The Musician's Middle Finger

May 19, 2008 - 09:21 AM PST

It’s really easy for creative minds to give a big middle finger to “The Man” or whatever it is that we tend to rebel against. This is because as creative people we think we have something that the rest of the world doesn’t, which implies that people should listen to us. This may or may not be true.

At quick look at history clearly shows that the great changes, whether economic, religious, political, or social, come from insightful innovation and creativity. Obvious examples of this are democracy, Christianity, free trade, and the commercialization of the entertainment industry. None of these things are necessarily bad. In fact, as humans we should consider these things invaluable.

Musicians are not your typical business tycoons. We aren’t out to conquer and acquire. We have all set out to show the world something that comes from deep within us. As a matter of fact, many of us set out to show that our lives are just as difficult as the next person’s. We aren’t here to try to make your lives more convenient.

That’s the biggest difference between us and the rest of the business world: the products we musicians sell are more important to us than they are to our buyers, our fans. On top of that, we spend our lives trying to show ourselves to our fans, in an attempt to interact with them on a personal level.

So what is there to prove for us? Why do we give out this metaphorical middle finger? To me, it seems that a musician’s way of going about business is far from giving a middle finger to the public. What I have described almost makes it seem like we care more about the public than the rest of the business world. Maybe we do, and that’s partially my point.

It’s obvious to me that the most influential people today are already public figures in their own right. People like Bono, Bob Geldof, Coldplay, Madonna, Jars of Clay, and Oprah all have used their stardom to help promote good things and changes that need to happen in the world. We do it because we believe in something good, something that needs help in changing for the better. Our middle finger merely says, “Hey, listen to how I think we should do things.” This middle finger just stands for innovation and progress.