Is Businsses Killing Punk Rock?

[Dylan Williams]

Not meant as a question (but it is a good one). That is the name of the article I just read the article that ran in MRR a in 2006. I liked it so much I scanned it and made a pdf. I've put up a jpg preview but the whole piece is a giant pdf (that is printable). The pdf (120+mgs) is here:
www.sparkplugcomicbooks.com/business.pdf
It is a series of questions that people who run business were asked. Everyone is different but it is pretty insightful.

[Alex Wrekk]

Wow, seriously? Should I respond to this?


I'm gonna have to think about this.

[Dylan Williams]

Oops, I should have been more clear. That is the name of the piece from MRR. I would love to hear what you have to say about it but I'm sorry about that dumb mistake.

[Alex Wrekk]

Oh, I now the piece. I worked for one of the companies that had someone interviewed and I'm trying to figure out how much I should say and how much i should keep my mouth shut.

[ciaraxyerra]

say! say! give us all the dirt! (ps--got the zines today. will e-mail re: #23.)

[Emma Jane Falconer]

The "Derek" guy seems a bit of an idiot to me from what he says there, it's like "I am holier and purer than thou, and you are all sinners" and lambasting the other guy for making a relatively small amount of money from music. I'm sure the welfare office people would be delighted with that in his interview "so, you were making a little money from music, but you quit doing that because some other guy said it wasn't pure enough, and now you want to go on the dole?"

[Alex Wrekk]

I guess it just seems that any answers to any questions that are going to be put in MRR by a business that knows the title of the article is going to be "Is business killing Punk Rock?" are going to be a bit skewed.

I was a co-owner of Microcosm Publishing at the time the article was done but I wasn't interviewed for the article and I haven't read the article since it came out. In theory, I think that for Punk (or any group that is considered a sub culture for that matter) to become a true community needs its own form of just about everything. Punk plumbers, punk architects, punk teachers, etc. All sorts of business falls into this category but at the same time, we don't stop being punks or activists when we step into other jobs either. We are always advocates and ambassadors of those things we are involved with.

That being said, I was involved with Microcosm for 7 years and it was strange to watch a project grow and change in that time. I keep hearing there has been a lot of changes since I left almost 2 years ago, but I don't really know what goes on inside.

I do however know they they now have a My Space page when the breakout quote seems strictly against it. I know they that the whole thing about the artist being in control of the channels of their distribution is a total lie since they reprinted my artwork, my images I designed for their website, put my entire book up on Googlebooks, reprinted my writing in zines and stole pieces from my book to print elsewhere without even creating any sort of dialog or asking permission then they categorically ignored all e-mail questions from me about it. Not to mention with holding health care benefits from me and the wages from another employee for no reason.

As far as I'm concerned if they think that setting precedent and setting a better example is so important then maybe they should have thought a little bit more about how they treat the people who helped create who they are.

[Dylan Williams]

wow, thank you Alex.It is really amazing to see what goes on behind the words. That article was so interesting because there are so many different takes on what it means to try and make money off of something you love and there are SO many contradictions. I quit working for other people in comics 12 years ago, because of that and now I live every day in fear of treating other people like that. I'm really sorry to hear about all that crappy stuff. I just put my books on Amazon and I feel like a fucking idiot for doing it but two of the artists I publish were demanding it.

[Alex Wrekk]

The thing is that the people you published asked for you to put their art up on Amazon. Things get tricky and where do you draw the line? Are your values more important than the people you publish? I'm sure you both have completely logical reasons but who is to judge and what's it worth?

Sometimes it our values and ethics that get us in trouble and can get us backed against a wall when we are not willing the reassess our situation. Sometimes I think (for myself at least) that coming out of punk and DIY background can be confining if I let the cement on my feet sit too long. Ideally we are are all humans growing and changing and becoming better "Us"-es and it is better to stop and reevaluate our situation from the inside than from external arbitrary notions.... it took me months of counseling to come to peace with that. I can only be the best me I can, not everyone is going to like that and that's alright.

To be honest, I think the title of the article automatically put people on the defensive and I don't really think that was fair.

Dylan Williams said:

wow, thank you Alex.It is really amazing to see what goes on behind the words. That article was so interesting because there are so many different takes on what it means to try and make money off of something you love and there are SO many contradictions. I quit working for other people in comics 12 years ago, because of that and now I live every day in fear of treating other people like that. I'm really sorry to hear about all that crappy stuff. I just put my books on Amazon and I feel like a fucking idiot for doing it but two of the artists I publish were demanding it.