Manumission

Manumission, limited edition of 10 copies in cassette tape of the album El método del ritmo, by tepeyac usto. 

Shown at Art House during Persona.

July 5 - August 31, 2024.

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Manumission is the freeing of slaves. 

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Manumission is also a work of artivism that questions the current business model of the music industry.

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Streaming platforms, which promised to put musicians directly in contact with their audience, just turned what was already a gruelling industry into a sort of indenture servitude.

 

Out of every dollar an independent artist manages to generate in Spotify, 70 cents go to the record companies known as The Big Four (Sony, EMI, Universal, Warner), even if the artist is not signed to them.

 

Over 20 cents go to Spotify, and the remaining 10 per cent is mostly devoted to the many services artists need to hire in order to produce the music.

 

This album, El método del ritmo, was blacklisted from streaming platforms by an algorithmic decision.

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Without asking questions, and without offering the opportunity to appeal the decision, the distributor cancelled the account of the artist, confiscated the funds from a previous release and banned the artist from uploading music.

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This piece, which consists in turning the album into a limited edition of 10 cassette tapes that will not be available in any public streaming platforms, is a search for new models.

 

If the music industry is proposing to turn musicians into slaves, manumission should be our response.

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