The fine folks at Crosswalk have an interview up with our Jill, and while some of it what we’re all coming to expect as the Pegs explain the SPA, there are a few things worth noting:
But she’s not complaining about any of these experiences. “I think there is good and bad about both. [Aspiring artists often] struggle with, ‘Well should I try to pursue a label, or should I do what I do?’ And the good news and the bad news is that there is no right way to do this,†Jill muses. “I think the good thing about technology being cheaper and people being able to make records in their houses is that it’s giving more people the chance to do what they love. That’s really great, and I love that! I think that anything that puts the power back in the hands of the musician is good – it’s better for the art.
“But, you know, there are a lot of things that the label can do for you … like if I hadn’t been at Word first, nobody would have even listened to my indie CD,†Jill continues. “Or maybe somebody would have, but, at that time, magazines probably would not have reviewed it. There’s something about the label that still gives people credibility, even if it’s false credibility. So I’m very thankful for both of the label experiences because I was able to utilize a lot of the advantages that they have but that I don’t have on my own.â€
You really get the sense from interviews and from talking to Jill about it that she’s pretty much buried any bitterness that she’d understandably have from her on-label, off-label machinations. I remember hearing about her being dropped a second time and being very upset for her, but it’s hard to say that, in the long run, she might not be better off. We do know one thing—Jill will continue to put out honest, heartfelt music. Well, and a second thing: I’ll continue to buy it.
[Thanks to Stephen Lamb, who sent this in to me an embarrassingly long time ago, for the notice.]
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