Austin City Limits

PBS has a long running show titled Austin City Limits, featuring live performances by musicians and they sometimes put on some of the bands I like.  Last weekend, they played a combined show featuring Sufjan Stevens and Calexico.  Sufjan's show was disappointing - they only showed four songs, none of which were among my favorites, and plus, he and all his bandmates were wearing butterfly wings.  So it was a little unsettling.  Calexico was a little better, but not that great.  But I got to wondering while watching it (which shows I was a little bored)... how do these bands make money?  The concert venue was small, maybe 1000 people, and I'm sure PBS doesn't pay much, if anything, for the rights to show it.  At maybe $20 a ticket (tops), they'd make $20K for the night, right?  I can't imagine a regular Calexico concert sells out anything more than a 1000-seat venue, right?  Maybe Sufjan.  But not Calexico.  Is $20K a concert enough to make any money?

The house probably takes half, then the manager/agent/setup/ticketing costs, we're talking maybe $5000 for the band.  Not bad for one night I guess, but they have like 8 people in the band.  Plus, they did an album last year with the band Iron & Wine, so in the middle of the show, they brought them out to do a couple songs from that album.  Then, on one of those songs ("He Lays in the Reins"), they use a guest singer, who's some famous Mexican troubadoor.  They brought him out too.  I'm sure they all didn't come to Austin and play for free...  so what did each band member make, $100 for the night?  How do musicians make any money?  No one's buying their CDs anymore.  How are there so many bands out there?  Are all these bands I follow even making as much as I do?  I'd say their work means a lot more to the world than what I do for a living.  But they don't seem to be valued that way.

Several years ago, Superchunk released a DVD about their latest (and possibly final) tour, titled Crowding Up Your Visual Field.  It was a pretty great DVD, featuring excellent performances and a lot of behind the scenes stuff.  But it also made me pretty sad.  Superchunk is my #3 favorite band of all time, and have been for a while, and they've been toiling at this business since 1989, with relatively good - even great - success in underground/indie circles.  I mean, they're pretty legendary as an indie rock band of the '90s, even though they had zero mainstream success.  And here they were, driving around on buses, staying at crappy hotel/motels, playing at smallish venues, and basically trying to reduce expenses as much as possible the entire trip.  And these are the guys who founded Merge Records, one of the most successful indie rock labels around.  So they should have a little scratch, one would think.  But it didn't show.  They lived in modest houses and apartments and I believe at least one band member had a regular job when they weren't touring.  I don't know.  It all seemed depressing to me.  Here is a band that had such an enormous influence on me, and I feel that Mac McCoughan couldn't afford to buy the car I drive. 

Maybe I'm wrong.  Maybe they are living comfortably, but are just frugal with their money.  Maybe Calexico and their 17 person stage performance somehow turns a profit.  Maybe Sufjan is so rich that he's decided to make butterfly wings the new fashion statement of the 21st century.  And maybe, just maybe, it's enough to make a living doing what you love - making music - that the rest of it all falls into place anyway.  That's what I'm choosing to believe.  I suppose if I could just write all day long and not have to worry about going to a crappy job I don't enjoy, I wouldn't mind driving around in a used car.  I hope that's true.

• Download Calexico and Iron & Wine - "He Lays in the Reins".mp3
• Download Calexico and Iron & Wine - "A History of Lovers".mp3
• Download Sufjan Stevens - "The Henney Buggy Band".mp3
• Download Sufjan Stevens - "Dear Mr. Supercomputer".mp3
• Download Superchunk - "Shallow End".mp3
• Download Superchunk - "Everyone Gets Crushed".mp3

Comments

[Charles RU Farley]

Maybe if you charged 50 cents per download (and gave it to the band), instead of giving these artists' music away for free, they'd make some cash.

Of course, if they hit it big mainstream, you wouldn't like them anymore.