Why I Do This
Over the years, I’ve heard plenty of musicians talk about how they’re in it for the music and not the money.
Still, growing up in the 70s and 80s, I saw making music at a certain level as synonymous with making money. I assumed that the acts on American Bandstand or Night Flight or MTV were doing well enough for themselves. For me, part of the dream of becoming like them was the hope I would do well enough not to have to work a day job.
That time for me is long gone. I have a day job now, and that suits me fine. I spent decades trying to avoid such a fate, but now that I have it, I wouldn’t want it any other way.
The music business has fundamentally changed since my Refreshments days. Today, professional musicians can’t wait around for some person or label to whisk them off to the next level. They have to do most all of that work themselves. There is good and bad to this change. The good part is musicians can quit complaining about their record companies. For the most part, they are their record companies.
The bad part is that, with the current systems available for distributing and promoting your work, it’s very hard to get enough attention, plays, and sales to earn enough money to avoid a day job. I respect anyone who blazes forward with their latest musical project into the digital music business, but I don’t envy them.
I think it’s good for any artist to have, at some point, the careerist aspect removed from their chosen pursuit. It makes you realize, once all the hope for financial success is removed, the essence of your relationship with your craft.
Here’s what I know about my life in music:
I love bringing songs into the world, watching them — through the contributions of me and my friends— come to fruition, distributing them to the folks I can reach, and seeing what comes back. Some guys my age like to golf, fish, hunt. Others follow a sports team or three. I do this.
With Loving Every Other Minute of It, I’m trying something new financially. Any money I bring in through album sales I plan to keep aside for future music projects. When it’s time to record again, the money I made from the previous project is the money I have for the current one.
I tell you this as I promote Loving Every Other Minute of It because I want you to know that, if you buy the album, you not only get the album. You’re supporting me in my pursuit to make another one. If I have my way, I’ll keep going like this for a long time. My producer and long time cohort Bret Hartley is up for it, and so am I.
I get that these are unprecedented times, and not everyone can afford luxuries like new music. Still, if you can help foster me and my music, pick up some version of Loving Every Other Minute of It, which directly supports my ability to make music going forward.
Loving Every Other Minute of It CDs are available for shipment now. There’s a vinyl option that comes with an immediate digital download of all tracks, and your physical vinyl copy is scheduled to ship in early December. Digital-only copies will be for sale at bandcamp.com starting November 6th.
Thanks in advance,
Art
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