For up-and-coming (or even well-known) musicians and artists, finding the time it takes to properly sell your art and make a living off it can be daunting. With little circulating knowledge on how to manage your business circulating in the local music community, important tasks like applying for grants often get put on the back burner. Chris Greencorn, artistic director of the Stan Rogers Folk Festival, sees this problem and has created Seachange Music: a program designed to help musicians and music festivals with these important but tedious tasks.
Recently having taken over the role of his father, Troy Greencorn, as artistic director of the festival, Chris is using his experience in the music and festival industry to help those who fall more on the artistic side.
“I play and write music, but it’s never been my bread and butter,” says Greencorn. “I have, however, been involved in . . . other aspects . . ., through my work with the Stan Rogers Folk Festival or volunteering at other events.
“The idea for Seachange Music came after reading the Striking a New A-Chord report that ECMA (with the provincial MIAs), Music Canada, and Music Canada Live (now Canadian Live Music Association) published a year or so ago. One of the biggest problems they found was that, in spite of the rich musical culture — cultures, I should say — we have here in Atlantic Canada, there is a lack of industry professionals to develop and support musicians.
“. . . Reading that report presented me with an opportunity basically: work with musicians to make their lives easier. Great! I was in.”
Managing a music career can be extremely time consuming and often does not earn musicians enough money to allow them to employ someone full- or part-time to do this work for them.
“There are grants to write, reports to file, posts to make, plays and streams to track, press to secure, promotions to deliver, accounting to do — and that’s without even considering about tour planning, day-to-day management, or actually writing your music! It’s an incredible amount of work and nearly impossible for one person to manage on top of a healthy artistic practice, or, you know, your life.”
But Greencorn isn’t the only person taking this innitiative. The Syrup Factory, a music consulting agency based in Nova Scotia, is also offering similar services. Since the need for help in this area is so large, though, Greencorn and the Syrup Factory’s Sarah Jamer have expressed that it’s a situation where a rising tide will float all boats.
And the services don’t stop at bands and artists, either. Through Seachange, Greencorn is offering the same services to festivals in his region.
“. . . There’s plenty of crossover. Almost no one likes grant writing, including festival directors. And yet, everyone needs good planning and plenty of resources to make their music ventures work.”