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Re: canadian artists goin global

margie\!/echonyc.com (Margie Borschke) wrote
}At 5:10 PM 2/7/96, Claire Rillie wrote:
}> okay...well here's my take.  If international sale is the "ticket" so to
}>speak, it CAN  be changed.  If we all became consciencious consumers we
}>could control the monster we call the declining canadian economy.  We
}>just need to buy more canadian stuff, support those who support Canadian
}>art - and the industry will flourish - see?
}> Well, ok, it's not that simple.

Far from it!  "Buy Canadian" is a very closed-minded, nationalistic 
form of economics.  Canada makes up less than 3% of the world 
market.  What we need to promote is "Sell Canada".  Profit is not 
made by recirculating the dollar within our borders, it's made by 
selling goods outside the country.  Art included.

}possible.  The US is a BIG market.  More and more, I go into record stores
}in NYC and see lots of CanCon. People here buy it because it's GOOD and not
}because it's Canadian.

See!  Canada is perfectly capable of producing marketable goods for 
export.  The more, the better.

As to recognition, Canadians read US magazines and watch US TV.  More 
people read Rolling Stone than Eye Weekly.  If they see a Canadian 
band on the Billboard charts, of course they'll pay attention.  As 
will Canadian Top40 radio.  We've come to rely on the US so much we 
even tend to rely on them as a meter of how our own art is 
progressing.

If someone can survive comfortably as an artist without sending their 
product out of Newfoundland, I congratulate them.  One needn't make 
millions to be successful.  But if you want to make a living from 
your art, to treat it as a career rather than as something you do 
for fun, to express yourself, then you have to market yourself.  
Maybe not to the world, but at least to a level which will produce a 
sustainable income.  Most indie-rock musicians, whether due to not 
having "made it" or refusal to "sell out to the man" still need to 
have day jobs.  Allison Outhit had the smarts to get a law degree to 
fall back on in case fame didn't strike.

Hey, there are half a dozen artistic things I'd love to do with my 
life, but for economic reasons, I'm in a science degree.

Andrew