The Pop Corporation

As the future of being a working musician looks increasingly bleak, collectively we need to work out a way of getting people paid. If we don’t, that means music will only be viable for people who have parents with blue links in their Wikipedia pages and the like.

So, with micropayments and subscriptions becoming more universally accepted – gamers, streamers and onanists will happily chuck a few quid toward independent content creators – it looks like this is the future of smaller bands too. While subscription fatigue is strong, you suspect that young people will be happy to pirate materials from large corporations so they can give their money to those they truly care about instead, right?

Maybe. We’ll just have to see.

We bring all this up because of a post from the brilliant Girl Ray who have spoken about the pressures of being in a band and the financial toll of touring and recording before. They are going down the route of allowing fans to chip in, and offering goodies and perks in return.

Their message reads:

News drop! We’re shamelessly starting a Patreon! If you’ve ever wanted to contribute directly to the future of Girl Ray, now is the time.

You might have heard the rumours that there’s no money in music… well we’re here to tell you it’s true. The reality of being in a band like ours right now is that our days are spent working long hospitality shifts. It’s not an exaggeration to say that regular income from fans would mean that we can create the music we love.

Through Patreon, you can make monthly payments to us, and give us the gift of dependable income so that we can create music. Unfortunately, a day of writing means a day not working our day jobs – and that’s pretty impossible for us at the moment. You can pay anything from $6 to $130, but all tiers receive the same exclusive behind-the-scenes content and monthly perks from us as a thank you. Link to subscribe is in the bio, and perks are listed below 🪄🪄🪄

✨ Surprise juicy content! This could be an unheard song demo, video footage from tours, or general behind-the-scenes content.
✨ Monthly culture update from each member of Girl Ray with culture we’ve enjoyed this month (films, albums, books, food etc.!)
✨ Album updates
✨ Q&As
✨ A monthly playlist by one of Girl Ray. A different emotion for every month!
✨ Exclusive listening parties before the release of new Girl Ray music
✨PDF file of our 2023 memorabilia fanzine
✨ Occasional agony aunt sessions
✨ Prize draws!

Does it seem fair to you? It’s obvious that Girl Ray aren’t a bunch of greedy hawks just out to make a lousy buck from people, and clearly, they are a great band that should be supported and be able to quit their hospo jobs so they can make great things.

A link to the post is below, where you’ll be able to follow Girl Ray and there’ll be all relevant links and news and all that stuff.