The good and the bad in the Creative Industry - Bruna Oliveira

As we have learned throughout the modules, it is very challenging to be part of the creative industry because there is uncertainty, frustration and lack of opportunity. Yet, the good side is that the creative economy is growing each time more; investing and helping intellectual development in creative workers. Therefore, today, people are more able to “follow their dreams” and get recognized by their individual talent.

For my interview, I thought it would be interesting to understand the ups and downs of someone that has just started being a part of the Creative Industry. Thus, I interviewed Carlos Delgado, a musician who has just released his first album This Is What I Got under the name El Charlie.

Carlos is a 20-year-old student from San Diego California. Currently he lives in Madrid where he is studying Nuclear Medicine Technology at University. Through the interview, Carlos told me about the challenge of conciliating studies with music. He explained to me that he did not choose to focus only on music because most of the time “is not a well paid job” so he decided not to depend on it for monetary success. As he said, his degree will financially help him to support his dream, which is to have a studio in his future house,

As it is known, being recognized in the creative industry can be challenging, especially if you are an independent musician like Carlos because you need to invest in order to get good results. He produced his first album by himself, which took him two years to finish. Fortunately, due to the Mapping Document (UK Government, 1998) with new legislation to regulate individual creativity, Carlos was able to pay for the copyrights and get his album on platforms such as Spotify or Apple Music.

Thus, it becomes evident that the cultural industry is a balance that includes originality and innovation along with legislation and policy making (Hartley, 2009). That is because there needs to be a controlling and a public promotion as well. As Carlos mentions along the interview, having an Agent or someone that represents you is crucial because the economic success comes from advertising and partnerships that can open more doors for you- introducing you to a recognizable producer for example.

Carlos mentioned that this need of resources in order to produce a well done album is what he likes the least about his job because it is unmotivating. As he explained, today a lot of people just want or need to sell because they have music as a source of revenue. So in this process creativity can get lost turning a song into a mass standardized product, as Adorno & Horkheimer talk about (1940). Thus, he emphasized how much his family has supported financially and emotionally his dream since the beginning.

Finally, the process of creating music, as Carlos explained, consists of a mix of your daily experience and the art of music. Thus, as Raymond Williams states, it is essential this reunion of art and common experience of people; so people can relate to the song (1958). Carlos said how special and unique this process is.

I finalized the interview by asking Carlos what he would say for other young people that also want to be part of the Creative Industry and his answer was: “if music makes you happy, then you have to follow that till the end of the earth” .


References

Hartley, J. (2009). Creative industries. Blackwell.

Horkheimer, M., & Adorno, T. (1940). The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception.

UK Government. Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (1998).Creative Industries Mapping Documents 1998

Williams, R. (1958). Culture is Ordinary