We have been creating since the dawn of time. Stories, passed on from generation to generation through art, melodies, literature and poetry. Over time stories turned into songs, songs turned into entertainment and the entertainer was born.
The sought out question has always been:
How can I, as a performer combine my talents and my image to make money and do what I love?”
Until the dawn of platforms such as MySpace, Facebook & YouTube were born, there was really only one way: be discovered.
For years if you wanted to “make it” in the music industry you had to go through the motions.
Write music. Teach a band. Go door to door and book gigs. Go door to door advertising gigs. Save up the money to record a record. Play that record everywhere. Go door to door (see a trend?) bringing your record to radio stations and record labels and hope that somebody, somewhere would give you the time of day. It was a grueling and relentless process of knocking on doors and having them slammed in your face, until one day, just maybe, somebody would stop long to enough to see your true potential and make a name out of you.
That all changed on February 14th, 2005 when YouTube opened its platform up to the general public and suddenly the world was changed forever. Suddenly we had the power as creators to upload content within minutes and get it out to anybody and everybody that had access to a computer. But it wasn't until 2009 when YouTube started integrating ads that creators started realizing its true potential. With a click of a button, we put our content out whenever we wanted and as long as it was good enough, it generated views, ad clicks and eventually $$$. Genius? Almost.
What creators didn't understand at the time and are only starting to realize: their true value. We spend our entire lives pouring our hearts and souls into our work only to come out on the other side with little to nothing. Why do you think the record label industry is dying? Artists are fed up with doing the footwork and everybody else getting paid! We are starting to realize that we have the power to do whatever we want with the industry, as long as the art is in our hands AND we can get paid for it. That's where the problems started. We were putting in the work but NOT getting paid for the work we were doing. Our content no longer revolved around if it was actually good or not, it was all about getting as much up as quickly as possible to make as many groups of pennies as possible. If all went well, eventually we'd make a decent living. Sound fair? Absolutely not. But what else were we to do?
Enter in: Coil. Cinnamon. Companies with the genius to know that if artists actually controlled the industry, actually got paid what they were worth based off of their popularity and ability to create incredible content, that they would actually make more money in the long run. This is the “ad generation”. This is the generation of “paying your way to fame”. But what about this idea: what if, just what if, artists paid their way through paying forward quality work? What if? What if instead of relying on platforms like YouTube to run our ads and not hide our videos in their algorithms that we relied on ourselves to make incredible content, incredible music and THAT paid our careers?
Math has never made much sense to me but this equation makes perfect sense.
High quality content + Users who desire uninterrupted value =
P A Y D A Y – every single time.
We deserve to be valued. We deserve to get paid what we're worth and not just what a company decides we are worth. We deserve to make a return on the heart and tears that we pour into our crafts. We deserve to not be prefaced with filler ads that turn people away- JUST so we can make a few pennies. We have gotten the short end of the stick for far too long, but with companies like Coil and Cinnamon it doesn't have to be that way anymore. When your art is good and people enjoy it, the more they enjoy it, the more you get paid- how it ought to be.
I'm not exactly sure what the original heart of Coil was. I wasn't there. I won't claim to know. But what I do know is that Coil is for the people. It is for the artist. It is for the consumer. It is whatever you want to make it to be.
I am making Coil mine by making it part of my posting regiment & creating exclusive content that my fans can't get anywhere else!
I will be posting exclusive music, early releases & behind-the-scenes content, just for my Coil subscribers. This will encourage my fans on other platforms to sign up and access it!
I know every single time I make someone smile with my music, I get to smile knowing that I am getting paid to keep making music. I know that when I put my best foot forward, I have the chance to make extra money through Coil's boost program. I have no clue what Cinnamon will have in store, but you can be for darned sure I'll be one of the first to jump on that wagon.
It's going to take a group effort, moving people over to Coil, but I think we can do it. It's going to take commitment, risk and trust that you've got the chops. I'm reclaiming back my artistry. You should too. Make the switch to Coil and stop letting the corporations tell you how much your art is worth.
Let the people who love and need it decide.
NEW Lyric Video & Exclusive Announcement!
