Musicians and artists, ever feel like your art or music is your baby? If so, it’s no surprise that we might often feel some “baby blues” once our project or music is completed, released, and finished.
I’ve been feeling a little down in October, ever since I finished my tour.
I should be feeling happy to have a slower paced winter. 2013 has been a busy year for Nat and I, and it is reliving to drive 3-20 miles to a gig this winter vs. 300-600 miles like the fall tour!
But I’m feeling those baby blues. My big projects of 2013 are finished. I’m adjusting back into a “normal” routine.
If you feel those baby blues after your art is done, don’t feel alone. A little sadness might mean it was a great trip, it’s time to start planning the next project, and it’s time to enjoy the slower pace!
Did you read Lefsetz’s article about the shocking stats found when analyzing iTunes sales, including the large number of artists who only sell one song total?
The long tail myth is failing to come true when applied to music economics. It also appears that the income inequality gap of the country becomes even wider in the music world.
As an indie artist, it’s easy to feel disappointed if we measure music success in sales; but art is not truly measured by numbers.
Remember, Vincent van Gogh supposedly only sold one painting during his career, yet his art changed the world.
It is often argued that music is a young man and woman’s game; that songwriters and performers do their best work quickly at a young age, and then burn out creatively.
This myth is described around mathematics, too. Consider author Edward Dolnick’s litany of mathematicians, and their ages at monumental accomplishments:
“Newton was indeed in his prime at twenty-three, for mathematics…Einstein was twenty-six when he came up with the special theory of relativity, Heisenberg twenty-five when he formulated the uncertainty principle model of the atom. ‘If you haven’t done outstanding work in mathematics by 30, you never will,’ says Ronald Graham, one of today’s best-regarding mathematicians.” (229)
But Dolvick later describes how the arts don’t follow this myth:
“Michelangelo completed the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel at thirty-seven; Beethoven finished his Fifth Symphony at thirty-seven; Tolstoy published War and Peace at forty-one; Shakespeare wrote King Lear at forty-two. But the list of artists who continued to produce masterpieces decades later than that–Monet, Cervantes, Titian, Picasso, Verdi–is long.” (231)
But contemporary pop music–and I’m considering classic rock acts in contemporary–does appear to follow the myth that the best work happens for the young songwriter or performer, doesn’t it?
Well, maybe. Is it the songwriting, or the music machinery supporting it?
Let’s consider factors that surround pop music:
1. Since the baby boomer generation, youth has been celebrated, with often too much regard. Because this is where the advertising money is, this is the age of the pop acts signed. (Kudos to Craig Ferguson for ranting about this!)
2. Pop music is not as much about deep artistic reflection, but catchy and superficial hits.
3. Pop music is still promoted by commercial radio, and those who invest in pop stars chose youth to have a longer…
The myth might be that music is for the youth, but that’s for pop music. A great song can be written by anyone at any age.
It might not be a pop song, or a song that music label exces will market, but it might reach the human experience, like War and Peace.
I came across an inspirational quote in a book I’m reading about Isaac Newton:
“Every aspiring mathematician knows the frustration of spending entire days staring at a single page in a textbook, or even a single line, waiting for insight to dawn. It is heartening to see one of the greatest of all mathematicians in almost the same plight” (Dolnick 228).
If you feel like you are climbing a mountain trying to reach success with your craft, don’t feel alone.
I love that metaphor, we are all waiting for insight to dawn.
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Book recommendation: The Clockwork Universe: Isaac Newton, the Royal Society & the Birth of the Modern World, by Edward Dolnick
I’m not quite interested in math, in fact the topic brings be back to fear during middle school and high school, but this book about the modern scientific world is fascinating.
