The cultural scene has been discussing book advances since last week. But what about music? And do we talk enough about money?
No number was mentioned more often in the culture bubble last week than 160,000 euros. Why? The non-fiction authors spoke at the digital and media conference Re:publica Mareice Kaiser and Hanno Sauer about class – and Kaiser got Sauer to name his publishing advance, the aforementioned 160k, while Kaiser had received 15k. And in contrast to many other nonfiction authors, she actually did quite well. And in my mind I heard DIY musicians and labels crying: Advances?
Of course, you can’t completely compare the different sectors of the cultural world: things work differently in art than in the publishing world, in music than in film. But some things remain the same everywhere: Verdi only published figures in March, according to which the gender pay gap in culture remains, and I quote, “massive”.remains at an average of 25% for freelance men and women (they remain binary), across all industries. In addition, the top and the majority are drifting further and further apart.
Who can still afford to make art?
For years it has been written again and again that the artistic middle class would die out. But what does that actually mean exactly? In my environment, for example, I see more and more musicians who, despite past chart positions and a stable fan base, are now considering taking on other jobs. I see it in the canceled tours of international artists because advance sales are not enough to finance a European tour in advance. I see it in the discussions about ticket prices, in the struggle of those who want to keep them under 30 or even 20 euros and are not sure whether the concert will even be affordable, and those who go over the 30 euro limit and are worried about whether they will get their tickets sold.
And we see it in the entire ecosystem around it: At the weekend, for example, I go to the Immergut festival, which celebrated its 25th anniversary last year and was already worried about its continued existence. This year they officially announced it, that from next year the festival will look different. How many days will it be long? Will there be more stages and international acts? Everything is still open. Economically, a festival like this is a balancing act, the prices for everything are rising, have sometimes doubled in the last few years – and at the same time, most of us who are not exactly billionaires simply have less money in our accounts since the pandemic due to inflation and price increases, which of course also affects ticket purchases and planning.
Rip-off as a business practice
At the same time, we are experiencing a shift towards an event culture in which a few selected artists and organizers can take pretty much any prize – and do as shown by the Ticketmaster/Live Nation court case in the USA. For example, Slack messages from two employees came to light who were celebrating each other for how cheekily they were ripping off fans and concertgoers. Fans are said to be “stupid” for paying their artificially inflated prices and extra fees, and they boast that they are effectively “robbing” fans.
But with every mega concert that we get ripped off for, the budget for other concerts is smaller. This way of doing business is not sustainable. But those who are currently swimming at the top don’t care what happens tomorrow.
