choosing not to be a starving artist, is considered selling out nowadays

LOL Neither side is wrong in my opinion. I think Artists should do whatever feels right for them. Gretta was not a performer and she didn't feel comfortable in the limelight and was content with just making music for her "cat". Dave was a performer and he thrived in the limelight. He wanted to be THAT guy and ultimately was and was very good at it. They both have the right to pursue the music in the way they wanted even if it meant they would do it apart. However, I don't think anyone should be ridiculed because they want to make music for the world to enjoy in the manner they feel most comfortable in delivering it.

But your post had me cracking up.



"What happens to a dream deferred?"

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hipsters kill me with that logic, let's record music in our basement and keep it there, so we won't be considered impure artists.

Kudos for raising this topic, it's definitely relevant here. But it seems as though you didn't even watch this film because that isn't what happened at all.

choosing not to be a starving artist, is considered selling out nowadays

I agree that artists shouldn't be ashamed to promote themselves, commodify their work, or develop an image or style. Successful artists generally do all three. Labeling someone a "sellout" for that is small-minded and ignorant.

But, dismissing someone as a "hipster", "pretentious" or "living in a fantasy world" just for being cynical of the industry or believing that authenticity is what reaches listeners is just as small-minded and ignorant.

Striving for an authentic form of expression is perfectly reasonable for an artist. As is the cynical reaction to the corporate media-monopoly that manufactures pop-stars and promotes shallow, homogeneous banalities.

selling her album for a dollar is insane and made me dislike her even more.

Again, did you even watch this movie? Maybe you missed the part during the negotiation where the record label offered her one dollar out-of-every-ten of the sales profits? This kind of cut has been the status quo for decades (in fact I think it's usually even less than that). She was clever and understood the changing business culture much better than you do.

Thanks to the internet many artists are now going the independent route. They generally make make fewer sales but own a hundred percent of the take. It's a brave new world and I like it. I just hope that she was decent enough to compensate Dan properly for his perception, hard work, and commitment.



It's Chinatown

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