There are very few people I know who wouldn’t agree that money is a pain in the ass. Those who disagree probably have a lot of it, although I think wealthy people are probably equally bothered by it. Honestly, I’ve never cared that much about money, otherwise I’d have majored in finance and jumped straight into Wall Street (I don’t even know if that’s a real major). Among the many risks of being a musician is a huge financial one, but I don’t care because all I want to do is make music, and if I’m not doing that I won’t be happy. And that’s the point, isn’t it? Every day my heart aches a little more when I’m not able to devote myself 100% to what I love to do. But no matter how little I care about money, I still need (and want) it, and it sure would be nice to have a lot of it. Because maybe money can’t buy happiness, but there is one thing it can buy: Freedom. Sweet, sugary freedom.

The music-money relationship is a tricky one. For a very large portion of people out there that are earning money from a day job, it’s all about business. To make money from music, you inevitably have to turn it into a business, and turn your band and your CD into the product you’re selling. Someone once told me, “make it fun, don’t make it work.” Well, the point of trying to make music my “work” is because it’s always fun. Otherwise I wouldn’t be doing it. Don’t we all want a fun job? That’s all I’m trying to get for myself. When I make it work, it’s the most fun work I’ve ever done. It makes me want to work.

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Don’t get any
Big ideas
They’re not gonna happen

-Radiohead

Recently, I was watching the TV show House. In the episode, a patient was a soap opera star who was talking about how much he hated his job. He wanted to be in something important, something influential, a show or film that meant something. Any time one of the doctors told him to just quit his soap opera gig, he said “it’s not that easy.” When pressed for more explanation, he had none.

They never really went into any more detail than that, but it got me thinking: who decides how much one can push their art’s boundaries? Are artists here to entertain or innovate? Or both? If you’re hoping to push the envelope but just end up in a gray area that doesn’t revolutionize but does entertain, when should you resign yourself to be satisfied with what you’ve accomplished as an artist? Or should you at all?

When the show was over, we watched a live Radiohead performance on the Music HD channel. They mostly performed songs from In Rainbows. They are one of the best bands I’ve had the pleasure of seeing live, and the concert proved they’ve only gotting tighter as a musical unit since I last saw them. The difference in musical contribution to the world between them and, say, a band like Good Charlotte or Nickelback, is like night and day. But the latter two bands entertain large audiences. Some might call it mindless, others call it greatness. When it comes down to it, they’re both equally valid for different reasons. But if the members of Nickelback are in the business to innovate, should they accept their place in the music world (which, for the record, is in a spot pretty free of innovation), or should they keep pushing to be something they are most likely never going to be?

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