Here in the USA, it’s Labor Day weekend.
I just looked up the history of Labor Day, and discovered — no surprise — that it has roots in labor unions.
You can click here to learn more if you are curious — and to see a great photo of an early Labor Day float being pulled by two horses during a celebration in 1916..
I have read that union activity is on an upswing in the USA.
With a current CEO-to-worker compensation ratio estimated to be 400 — meaning that chief executive officers are likely to earn 400 times the annual average salary of production and nonsupervisory workers in their industry — the time seems ripe to re-balance this extraordinarily greedy state of affairs.
I am an inactive member of two unions — SAG/AFTRA (for film and TV) and Equity (for stage) — as a result of working professionally as a child and teenager.
Go unions!
They are a vital part of our human socety’s interconnected systems of checks and balances.
Deep breath in.
And deep breath out.
I originally featured this recording with pianist Doug Hammer of a great Gershwin Brothers song a couple of years ago as part of a very long blog post in which I shared the pros and cons of a chatbot-assisted music marketing strategy as well as some show business history.
Today’s post will be shorter and sweeter.
THANK YOU to everyone who has been streaming my songs in recent months!
“Gold In Them Hills” — which I released a month ago — has just surpassed 1000 streams on Spotify. This translates into approximately $4 worth of income — which is split, I think, between the person who owns the rights to the song (Ron Sexsmith and/or his music publishing company) and the person who owns the rights to this particular recording of his song (which is me).
“Nice Work If You Can Get It” — which I released near the end of June — has been streamed 685 times on Spotify.
So that will earn me another dollar.
Luckily I am in this for the long haul…and I earn enough money from performing at retirement communities and leading Music Together classes to cover my very minimal expenses.
I also feel very fortunate to be making and sharing music as a way to make a (very modest) living.
Music really is “nice work if you can get it.”
A musician named Bree Noble — who also does a lot of teaching and coaching of other musicians — recently sent out an email which I found inspiring.
She wrote:
“Did you know that releasing music — i.e. seeing a beloved project through to completion — can improve your mental health?”
According to her, “studies show that most people desire purpose and connection in their work, and without that, their mental health can suffer.”
“We thrive when we experience ‘birthing’ an idea and seeing it through (to completion) — taking on a project that is our ‘baby’ and nurturing it to ‘adulthood.'”
Releasing music “can give (us) the emotional and spiritual benefits of project ownership — taking on a new challenge, providing a goal to work toward, and giving (us) a …fulfilling event to look forward to.”
Best of all, “not only can the…process (of releasing music) invigorate (our) emotional and spiritual (lives), it can help (our) music reach new people who need to hear it, enriching their lives as well.”
Deep breath in.
Deep breath out.
I think this wisdom/insight can apply to any creative undertaking — even writing a blog post.
It also reminds me of an article I read recently about folks who live to be over 100 years old.
Researchers have been studying these people’s lives, and many common themes have emerged.
They tend to be optimistic — while also acknowledging the reality of their challenges.
They tend to feel connected with others — as part of an extended family, a circle of friends, a spiritual community, a bowling league, a quilting circle, a fraternal lodge, a blogging community or some other subset of beings here in the interconnected web of life on planet earth.
Their diets tend to be plant-based — eating more vegetables, fruits, beans/legumes, and whole grains AND and more “cooked-from-scratch” meals (meaning less processed/junk food items…)
They tend to get out into nature on a regular basis — walking, biking, swimming, doing tai chi, painting, reading, playing games, etc. — rather than sitting at home and watching TV.
And they tend to have a sense of purpose — whether volunteering their time, sharing their wisdom, contributing to group causes, creating things, etc.
Apparently if we feel that we need to be here on planet earth — contributing in some positive way to our families, friends, children, grandchildren, community, watershed, ecosystem, political system, etc. — we are less likely to die.
Another deep breath in.
And deep breath out.
I am curious to learn in the comments about what gives YOU a sense of purpose these days.
Here is a link to “Nice Work If You Can Get It” in case you might like to listen to it on a streaming service.
As I have shared in past blog posts, if you “like” it or “heart” it or add it to a playlist, that improves the algorithmic sharing of my music on that particular streaming service.
Thank you to the Gershwin brothers — Ira (words) and George (music) — for writing such great songs.
Thank you to Doug Hammer for playing so exuberantly on my version of their song AND for being such. a terrific engineer/producer.
Thank you to Stephen Fischer for his skillful graphic design work.
Thank you to labor unions for helping to counter-balance the greed which seems to be an unavoidable part of our capitalistic system of economics.
Thank you to the photographers at Pixabay for their great images.
Thank you to whoever took my photo 50+ years ago on a front staircase somewhere in NYC.
And thank YOU for reading. and listening to another one of my blog posts!
amusicalifeonplanetearth 
A lot of my family members work at a local car plant. The UAW is about to go out on strike. It’s going to be long one.
There needs to be a reckoning/re-balancing regarding who gets to earn how much money… It is happening right now, as I am sure you know, with writers and actors in the entertainment industry. I hope/trust your family members will be able to hang in there until they get a fairer deal!
We might all be picketing before It’s over.
Yup!
I don’t really have a sense of purpose, but do find value in my blogging and volunteer work. Kudos on working at something you love and fulfills a purpose. Thank goodness you live simple since you earn so little from streaming. Thanks for sharing your wonderful music Will.
Yes, living simply gives me options to do things (like release music) which aren’t immediately profitable. And encourages me to eat beans and rice instead of steak (which it turns out is better not only for my personal health but also for the health of larger ecosystems which are affected by how all of our food is grown and prepared…) Finding value in your blogging and blog posts — which MANY of us fellow bloggers look forward to and SAVOR — as well as in your volunteer work sounds a lot like purpose to me, Brad! And maybe during this period of grieving/recovery/re-orientation following your mother’s death, a few new possibilities/ideas/options will bubble up from your subconscious mind/heart/spirit into your conscious mind…
Thanks for the loving perspectives Will. I hope some new possibilities bubble up too.
There is so much here in your wonderful post, Will. Unions- my dear friend’s son is a writer in LA (he was a head writer for the TV series, Elementary), and he has lost a spring and a whole summer. We hooked up at the Boston Marathon and in less than 5 minutes he explained the whole dilemma. It made perfect sense, there was no greed, only just compensation on behalf of the writers.
Like you, I am driven by my heart, not money. Funny thing, people driven by money really aren’t happy.
I know and understand how disappointing it is when sometimes you earn diddly squat for the wonderful music you make. The system is unfair. Yet, you are making a huge difference in the lives of people. Music does that. YOU do that.
Thanks for reading and listening and then leaving a thoughtful comment, Jennie! Ira agrees with you about people driven by money (“the man who only lives for making money lives a life that isn’t necessarily sunny…”) They sure can do a lot of damage to the lives of other beings in their quest for money/status/respect/power/revenge/control/dominance/etc. Deep breath in. Deep breath out. The streaming business model has given viewers/listeners more options/choices and has made more money for the folks in charge of those companies — but often at the expense of the creative folks who provide content for their companies. Hurrah that your dear friend’s son has kept himself fit (running a marathon!) during this fallow time in his life!
You are welcome, Will. Creative people (you’re in that group) make such a difference in the world. Money is nice, but it doesn’t buy happiness or creativity.
I read your article with interest and smiled about the part talking about longevity. Just read yesterday about an Island called Sardinia which has the highest number of octarians. Active and happy. Their lives are very positive with mainly outdoor work, involving climbing hills and walking. Daily rest and
Meeting with friends for a glass of wine and talk and laughter. The diet definitely is mainly plant based and community and caring is the norm.
I just wanted to go there and live with them.
Sadly I saw an advert yesterday advertising tourism to this island.
As to art, I agree, they are all good for our soul and mental attitude.
😊
Miriam
Thanks for reading, listening and commenting, Miriam! Maybe we can summon our inner Sardinians wherever we live — climbing mountains (deep subway stairs in my case…) and walking and meeting with friends for a glass of wine and talk and laughter! Also, I wonder if they still eat sardines on Sardinia. I have read that eating smaller fish (like sardines) which are lower on the food chain tends to be a wiser and more sustainable choice these days if one wants to eat fish. But we’ve also got to leave some sardines for all of the marine animals who need them for THEIR diets! I am slowly coming to realize (as I am guessing most bloggers already have figured out) that creating something — a blog post, a quilt, a scarf, a painting, a poem, a photograph, a song, a garden, etc. — is indeed “good for our soul and mental attitude” and thus valuable separate from any possible monetization of same.
I so agree with you, let us find our inner Sardinians.
The name is of the fish is believed to come from Sardinia – which makes sense – . I have enjoyed freshly fished sardines at the harbour in Portugal. These fishing boats are small and only go out for e.g. half a day. So no threat to the whales, dolphins 🐬. They were grilled at the harbour and tasted heavenly.
Miriam
Yum!!!
Hi Will, hope you are well. Yes, indeed unions are important. We certainly would not want to go back to conditions in the 19th and early 20th centuries. My husband and I have a decent pension and insurance because of the NJ teachers’ union.
It is difficult to make money in the arts.
Writing and daily walks, my husband, family (and cat) keep me going. 😊
Hurrah for your writing practice and daily walks and family and cat! And pensions! I recently read about how another (final?) wave of major corporations are phasing out pensions as part of their compensation for employees… Having worked for ten years as a child/teenager, I qualify for a tiny pension from SAG/AFTRA which I have not yet started collecting. It gets slightly larger for every year I wait… but maybe soon it will be the time to add this extremely modest amount of money into my monthly cash flow/trickle. Let’s keep writing and walking and blogging and taking small but hopefully not insignificant steps to keep our teetering democracy from falling into more autocratic hands and hearts!
Thank you and yes to all that, Will!
As I reach the end of my career, I can’t help but smirk a little as I see the current labour shortage shifting the balance in favour of workers and away from greedy corporations. Companies have got away with mistreating and taking advantage of workers for far too long.
Happy Labo(u)r Day Will!
I think the last time the ratio of what CEOS are paid compared to what entry level workers are paid was this out of balance was during “the gilded age” in the USA. Time for a significant re-balancing, I hope…
🌍⭐🌎
Fun info on 100-year-olds. In my retirement community, a man told me he just wants to be the person who has lived here the longest. He said his ambition is not to be the oldest because there are already lots of people who are 100!
Wow. I like his goal AND the fact that NC has folks living there who are over 100 years old!!!
Hi Will,
Instead, we have August Bank Holiday, which was moved from month start to month end, supposedly to get better weather.
Centenarians ? Wishful thinking, no longer with us, but a WWII codebreaker urged me to go indie. Hope she would have liked my book, Marigold, 102, codebreaker, crime solver
Age UK once asked the little old lady – about 4ft 9 – if she’d liked to learn about computers. Said she was fine.
Naval intelligence, Alan Turing’s departmentm .
Wow!
Wow!!! We never know what other people’s life experiences might encompass…
There is no greater gift than making great music! I say music is the last to go. People in dementia often can remember the words to old songs from their past! Perhaps you will be the last to go as well! :>)
Yes! Apparently researchers have been able to scan the brains of people both listening to AND making music. Listening to music lights up all areas of our brain, and MAKING music sets off fireworks in all areas of our brain. I think the reason why folks with severe memory/cognition challenges can often still accurately sing entire songs from their past is because the songs are coded into so many different parts of our brains…
Yes you are right about that!