Writer Luc Rinaldi first came on to my radar when I noticed the headline for his newest piece in The Walrus. The article, titled The Death Of The Middle Class Musician, is a dire and detailed look at the economic landscape for roughly 99% of artists making music today. Rinaldi begins the piece by focusing on the story of a critically and commercially successful Edmonton rapper known as Cadence Weapon. In full detail, we see the production and distribution costs for Cadence Weapon pile up with little monetary compensation in return.
Despite having millions of streams and winning major awards, Cadence Weapon still found himself unable to even pay the rent from his music. In fact, for most of his career, he has found himself deeply in debt to record companies. It is just one story in an industry beset with obstacle after obstacle for almost any artist without Taylor Swift size fanbases. Much like the rest of our day to economy, the streaming economy is favoring those scant few artists with all of the power and money while exploiting and underpaying the rest of the artists making music simply out to see a fair value paid for their work. The billionaires win again.
Luc and I discuss the impact that the big three labels - Sony, Universal, and Warner Music - are having on the rest of the musical economy. This trio of companies holds an overwhelming percentage of the recorded music in existence, and as such are focused on squeezing the shareholder value of their existing product, and are far less concerned about new artists making a living. And at one point or another all three of these companies have held a sizable stake in Spotify. It is an incestual beast that we independent artists are fighting against.
We delve into the current realities for the middle class musician, including the shocking rises in costs to touring since before the Covid outbreak. Once successful and financially viable acts have now been forced to shutter operations altogether because there is no longer a viable financial model for them to make a living. Luc shares the story of beloved Toronto band Tokyo Police Club who recently hung it up because they could no longer make ends meet as a functioning band.
There is an obligatory portion of discussion centered around AI art and music and how it will inevitably influence and shape the culture. It’s an issue we cannot seem to get away from at this moment. Luc and I both find hope in the way that artists of all ages are already eschewing AI creation as an easy way out for lazy creators. We both remain hopeful that true artists will continue to make things with their hands and their hearts. Neither of us are ready to let an app write our next song or compose our next essay.
Luc reminds us of the value that artists have by sharing their work, even in a world that may not pay them back in dollars right now. We cover a few ways that we can support independent and emerging artists as fans, and Luc talks a bit about the new book he is currently working on about the impact of smartphones on our culture.
This is a dense and enlightening conversation with a writer and thinker who sees the world and the value of art and music in fascinating ways. Here now is my talk with writer and musician, Luc Rinaldi.
Cheers,
Matty C
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