University of Waterloo

Becoming a Modern Artist

Bill Zheng
English 109
Professor Forrester
2 December 2016

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Becoming a Modern Artist

One of the most demanding, difficult and yet least rewarding professions is a musician.
Most musicians put thousands of hours of practice, stretch their creativity and strive to be the
best in their craft, but the vast majority fail, with no real return or recognition for their effort and
talent. Indeed, this has been the stereotype and stigma associated with artists in general, due to
most not earning a single dime for their effort. Despite this negative perception, the best time to
be a musician is definitely in modern times, due to a higher degree of creative freedom, as well
as access to tools never thought possible that allows a higher chance of success and achieving
their dreams.
The freedom to express ones thoughts freely is vital in art, and for some artists the only
reason they exist and succeed. Artists today have complete freedom of the contents of their
works and projects, which was simply not possible in the past. One of the main reasons of this
restriction is due to political correctness and societal pressures. There are numerous songs and
genres that consist of offensive topics that have been banned outright in the past. For example, a
classic Beatles A Day in the Life was banned completely from play by BBC radio in 1967, for
simply containing the line Found my way upstairs and had a smoke. (Thompson). Subjects
such as drug and tobacco use in music would be completely acceptable today, but in the 1960s it
was considered extremely taboo, offensive and tasteless to even remotely suggest such an idea.
Songs today depict much worse, for example, Pumped Up Kicks by Foster the People depicted
school shootings, murder and sadism. However, it was extremely popular, reaching number 3 on
the Billboard 100 (Foster the People) and thus was accepted as a mainstream song. There is no
possible way such a song could have been acceptable in the 60s, as society could not even
handle the mention of drugs, let alone the murder of youth. This lack of freedom restricts artists,

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and there are many examples of critically acclaimed and important artists that were not
successful during their active years due to the suppression of their ideas by society. Velvet
Underground, a band who released the album Velvet Underground & Nico in 1969 were
massively unsuccessful, selling less than 30,000 copies despite their album being number 13 on
Rolling Rocks list of greatest albums in 2015 (500 Greatest Albums of All Time). This was
mainly due to the album containing mentions of heroin use, masochism and sadism, topics that
society were uneasy with at the time. The general attitude of society also restricts the success and
freedom of artists. The early 1900s were considered the golden age of Jazz, and featured many
African-American artists such as John Coltrane and Miles Davis who are now considered the
greatest artists of their genre by critics and historians (Scaruffi). However, their careers were
hindered extremely by racism as the public harassed them publicly, as well as rejected their
music simply due to their race (Scaruffi). Clearly, many important works and genres were
influenced and created under the censorship of society, and some artists were not even
recognized until their death. Nowadays, artists do not have to fear about the contents of their
album, and genres like Hip Hop and alternative rock are extremely successful. Altogether, the
two genres sold 80 million records in 2012, roughly 25% of the entire music market (US music
sales by Genre), despite containing controversial topics such as violence and drugs. Clearly,
artists want to challenge the norm and innovate, but are often unable to do so while succeeding
simply due to the close mindedness of society. Without the freedom to express themselves, many
artists today would not even exist, let alone be successful and financially independent.
Several decades ago, it would have been prohibitively expensive for musicians to create and
distribute music. Nowadays, almost anybody can record, produce and sell music, allowing music
to be much more accessible and a more viable career for potential artists. Even in the 1990s, if

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one wanted to create a music album, they would need to rent a recording studio for several weeks
to months to record a commercial album (Ardell). Renting a recording studio is not cheap,
costing roughly $500 per day (Ardell). Even if recording took a month, it would cost upwards of
$15,000, not including sound engineers and equipment. In 1989, the median income of an
independent musician in North America was $8,800 (National Endowment of Arts), barely
half of what it would cost to record an album. Some major commercial albums such as Guns N
Roses Chinese Democracy cost $13 million to record, due to long recording sessions, equipment
and staff. Obviously, the average person let alone a musician cannot afford the exorbitant costs
to record an album. However, artists now have a variety of tools that did not exist a few decades
ago. A musician can use computer software record their voice and produce music for themselves,
as well as utilize digital instrumental samples to avoid buying expensive equipment. There are
several insanely successful artists, namely electronic music artists whose works only comprise of
digital samples and production such as Daft Punk, Deadmau5 and Skrillex, all of which have
sold millions of albums as well as hold various Grammy and other music awards (Rubinstein).
Therefore, it is both financially and artistically viable to rely completely on a computer for music
production, even though it is several orders of a magnitude cheaper than a recording studio,
allowing the music industry to be much more accessible for the average artist. Additionally, it is
also much easier to distribute and monetize ones music in modern times. Before the internet, the
only way to earn money through selling music was either having a deal with a record label in
order to have CDs in stores, or to play in public for change. The first option is the only
financially viable one, but is incredibly difficult for the average musician. According to Bryden
Haynes, a music industry analyst, the average musician has a 1 in 3428 chance of being signed to
a record label (Haynes), which is truly an abysmal chance of success. Through the internet, there

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exists numerous free websites such as Bandcamp and Spotify where artists can release and
monetize their music for free without unfair terms. Bandcamp only takes a 15% cut on each
record sale (McIntyre) compared to record labels and retailers, who take up to 50% of each
album sale (Keif). Services like Bandcamp and Spotify are also extremely large, with Bandcamp
paying artists over $100 million so far (McIntyre), and Spotifys revenue in 2015 being $2
billion. Referring to figure 1, it is clear that digital sales are overtaking physical sales,
Figure 1: Physical vs Digital album sales over time, from ifpi.org; Web; 2 Dec 2016.

showing that it is becoming more difficult to rely on physical album sales over digital sales and
streaming for income. Overall, it is much cheaper, more likely and much fairer for modern
artists in terms of being able to actually earn money for their work. Thus, through the access of
tools such as computer software to produce and create music as well as websites to sell music,
the best time to be an artist financially is definitely now.
In the age of the internet, it is sometimes difficult to not get noticed as a talented
musician, simply due to how accessible music is for listeners, as well as the existence of various

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platforms that support discussion and promotion such as forums and social media. Before the
internet, there were very few ways for the general public to be aware of an artist, mostly
consisting of television, radio and magazines (Colohue). However these methods were only
available to musicians who were already successful in the first place. For example, music
magazines such as the Rolling Stone, which is the largest music magazine by sales and
circulation (Total Circ for Magazines), exclusively interviews and promotes artists who are
already popular, such as the Beatles, Jay-Z and other well-known musicians (Rolling Stone
Archive). This is similar to radio, where the most popular radio stations only play the most
popular songs, giving small artists little chance to promote themselves. This is entirely different
from the music scene of today. Artists no longer have to limit themselves to traditional types of
media, and can promote themselves on social media. There are multiple internet forums such as
What.CD and RYM that are dedicated towards discussing talented, underground artists, with
RYM having 10 million visits per month (Rateyourmusic). A prime example of an artist that
relied heavily on the internet for their success is Childish Gambino, also known as Donald
Glover. Glover released his first mixtapes and album exclusively through the internet, and relied
purely on word of mouth on forums for popularity (Glover). In fact, he named his latest album
Because the Internet, due to the importance of the internet in his career and it being the catalyst
for his success (Glover), which includes reaching 3rd on the Billboard 100 as well as selling half
a million copies of his latest album (Childish Gambino). Clearly, through forms of media only
present on the internet, an artist has much better and accessible ways to promote themselves,
with some relying on the internet for their success. Despite some controversy, internet piracy is a
powerful tool that allows regular people, who might not be able to afford music, access to any
almost any song or album. Piracy is incredibly huge, as it is estimated that over 50 million CDs

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are downloaded illegally every month. There are several music pirating websites such as
What.CD, who dedicates themselves to only underground albums. What.CD boasts over 2
million visits per month, and according to a PHD student from Harvard, piracy affects profits
positively for the least popular 75% of artists (Blackburn). However, some still argue that piracy
hurts artists severely, to a point where even popular artists go bankrupt due to loss of album
sales. This is simply false. In typical album sale, only 6.6% of the sale goes to the artist, so in a
typical $12 album, the artist only receives 80 cents. Artists such as Jay-Z and Taylor Swift have
net worths of several hundred million dollars, and most of their albums sell around 2 million
copies (Harden), which means that album sales are not even 1% of their overall net worth.
Overall, piracy only benefits unpopular and underground artists, and barely affects popular ones
negatively. It is evident that through the existence of the internet, beginning artists can get
themselves noticed much easier and cheaper than older, traditional methods.
To have a successful career in music as an artist is an incredibly difficult task, as while it
is possible to reach a celebrity status, it is an impossible dream for the average, or even talented
musician. However, the advancement of social norms and technology have made it much easier
for artists to express themselves, create their music and have their work be listened to by an
audience. There is no doubt that a career in art will not be as reliable as other fields, but if one is
passionate about music or the arts, the best time is certainly now. Music is integral parts of
society and culture, and allowing artists to more easily express themselves and be successful is
vital for the progress of art in general.

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Works Cited
Thompson, Gordon. ""A Day in the Life"The Beatles and the BBC, May 1967 Oxford
Handbooks." "A Day in the Life"The Beatles and the BBC, May 1967 Oxford
Handbooks. N.p., 28 Sept. 2016. Web. 30 Nov. 2016.
"Foster the People." Chart History. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2016.
<http://www.billboard.com/artist/302313/foster-people/chart>.
Scaruffi, Piero. Beatles. The History of Rock Music. Beatles: Biography, Discography,
Reviews, Links, www.scaruffi.com/vol1/beatles.html.
U.S. Music Sales by Genre. Statista, www.statista.com/statistics/188910/us-music-album
sales-by-genre-2010/.
Ardell, Jena. How Much Does It Actually Cost to Make a Song? ($8,320). L.A. Weekly, 24
May 2016, www.laweekly.com/music/how-much-does-it-actually-cost-to-make-a-song
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National Endowment for the Arts. Encyclopedia of U.S. Political History,
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Hughes, Jonny. The 10 Most Expensive Albums Ever Recorded. Goliath, 29 Apr. 2016,
www.goliath.com/music/the-10-most-expensive-albums-ever-recorded/9/.
Rubenstein, Peter. Skrillex Just Dethroned Daft Punk As Best Electronic Artist By Breaking
New Record. Your EDM, 15 Feb. 2016, www.youredm.com/2016/02/15/skrillex
officially-dethrones-daft-punk-as-electronic-artist-with-the-most-grammys/.

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Bryden, Haynes. What Are the Odds of Succeeding without a Record Deal? - MTT Music
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Glover, Donald, and :Lily Rothman. A Conversation with Childish Gambino. Time, 5 Dec.
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Childish Gambino. Childish Gambino - Chart History | Billboard,
www.billboard.com/artist/299122/childish-gambino/chart.

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Blackburn. Why Most Artists Profit from Piracy - TorrentFreak. TorrentFreak, 27 July 2007,
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