Mazes frontman Jack Cooper has recently unveiled a 15-track side-project via his bandcamp. The album can be downloaded for just £5 and is titled Art Is Cheap. The concept began in the Summer when Jack posted on the band’s website: ‘Art is cheap… people make millions and trillions of pounds out of a brain cell firing successfully. It’s crazy. I’ll write you a song for £10… send me a song title and your email address and I’ll be in touch…’
Jack wrote 35 songs for people – each at £10 a time (that’s not cheap!). The idea is certainly an interesting one in the post-internet musical world. How do you value art? Is it wrong that people make huge sums of money from creativity? Does this release devalue music? Is it art? Is this a new way for musicians to make music? We’d love to know your thoughts.
In the meantime here’s our favourte of the 35. It’s a controversial one, advertising a frozen yoghurt shop in Brighton – being paid to come up with an advetising jingle… Here’s how Jack justified things: “I thought twice about doing it, but realised that if I was going to do this project, I had to follow it through no matter who asked for a song and within reason; what the subject matter was. Thankfully, I’d had their yogurt on a trip to Brighton and it was super delicious…”
Lick by Jack Mazes
