I’ve been doing a lot of inspirational reading over the holiday period, essentially a lot of stuff about the DIY Punk Rock ethos of the early ’80s and the growth of independent record labels, (e.g. Beastie Boys Book, Our Band Could Be Your Life, DIY or Die! etc…) and it’s really got me thinking about the state of the arts industries and our current job market.
It’s in no doubt we find ourselves living in a mass-consumerist culture where our entire lives are seemingly monetised. Everything is about money these days. We’ve convinced ourselves that our entire lives should be about making money, that if we spent time doing something, using our skills and knowledge then we should be paid for it. This is an incredibly privileged response, we’re brainwashed into thinking that if we don’t earn money we will die. On the flip side we avoid doing things that cost us money, because we think we don’t have enough of it. Money has started to be viewed as control, it’s why it’s more important to own your house that to have a pension. The small number of people with lots of money control the masses, and everyone is trying to be the people with the money. This is what’s fundamentally wrong with the world. But i’m here to tell you there is another way!
Stop thinking you need to make money. Instead start making art. Not to make a wage (although that would be nice), but to make something for others. And no, it’s not going to cost you any money to do so. Ideas don’t cost money, actions don’t cost money, your TIME does not cost money (even if you think it might do). Art should NOT be controlled by money. Look at the musicians you love, when they picked up an instrument and started playing, did they do it to make money? No, they did it for fun, for love, for art. And look at those people who viewed that art, listened to those musicians and thought “other people need to experience this”, they didn’t stop and think “this won’t make money, so what’s the point”, they started record labels, or wrote fanzines. They borrowed other peoples equipment, they recorded songs, they cut and stuck pictures and made record covers, they typed up stories, took photographs and photocopied them to make new magazines. They did it themselves. And if they didn’t we wouldn’t have most of the art which we love so much. Imagine if Sam Phillips had never started Sun Records, or Berry Gordy hadn’t founded Motown, we’d have no Rock & Roll, we’d have no Soul. Bring that forward into Punk, into Hip Hop, into the entire UK indie scene of the 90s, into rave culture, into dub sound systems. Imagine if Stanley Kubrick had never made Fear and Desire, if Tarantino never shot Reservoir Dogs, Wes Anderson had never made Bottle Rocket, i could go on for weeks about this stuff.
The important take away here is we should not limit ourselves, we should not let money be the deciding factor in what we do, what we make. Write that story, give it to the world. Make that game, publish it on steam. By all means see if someone is interested in publishing it, but if not, who cares, let the world enjoy it, because that’s why you made it in the first place. Personally i’m going to spent the next year trying to do as much as i can, and i’m going to be calling in every favour, every contact, every talented acquaintance i know to help me do it. Sure, i’m also going to be trying to find work that makes me money in order to live, but i’m not going to let that stop me making art and, in turn, helping others make art. So if you like what i’m saying, if you like what i’m doing, share it, reflect it, get in touch, help me, help others, help yourselves. Make it about art, about people, about fun, about the love of it.
