The Last Days of Clark Terry

Oh, yeah, Senilemole. Mephisto. Zinfart. Chris-Goes-Queer. All the other idiots who go to music-stealing forums or have music-stealing blogs and use those clever aliases. Here's a question for all the Little Hitlers who know everything about "music should be free" and "let them sell t-shirts."

What can replace lost royalties and NO royalties?

While YOU demand and get your fucking pension from the dullard place you worked at, or the school you taught at, or the drone government job you left at age fifty so you could go to boot sales for the rest of your worthless life...who pays the artist?

There is no way for a musician to keep a "day job" when he's breaking his back touring as part of a band.

There is no pension given him by his record label, or the RIAA or ASCAP or BMI or anyone else.

Christ, it's such a familiar story, from Dave Van Ronk to Clark Terry and back: artists who have medical bills, and need some help, and are forced to pass the hat just as they did when they were struggling in the clubs.

This, from Clark Terry's website:

You want a long life? How about if it goes on a little too long for your life savings?

What happens when inflation raises the price of food and rent, and "social security" isn't enough?

How do you feel when you struggle to the store and have to stand there in humiliation, paying for groceries by pawing and peeling off some food stamps, while impatient Yuppies sigh and grumble?

Clark Terry's records have mostly drifted out of print. No label could break even bringing them back on CD. Spotify pays pennies on the dollar, and even if a song is streaming 100,000 times, that could give Clark Terry enough for one lunch.

How many musicians know their music is still played, but all they hear is noise from the hooligan neighbors in the crappy dump they had to move to?

A songwriter who spent his life hoping for a few hit songs, discovers that the few times he got lucky, and did enough to keep going and not sell out...now he's sitting around with aching legs and a weak heart and barely enough energy to get to the bathroom he needs to.

But a Seniormole or a Mephisto tells the world that a Dave Van Ronk or Clark Terry should just go sell t-shirts on a website when he's too old to play.

Jesus.

Since you like FREEEEEEEEEEEEEE, you wouldn't want to write out a check to Clark Terry. It's against your Communist manifesto that we should all upload music and spread it around so nobody has to buy anything.

That's ok.

Clark Terry doesn't need your money.

I heard that he died a few days ago.