| Last year Jack Cooper from the band Mazes created ‘Art Is Cheap’, a songwriting project where individuals requested an exclusive song in return for a minimum payment of £10 (it was effectively a ‘pay what you want’ deal). Now that he has released 15 of the tracks as an album Hidden Currents asked Jack about the life of the project.
You can access some of the tracks and the stories behind them on Jack’s blog and you can buy the 15-track album ‘Art Is Cheap’ for £5 here.
Hidden Currents: Hello Jack. For anyone who hasn’t read the introduction to the blog could you please say a little about where the idea for ‘Art is Cheap’ came from? Jack Cooper: I’ve covered this on my blog but the main idea behind it was to highlight how the initial idea for a song or piece of art whatever is free and yet it can generate millions of pounds… That spark of creativity is the most exciting part of the songwriting process (before my brilliant idea is watered down by other band members, producers and then the music industry machine haha).
HC: How does writing for ‘Art Is Cheap’ differ from Mazes’ usual songwriting process? JC: Well I definitely have higher quality control for Mazes and I wouldn’t dream of writing something like a song for someone’s birthday…but the early steps are exactly the same. Making up a melody, basically… that’s what that is.
HC: You suggested that people send you lyrics, a photo, a drum loop or an idea/song title: are some of those things more challenging than others as a starting point for a song? JC: No not really… The songs I wrote with other people’s lyrics were hard. A couple turned out really well and the lyrics were good but I had one that was beyond cringey so I turned it down, so to speak.
HC: Seeing as you are writing for people you don’t know is there any concern that you might, in some way, get it wrong? JC: Well the £10 fee is so low that I don’t really feel any pressure. I’m not being paid fortunes by Steven Spielberg or something. Plus honestly, I don’t really care so much. I put a lot of effort into making the song good and it’s a thrill when people love the end result. Thankfully the majority of people did… a couple just didn’t get back which is also fine.
HC: Were there any commissions that you turned down or wanted to give-up on? JC: Yeah just cringey lyrics and there’s a couple sat in my email inbox that I can’t really bring myself to do. A couple of friends have asked recently if I’d write one…It was fun for a while but I couldn’t really be a hired gun unless I was being paid a tonne.
HC: With some of the stories behind the songs there’s a sense of collaboration between you and the recipient (especially when they’ve supplied lyrics or an audio track): has the relationship between you and the commissioner sometimes turned out differently to how you originally envisaged it? JC: Hmmm… well in terms of a continued correspondence? I met a bunch of the people on tour and they all seemed lovely. One of the reasons I wanted to do it, without sounding big headed is that I would’ve loved to be involved with something like this as a fan of say Bob Pollard or Lou Barlow… to have an exchange like that. I know we do have some very enthusiastic fans and I thought it’d be a buzz.
HC: Now you have released an album of selected songs from Art Is Cheap, do you think any of the songs you’ve written have a life beyond the project? For example, are you concerned that some might be posted on blogs or used for advertising? JC: Well I just released them on Bandcamp for people to buy…a greatest hits of the project if you will, but other than that not really. One of my ideals when I started the project was for someone famous to ask for a song and then record it. I dunno… I’m intellectualising everything and maybe it was just a dumb way to make a little money.
HC: Would you ever consider playing the commissioned songs live in a one-off, maybe online, event? JC: Sure.
HC: Will releasing the album change the nature of the project for you and the song’s commissioners? JC: Maybe… again being in this band makes me no money really. Everything we earn goes back into touring etc. etc. … People don’t really want to hear things like this but releasing that album was a way of me paying my rent for a month… I asked everyone if they were down with some kind of release and the majority were so I don’t feel I’m cheapening the arrangement. I suppose this like the kiss and tell ha.
HC: The song title commission from Edd Colbert, ‘Front Flipping Down The Hall’, produced a great song. On the blog you mention the temptation of a song being ‘too good not to use for Mazes’. Would you ever consider writing a Mazes album based on song-titles submitted by fans? JC: No… I find things like that pretty abhorrent. My mum phoned me to tell me about a band who released an album that their fans could compile and pick the songs for… bespoke albums or whatever… it turned out to be the Kaiser Chiefs. My Kaiser Chiefs album would have no songs on it. Interview conducted by Amanda Penlington for Hidden Currents
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 Interview by Amanda Penlington  Blog Flickr
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