Jonathan Coulton
a folk rock singer-songwriter and internet superstar. You can find more about him and his music here.
How did you get from a software developer to a musician, has music always been part of your life?
I’ve always sung and played music, my family is filled with musical people. And I started writing songs in high school, so that’s been a longtime hobby of mine as well. I actually meant to become a famous musician when I first moved to New York after college, but just sort of forgot about it and got a software job instead. And then before I knew it, it had become a career. Around the time my daughter was born, I was feeling enough pull from the song writing activities I was doing, and enough push from general job boredom, that it ALMOST made sense to quit and pursue music full time. Luckily it’s worked out very well for me so far.
Have you considered starting up thing a week again?
I’ve thought about it a lot, but I just don’t think I’d have the time to do it now. These days so much of my time is spent answering emails, planning tours, stocking merchandise, all this business stuff that pays the bills - I just can’t imagine cramming a song a week into it as well. Not to mention, now there’s an actual audience of people paying attention, so the pressure’s really on to produce great stuff all the time. A lot of Thing a Week was about putting out stuff I thought was bad, or didn’t think was really finished, and I feel a lot less comfortable doing that sort of thing now.
In making, distributing, and playing music professionally, how have you been able to make a living?
No idea. I really think it just comes down to having a large catalog of songs placed in every distribution outlet I can think of - and of course I was lucky enough to have a few hits during Thing a Week that built my current audience. High volume and low margins, kind of boring when you think about it. But I also think that fans really are willing to support artists whose work they enjoy, especially if they know that the money they’re spending is going directly to that artist.
Of all of your songs, which is your favorite?
It changes day to day, but generally I’m very fond of the sad ones. I’m extremely proud of “I Crush Everything” - it’s supposedly about a giant squid, but it feels a lot more personal than that. And I love the way it surprises an audience who hasn’t heard it before. They think there are going to be a lot of giant squid jokes (and there are a few in there) but instead it’s a really earnest lament from a very sad character.
Because you are not a mainstream artist, and you gained a lot of your following through the internet, do you ever find that live show audiences are unfamiliar with you, or do you get a lot of fanattendance?
For the most part I try to only play shows that are filled with my fans - I’m kind of grumpy that way, it’s a lot less fun for me to play for an audience of people who don’t know me. So I’m not really big on festivals, or opening for people, or in general putting myself in front of large crowds who have never heard of me. When I do a show, the audience is mostly fans and the people they’ve dragged along - though always some small percentage of people who only know me through a couple of songs. It’s nice to hear from people like that who discover that they like the rest of my stuff too.
Who are your musical influences?
I grew up on a diet of lots of soft rock and folk - Dan Fogelberg, Simon and Garfunkel, though I also went through a period where I listened almost exclusively to Billy Joel and The Beatles. I’ve always been a fan of smart, vocal heavy pop - XTC, Steely Dan, Fountains of Wayne, OK Go - and when I listen to music it’s all about the songwriting and the arrangement. In college I heard They Might Be Giants for the first time, and they just about blew my head off with their ability to write songs that were totally crazy, but also well constructed and ultimately kind of moving - that sad-but-insane kind of songwriting that I try for every time.
Thank You Jonathan Coulton!
