There's Something Happening Here

It has always been common for artists to respond to a political situation or event in the form of song, these 'protest' songs are usually topical, situational or connected to a wider movement. The message in songs of this nature does not need to be explicitly stated, below is Bob Dylan's "All along the watchtower" from 'The John Wesley Harding" album (1967).

This song then is essentially a song wanting change to the society, and is based around the image of "flatland"where everything is neutral, and without any value, as modern thinkers like Ken Wilber would say.

    The first line of the song itself gives immediate connotations of drama, "There must be some kind of way out of here" telling us he needs to get out of something, without pointing directly to war or other political situations, and again without naming anyone, this conversation is between the joker and thief, two types of figures that have always been around, and will probably continue stand the test time of time. These two characters then begin to talk about how the values of life in society are wrong, "business men, they drink my wine, Plow men dig my earth. None of them along the line, know what any of it is worth."

  We can stop at this point of the song, as you can now see the message behind the song beginning to unfold, and the skill in Dylan's writing which makes this message not so obvious unless you go looking for it.

Look what they made for us

Patronage is the act of giving an artist some kind of support be it funding, advertising or anything else that can help the artist, acts of patronage have existed for a long time, it played a big part in the Catholic Church not just with music but also paintings etc.

The following is a link to a website where anybody can perform can perform acts of patronage to artists they are fans of;

https://www.sellaband.com/

The advantages and disadvantages of patronage can vary especially when taking into account the time period it is used in. For example, the renaissance period would probably take kindly to a system of patronage as there wasn't as many ways of spreading news as there is today, and the benefits could be greater for the artist. For an artist to receive acts of patronage form the Church could lead to them having a much higher social status and provide a back bone for a sustainable career.

    However, in more recent times, with qualifications etc. being key to success, an act of patronage could mean that people who have higher qualifications in the same subject could lose out, i think it could also be bad for people who have original ideas. For example, if a conservative government were in power and used patronage to help artists then we might find the mainstream music becomes rather similar, which brings us back to the real world and raises the questions, does patronage work today? With things like the internet and social networking sites to help artists, and availability of music at an all time high, would patronage help enough to make a difference in an artists career?