Great Artists Don’t Starve

You’ve been told artists can’t think like entrepreneurs. But the best ones always have.

The legend says artists must suffer. That fame and fortune come only after death. That struggle is always noble, and successful artists always sell out.

That’s nonsense.

In 1850, Jenny Lind stepped off a ship into New York Harbor and into a nation already obsessed with her. She was a soprano from Sweden, called "The Swedish Nightingale."

The Swedish Nightingale, Jenny Lind, was the most famous singer of her generation.

She had never performed in the United States, and she was already the most famous singer in America.

How?

Because she didn’t come alone. She came with a strategy—and with P.T. Barnum.

Yes, that P.T. Barnum. The king of spectacle. The man who could sell a hoax to a skeptic. The humbug who turned a singer into a national frenzy.

Before she sang a single note, Lind had a contract guaranteeing her $1,000 per night for 150 nights, a sum that would now be millions. Barnum pre-paid the entire amount in escrow. The public thought he was insane. Wall Street said it would ruin him.

Instead, it turned her into an American icon.

She toured the country. Gave away large portions of her earnings to charity. Packed houses. Sold out cities. She became a symbol of moral virtue, artistic genius, and civic generosity. She didn’t sacrifice her values. She used them. She didn’t sell out. She sold, and gave, generously.

When Barnum met her in person for the first time, just before she landed at New York Harbor, she asked him why he risked so much without ever hearing her sing.

“I trusted your reputation,” he said.

That’s what she built: a reputation so powerful it became its own form of currency.

This isn’t a side note in music history. This is music history.

Success is not a betrayal of your art. It’s your heritage as a professional artist. As writer Jeff Goins put, "real artists don't starve."

You’ve been told artists can’t think like entrepreneurs. But the best ones always have.

You can too.

P.S. You can read my full breakdown of Jenny Lind’s partnership with P. T. Barnum in my 2016 article for Musical Quarterly: “The Humbug and the Nightingale.” If you'd like to read it, just hit reply and I'll send you the full article (it's not freely available online).