Now Hear This.

by Dan Boles.

DIY author Audrey Ryan

By most measures, Boston-based songwriter Audrey Ryan is a successful musician. She’s toured nationally and internationally. She’s recorded a handful of critically acclaimed albums and was signed to a European label, Folkwit Records. Since leaving Burlington a decade ago — the University of Vermont grad is responsible for painting the door of Radio Bean red, by the way — Ryan has carved out a career many musicians would envy. At least those unconcerned with, you know, actually making any money.

For all her accomplishments, Ryan has never been able to translate her hard work into a sustainable living. That frustration led her to pen a new book, The Need to Be Heard, which chronicles her experiences in the music business as a DIY artist. Through anecdotal stories and extensive interviews with a wide range of musicians and industry types — Fugazi’s Ian MacKaye, Pitchfork Media’s Mark Richardson and Asthmatic Kitty Records founder Lowell Brams, to name a few — Ryan details her life as a professional musician and draws surprising and often provocative conclusions about whether pursuing music as a career is ultimately worth it.

Seven Days recently spoke with Ryan by phone, in advance of her upcoming release party at the 1/2 Lounge in Burlington on Saturday, November 26.…

Seven Days: There seems to be a widely held, pie-in-the-sky sentiment that, once upon a time, there was an era when it was easier to be a working musician. Do you think that time ever really existed?
Audrey Ryan: I asked that question to a guy named Willie Wisely. He’s in his forties and has been in the business basically since the 1980s. I asked him if it was easier then and he said, “No, there were shitloads of bands back then, too.” I mean, even though the internet clogs the airwaves, it’s so much easier to get a gig. You can reach a global audience without leaving your house. But what makes it harder is that music has just been devalued to the point that no one wants to pay you for it.”