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Let me help

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Most musicians don't do well off streaming services. I feel I'm doing something wrong by paying more than 100 pounds/euros/dollars a year to a service when they're not actually doing a great deal to support any but the most successful artists. Spotify et al should be investing in grass roots venues and paying out to smaller artists. The system's clearly broken.

For a long time I was the stereotypical broke musician and I'd do what I could just to get by, and as a consequence had little money to help other musicians. My situation has changed now to the extent that I do have disposable income. And I'm regularly in the situation that I see somebody whose work I like, appreciate and want to encourage. If you appreciate someone's work and have the means to support them, you really should. It could be a writer like Visa or be a musician like Simon Indelicate. And I think "this is great!". And I look at their site and I think, how is the best way for me to support you?

It's astonishing that many artists don't make it obvious how to help. Many are not there mainly to make money- they're driven by another thing. Very well. It seems safe to assume, nonetheless, that most of them are more than happy to get some support. The vast majority do not have any kind of clear indication of the best way to support them.

Many musicians have a Patreon account. But is that necessarily the best way to support them? I recoil at the idea of giving 10% to some techbro who's already a multimillionaire just for having set up a payment system. If the musician has said that, yes, Patreon is the way to go, ok, great, I'll support them that way. I have done this before. But perhaps the best way to support them is to buy a t-shirt? For artists trying to reach that all crucial level whereby they're able to sustain themselves through their art, and their patrons, these little differences add up and matter a lot. Regardless of the specific answer, the point is that every musician/creative person should make it abundantly clear:

"Hey, if you like what I'm doing and you want to support me, this is the way that helps me the most."

So, for example, for me, because I'm a complete unknown nobody, the best way they (you?) can support me is by signing up for my mailing list and telling one friend that they think might like my music to check out a song. At this point, personally, because of my life situation, I'm not trying to make it as a full-time musician "professionally". Or, at least, I'm not trying to depend on that financially in the short term. Money is not the thing I need most. What I need more is exposure and attention and so on. Maybe some gentle encouragement? A stern talking to? Who knows?

Of course, a lot of musicians have exposure and attention. The cliche, of course, is that exposure doesn't pay the bills. Every musician should make it extremely clear on their site what's the best way to support them.

If you'd like to support me in the way that helps most, please join my mailing list: