Figuring Out Your Artistic Situation: An Ideal or A Necessity?
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If you didn’t know by now, I’m a huge Bon Iver fan. Ever since being introduced to “For Emma, Forever Ago” and falling immediately in love with it, I’ve eaten up every record Justin Vernon has put out since. For once, the Facebook algorithm actually recommended me something I’d be interested in: a podcast episode featuring Justin Vernon on how to build a sustainable career in music! Naturally, I couldn’t help myself but check it out. Here are some of my thoughts on what he said. You can listen to the podcast below.
What exactly is an artistic situation? I don’t have White’s book, which the podcast is based on. However, in another article, the artist manager asserts that the most successful artists are those who have “a clear vision of who they are and their purpose for putting art into the world”, which I believe is a good working definition.
“To me, what connects with any other human (…) is being genuine and making the art that is true to your heart (…).”
In the podcast, Vernon explains that after years of trying so hard, he decided to stop conforming himself in order to get signed by a label and simply make an album that he needed to make at that point in time, in order to express his internal world. His release plan was as DIY as you can get: have a friend master the album for dirt cheap, have another friend’s girlfriend’s mum design the artwork, print 500 CDs, get his parents to help him fold said artwork and put the CDs in, put the music on MySpace, and finally do a release show in his hometown. Shortly thereafter, labels came calling and as you know, the rest is history. Amongst other things, Vernon even goes on to say that “the greatest promo was the art itself”.
“the greatest promo was the art itself.”
But was it easy for Vernon to make this statement because he had “made it”? Or rather, did he succeed because it is the essential secret behind making great art?
The thing about being true to yourself and your music is that it might not be what people want to listen to. You would have to accept that it might never translate to any level of commercial success, just as Vernon did. But you can always be proud of what you put out and just maybe, you might get lucky and do what you love for a living! On the other hand, if becoming a star is your goal, then having your music appeal to as many people as possible is the game that you will have to play. Is that what made you go into music in the first place? Are you willing to do that for the rest of your career? Naturally, life isn’t black and white and everyone would have to find their balance between these two points. Even so, it seems that figuring out your artistic situation is a vital first step to making music. Without a clear vision, we would be hollowed out by the consuming need to constantly be liked.
“the value of who you are as a human being is not going to be defined by whether or not you ever become recognised.”
For me, I know why I started writing these songs of mine in the first place. I still struggle when I see others being more “successful” than I am, but I’m learning to accept my lot in life and be genuinely happy for these people. My songs aren’t everyone’s cup of tea but still, I’m extremely proud of them. Despite the lack of “success”, I write songs because that’s a big part of who I am. I will continue to do so until I have nothing left to say.
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