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Paperbag Empress Records exists in a tiny musical niche cluster, as such we promote and appreciate all others in that niche!

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Patreon: Join our Angels! Support Chagall Sierra on Patreon!

What is Patreon?

In ancient times, musicians could only work as musicians when they had the patronage of a rich entity – a noble, a King, a Church with pockets deep enough to pay the organist/choir director/composer. There were also travelling minstrels who took the news from town to town in song form, and entertained at bars and pubs for their room and board and tips. The travelling minstrel lives on in today’s buskers. The art of patronage however, has now been opened to the general public rather than solely being in the hands of rich people.

That means, for as little as just $1 a month, you can sponsor the music that you like to hear, and the entertainment that you want to see.

Why is Patreon needed?

“Just to be a musician takes 15 – 20 years of hard work to even be worthy, and that’s the straight up truth. 10,000 hours and nothing less to stand on that world stage. And all without any promise of any real return. Not for the faint of heart. It’s a very noble and honorable quest. Yet, it’s one of the most unsupported fields in the arts.” – Cari Cole (full article here.)

Prior to the rise of the record label industry, musicians either had non-music day jobs or worked as music teachers. That all changed, but the record labels took advantage of the talent, and fame didn’t necessarily mean being able to pay the bills. It still doesn’t. How record labels work is that they give musicians a LOAN to make and market an album. That loan has to be paid off through the sales of the album. Well… with the rise of streaming and the falling sales of physical albums, nobody’s getting rich anymore.

But doing work, should mean at least making a living. Music is work. It should put a roof over our heads when that’s our job in life. Being self-employed, should mean being able to set aside savings for things that regular employers would call benefits, such as health and dental plans.

Yes, music can be fun and it can be very rewarding to inspire others, to touch another soul and bring in them a connection to their own deep spiritual truths. It’s still work, and work should not leave people relying on government welfare. Our society relies on unpaid creative and caring work – healing work – and pays for the destruction of the environment through “business as usual” type of work. That’s backwards.

Why sponsor Chagall Sierra on Patreon?

She literally can’t do this without you. If you would pay $15-20 once a year for an album by Enya or Loreena McKennitt, then consider how satisfying it would be to support someone who could be the next amazing mystic artist like that. Chagall is multi-talented, has a celestial and moving voice, and constantly creates beauty and hope in the world. She currently lives on around $600 a month, with a disability and special dietary needs that are impossible to accommodate on that little. She has been failed by the system, repeatedly. You can improve that by enabling her to create the music she was put on this planet to create. You can affect not only a life but all the lives her life ever touches.

What are Patreon Rewards?

Different tiers of support from Chagall’s Patreon Angels receive different benefits. The first is, full access to downloading all her music – from all her projects: Chagall Sierra, Kirrivath, and Wingspell. She also creates artwork and nature photography. And you can feel good about supporting such a unique soul!