The Musicians Middle Class Has Got to Go!!!

Mind you, I am only speaking about the terms "musicians middle class" or "musical middle class", I completely support the movement. I just feel that those terms, which have been adopted by bloggers and writers of all things music 2.0 (another term I would love to move past) are not empowering enough and they do not clearly define what I believe they are attempting to define.

I am not sure exactly who coined either term but back in '07 Bruce Houghton at Hypebot defined the musicians in this category as "artists selling 20-100,00 copies and making a living through direct sales, touring, merch and other streams; and because there are fewer outsiders taking a cut. They are empowered by the viral marketing and direct sales that the net enables."

Even though the artists Mr. Houghton described are aspiring to become sustainable and earn a "middle class" income with their music, this does not mean that they are part of a "musical" middle class and I doubt that any artist would refer to themself as a "middle class musician". Even if the terms are being used to describe the large space that falls between the garage band and the major-label artist and the artists that occupy that space, I will still argue that there has to be a better term(s). Besides, I am not a big fan of using the class system to describe any group, let alone a group that contains members from all walks of life.

When it comes down to it what we are really trying to define is the artist/musician as an entrepreneur. You can find many different wordings for the definition of entrepreneur but the one that I feel sums up the what I mean came from good ol' Wikipedia."Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to the type of personality who is willing to take upon herself or himself a new venture or enterprise and accepts full responsibility for the outcome."

I propose that today we replace "Musical Middle Class" with the term "Entrepreneurial Musicians Movement". Sure, the term doesn't flow off the tongue very well but I think it is an accurate description of what is actually going on and increasingly more powerful than "middle class". I, for one, am switching gears and I will no longer use the term "middle class" when referring to the Entrepreneurial Musicians Movement and I will be replacing the term "do-it-yourself" or "DIY" musician with "Entrepreneurial Musician" . I beg of you to do the same.

Not happy with these terms? Please make a case for something you like better. I am not married to the terms that I proposed here, I just want to make a change.