Thea Gilmore is a singer and a songwriter. They’ve been independently navigating their way through this business we call music since they were 16. In that time, they’ve made 14 albums, 2 children, 6 EPs,and countless singles. They’ve toured the UK and US more times than their mileometer can register. They’ve always had an independent spirit They only ever wanted to work with record labels who got that, and allowed them to put out the music they chose when they chose. That’s not easily achieved, but the 3 most recent albums have all hit the top 40, and through it all, they’ve kept that independent spirit. But in the words of the most famous peddler of this line of work – The times they are a-changin. Only a few weeks ago, the online daily “Consequence Of Sound” posted an article telling how the music industry grossed a revenue of $43 billion in 2017 – and that just 12% of that went to musicians. The rest headed in the direction of streaming platforms, labels and other industry bodies. And what did they earn from the sales of their 3 top 40 albums? Nothing. These are genuinely tough times for creators. All the arts are being marginalized from the top down, to the point where most can no longer make a living from their craft. Why? Well, recording an album is expensive. Good artwork is expensive. Pressing CDs and Vinyl is expensive. Employing people to tell the world about your album is expensive. Getting your album to radio and press is expensive…and the less the arts are valued, the fewer column inches there are for music, the fewer radio opportunities there are, which makes it even more expensive to pitch for the little there is going. And everyone gets paid before the person who actually made the music. Odd, but true. So despite chart success, they often still struggle to put food on the table. Now they want to keep making music. They WILL keep making music. And they’re not one to sit and complain. Things change, time marches on, they like to adapt. They won’t whinge about streaming platforms or the industry, there’s incredible work done by incredible people in all areas of music and the business… But can we do this together? The times they are a-changin. Please, find Thea on http://theaguardian.net even visit them on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/theagilmoreofficial/ For those of you who would like to become an Angel in The Abattoir by pledging $1 or more a month, please ask for the password here at Eventbrite.
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