Hi, my name is Jack Pordea! I’m a student at the University of Missouri St. Louis and an aspiring musician. For the past couple years I have been cultivating relationships with other musicians in the area in hopes of launching a career myself. Throughout my experience, I have found that musicians are severely struggling in today’s socioeconomic climate. I began asking why this is, as there are artists who blow popular “superstars” out of the water in terms of talent and musical skill.
Fortunately for me, I have had the opportunity of writing about this topic for one of my classes. My research and experience has revealed a significant dissonance between artistry and entrepreneurship. Most artists want all the freedom they can get in terms of creative and intellectual property, but lack the skills necessary to incorporate entrepreneurship in their lives. This is why many artists defer to record labels for this part of their career. Labels can be extremely beneficial, but also have the tendency to severely infringe upon artists rights. That’s why musicians face such unique and extreme circumstances within the industry.
I hope you enjoy reading about this issue and hearing different opinions on it through the interviews I conducted with some local artists. Check out my academic research here.