Some thoughts about the release of my music

„Kunst ist schön, macht aber viel Arbeit” –
(„Art is beautiful, but makes a lot of work”, Karl Valentin?)

In antiquity, the „liberal arts”, which included music, were considered superior, „worthy of a free man” – free, in this sense, was anyone who did not have to work for a living.

The German expression „brotlose Kunst” („art without bread”) points to the downside of this assessment – anyone who really tries to „earn a crust” with their own creative-artistic production today usually doesn't have an easy time of it.
The notion of the genius, who can create masterpieces as if by magic, all too often conceals the fact that the production of art is always work, requires experience and practice and, as an innovative production, also knows doubts.

It is true that people have been earning their living with music for a long time, but only very few manage to do so by composing music.
Often, a pedagogical activity (music school, university, workshops) generates a somewhat regular income; those who want to become known through performances and thereby earn money will have to be on the road a lot.
The tools of trade for creative people also include applying and accounting for grants to finance their own work.

Hardly anyone will doubt that music is a very valuable cultural asset – the list of positive effects of music on children, people with disabilities and human beings in general is long.

We do not want to be without music.

But music is also a product, and it is only fair that its creators should receive a fair share of the profit that is made from it. For composing music is work, needs a lot of know how and stamina; a few seconds of music sometimes need hours, even days of production, and up to that point no sound has actually been played and recorded!

The compositional work performance, perhaps even supplemented by a technical production yielding an actually audible product, is not, however, the measure of the monetary value of music.

The alternative is to calculate the value of music through its use, and here is now a viable approach:

Since November 2021, many of my works are being published on various streaming platforms. This has become possible in a rather uncomplicated way through a service that the GEMA (the German organisation for the protection of music copy- and usage rights) has been offering since fall 2020 in collaboration with Zebralution under the label MusicHub – initially only for GEMA members, but in perspective (and then probably for a fee) also for musicians who are not members of the GEMA.

Here, the GEMA shows itself to be on the cutting edge for once.
Streaming services such as Spotify or Apple Music work commercially (with advertising or fee), but they help to spread our music around the world – and now make sure that we are respected in terms of copyright and finance.


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