David Byrne’s crucial advice to young artists: If you’re young and dreaming of a creative profession, you’ll almost certainly have experienced numerous blows to your self-confidence already. Today’s young creatives not only face an industry hostile to new ideas; they’re also required to remain motivated when the whole world is telling them to give up. Thankfully, some figures in society remain optimistic individuals who can be relied upon to provide genuinely helpful advice for those looking to crack into the arts. Individuals like David Byrne.
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David Byrne’s crucial advice to young artists: Bryne rose to fame as the frontman of Talking Heads, who, despite being remarkably distinct from their Downtown New York contemporaries, have come to encapsulate the New Wave explosion of the mid-1970s. Of course, the band’s success is really just the tip of the iceberg. Following Talking Heads’ split, Byrne went on to forge a successful solo career while also establishing himself as an authority in the worlds of theatre, literature, performance art and even cycling.
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David Byrne’s crucial advice to young artists
In a special interview with the Louisiana Channel, Byrne was asked if he had any advice for young artists. He had this to say: “The only advice I have are thing a lot of young musicians and artists already know: that although some of them may have the ambition to be the next Jay Z or the next, whatever it is, the number of those artists are very small, and often the artists who are very successful they don’t have much flexibility. In achieving success, they lose a lot of their creative freedom. They have to keep making the same thing, more or less, over and over again with some small changes, but, more or less, they have to keep making the same thing.”
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David Byrne’s crucial advice to young artists: Byrne’s own career was rather different. In pursuing creativity for creativity’s sake, he didn’t restrict himself to one mode of expression. This, of course, has its downsides. “If the musician or artist values their freedom and their ability to be creative, then they have to realise that they won’t be making hundreds of millions of dollars,” Bryne continued. “They might be making less money, but they might have more artistic satisfaction. They might even have to do other kinds of work sometimes. It’s very, very difficult,” he concluded. “It’s harder than ever, I think, to make many in the music business.”
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Byrne hits on something worth remembering: that the rewards of a truly creative life are beyond wealth. In dedicating oneself to art, to making things that didn’t exist before, life becomes more than a quest towards financial security. It becomes richer, bolder and infinitely more rewarding. Read more
