Innovative, Internet-savvy singer-songwriter JONATHAN COULTON's feats of creativity have gained him a worldwide audience
By Erik Philbrook
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Jonathan Coulton |
Indie singer-songwriter Jonathan Coulton has achieved a cult following by providing the soundtrack to the geek-chic era. He has thrilled computer, video game and Internet junkies the world over with his clever songs, such as "Skullcrusher Mountain," "Code Monkey" (the anthem for software designers) and "Re: Your Brains." He first rose to notoriety with an experimental musical stunt – the year-long "Thing a Week" podcast project, in which he produced 52 songs covering a range of unusual topics not addressed. He then solidified his success by winning 2007's Game Audio Network Guild "Song of the Year" award for his "Still Alive." Now an in-demand live performer, Coulton has released a DVD/CD collection called Best. Concert. Ever. , filmed in San Francisco, which captures Coulton in all of his goofy glory, and further cements his reputation as one of the digital era's most accomplished independent musicians.
When did you first make a serious attempt to have a music career?
It was always my plan to become a professional musician. The real point came in 2005 when I left my job working at a software company and started doing the "Thing a Week" project. I had been paying attention to the Internet, MP3s and blogs that hadn't happened before. All these ideas convinced me that it might be possible to make a living this way. So I thought why not start with the bestcase scenario: I sit at home, make music, put it on the Internet, and that's my job.
Was the "Thing a Week" idea a way to impose discipline on yourself to write songs? Or was it to connect in a new way with an audience?
It was both. I saw it as a stunt. I thought it might attract attention. But I was also pretending that it was my job. I thought, if I was paid to do this, what would that be like? I'd have to create on a consistent basis, and could I do that?
How daunting was that?
I have always been the kind of songwriter who treats each idea like this precious thing. It has to carefully be brought to fruition. I'm envious of people who can write songs in five minutes. So I wanted to be more like that, or at least teach myself that it wasn't so important to stress about every little thing and wait until something is perfect.
Your "52-song Thing a Week" project is now available as four separate collections. Some of the songs received a lot of attention. Were you able to predict which one of your songs would become the most popular?
There's not a lot of correlation between the ones I thought were good and the ones that people turned out to like. There's one song in particular that comes to mind. "Mr. Fancy Pants." It doesn't make any sense. But it is evocative of something that I find really charming. It got picked up and passed around and mentioned on blogs and caused a huge spike in traffic to my website. At the time, I hadn't even set up my store yet. I thought, that was your 15 minutes and you blew it.
But yet you didn't blow it. People kept coming back. And you started making money.
Last year I netted more money than if I continued working at the software job. I'm not getting rich, but I'm making a comfortable living and living in a desirable neighborhood in Brooklyn. That's amazing to me.
You chose to film your first concert film in San Francisco. Why that city?
San Francisco is one of the cities where there are a lot of geeks. They are super excited in the way that only geeks can be into something. They are the most powerful group to have as fans, because they evangelize like crazy. They are all about pushing their ideas out to other people. I mean, they know how to use the Internet.
