Doing what you want is art. But that does not mean everybody will be interested in what you do. But when you get art right, it's forever, when you get commerce right, it's evanescent. Think of all the legendary companies and products that have gone out of business/ceased to exist. But art...when done right, it lasts for the ages.
Artists don't compromise, artists don't do what's expedient, artists don't put the money first and won't do just anything for the money (not that they don't like to get paid).
Artists are born, not made, and people don't like this. You can study forever, practice, and still not be an artist, even though you might call yourself one. Artistry is a sensibility, an otherness, a perspective, a need to express oneself.
And once again, just because you want to put it out there, that does not mean you'll gain any attention.
Just because you can post to Spotify that does not mean you can get paid. If anything, fewer artists/acts can be ultra-successful today, because unlike in the past, the greatest of yesterday and the greatest of today are only a fingertip away online. Yes, if you're a singer-songwriter and you don't sing and write as well as Joni Mitchell...you're never going to be as big as her, at least not for long.
Since art cannot be measured, non-artists default to numbers, qualifications, chart positions, touring income. But think of all the acts that did boffo at the b.o. who can't get arrested today. Here today, gone tomorrow, isn't that what they say?
And artists know what their specialty is, and they don't stray from it, unless they're having fun and letting their audience know this is the case. Which is why most brand extensions don't ring true. Yes, you can sell clothing and perfume but are you really a designer? People might buy your products, but it undercuts whatever credibility you have, assuming you have any at all.
Sometimes the public embraces artistry out of the box. A good case would be Elton John's "Your Song." Then again, Elton had put out a previous solo album in the U.K. that meant nothing in America, never mind playing piano for acts before that. Chances are if you're starting today you're not going to be embraced tomorrow as an artist. Artists develop, they hone their chops, they figure out what works.
A true artist knows when they ring the bell.
Hacks don't.
Ask someone who has a legendary cut... They knew it when they made it. It might not have gone to number one, but they knew it was phenomenal. And you can only create something phenomenal occasionally, no matter how hard you try. But you keep trying.
But business doesn't like artistry, business likes insurance, guarantees. Which is why business insists that you work with others, they keep polishing the turd, thinking they know what is successful. But most of this work doesn't hit and even if it does it's forgotten. Sure, there can be artistry in collaboration, the push and pull of creation, but when the goal is commerciality and you get multiple people involved you lose the vision, and songwriting is all about the vision, and the chops.
But usually artistry takes a while to be embraced by the public. People don't understand it, because it's so different. They have to be exposed to it, it has to percolate in their brains.
And don't let anybody tell you that the game trumps the art. People who will say today's #1 is just as good as yesterday's. That's patently untrue.
All great art has an edge. It doesn't go down easily, or if it does it engenders feelings that never go away. Art makes you feel something, it could be anger, it could be love, but it's not mindless drivel, to be heard today and forgotten tomorrow.
But art, like I said above, is not easily quantified, nor is success predictable, so gatekeepers hate art. Which is why you get sequels in the movie business.
As for the public... It always wants the new and different and unpredictable. But the bar is extremely high, the work must resonate, and this is difficult to achieve, oftentimes you fail in your effort.
Think about all the acts that have hit records and then try to repeat the formula, make another record that sounds just like the last one. That almost never works, because even though people say they want something like what came before, they really don't, they want something new and different.
Artists are leaders, ahead of the game. Commerce comes to them.
And artists constantly reinvent themselves. Sure, there's business in going on the road and playing your greatest hits year after year, but that's not artistry.
Sometimes edge/artistry is about shock. That worked for Frank Zappa and Alice Cooper. But right now, in the unfettered internet era, almost nothing is shocking, not even Rammstein.
Art causes a reaction, it oftentimes rubs people the wrong way.
But when artists get it right, fans need to tell everybody they know about it.
The lack of artistry not only killed the mainstream movie business, but network television. If you're playing to everybody, you're losing. Everybody is never going to agree. If you're not hated, you're not an artist. It goes with the territory.
You want to be pushing people's buttons, you want to be challenging them, you want them eager to hear what you're going to do next.
But it used to be in the pre-internet era that the world was small, and the artists coexisted alongside the hacks. They could be seen, they were in the landscape. To get a major label deal and distribution, never mind press and radio, was nearly impossible, it was only for a select few.
But now everybody can play, and everybody tells you to compromise, to give the public what it wants.
That might get you a look, but not a sustained one. If you hit overnight today, chances are you're going to be forgotten tomorrow. Hell, most people don't even know what is #1 these days. Despite the press banging them over the head with it. The press is about consensus, the press is last when it comes to artistry. Just like most news stories break somewhere online before they end up in the major media. Today you go straight to the people, the audience, they are the tastemakers, not the intermediaries, who are too invested in the system to understand breakthroughs.
And just because it is outside and championed by fans that does not make it art. That's all tastemakers have got, their taste, and if they like what you do they have nothing. Which is why you oftentimes disagree with the critics. If something makes an impact and lasts forever, and is embraced by the public at large, there's a good chance that it's art. Back in the seventies all the rockers hated the Carpenters, now they love them. and one thing you've got to know about the Carpenters is they went against the grain. When everybody else was getting dirtier in their music and physical appearance, they were purveying clean and sweet.
Artists read an audience, but they don't kowtow to the public.
As for Grammy Awards... They belong in the closet or the bathroom. Chances are if you're boasting about your Grammys, you're a hack.
Now, more than ever, we want artists.
But the system is built for commerce.
But the barrier to entry is nearly nonexistent, and therefore it's hard to get noticed.
Artists always get noticed, even though it might take decades.
There are very few artists, even though so many people believe they are one.
And artistry is not enough to be successful. You have to have the desire, the perseverance, the ability to forgo almost everything...family, material wealth...in pursuit of your art.
True artists don't complain about Spotify payments, about the cost of going on the road, they know it all works out in the end.
Assuming they stay true to their art, their vision and keep on keepin' on.
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