Struggling Artist Trope

I want us, as a community, to fully reject any reverence for the struggling artist trope. This trope assumes that an artist must struggle - especially financially - in order to produce great art and survive. It seems that we as a society value artist’s who suffer.

I would say that this trope is a reality for many artists, not for lack of talent, but because the industry structures around them prevent them from earning their keep. Tech giants like Spotify and Apple underpay songwriters and artists alike when it comes to streaming. Predatory label and publishing deals can stymie an artist or songwriter’s ability to accrue income. Payment models for royalties are often on significant delays such that, even when there is success, songwriters and artists must wait months to years in order to get paid. There’s a confluence of factors impacting nubile artists in their quest to see financial stability.

I say all this because I want to reframe something about being an artist. It is not the process of making art that causes the artist to suffer. Often times, it is the financial structures we have created in the music industry that give our artists grief. In that way, many artists might feel as if there are many factors in the music industry working against them.

If we reframe the struggle of the artist in this way, then we can un-work the narrative that the artist must suffer. We do not have to have tech giants that underpay artists. We do not have to have predatory contracts. We do not necessarily have to have payment models for royalties on months long delays (especially in the internet era). We can instead create a world in which artists do not have to suffer these barriers to joy and financial success.

Let us leave the struggling artist trope behind and invent a new one for the future. I propose the financially stable artist or the laboring artist.