“Modern Composers have become nothing more than the luxury tools of the capitalist system, dealers in narcotics, and if they wished to break out of their prison they would have to fulfill a new social function.” – Hanns Eisler

“The modern composer must change from a parasite into a fighter.” – Ruth Crawford

I’ve been asked a lot about my thoughts on patronage, artist survival, the effects of streaming, and the logistics and realities of owning one’s own label. In the end, the truth is I survive because you support me, whether that’s coming to a show, buying a record, or telling someone about my work. I’ve experienced first hand a major, catastrophic shift since the emergence and ubiquity of Spotify. As a fan and a maker, I too have enjoyed near effortless access to all the music in the world, but as an artist my reality suffers and my ability to make becomes more reliant on touring, commissions, film and TV, and less connected to direct support from fans accessing my music. Making a record and releasing it on your own label is insanely expensive and labor intensive… Every time I do it I nearly lose my mind, and yet I keep choosing it over and over again because I love and believe in the very specific art of making a record. But records make very few artists much money these days, the reality is, there’s not enough streaming revenue to go around. The split for Spotify is $.003 per stream. So 100,000 streams will get you 300 bucks. vs 100,000 digital downloads which use to net $70,000 for an independent artist like myself. Now imagine splitting that 300$ with a label, and from that half, paying your incredibly hardworking manager, other musicians on the road with you or contributing to the album, printing vinyl, etc etc. Obviously, $9.99 a month isn’t really enough for access to the entirety of recorded music, but we all now think it is…

At this point I haven’t participated in a donor based way of making through Patreon or Substack, though I don’t write it off. I know it works for a lot of people, but I think I feel shy about the access to my personal life which feels required in this type of exchange. Additionally I don’t wish to somehow find myself a “content creator” instead of an artist.

Artists keep giving up more of ourselves and I’m not sure it’s helping the work. It does, I think, exhaust us and encourage us to be just as skilled at the internet as we are at making art.

All this said, if you wish to support my work beyond the normal means, please… feel free. I’ll send you a postcard and infuse my gratitude into the work I make.

Above all, know that buying a record or a ticket to a show really does mean everything to us.

Very kindly yours, Emily