Ten Years, Part Two: The Money

Ten years and thousands of my own dollars. That is the line on the fundraiser, and it is deliberately vague, because the specific number is embarrassing and I have not fully done the arithmetic on purpose.

Where it goes

People imagine the cost of making music is studio time. Studio time is part of it. It is not most of it.

• Recording. Hours, and then hours again because the first version was not right.
• Mixing and mastering. The part that separates "I made this in my room" from "this sounds like a record." Not optional. Not cheap.
• Features. Other artists' time has value. Paying for it is the correct thing to do.
• Artwork, photography, video. Every single thing you see attached to a song was a cost.
• Distribution, registration, the admin nobody mentions. Small individually. Constant.

None of these are one-time. You pay them again every time you decide a song is not finished.

Why nobody talks about it

Because it undercuts the myth, and the myth is load-bearing for a lot of careers.

The story everyone wants is talent plus hustle equals success. The story underneath is usually talent plus hustle plus somebody absorbing the cost — a label, a parent, a partner with a steady job, a day job you never mention in interviews. When nobody is absorbing it, it comes out of your own account, month after month, for years.

I am not complaining about that. I chose it. But I am not going to pretend it did not happen, because a kid reading this should know what it actually takes rather than what it looks like from outside.

Which is why the budget is public

When I started raising money for one show, I published the entire budget. Every line, down to a $77 contingency for lion prosthetic materials. Not because it is good marketing — it is probably bad marketing — but because I have spent ten years on the other side of opaque numbers and I know how that feels.

If you give me money for this, you can see exactly where it goes. The books stay open.

Next

Part three: why it actually took this long, which is not the reason people assume.