On the ROCKI Road
By: James Taylor
Tags: Publishing, Music Royalties, Music, Online Music Streaming, Music Industry

An ongoing series spotlighting musicians, DJ’s, and producers seizing control of their lives and earnings.

WESLEY STACE: A COBBLER IN THE ARTS

In 1990, The Los Angeles Times reported that the new decade had found its first rock star in John Wesley Harding (real name, Wesley Stace), a brilliant singer-songwriter of Dylanesque potential. As luck would have it, he was playing at the Coach House, just up the street from my office at Surfer Magazine, that night. A quick phone call to Warner Bros. secured a ticket and a pre-show interview.

After a fantastic conversation, a madcap dinner, and a short but amazing Coach House set, I walked away convinced he was the smartest, funniest musician I’d ever met. Decades later, I’ve seen nothing to make me change my mind.

Although conventional stardom eluded him, Wes’s knack for the road not taken allowed him to, as he describes it, “cobble together a life in the arts.” A life that has spawned in no particular multiple novels, a new book, Out Loud, about and with Mark Morris, tons of albums, a long running radio revue, The Cabinet of Wonders., academic positions at places like Princeton, and, just in case you’re keeping score, lyrics for new opera opening post-lockdowns at London’s famed Barbican. And recently, with impeccable if accidental timing, he bought back his publishing rights.

Although tried-and-true advice has long been to never sell your publishing rights, there was a time when that decision did not require enslavement. “I was lucky in that I was the beneficiary of an older, more artist-friendly paradigm,” he says. “I never sold my rights. Instead, I signed a 50/50 deal with Peter Barnes. In addition to looking after the songs, he acted like a personal bank in that he’d advance me money to make the album and split the profits he eventually made from them.”

Over time, they developed a deep, trusting relationship. But then, as people eventually do, Barnes sold the company, including Stace’s songs, to BMG, and retired. Realizing BMG was not an ideal fit for his music, Stace, with Barnes help, made a deal and bought the rights back.

As he did, like every performing artist, the lockdown shoved him into a forced reset. “I have no idea if I’ll have a music career or what it will look like,” he says. “But realistically, I suspect I’ve made more music than I’m going to make. And now that I own my work, it’s as much a question of looking after the material that’s out there.”

That means his catalogue can have a new lease on life, but that’s entirely dependent on him. “So the past six months have been about the business side I never spent time with,” he says. He started, logically, with small runs of collectible lyric books, singles, vinyl, tour tea towels (not a misprint). Which sounds easy, but, as he quickly discovered, “the sheer amount of work and data entry and dull stuff that’s required can be paralyzing. Instead of floundering around with programs and apps that I don’t understand, I’ve learned to just hire people who know what they’re doing. Other people have always done the work, but now I don’t have to prod people into getting something done. And I get to keep whatever’s left at the end.”

The Two Bit Tip

For all the publicity given to publishing rights, it’s easy to forget they’re only important when you have something worth publishing. If you’ve yet to create a body of work, Stace cites advice given to him early on as helping him go the distance.

First, “never leave your wallet in the dressing room.” Obviously, there aren’t that many dressing rooms right now but the advice works both literally and metaphorically. Being an artist is all well and good, but, unless you have independent sources of income, it only pays the bills when your business is healthy. So don’t expect a long career unless you keep it grounded.

Second, don’t chase the jackpot. “For a while,” Stace says, “when the old models were giving way to new ones, there was this lovely, wide-open moment when the breakout was possible. But now the novelty is over, and we’ve all seen how the Internet eats everything in its wake. It’s an infinite space with so many avenues waiting to be filled that you’re being the next jackpot breakout is increasingly unlikely.

“With that in mind, don’t waste your time second guessing what’s going to be popular or successful. The only unique thing you can offer the world is yourself. That may or may not bring you fame and fortune, but that’s never been in your control anyway.

“Instead, take your inspiration from artists like Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen who ended up inventing [a cultural revolution] by being themselves. So write things that make you happy. You’ll be better off in the end, because art is ultimately its own reward.”

Besides, like Wesley Stace, over time you cobble together a life in the arts. Which I’ve always thought is the best reward of all.

To check out Wesley’s music, go to www.wesleystace.com. You might also hit YouTube for videos of when Bruce Springsteen joined him for a version of “Wreck on the Highway.” As to Stace’s songs, start anywhere. There’s nary a bad one.

Artist interview for ROCKI by Mr. Neil Feineman.

To find out more about ROCKi, the streaming service that is both artist and user friendly, check out www.ROCKI.app