When will the singer-songwriter thrive again?
There was a time when things looked up for the troubadour in the age of digital music. Earnings are so paltry from streaming that 3-6 piece rock bands have become virtually unviable. A lot of those drum-string duo’s knock around, but I always think they should get a guitarist, or a bassist, or ratchet things up to a trio at least!
But what if you can make a record all by yourself? Surely then, you can make a sustainable leaving from even a modicum of success?
Not likely.
Many troubadours follow a tradition of playing most instruments on their records, just as Macca did for his post-Beatles debut solo album in 1970. It was a sort-of home made record. Apart from some vocal contributions from Linda, McCartneyis a one-man show, with Sir Paul doing everything, maybe just because he could, or perhaps out of necessity. At that time, he was probably skint, the Beatles’ business deals and finances being what they were. But then McCartney was a no. 1 album, and the rest is history.
I mulled this when browsing the sleeve notes of English singer-songwriter Marika Hackman’s album Big Sigh. Marika was my latest guest on The Art of Longevity. She wrote and produced the record but is credited with vocals, guitar, piano, drums, percussion, synths, bass and sarangi. I didn’t even know what that last one was, until my editor chimed in:
“FYI a sarangi is an Indian stringed instrument used quite heavily in a lot of traditional Punjabi music as well as other northern parts of the country. It's a very emotive instrument”.
Thanks Harminder Dhanjal! (a brilliant editor he is too).
Big Sigh wasn’t done on the cheap, however. It has horn players, a string section, and well known producer Charlie Andrew on engineering duties. A supporting cast of a dozen other key players. It shows. The arrangements are superb. Every listen reveals something new. Keep listening and your favourite songs will shuffle around changing places like a game of musical chairs. That’s Big Sigh. A record such as this, in 2024, can reach a fleeting and lofty height of number 67 on the UK chart.
So what’s wrong with the system here?
“Everything gets put on the little guy. Why has it become about artists and fans rather than labels driving the commerce? There should be a mutual respect between artist and fan, do they really want to see me on a selfie cam sending out a faceless message?”
This was a revelation to me, because a lot of industry actors (me included) have claimed that artists should indeed go their own way and run their own SMEs. As Nerina Pallot* said on the podcast back in Season 4: “get the fuck out of the way of me and my fans” (she was speaking mostly about record labels, not other industry actors).
But is that fair? Some artists want to make and perform music, leaving the commerce and marketing to others - labels and distributors. Just, you know, cut them a better deal while you are at it.
Publishing advances, tour support, record label advances, tour fees. These can be a lifeline for real deal, developing artists. But once those stop, it’s down to them and only them. Consider, then - for the vast majority of established singer-songwriters - it’s essentially one person i.e. the troubadour, funding and paying everybody else.
With great talent comes too much responsibility. On The Art of Longevity we’ve had John Grant, Alela Diane, Laura Veirs, Ed Harcourt, Ron Sexsmith and many more fine singer-songwriters opening up about their restricted finances and frustration at not being able to take a full band on tour. There’s only so much a multi-talented, multi-album, multi award-winning troubadour can do.
As Marika also says:
“It’s hard to break that ceiling to that next level - where it can run by itself - you need people to invest in you over the longer term, not just for one tour. As artists we need to value ourselves more. We need to stop showing the industry that we are worthless. There can’t be an industry without us”.
Something has to change. The music industry needs to transform itself from a system into an ecosystem. Instead of the beast of big tech and big business feeding off of the artists efforts, can they be persuaded towards a more sustainable way of putting food on the table for all.
The troubadour is more than an entertainer at the banquet.
Nerina Pallot footnote. So, after two decades as a ‘modestly successful’ (i.e. financially struggling but brilliant) singer-songwriter, Nerina Pallot brought her classic 2005 album ‘Fires’ to the grand stage of London’s Palladium last evening (April 13). It was a triumph. The 2,100 capacity Palladium was packed to the rafters and the show (full band plus 10-piece orchestra) was an epic wonder. Every one of her fans would have known how much Nerina fretted about ticket sales, whether anyone would come etc. But a fun fact was that the merch stall queues were snaking through the Palladium corridors. When Nerina (a one woman musical SME if ever there was one) thanked her “Head of Retail” (I think that means the person who works on her merch stand) the cheering and applause was equal to any of the musicians on the stage. Bravo.
When will the singer-songwriter thrive again?
It can and must be done.