James Kelly is a Cork musician and composer who has experience releasing albums and touring, both with his former project, the metal band Altar of Plagues, and with his current project of experimental electronica WIFE.
As WIFE, Kelly has released a full-length with respected leftfield electronic label Tri-Angle Records (home to releases from Clams Casino, Evian Christ and The Haxan Cloak), toured Europe and participated in the Red Bull Music Academy in Tokyo.
For this edition of How Music Works though, we’re not focusing on the accolades or the creative process. Instead, How Music Works talks to Kelly about those career things which remain largely unspoken: sustaining a living from music and the grants and funding available to a musician who operates on the fringe of the mainstream.
Kelly has been a full-time musician for the past four years. He has released four albums in total (three with Altar Of Plagues and one with WIFE, with a new EP coming in September). Now based in Cork once more after a few years in London, Kelly operates out of his own studio and also works as a composer and sound designer for hire for adverts, film and TV, with recent clients including Dior, Chanel and Fendi. He also does sound for installations at events such as Art Basel and the Berlin Contemporary Art Biennale.
Income breakdown
The income he generates from his art varies depending on his focus in any given year. In 2014, Kelly performed 60 concerts worldwide after the release of his debut WIFE album What's Between.
That meant that any commercial work requiring intense studio time was put on the backburner, from recording to sound design. The following year, writing music was the focus, so commercial work was possible. Kelly says that strand of work accounted for 40 to 50 per cent of his income when it’s a focus but lack of regular pay keeps income erratic.
“You can often make an entire year’s salary in one or two months, but you might not earn any income for the following months,” says Kelly. “Performance fees are the most stable, as you will set a bottom line with your agent and there will often be festival shows that pay extremely well.
Another strand of income for Kelly is government funding. He applied for an Arts Council Bursary twice, both in 2014 and 2015 and was successful the second time around. This grant of €5,405 represented about 25 per cent of his income that year.
Public Funding
"I received the grant after I had moved back to Cork after five years of living in London," says Kelly. "It can be extremely hard to get ahead in London due to the cost of living, and while I generally managed to keep my head above water, I was never able to afford to purchase some of the things I needed to advance my work and skillset.
“I was able to demonstrate that I had a fan base, had toured worldwide, and had a successful discography that had received press from notable publications. Without any of that, I doubt that I would have received a grant based on the merit of my music.”
Kelly thinks that a lot of artists are still not aware of the funding available to them and those who think it’s for more traditional or classical artists.
“I made it clear in my application that, despite the fact that none of my music has ever sounded Irish in a traditional sense, whenever I travel and stand on a stage, or do an interview with a magazine overseas, I am very much representing Ireland.”
Funding black spots
"Having grown up as a part of the Irish metal community I was accustomed to operating on the fringes of what was popular or socially acceptable in Ireland. I feel that a lot of people within that community are resigned to the idea that there is support available outside it. I felt that way for a long time also but I became more confident and began to explore possibilities."
Kelly says a wider awareness of acts and labels that are popular abroad but less successful here could be improved in funding circles, citing the independent Dublin metal label Invictus Productions.
“It is a sizeable indie label, the largest indie I know of in Ireland, that is very successful worldwide. But it also happens to be a label that releases extreme heavy metal and that means they are ignored by all but the small metal community in Ireland.”
Kelly also suggests Arts Council funding could be better promoted within music communities that are under-represented in past funding.
“If the only people who are largely aware of these funds are those within either the traditional music scenes or music colleges, then these will be the people who receive funding.”
Kelly is keen to stress, that arts funding is an “incredible privilege”.
“It is important to also consider how fortunate we are to still have this available,” he says. “Funding for the arts can be an uphill battle and it can be difficult to communicate its value to taxpayers with no interest in the arts.”
Labels and advances
When it came to previous albums, most of the money for recording and production Kelly received came from advances from labels he's released with in the in the UK, the US and Canada, a relationship that comes with its own financial challenges. Kelly regards the money as a loan (that generally won't be asked to be paid back).
“Working with a recording advance enables you to create something that you otherwise may not be able to afford , as studio time is so costly, but taking this loan also eliminates your chances of making any income from your record unless you are a big act who shifts a substantial number of units. Over time, I began to become more self sufficient and do more with less, without compromising the end result, in order to avoid being in debt to a record label.”
Streaming and purchases
With album sales having nosedived in recent years, and with streaming services yet to make up the ground, Kelly is unlikely to be able to make any money from his recorded work. He regards Spotify as a less-than ideal arrangement but a necessary one in order to get his music heard.
“Spotify’s royalty fees are criminally low,” he says. “But for an artist at my level, I would rather my music reach as many people as possible. As someone who came into music at a time when royalty-derived income was non-existent, it is hard for me to feel bitter and wish things were the way they used to be. I love progress and change, and I think the past decade has been one of enormous transition for music and consumers of music. There have been some very positive developments but I think that we have yet to arrive at a system that values artists fairly.”
Syncs and placements
Kelly says that a good sync placement on an advert or film can be an income injection, particularly as some high-profile syncs can result in a five or six figure sum to the artist. Artists can also earn money in two ways through syncs: an upfront fee for use, and royalties paid through collection societies such as IMRO for the public broadcast of the music.
In Ireland, a placement on RTÉ is worth very little due to the blank licence agreement that applies to public broadcasting, but a placement on a commercial station could add up over time.
“Royalties are by far the most unpredictable of all income streams, and I have never relied on them for my livelihood. Generally speaking, I could early around €1,500 per year from CD sales, streams and radio plays – obviously not enough to live on. Occasionally there will be a substantial royalty cheque, for example the magician Dynamo recently used one of my songs and that provided me with an unexpected jolt of income. But it is impossible to know if and when you will receive these.”
These days, Kelly has the good foresight to put such royalty cheques in his savings so that he has a buffer for future. Music is now his full-time occupation, which he says was a very slow transition.
“I worked 40-50 hours a week doing random waiting/bar jobs which frequently changed as I would be fired for leaving on a weekend to go play a show. Then it got to the point where I could afford to work part-time, and eventually I took a chance and just quit altogether.
“Although I was leaving a regular wage and a guarantee that I could make my rent every month, I was also making myself full available to the opportunities that I previous had to say no to, such a last-minute show offers, or composition jobs.”
