How to avoid recognition in music?

 Hi, this is Greg Zeroin from Sci-fi Music. Today I will post a rather unusual conversation with a professor and researcher of sociomusicology, who happens to be a musician as well, Dr. Jacob Scuro.

G Jacob, how did you find yourself this research topic of avoiding recognition in music?

J It is rather simple. As a musician, I had a hard time avoiding recognition and I wanted to learn more about it. How to achieve and keep obscurity have become something of an obsession to me.

G Okay, let us go back to the beginning. How avoiding recognition has become an issue for you? You know, most people think that musicians actually desire recognition and they struggle to get into the spotlight somehow.

J They do. Yes, I am painfully aware of that. But I am not convinced that it is their fault entirely. When you look at it closely, you realize that the whole system of music presentation and distribution is biased or even blatantly geared towards putting the musician behind the storefront window. Driven youngsters blossoming interest in the art of creating and arranging sounds is quickly interrupted by a system of witnesses. Starting out with the art, they dive in this exciting new realm of acoustic freedom as brave explorers and the next time they look around they are being stared at by literally anyone. See, this is unfair. As I studied the history of music it became more and more evident for me that the situation got worse and worse ever since people started making music.

G I..I am not sure if I can follow you, Jacob. One would think that recognition and attention may be a burden sometimes but people make music to impress others and to help them to process their own feelings and to take them on an intellectual journey and how... how musicians could achieve these goals without being recognized, you know as such. As musicians.

J This is a common misconception that is fueled basically by people who want to make money by controlling who gets to see and listen to the musician. For a very long time people were willing to pay for music. Which is totally understandable, don’t get me wrong. But their willingness to pay eventually built an intellectual and sociological cage in which artists stepped in as if there was no other option to advance in being a musician.

G Your use of past tense suggests that people are no longer willing to pay.

J Yep, thanks to technology, people have unlimited and uncontrolled access to music for basically free today. They may still pay an insignificant amount for some kind of convenience service that makes the experience smoother, but that’s all. It is safe to say that today you can listen to most every piece of music ever recorded without giving anything else than your attention in return.

G How did this unlimited, uncontrolled access affected musicians? Did they get out of their cage?

J It still perplexes me but they did not get out. What happened instead was that these changes locked them even stronger, deeper in their cages.

G What exactly happened?

J It’s a bit complicated. But here’s a simple version. Once the music industry, historically fueled by controlling access to music, realized that people’s access became uncontrollable they quickly switched their attention from the audience to the musician. They basically took the musicians to those cages and told them: “Hey, did you realize that thanks to bloody technology, people can listen to whatever they like these days? You think that’s a good thing? Think again. In the past, people had access to tapes and discs they paid for, or they could go to a store to buy new tapes or disks from a selection of maybe hundreds. They had to pay in advance, and once they made their purchases, they were invested in that music and they listened to it over and over again. Now, they have uncontrolled access to billions of recordings. How do you think they end up listening to you? How do you think anyone will ever recognize you? Even if they find you, what makes you think that they will listen to your new album from beginning to end? Especially if you’re just getting started? In order to get back to your dog and pony ring inside that beautiful, shiny cage you need to compete with millions of musicians all the time from now. How do you get in, punk?” Then and there, musicians had their choice. They could have just laughed it off and walked away free as birds. They could have decided to team up with system developers and the best kind of audience and together they could think up something new that serves them both. But they didn’t. They started to panic and they asked if the music industry could help them somehow to get back to their cages.

G And it could.

J And it could. For a hefty fee they promised to provide storefront windows and cages that expose a selection that will herd listeners. And that is how the music industry got back its control over the whole dog and pony thing. The only difference is that now it’s the dogs and ponies who pay the price to play in the cage - not the audience. A terrible outcome, if you think about it.

G But musicians are still earning money, right?

J Oh yeah, some of them are. And that is alright, they deserve it. But most of them are stuck in front of the cage, trying to get in. With about 250 streams they earn a dollar and they can hardly buy 250 streams for a dollar. The system is geared towards having a few that actually earn something - supported by masses who keep coughing up dough for production fees, distribution, promotion, and nowadays directly for streams and followers. For example on Spotify, out of more than a million artists, who have over 1K listeners only about 10 percent have a somewhat acceptable income. Imagine a world in which folks do not have to pay for bread. There are millions of bakers but only a handful of them make more money than they invest. All the other bakers keep paying for ingredients, energy, labour, storage and presentation as well as paying for people to taste their bread. Hoping that one day they might become a member of the lucky handful.

G It kinda sounds really terrible if you put it that way.

J I know. And that was precisely the reason why I started to slowly tear my eyes off that shiny cage.

G And actively avoid recognition?

J Well, it wasn’t a goal in the beginning. I just wanted to get some fresh air from the constant scuffle around those gates. Just wanted to find some time to reflect upon what’s up with music outside of that ring.

G And what have you found?

J Everything. In fact, the more I discovered about the blessings of obscurity, the more excited I became. A universe of possibilities opens up once you get yourself free from this myth that the only acceptable outcome is recognition and fame. Actually avoiding recognition is a million times more valuable if you are interested in finding out more about your relationship with music. About your goals and ways to create. It has been a blast for me and I can safely say it has been similarly fruitful for most musicians who are willing to listen to me.

G So you started out a movement? A revolution of moving into obscurity?

J Well it is not for everyone, I understand that. But there’s a growing number of musicians, writers, and fine artists who took the path with me towards the Edge - this is what we call the experience of getting to the boundaries of the known and venturing off into the unknown. Instead of getting known we take trips into the unknown (laughs). I gotta tell you the process is far more interesting and enjoyable.

G I can only imagine. So what if someone wants to find out more about what you’re discovering around the Edge? Is there any way of experiencing that blast of yours? Or avoiding recognition means that those journeys are only for you and your fellow artists?

J Well, you know it is not impossible to get on some excursions with us. But it’s not easy either.

G Don’t tell me we have to pay a little fee for the experience.

J Haha, no, nothing like that. But you have to be able to lose yourself a bit.

G What do you mean, give us a clue! How do we lose ourselves in order to find you?

J You need to search for appropriate ways of losing yourself. As a matter of fact, one of my fellow musicians in this exile from recognition just released an album in which he gives some hints. More than a few actually. Precisely ten of them.

G Ah, alright, I think I know what you mean.

J That’s great. It has been wonderful to talk with you Greg.

G The pleasure is mine, Jacob. Ladies and gents, Dr. Jacob Scuro from the realms of sweet outcome independence and the mysterious Edge!