, including all the embarrassing gigs, the mis-matched songwriting sessions, the peddling for cash and the lawsuit against her former manager, Gary Marella, for using money from the project to finance his own wedding. , her time being put through the music industry ringer has led to her coming out strongly against the structure of major music labels as they currently stand.
It’s wild looking back on it now, because it really felt like the first era where this could happen: The era of Myspace, where an artist could get famous on the internet super quickly. My label didn’t care about what could potentially gain a following. Yes, I was going in a different direction to “Foundations,” and it wasn’t the commercial mainstream direction. But if you’ve got a fanbase who are willing to grow with you, then that’s the most important thing that you can have. I don’t think anyone or any sound is gonna constantly be in vogue. But there’s a lot of that short-sightedness in the music industry, because they’re panicking and they don’t want to get fired.
There aren’t that many documentaries that go into the music business as it is now, that are this transparent about how it works, and showing…How cringe it is, and the low points…I’m thinking of that whole sequence after your manager stole your money. You had to give away a bunch of your clothes away to Crossroads, and at one point you were doing a regular livestream show at an L.A. comic book store.
Artists are doing that all the time, because everyone’s got to find some money to fucking fund themselves going on tour. I love that bit with Brett, my tour manager, who’s saying, “It costs fucking thousands; there’s no way you get a return on that, unless you’re at a certain level.” With most small bands, it’s so expensive for them to go on tour. And you don’t really get that as a fan. So I think that scene strips away some of this fantasy that we have about artists.
Artists are more empowered now because you can have a direct link to fans, if you get dropped, but you do want a team working. It’s so much work to release a record globally. I mean, we did it with three people. I employed my sister to help be the distribution. All the vinyls are in my bedroom, stacked in boxes.
That’s why I think these managers, or whoever it is who’s doing it, get to carry on and work with other people. There’s no one holding anyone accountable. I was dealing with that a lot on my own, and it was really hard. If someone knows how to work the system, they just know how to work it. And I don’t know how to work the system.That was something you brought up, too, with your experience working on.
I did want to ask you about the fantastical elements in the actual movie. Working with Amy, you staged some scenes for the documentary, like that scene in the desert, or the tunnel scene at night where your lyrics are flashing across the screen. I’m just wondering how big of a role you played in those creative decisions.
Good interview with her on Marc Maron's WTF podcast.