is satisfying to these old ears. Ear buds, phones, blue tooth, and other inferior listening modes remind me of transistor radios.
So yes, Yancey Strickler is right that an A-Corp setup would be nice for arts orgs. My small poetry press, Sixteen Rivers, is set up as a non-profit co-op (and Dana would know about this, as he's on our Advisory Board!). We put the profits from book sales right back into the press in order to pay for the next year's books. It's a good model. It would be nice to have a tax category that better reflects our org and what we do.
Just two related thoughts. First, many granting orgs require grantees to have non-profit status before even applying for funds. Yes that could be changed, but it would require a push.
Second, Charlie Chaplin and friends started United Artists precisely to get away from the studio system and assert financial and creative control over their movies. I'm not sure what UA is, today. But the coop model works well for artists and it would be nice if it were formalized into the tax system (which is really what we're talking about here).
Yes, looking for grants is painful , and the skill set required for grant applications is almost diametrically opposed to that of a creative person. In fact, being entrepreneurial often feels less intimidating than the form-filling.
On top of that, the criteria for many grants tend to be geared towards serving specific social or political ends. I’m not sure it serves art well if it’s reduced to a tool for another end.
I have written grants for a small art nonprofit and find the reporting requirements absurd. Tomorrow I will start on the final report for an arts recovery grant—a process I have been dreading but I need to get it over with! Later in the year I will have another report for a project grant. I will be interested to see if the new presidential administration’s DEI philosophy has had a beneficial effect and I won’t have to guesstimate how many of every ethnic group we served.
Artist owned cooperative is the only way forward. These companies have proven they can't be trusted. Not that they couldn't before but the uneasy alliance of allowing them to exploit your work in exchange for funding is a model that is now failed.
I See, lots of us are excited by the idea of the next Netflix or Spotify being an artist-owned cooperative. That’s great, but can we start connecting with each other to figure out what we can actually do to make it a reality?
The people reading this are a self-selecting group, the right kind of people who might be able to build something that’s truly needed with the right set of values,
I ordered Dana's book and look forward to it with glee! Most important is the theme you present of artists OWNING their own production and reward systems. Hell, yeah!
Ask that kid, the economist who plays the piano, to explain what's happening to the internet: The Tragedy of the Commons. It's becoming a dumping ground.
I didnt realize artists lofts were a thing of the past. They were kind of a staple of movies in the 80s and 90s, when i was growing up, and i always wanted one! Maybe i can build one one day out here in the sticks.
Also, how in the hell do yall get anything done if youre sitting around watching these videos all day? I started the one about the tiny violin, bc my friend is a beast fiddler and i thought i might share it with him, but when i saw how long it was i quickly gave up on that endeavor. Seemed interesting though, maybe somebody can tell me how it turns out.
Edit: im just being a smartass. Obviously ik how people get all these videos watched. I mean i see them everywhere, at the gym, the grocery store, in their cars, spending time with others, even crossing the street, all the while with their phones a foot from their faces. Its quite impressive, really.
Sadly, NYC artists' studios are close to extinct now. I lived in Williamsburg, Brooklyn from 2000-2005 and got gentrified out of three studios; the last one had huge carriage doors overlooking McLaren Park. The vibrant art scene that was part of the appeal of living in NYC has largely gone the way of the dodo bird, in order to satisfy the rapacious luxury condo market.
Bandcamp is slowly, but surely, shifting towards favoring streaming service shareholders, since the company which now owns it IS a shareholder. Check out Subvert, as it actually is a member-owned cooperative launching later this year!
What does "favoring streaming service shareholders" mean?
I guess I put it the wrong way. What I mean is that the company has changed hands twice in the past few years, so the future is uncertain and it prioritizes artists’ interests less than it has in the past. It’s arguably a good platform at this point, but the fact that it’s owned by a streaming service shareholders is unsettling, and if there’s a better option out there it should be considered. Or at least added into the rotation of music providers.
Ah, I see. Yeah, I was definitely nervous when they changed hands. From my point of view nothing seems to have changed but we’ll see. I mean, I buy a ton of music from them so it’d be a shame if they went downhill.
It would be a shame. Like i said, best case scenario is Subvert is added to the rotation of music providers. It seems like a great prospect.
It seems like a great idea. I just joined! Thanks for the tip.
I dream of this.
Ahh, hi-fi. I have a medium end audio system, records and cds, but it is satisfying to these old ears. Ear buds, phones, blue tooth, and other inferior listening modes remind me of transistor radios.
So yes, Yancey Strickler is right that an A-Corp setup would be nice for arts orgs. My small poetry press, Sixteen Rivers, is set up as a non-profit co-op (and Dana would know about this, as he's on our Advisory Board!). We put the profits from book sales right back into the press in order to pay for the next year's books. It's a good model. It would be nice to have a tax category that better reflects our org and what we do.
Just two related thoughts. First, many granting orgs require grantees to have non-profit status before even applying for funds. Yes that could be changed, but it would require a push.
Second, Charlie Chaplin and friends started United Artists precisely to get away from the studio system and assert financial and creative control over their movies. I'm not sure what UA is, today. But the coop model works well for artists and it would be nice if it were formalized into the tax system (which is really what we're talking about here).
Yes, looking for grants is painful , and the skill set required for grant applications is almost diametrically opposed to that of a creative person. In fact, being entrepreneurial often feels less intimidating than the form-filling.
On top of that, the criteria for many grants tend to be geared towards serving specific social or political ends. I’m not sure it serves art well if it’s reduced to a tool for another end.
I have written grants for a small art nonprofit and find the reporting requirements absurd. Tomorrow I will start on the final report for an arts recovery grant—a process I have been dreading but I need to get it over with! Later in the year I will have another report for a project grant. I will be interested to see if the new presidential administration’s DEI philosophy has had a beneficial effect and I won’t have to guesstimate how many of every ethnic group we served.
I think DEI is a stalking horse, given all those NEA grants that were pulled post & ad hoc.
Remember Piss Christ?? That was fun. Kinda miss those days.
But anyway we've experienced the same thing re very targeted granting. It's pretty annoying. Oh where are our Peggy Guggenheims...
I hope the idea of an artists' cooperative is in process right now.
Co-ops are notoriously subject to co-opting by the most extreme elements.
Artist owned cooperative is the only way forward. These companies have proven they can't be trusted. Not that they couldn't before but the uneasy alliance of allowing them to exploit your work in exchange for funding is a model that is now failed.
It's daunting but it's what needs to happen.
I See, lots of us are excited by the idea of the next Netflix or Spotify being an artist-owned cooperative. That’s great, but can we start connecting with each other to figure out what we can actually do to make it a reality?
The people reading this are a self-selecting group, the right kind of people who might be able to build something that’s truly needed with the right set of values,
I have zero capital, which is obviously an issue.
I ordered Dana's book and look forward to it with glee! Most important is the theme you present of artists OWNING their own production and reward systems. Hell, yeah!
Ask that kid, the economist who plays the piano, to explain what's happening to the internet: The Tragedy of the Commons. It's becoming a dumping ground.
Wow! So much to think about - thank! And I need to find the opera book.
I didnt realize artists lofts were a thing of the past. They were kind of a staple of movies in the 80s and 90s, when i was growing up, and i always wanted one! Maybe i can build one one day out here in the sticks.
Also, how in the hell do yall get anything done if youre sitting around watching these videos all day? I started the one about the tiny violin, bc my friend is a beast fiddler and i thought i might share it with him, but when i saw how long it was i quickly gave up on that endeavor. Seemed interesting though, maybe somebody can tell me how it turns out.
Edit: im just being a smartass. Obviously ik how people get all these videos watched. I mean i see them everywhere, at the gym, the grocery store, in their cars, spending time with others, even crossing the street, all the while with their phones a foot from their faces. Its quite impressive, really.
Let’s hope so.
You didn't mention one of the first rebels against the music business, Maria Schneider and Artist Share. We need more like her.
Sadly, NYC artists' studios are close to extinct now. I lived in Williamsburg, Brooklyn from 2000-2005 and got gentrified out of three studios; the last one had huge carriage doors overlooking McLaren Park. The vibrant art scene that was part of the appeal of living in NYC has largely gone the way of the dodo bird, in order to satisfy the rapacious luxury condo market.
I love this interview with the writer Robert Macfarlane:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdsE9XqB2bI