Singer-songwriter Jonathan Coulton’s name comes up a lot when people discuss do-it-yourself musical “success” on the Internet, and it’s easy to see why he’s spun online crap into gold: He’s a recovering computer programmer and former a capella dude who releases free MP3s of songs with titles like “Code Monkey” and “Re: Your Brains,” he uses Web 2.0 to help plan his concert tour, and he takes requests via Twitter. (Plus his Web site has a Wiki!) The New York Times took a look at the “reasonable middle-class living” he was eking out in 2007, but they took their profiling to a new level today, with a Coulton-penned Business article about just how he gets around airlines’ increasingly draconian weight restrictions for luggage. (What, he can’t organize a flash mob to descend on the airport and help him repack? Piker.)
You wouldn’t expect a musician to need math skills, but as I try to navigate the various requirements regarding luggage fees and weight, I feel like I’m back in algebra class. I have yet to find that perfect sweet spot between carrying too much stuff and getting charged exorbitant fees, or not carrying enough and potentially losing sales.
I was flying from Dublin to Edinburgh, and I had a ton of T-shirts with me. Unfortunately, I miscalculated the number of shirts I could sell while I was in Ireland. My overweight fee was about $300, which wiped out quite a bit of my profit.
On top of that, I had tried to save a little money by flying to Edinburgh and then taking the train to my eventual destination of Glasgow. So not only did those T-shirts cost me a ton of money, I had to haul an enormous 75-pound suitcase along with my guitar, clothes and gear.
My back was killing me as I tried to get from the Edinburgh airport to Glasgow, by way of bus, train, ancient stone steps and much wandering through unfamiliar foreign streets.
I rarely wish for fame, but it would have been so cool to have a car and driver. Or even a taxi.
I am so not a rock star. But sometimes it’s tough to convince people.
Later in the article he also notes that most nights when he isn’t at home, he barely stays up past nine. See, marketing one’s self is a full-time gig!
Not a Rock Star, but in Need of a Roadie [NYT]
Jonathan Coulton [Official site]
I first heard of him when I saw him accompanying John Hodgman at a book signing. I thought he was fun enough, but I was surprised to see a good third of the crowd was there to see him and not Hodgman.
what kind of diy-er doesn’t think to just wear all the shirts on top of each other? yeah it would take while and he’d look like the stay-puft marshmallow man, but you gotta do what you gotta do.
@Skwerl: That is so true. Internet cred alert!