Jewels open letter

[gooddayjay]

In May's open letter on her web site Jewel wrote

"but frankly I don't enjoy touring now that I'm a mom and depending on being away from home to make a living. So I have slowly been looking at ways to make music still, but change my income stream away from depending on record sales and touring.."

She has spent so much of her life on the road, and it is understandable that touring is less enjoyable for her, as a new mom. Her place in music history, and in the hearts of her fans, is undeniable. I'm certain she will find new exciting ways to share her music and story with us in the years to come. My question - for anyone really- just interested in hearing what you think .. Do you think this might be her last major tour for awhile ? I'm blessed that I had the opportunity to see her on this one, and I hope everyone else was able to see her too.

thanks

[Jessica]

Depends by what you mean by "for a while."  I mean, after she wraps up touring the USA - there have been some exceedingly glaring absences as far as cities visited goes, so there's definitely much more to come - she'll probably take a couple/few years off to do other things/virtually nothing, but then she'll do another tour - at least a mini one.  She p much always does, I think. And that's a p common schedule for most pop artists.

Robby - you're the keeper of the ultimate online tour log - what do you think?

[jewelwiki]

I see her taking time off for 1-2 years max. Nearly 20 years ago, I first heard her say that she feels like abandoning her guitar and her books before...can't recall where though... 

I remember when she released GAIW, we all thought she was leaving as well. I think that she's successful enough that she could stop touring all together, but I think deep down she'll still miss it. We will probably see a few impromptu performances around the Nashville area during this gap (guest appearances, fundraising events for the Linden Waldorf school, etc.).

I think that she could go wherever she wants at this point. It looks like she has room in her home that she could use to do streaming concerts if she wanted to (I've seen someone mention them here). A monthly concert that people could stream/buy afterwards would be nice, although I think she needs the live audience feedback (laughter/applause) for better performances.

I thought that Josh Rouse (or maybe Josh Ritter?) had a subscription fan club a few years ago that I think Jewel could pull off. Save your grumbling and let me explain, because I know Jewel/her team has bungled this multiple times in the past. I really wish I could find the one that I had found a few years ago because then you could see it (archive.org isn't helping me find it, so it might have been a different artist). Anyway, they had ~10-20 live shows on the website that you could download for a subscription of ~$5-10/month. Each month a new show would be posted (building the catalog, not replacing an old show). Jewel has such an extensive back catalog that I think she could pull this off for sure.

(Side note: googling Josh Rouse and Jewel brought this up...was the dig really necessary?  )

Anyway, it wasn't exclusively shows either, sometimes it would be b-sides/studio demos that were never released. Jewel has enough that she has released (on Unedited, EDA Exclusive, EDA Inclusive, etc) that she could start her subscription catalog with that stuff, then add something new each month. I think she might have a challenge with Atlantic Records, but I'm not really sure. It would be nice if they had a poll for subscribers to vote on what to be added each month, too (from a pre-selected list, since her team would be more familiar with rights to audio, etc.).

[jewelwiki]

I think that there are a lot of people who look up to Jewel and her success that this letter will mean a lot to. I wasn't a big fan of the letter... I don't like to think that everything she does is calculated so precisely and marketed towards her image/brand. It makes sense, I guess, since she's been marketing herself as a mom recently, teaming up with Dora/Swiffer/FisherPrice,etc. I dunno--thinking about someone as marketing themselves/brand makes it feel less genuine somehow.

[Jessica]

Amanda Palmer does a Patreon thing and she seems to have some good success with it.  I think Thom Yorke from Radiohead had a year there where he only did a few small shows but offered fans the opportunity to purchase a stream of it that would come with an HD download once the show was finished. Pretty neat, but I don't think Jewel is as popular as those two are.  I don't know if it would work.

[Donna Sue]

I don't think Jewel will ever completely 'stop' touring. Its in her bones and I think she likes it too much - being able to interact with the audience is totally her thing. It's tough with a young kid of course... but once he's older I bet she'll be back on the horse full-saddle. Who knows, maybe he'll follow in her footsteps and they can tour together? 

[Mr. Joe]

I don't think Jewel will ever completely 'stop' touring. Its in her bones and I think she likes it too much - being able to interact with the audience is totally her thing. It's tough with a young kid of course... but once he's older I bet she'll be back on the horse full-saddle. Who knows, maybe he'll follow in her footsteps and they can tour together? 

I like the way you are thinking, and agree with you. 

Jewel definitely feeds from the audience interaction. Her performing with her father continued even after her mother left and her brothers backed out of the performances. The time spent learning and developing herself at the Inner Change and Java Joe's had a lot to do with her fans and audience relationships. 

[Javo]

She says she sings her songs better with an audience, I think she means a live audience and not an online audience. I think she will come back a few times, but she will also take breaks from touring, the remaining question is: How long will these breaks take?