On this most recent tour of Australia I decided that I would release my new CD : Chucky Volume 2 Swirl Cauldron Swirl with hand made art work, each cover individually painted.
I feel like the actual hand painting of them, the process of painting individual CDs that I could sell was very healing. It seems that in so many ways, the music has been beaten about, bought and sold, undersold, exploited, robbed of goodness and consumed without respect for far too long. By manufacturing a CD and making covers for sale at performances, I had taken complete control of every aspect of my music, apart from recording the piano at Systems Two in Brooklyn. Everything else was done by me and could even possibly contribute to my survival financially if I was lucky.
When I introduced to the first audience that I had new CD and that it was only for sale here and that each copy was an original, I sold every CD i had immediately!
Why? Many reasons I suppose but one of the reasons is; that i am offering something unique. The music business and capitalism has to some extent taken the uniqueness out of music and mass produced it whilst offering meagre compensation for the artist who is, lest we forget, the person who fully created it.
It was also because I was selling something more personal and more me. Maybe the value will go up after I die? Maybe not?… but I do feel like I want to make a habit of always having these hand made CDs available at my performances.
Yes making artwork is hard work in some ways but somehow it was a cleansing thing for me…kind of therapeutic ? Liberating and fun.
The majority of musicians I know ask the question: How are we to actually survive now? What renumeration is available now that music is free? Why does the internet cost but music is robbed?
Well , my response is that I highly recommend the grass roots approach of making everything yourself if you can find the energy to do so. Buy some blank digi-paks and paint away oh brethren of the fiscal darkness.
