Re: can we ethically love bad people's good art?
TW: sexual assault, abuse, etc.
I read Artemis's post recently and wanted to share my own thoughts on this topic, even though I don't really listen to the artists he mentioned and kind of go on my own tangents here.
I started blogging on Tumblr when I was in high school. I wanted to connect with other music fans around my age. Even though I rarely keep in touch with them if at all, the friends I made there were very real. We bonded together not only online but also in person over our favorite artists. At one point, I lived in the same area as two of them. We went to dozens of shows together, stayed after to chat with bands who defined our teenage years and early twenties.
One of my friends and I bonded over our love for Vampire Weekend, a band I became invested in over a decade ago. Even though this friend and I shared a love for many other groups, this was different. We saw VW together several times. Most memorable was an intimate no-phone show, where the band played not only practically their entire discography but also new songs never heard before that would appear on their comeback record. This friend also moved to Boston around the time I moved away as well. I like to think "Ladies of Cambridge" defined a lot of their time there.
Neither of us expected to wake up one day and encounter allegations of grooming and abuse against Ezra Koenig, VW's iconic frontman. It has been speculated that 30-year-old Ezra routinely coerced 18-year-old Tavi Gevinson into sex and raped her during their Lolita-esque relationship.
I didn't know what to do with this information. Unfortunately, such news is not unheard of in the indie and emo music spaces in which I find myself. But Ezra? I was shocked.
I took time to grapple with this. Even though VW meant a lot to me, they were by no means my favorite band of all time. So I took a break from listening to them. And there was no confirmation per se, so maybe more details would emerge.
My sabbatical from streaming VW lasted much longer than I expected. I learned during that time that I couldn't avoid my intuition: I couldn't support VW so long as this remained under the rug. Ezra never publicly addressed this. While this may be due to Gevinson not explicitly naming him, the writing is on the wall. It doesn't change what most likely happened. It's uncomfortable. I vowed to never see VW live again. I felt (and still feel) betrayed.
I'll admit that I still streamed VW's new record, Only God Was Above Us, a year ago. I really enjoy some of the tracks, but I don't find myself returning to the album often. Only once every few months. Maybe it's a subconscious thing, somehow feeling guilty for doing so.
I drew a line for myself. I won't buy tickets for their shows. I won't buy their merchandise. Will they earn pennies from my Spotify streams? Unfortunately, yes. Are there worse things I could be doing? Also yes. I don't work in the music industry, and I could be wrong, but I think refusing to spend more or less any money on VW while still enjoying their tracks in tiny doses is enough of a statement. Sure, VW isn't struggling. But imagine if enough other people did the same as me, abstaining from explicit monetary support of VW.
VW is certainly not the only example. Long ago, I've witnessed young and vulnerable women, some of them my friends, being hit on by band members. My ex-best friend's favorite band in high school was Walk the Moon, a fun indie rock band that eventually ousted their bassist some years ago because he preyed on underage fans. Or what about Arcade Fire, whose lead singer recently denied five cases of sexual misconduct and instead cited mental health issues and substance abuse?
Perhaps the most infamous case in the emo music world is that of Jesse Lacey, frontman of the band Brand New, who groomed underage fans and demanded nude photographs from them. After lackluster apologies in which he blamed his mental health issues and sex addiction, the group went on hiatus for years. But now only weeks ago Brand New played their first public shows since the allegations.
I'm not going to try to shame anyone who still streams Brand New's music. Admittedly, I never got into them. But I want to know: who is going to see them live still?
The debate over whether art can be separated from the creator got heated in one of my online communities, all thanks to Brand New's return. According to former fans, a lot of the controversies are already kind of baked into Lacey's lyrics. Some argue that redemption should be possible; we can't write someone off forever because it's unhealthy for society. Others believe that giving these artists a platform, especially when there is no evidence they have changed, is dangerous.
I'm inclined toward the latter. Given my attitude toward VW outlined above, I am obviously sympathetic toward separating art from artist. I've clearly found myself in similar situations. I believe in rehabilitation. I'm not trying to tell people they can or cannot enjoy things.
Though at some point I think it's a lost cause. And quite frankly, I notice that a lot of fans who would not be opposed to returning a platform to Lacey or other abusers are cis men. Let's be real: pretty much all the victims who are manipulated by musicians are women. I'm not saying it cannot happen to those of other genders. But I think a lot of cis men have a hard time even fathoming being abused by someone whose art they absolutely adore.
I've spent a lot of this blog post talking about abstention. I don't think we should be talking only about punishing those who have leveraged their fame to harm innocent fans. What about rewarding those who aren't shitty?
There are so many talented artists in this world who deserve so much more than what they have now, especially in the music industry. "Making it" is damn near impossible. Tours are increasingly unsustainable because artists make little to no profit from them, often even losing money. Record labels screw over bands left and right. Many artists have to either be content with being nobody, relegating their musical endeavors to a side hobby on top of a full-time "real" job, or go for broke and hope they make it big. As a result, those somewhere in the middle, who are talented and quite frankly should be playing for much larger crowds, juggling music and maybe a small side job just to afford their rent, are disappearing.
I'm not saying that these sorts of artists are incapable of being shitty people either, but I do think fame plays a role in some of the cases I mentioned above. It's a power that can be used for good or bad (or neither). So why continue to support those who have misused it? Why not give a platform to those who haven't and whose art is amazing?
Instead of pondering whether streaming VW every once in a while is morally reprehensible, I focus on deliberately giving my money to my favorite band that just so happens to be one of those mid-sized bands (and to the best of my knowledge, has not abused people). I subscribe to them on Patreon. I go to their shows. I buy their merchandise. Anything I can do to support them.