Talkin’ ‘bout my generation
@2 years agoIndie Music as Labor
For information on the panelists themselves, see my earlier post.
“For musicians, the real question you have to ask yourself is, do you want to be an innovator or a placeholder?” -Iqua Colson
I attended this highly informative panel discussion last night at the Brecht Forum. The consensus that seemed to emerge was that musicians will benefit most if they recognize their common interest and fight against the current structure of music distribution, because the current system is designed, as Hasan Salaam put it, to “rape musicians.” This seemed to be true both in a capitalist and non-capitalist framework:musicians can make a better living now if they control their own distribution and start forming cooperative venues, and this sets up the potential for a post-capitalist paradigm of music. The commonality of interest was a key point- musicians will never get anything accomplished if they unite solely along the lines of their respective genres.
Beyond that, there were several points of controversy amongst the panelists. Iqua Colson recommended that musicians hold for dear life to their intellectual property rights, whereas David Harvey of course said that we should do away with intellectual property rights altogether and release all music into the public domain. He suggested that artists be publicly supported, an idea to which Salaam and many in the audience were hostile, fearing that it would inevitably lead to censorship. It’s difficult to imagine Harvey advocating the state in its present form being in charge of supporting music, but the concern is of course a legitimate one.
Some of my favorite observations included Marc Ribot’s note that the indie aesthetic and hype has oftentimes been a cover for union-busting, as the popular music has steadily been outsourced from union to non-union musicians. David Harvey, in agreement with this, also noted that the grab of intellectual property rights represents yet another capitalist attempt to monopolize, this time in the domain of cultural production. The structure of intellectual property rights, according to Harvey, allows a rentier approach: the real money is not in the production of music but in its distribution. Iqua Colson observed that in order for a musician to continue innovating as they please, they must break free of the current capitalist power structures in the music industry. Hasan Salaam related his own story of being essentially forced to self-produce and self-distribute as a way for musicians to connect with people outside the usual channels, and emphasized that it’s more than possible for a musician to handle their own distribution. Stanley Aronowitz noted the so-called “irony of the indies:” that they seem independent, but due in part to a lack of unionization, they are even more reliant on the big labels and distributors.
Jeff Mansfield’s story of organizing restaurant workers outside traditional union structures was highly encouraging. He spoke of his experiences in going after the high-profile, star-studded, celebrity-chef employing, but non-unionized kitchens to raise awareness of their cause. Equally important on the PR front is the promotion of chefs and managers who treat their workers well. If they are encouraged, they will speak out on behalf of pro-labor causes, giving other restaurants a model to follow. He noted that Taft-Harley has declawed unions, banning secondary boycotts and prohibiting protests of longer than 30 days. These avenues are still open, however, to non-union organizations. His greatest success was kicking out the managers and opening a worker cooperative restaurant in 2005, and he suggested that musicians can and should emulate his methods.
The questions ranged on a variety of topics: my own was about encouraging solidarity among musicians in the presently competitive environment of recording, another was about retaliation against organized musicians. These two were almost hand-waved away; I was reminded that there is a great deal of solidarity amongst currently unionized musicians, and another panelist reminded everyone that retaliation against organized labor is still illegal. One woman, involved with the Future of Music coalition, suggested a good way to reorganize the means of music distribution was for artists to work directly with smaller independent radio stations- the radio station can pay lower royalties while still giving the artist a better take of the money.
I really like the Brecht Forum- it’s an interesting place right on the West Side highway, with comfortable couches and its own kitchen. I hope to become a subscriber sometime soon, especially if the talks continue to be of this caliber.
