An Interview With Michelle Shocked

Activist, performer and roving bard Michelle Shocked is all about opposition. From her famed fights with major labels, to her latest album, Mexican Standoff (read: one part Latin fire; one part Texas Tumbleweed), to her affiliations with Performing Rights Organizations in both the US and abroad, Michelle has hacked a viable career out of drawing lines in the sand. Along with Mexican Standoff, 2007 also saw the release of Got No Strings- an album of Disney classics by way of Western Swing- and Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, a heartache of an album that traverses the same landscape as Blood On the Tracks.

AP: Are you registered with any foreign PROs?

MS: Originally, I was assigned to PRS- and through them I was assigned to a US PRO, BMI, because, at the time, I was living in England. My manager was English, and it was totally to his advantage for me to register there.

I was so upset with how the deal went down, but when the smoke cleared, I ended my affiliation with BMI and signed with ASCAP.

AP: How was your experience with PRS different than your experience with American PROs?

MS: There was quite an income flow (with PRS). It was very well administered. It’s similar to a trade union, really, like ASTRA, which I belong to. ASCAP has an election process, and I try to pay attention, but it’s just not that interesting.

Foreign PROs do a much better job accounting and collecting royalties. The US PROs act like it’s a sieve or a net, or something, you know, like ‘you just can’t catch them all!’ And I think it’s just because things are so different over there. For so long, PRS had to deal only with the BBC. The same goes for Australia- and France, with Radio France. Here, in the US, we have PBS and NPR, but it’s not the same at all.

AP: You have fashioned a viable career both here in the states, and overseas. What are the advantages of releasing Michelle Shocked albums abroad?

MS: It’s a pain in the ass. I have distributors in several territories, but it’s a lot of hassle to do it on a country-to-country basis. So now, my UK distributor takes care of all of my exports. Don’t get me wrong: I am ambitious; I just don’t want to be financially ambitious (laughs). I’m trying to develop my label. I want to find an artist like me in England. I want to find an artist like me in Australia. I want to find an artist like me in Japan, and say to all of them, ‘I’ll represent your interests,’ and they’ll represent mine in their countries.

AP: What about the concept of “intellectual property?” Is the concept different overseas?

MS: I would say it’s all power to the monolith. If this were the 1800’s, England would be representing intellectual property. Now, in the 20th century, we are doing it here. Just like with democracy, you can follow the exact same thread of intellectual property rights. It’s a luxury commodity, and I’ll say this:

If you find it profitable to uphold the value of intellectual property rights, you have got to raise the quality of life for the people who create it, the people who agree with you. Like, for example, in China, intellectual property and piracy go hand-in-hand. You can only sell the concept to people who can afford to buy it.

When we write songs, we are tapping into a communal culture, and it’s kind of artificial to think of an individual author. It’s not an absolute. Just because we buy into it here doesn’t mean it holds abroad.

AP: What do you think about this new “Hybrid Right” they are talking about over in Europe, this kind of “one license to rule them all” legend that has been whispered, and gossiped throughout the biz?

MS: Enlighten me. I have no idea.

AP: The Hybrid Right would impose one license for both the mechanical right and the performance right, an all-encompassing single license for both the composition and the sound recording.

MS: Wow. Well, I don’t see how that could ever happen, and I’ll tell you why. Because publishing has been there since sheet music, and recording formats change every 20 years or so, and in this digital age, well, if we were to say that we would bring everything together, that this digital age is the end of all history, then, well, I just don’t believe it is.

AP: Do you think we’ll ever achieve a full performance right in the United States?

MS: There is that possibility if the pendulum swings, you know? It’s all about greed. Appealing to greed. People’s greed. The idea that if I do what is best for me, than that is what is best for everybody.

AP: What role do managers play in the whole process of aligning with the right PRO, and educating the artist about proper royalty compensation?

MS: I’ve been told, ‘you don’t need a manager; you need a personal assistant. It’s like a co-writer, really. Do I want to use a co-writer? Not really. Do I need a co-writer? Not really. Would it be fun? Maybe. Do you want more money, or do you want more fun?

I don’t have a manager. I have a co-conspirator. I know enough to be dangerous, but I don’t know enough to be effective (laughs). And between the two of us, we really run amok!

AP: So, what you are saying is, choose a friend? Choose someone you can conspire with?

MS: Choose a co-conspirator. Really. Those powerful, connected managers, well, let’s just say this: you’d be better off with a lawyer, because at least with a lawyer you know their hourly rate. With a manager, you don’t know how much they’re ripping you off. And they are ripping you off.

AP: Any advice for artists trying to grow a career beyond their native countries? Any words of wisdom from the woman who fought the industry and won?

MS: Yes, I do have some advice. If you think all music is good for is making money, you have vastly underestimated the power of music. I feel sorry for people who think that music is a viable career option.

My experience taught me that it really is about being in the right place at the right time. I was an activist. I was committed to effecting change through community effort. Someone recorded me on a Walkman, and I was on the radio.

AP: You were on the charts and you didn’t know it.

MS: Right. Right. But I never chose music as a career. Music is a lousy career. If you’re looking for a career, I advise investment banking.