Cash, Work and Murder—Counting Costs of Thy Art Is Murder’s ‘Success’

There are plenty of ways and reasons to quit a band, but breaking the news by posting “I can’t live like this any more” on Facebook is a particularly 2015 way to do it.

This morning vocalist CJ McMahon announced his departure from Sydney extreme metal band Thy Art Is Murder in a blunt and emotional Facebook post, where he claimed he and his bandmates had earned “between $16k-$18k each over six to seven years” for their efforts. Fans were shocked, many commenting that they thought the band would be in a better financial spot as a result of their success. However, maths is hard and things aren’t always as they seem.

In 2015 I spent $52 on Thy Art Is Murder-related things: a ticket to a show, a t-shirt and Holy War from iTunes. It’s the holy trinity of fan support for bands, and I feel like I got my money’s worth from all three purchases.

$52 is a significant amount of money for most people. It’s roughly 3 hours of minimum wage work for an adult (depending on age, industry and what state of Australia you’re in); a week’s worth of groceries (depending on dietary choices and budgeting skills), more than two packs of ciggies, or a few jugs of beer (depending on how fancy you like your booze).

However, once all the techs and sound guys are paid, travel expenses settled and middlemen (labels, merch retailers, ticketing companies, management, the tax department, etc. etc.) given their cut, maybe $20 of the $52 I spent would’ve gone to band members—probably even less than that.

CJ at Warped Tour, 2015 // Photo: Thomas Savage

Extreme metal, death metal and deathcore are all niche genres within a niche genre. An extreme metal band with the word “murder” its name, albums with titles like Holy War and Hate in their back catalogue and lyrics about death, the tyranny of organised religion and how we’re all killing the planet will never attract crowds as big as, say,The Amity Affliction or Parkway Drive. They’re both bands with catchy names, good looking front men and (at least these days) pretty anodyne lyrics. You won’t see these acts banned from venues in the US as a result of their names or lyrics.

The whole point of this kind of music is that it doesn’t appeal to everyone—certainly not a mass audience. No matter how hard or how long an up-and-coming extreme metal/deathcore band tours, it’s unlikely they will sell out a headlining arena show or have their music widely played on the radio unless they completely change their sound (hello, Bring Me The Horizon) or massage their music into a more palatable version of their old stuff (Parkway Drive, Amity). A larger number of people liking a band’s music means a larger number of people will pay for it, even if the “paying customers” are a small fraction of a whole—which is a different argument for another time.

Thy Art Is Murder guitarist Andy Marsh is well aware of the maths of this situation. “We are all adults—we all chose to do this … complaining [about it] seems crazy to us,” he said in tweets which have since been deleted. While Marsh said in those same tweets band members have taken home more money than the tiny amount specified in CJ’s Facebook post, the reality is that a solid out 800-capacity venue full of people who’ve paid real Earth dollars for the “holy trinity” I mentioned earlier will bring in less money than a 5000-cap venue of people doing the same thing.

We are all adults—we all chose to do this … complaining [about it] seems crazy to us.

[ ANDY MARSH ]

I don’t know what the answer is. Yes: you should continue to financially support the bands whose music you enjoy. No: they will probably never get rich from doing what they love. Maybe: the only solution is a day job.//

On the hustings with Andy Marsh, Warped Tour 2015 // Photo: Thomas Savage