Making your art political: What scares you more?
Yes, there is a danger to making your art political, a danger to being bold, a danger to sharing your viewpoint through your craft; because you might be criticized; you might lose potential fans; you might offend others.
However, there is a opportunity to making bold art. By being courageous, you might say something that needs to be said in a way that only art can; you might help be a part of an important moment; you might help shed light on the voices that are ignored.
Plus, the action of creating art is already a political moment, one that demonstrates your freedom of speech, freedom to participate, freedom to create.
What scares you the more: Making bland art that is forgettable, or making powerful art that makes other reflect on today?
Art can’t do it alone, but art can move us to action
Natalie posted a blog today, coincidentally addressing the same themes I was singing about yesterday in the Audio Acres video session: the boy on the beach.
That news story of the refugees shocked the world, yet was also emotionally paralyzing:
“The only thing that seems worth writing about seem to be those answers, and I just don’t know what they are.” – Natalie (Read her blog here.)
The action of making art is one of the first steps to counter our inaction, and inspire change; but the larger the emergency, the harder it is for me, and probably you, to find an answer. I get stuck into my normal routine.
How can we fit into the solution?
Epic emergencies can be an opportunity to inspire us to find the smaller ones right in our hometowns.
A Flint band the Tom Toms posted how they will be involved with the Flint Water Crisis. The Mittenfest festival raises money annually for the 826 writing center. Craig Carrick had a simple idea and started it called “Guitars for Kids” and he has given 100+ guitars to kids in Michigan. I bet there is a food bank that could use an extra pair of hands of help today.
When we get emotionally paralyzed, it’s time to make art. Art can’t do it alone; but art can move us to action.
Might be doing a Benefit Concert to raise funds for the Flint Water Crisis #FlintWaterCrisis #thetomtoms
— theTOMTOMS (@theTOMTOMSmusic) January 19, 2016
Mike Vial – "Girl On The Mountain, Boy On The Beach"
Mike Vial
Posted by Audio Acres on Monday, December 14, 2015
Big thanks to Audio Acres for inviting me to give their new room a test run with my new song! Thanks to Bob Wittersheim & Alan Black for inviting me to the new recording room in Chelsea, MI.
I’ve been sick on the couch most of the weeknd. While watching It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia on Netflix, I compiled a list of the top 500 artists on Spotify played this weekend:
- The list of the top 500 changes a bit day to day.
- Most country stars don’t making the list of top 500, floating between 1 million to 1.8 million listeners a month, and an act needs close to 2 million listeners to break the global 500.
- Youtubers Boyce Avenue and Kina Grannis, while not in the top 500, are close; and have more monthly listeners than many of the top country stars. Country might be popular on the United States radio waves, but it’s not global like EDM.
- How is the Offspring a top 500 artist, but other 90s acts like Soundgarden not? I guess that Round Hill purchase of their catalogue makes sense.
Not surprising:
- The Voice hosts are making the list, but their winning acts never get close.
- The Beatles keep rising in rank and in monthly listeners by day.
- Nick Drake has more monthly listeners than Jim Croce this weekend. (Neither are in the top 500, though.)
- Tom Petty isn’t on the list, probably because his catalogue is broken into two separate artists.
If I find myself burned out, it’s usually because I’ve took on more than I could chew, or didn’t allow myself enough time to plan.
A recording project of an acoustic song becoming an epic production; a lesson plan that seems great on paper becoming 20 hours of grading; an excitement to tour taking me from Terre Haute to Johnson City in three days…It’s easy to blame the art form, but often it’s the approach that causes a flame to fade.
I interviewed Josh Harty, and he offered some similar advice for the Folk Alliance first-timer: “Touring. Don’t start too big or grandiose. Concentric circles around your base and keep working outward. If you keep going where nobody knows you and playing shitty shows where no one cares, your touring days are numbered. You need to keep up morale in my opinion.”
Martin Atkins gives this motto a strategy: the flower pedal, or five pointed inward attack:
