Spare change...please?

What a time to be alive...technology has blessed us with so much, and I am amazed daily by the limitless possibilities. I am amazed at how much everything has changed even since I was kid.

I saw the cassette tape turn into the CD, which turned into the MP3 file.

A computer program managed to take sounds and translate them into 1's and 0's that the computer could understand...whereas the old way of cassette recordings was once the norm.

It's easy to forget how much it's all changed our lives- everything is so simple and accessible.

It's easy to take it all for granted.

It used to be the cool thing to go out to the record store and buy your favorite artist's new vinyl or CD the week it came out.

Then singles became more popular.

Then iTunes made it easier to only have to buy that single.

Then- why buy the single if you can listen to that song for free if you can stream it on youtube, or soundcloud, or bandcamp, etc.?

Why buy any of it? You want it now in this moment, and really it's just too much money to buy it. Is it though?

Is 99¢ really that much to pay for a song that you can listen to over and over?

I don't think so. I think you have that spare change in your car or at the bottom of your handbag anyway.

I work a part time job busting my butt and saving every penny I have to pay for my recordings.

At the end of this EP- after recording, traveling, and PR, I'll be chilling at around $10,000 in expenses.

With my part time job, I'll only make about $10,000 in a year. However, no matter where my favorite artists choose to publish their work, I save up where I can to buy their record. Their whole record (because as Taylor Swift rightly pointed out, albums should be consumed as a whole.)

I know the struggle. Making my music is very expensive but I do it because I believe in myself and my work enough to invest in it. Other artists are doing the same thing- and it sucks a lot to hear grown people straight up WHINE about how awful it is when a new song by their favorite artist isn't being streamed. They feel they're being cheated. Are you though? You don't want to pay someone for their job, yet you're the one cheated.

Spotify doesn't fairly pay the artists, either. It's like sweatshop wages for artists- truly. That's what you're supporting.

iTunes, on the other hand, pays the artist 93% of every sale. That's much better.

As with any business, if you support them and purchase their goods, they stick around and you can continue to enjoy their product. If you enjoy and connect with their music, support them. Share their music on Facebook and Twitter, tell your Tinder date about the show coming up with your favorite local artist.

A broke musician who's working hard to afford life AND music at the same time, can only continue to do so if you support them with that spare change that you have in your car, or at the bottom of your handbag.